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Britannia lifts - tips welcome


philsuarez
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So after a delayed boarding due to a small fire we are now under way. Cabin is situated mid ships on deck 8. Only issue appears to be lift carnage. Took my wife over 30 mins to return to cabin from spa on deck 5. Lifts taking forever and huge crowds of people waiting. Hopefully it will calm down but the lack of central stairs is being felt. Any tips on how to navigate around would be most welcome.

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So after a delayed boarding due to a small fire we are now under way. Cabin is situated mid ships on deck 8. Only issue appears to be lift carnage. Took my wife over 30 mins to return to cabin from spa on deck 5. Lifts taking forever and huge crowds of people waiting. Hopefully it will calm down but the lack of central stairs is being felt. Any tips on how to navigate around would be most welcome.

 

I think that most able bodied people would use the forward stairs (by the Spa) to move up just 3 floors and then walk along deck 8 to your cabin. If your wife is disabled and has to use a lift, she should be given priority at the lifts (signs clearly state that disabled passengers should be given priority) or, as we do, get into the habit of moving between floors via the forward or aft lifts (my wife is in a wheelchair) rather than the more busy midships lift.

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I was under the impression that P&O were fixing this problem, we only noticed because my partner had damaged her knee a few days before the cruise and couldn't handle the stairs. There are crew stairs behind closed doors in the middle of the ship as I and most other passengers used them after muster. We were told that P&O were going to open them up for passengers? this was in Nov 2015.

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I was under the impression that P&O were fixing this problem, we only noticed because my partner had damaged her knee a few days before the cruise and couldn't handle the stairs. There are crew stairs behind closed doors in the middle of the ship as I and most other passengers used them after muster. We were told that P&O were going to open them up for passengers? this was in Nov 2015.

 

I agree that those stairs need to be opened up. I believe it is on the list for the first refit but when that will be is anybodies guess. I am surprised it hasn’t been done gradually during cruises but I trust there are good reasons why it hasn’t been.

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Thanks everyone. The first refit is due October 2019 so hopefully it will be sorted. Main issue seems to be that the lifts take forever to arrive and will sometimes head straight past you whilst waiting. Do suite guests get priority as I see lifts do have card readers?

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Thanks everyone. The first refit is due October 2019 so hopefully it will be sorted. Main issue seems to be that the lifts take forever to arrive and will sometimes head straight past you whilst waiting. Do suite guests get priority as I see lifts do have card readers?

 

Nope. The card readers are for staff overide only.

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Shame as I have a suite on here in October 2019. As it stands wife not impressed with the lift situation although we can’t fault anything else on board. We will be at the stern next time so hopefully will work better as this is the least used lifts and staircase. She muttered never again lol so perhaps I had better break the news that we already have another booking on a Trans Atlantic repositioning that I forget to tell her about.

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Shame as I have a suite on here in October 2019. As it stands wife not impressed with the lift situation although we can’t fault anything else on board. We will be at the stern next time so hopefully will work better as this is the least used lifts and staircase. She muttered never again lol so perhaps I had better break the news that we already have another booking on a Trans Atlantic repositioning that I forget to tell her about.

 

A suite at the stern of Britannia will bring a whole load of other issues! I presume that you have done your homework and researched it? If not, plenty of threads on here will inform. We also love Britannia, but would never book another aft suite.

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The lift situation is far better on the aft and fore lifts in my opinion which is why I tend to use those lifts. Then if I'm only going up or down a few decks I use the stairs. The stern does tend to suffer from a soot problem on balconies but last time I was on a few weeks ago the problem didn't seem to be there.

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The ships crew have got into an awful habit on embarkation days of taking 2 lifts at the fore and 3 or 4 lifts midship into staff control meaning everyone else has to fight for the scraps. This on days when people are moving more by lift anyway.

 

Mid ships stairs are being opened up during October 2019 refit. Opening up is easy, it’s reconfiguring security doors and fire protection that needs it to be done in dock. Royal and Regal Princess are having/had the same modifications.

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Shame as I have a suite on here in October 2019. As it stands wife not impressed with the lift situation although we can’t fault anything else on board. We will be at the stern next time so hopefully will work better as this is the least used lifts and staircase. She muttered never again lol so perhaps I had better break the news that we already have another booking on a Trans Atlantic repositioning that I forget to tell her about.

 

We were at the aft and had no problems at all with the lifts - but we had a lot of problems with the soot!!!

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I am aware of the soot problems which I raised on a previous thread after looking for advice. i am hoping that the lifts and the soot receive some attention during the October 2019 refit although my biggest issue is my wife not wanting to go back onboard due to the lift situation lol. I've kind of not yet told her about our other booking! In her words she said that we may has well just cruise on a ship with no lift issues as so much other choice! I think P & O need to give these issues some serious thought as the market is growing ever bigger and people will walk away from the brand which is a real shame as in so many other ways Britannia is a beautiful ship.

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I am aware of the soot problems which I raised on a previous thread after looking for advice. i am hoping that the lifts and the soot receive some attention during the October 2019 refit although my biggest issue is my wife not wanting to go back onboard due to the lift situation lol. I've kind of not yet told her about our other booking! In her words she said that we may has well just cruise on a ship with no lift issues as so much other choice! I think P & O need to give these issues some serious thought as the market is growing ever bigger and people will walk away from the brand which is a real shame as in so many other ways Britannia is a beautiful ship.

 

They have given these issues serious thought, as the 2 new superships won't experience either of these problems.

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I am aware of the soot problems which I raised on a previous thread after looking for advice. i am hoping that the lifts and the soot receive some attention during the October 2019 refit although my biggest issue is my wife not wanting to go back onboard due to the lift situation lol. I've kind of not yet told her about our other booking! In her words she said that we may has well just cruise on a ship with no lift issues as so much other choice! I think P & O need to give these issues some serious thought as the market is growing ever bigger and people will walk away from the brand which is a real shame as in so many other ways Britannia is a beautiful ship.
A Beautiful ship, but only on the inside looking out.
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A Beautiful ship, but only on the inside looking out.

Strangely enough I quite like the ship on the outside, it's the inside I desperately want to change. Not just the tiny lifts and lack of central stairs, but the small seats in the undersized theatre, the bland atrium a la John Lewis, and the complete underwhelming feeling it gives me.

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Best advice for using the lifts is DON'T PRESS THE DOWN BUTTON IF YOU WANT TO GO UP. IT drives me crazy seeing lifts stuffed with people going several decks in the wrong direction.

 

I agree Dave but once met a couple on board who looked to see where the lifts were and regardless of the direction they were travelling in if the lift was above them presssed the down button as in their view the lift had to come down to them, or if it as below them they pressed up as the lift had to come up to them!

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I agree Dave but once met a couple on board who looked to see where the lifts were and regardless of the direction they were travelling in if the lift was above them presssed the down button as in their view the lift had to come down to them, or if it as below them they pressed up as the lift had to come up to them!

 

I struggle to believe that people could be so dim witted. Surely the first time that they called a lift in this way and then, once they got in, the lift went in the ‘wrong’ direction, the penny would drop!

 

As my wife is a wheelchair user we have, on occasion, had to get in a lift going the wrong way in order to secure occupation. We only do this at peak times (e.g. after muster or on the morning of disembarkation) when the doors have opened on multiple lifts crammed with able bodied people, none of whom have been prepared to step out and use the stairs. Sadly, my wife has no option but to use a lift but, when I am moving around the ship on my own I try to always use the stairs as it’s quicker and helps to keep some of the Cruise pounds off!

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You may mock...but I always take a few days to get used to the single mixer tap in the wash hand basin. To get hot water do I move the lever towards the red marker or do I move the lever so the red marker moves towards me ?

I may need to seek counselling!

I always use the stairs. ( less chance of going the wrong way)

Oh, and I’m with Turing on the clockwise/anti-clockwise direction.

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