Britannia repositioning Cruise - Aft Suite A727 - October 2019

I have booked Suite A727 which was available for a very keen price. I'm aware that it is overlooked by the sunset bar but that the side area of the balcony is not. There is also the soot issue. This cruise is directly after the 2019 refit so I'm hoping a solution may be found for the soot. I would be interested in any feedback from someone that has stayed in this particular cabin. I love the huge balcony but maybe should have gone for a side suite?

We stayed in that suite last summer for 2 weeks. Yes it was over looked and yes there was soot, however for us neither of these issues outweighed the wonderful sized balcony and view over the wake. The cabin steward was great at cleaning the balcony each day and provided extra slippers for us if they got sooty. We just remembered to put towels down on the loungers etc before using them.

As for being over looked, people could see us if they looked directly downwards from the sunset bar however apart from maybe the first day, not many people bothered - they had better views to enjoy! And as you say the part round the side is totally private.

The suite itself is lovely - we really liked the way the bedroom is separate from the sitting area and the bathroom was bigger than some cabins we have stayed in!

For us it had its down sides but on the whole we would be more than happy to stay in this suite again and have u fact booked to stay in a aft suite again in May. Have a wonderful time!

We have just returned from the Caribbean on Britannia's Transatlantic return in A727.

We only booked the cruise last September,considering how long before many others had booked I am surprised that this cabin was still available,even more so when I found out that the cruise was pretty well full,& a little concerned to read reports before wde left about the 'soot problem' & reports of furniture being moved around in the Sunset lounge at silly times of night.

We needn't have worried,the cabin is lovely,bigger than we expected,the balcony is huge,2 chairs on the side portion,2 sun beds,a 2 seat sofa,4 more chairs & 3 tables helped take up some of the room but there was still loads of room left.

You are overlooked by the Sunset lounge & look down on the two balconies below but we never found this a problem,the side balcony is private if rather cramped but at times was wonderful to escape the sun & get a bit of a breeze when it got really hot.

When at sea the balcony is sheltered by the ships superstructure & gave us a real suntrap whereas up at Serenity the breeze was sending things flying & by the Lido pools the sunbeds are crammed together.

Ok the bad bits,on our first night I did hear furniture being moved upstairs in the Sunset Lounge once,it happened once or twice more during the 2 weeks so wasn't an issue,yes there is a soot problem but as has been said it was never that bad & was well sorted,some of the furniture on the balcony has,to be very kind,seen better days,as has the ship in general given that the last time we sailed on her she was only a few months in service,but as you say you are sailing after her,IMO overdue,refit some of these problems at least may/should have been sorted.

Also IMO the cabin needs a light switch in the area of the wardrobes for the lights there,the switches are by the bed & the cabin entrance,a real pain,also it needs a light on the balcony in the middle where the sofa is,there is one by each door at the ends of the balcony leaving the mid section in total darkness at night.

I guess I would be being very picky if I said that another problem is the size of the ship,but when we had a habit of finishing the night at the Crows Nest it seemed an awful long way back to the cabin!

A727 is superb,glad to hear you got a good price,with her pokey balconies we couldn't imagine travelling on Britannia again any other way,enjoy!

Best suite on the ship IMHO. Had it twice in the past two years and would happily have it again if sailing on Britannia. Agree with everything others have said. If soot does become a problem don't be scared to escalate it to the Deck Manager. Only issue we had was when an inconsiderate guest in the sun bar dropped their drink onto our balcony which was made of glass and of course shattered everywhere which took a while to clear up entirely. Only plastic glasses are provided in the Sun Bar so someone must have brought it from elsewhere but a minor problem overall.:D

I’m afraid that the refit won’t cure the soot problem. They have already tried to minimise the problem with ‘scrubbers’ (you can hear a resonating noise from the funnel every few minutes if you are near them). The amount of soot on your balcony varies by day dependent on weather conditions and wind direction. Some days the balcony is covered with large soot spots, other days barely anything. It’s horrible stuff though and can soil clothing very easily. The stewards try their best but simply cannot remove it all. We could also smell fumes on a few occasions, even though we were much lower down on F deck. We also experienced annoying vibration when at sea which caused things to rattle, but I suspect you won’t have that problem to anywhere near the same degree on A deck. The views are amazing and the balconies are huge, but there are some negatives which you are aware of.

The balconies on the side suites are abysmal in size in comparison with aft suites. You do not get loungers just two reclining chairs and a small coffee table/foot stool, therefore no dining on you suite balcony.

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The balconies on the side suites are abysmal in size in comparison with aft suites. You do not get loungers just two reclining chairs and a small coffee table/foot stool, therefore no dining on you suite balcony.

 

 

Some years ago in cabin,including balcony dining seemed to get mentioned quite a bit,but not now,as you say with Britannias balconies a sandwich & a cuppa would be about all you could manage!

 

Just curious if anyone can clue me in to when Britannia's refit is,I've been looking at her schedule & am struggling to find a gap where she could be out of action for any length of time

Hi, can someone tell me the best place to look for repositioning cruises, particularly with P&O. Many thanks :)

thanks for al the updates. i'll stick with it!