Select v Saver

[Selbourne]

3 minutes ago, DevonianCruiser said:

Anyway guys, thank you for all the comments.

 

we've booked this afternoon, a suite for my parents and a delux balcony for us. Paid extra and did the select so we could choose cabins in the middle on good decks.  Very pleased.

 

Well done. Britannia is a lovely ship and you will have a great time. All of the Select Dining restaurants are well worth trying. The Epicurean restaurant on Britannia is our favourite restaurant of the entire P&O fleet. Your parents will be able to have breakfast in there as they are suite passengers. Sindhu is also very good, as is the Beach House if you fancy something more casual. The Limelight club is a good night out if you can find an act that appeals. Have a great cruise. 

[Harry Peterson]

16 minutes ago, DevonianCruiser said:

Anyway guys, thank you for all the comments.

 

we've booked this afternoon, a suite for my parents and a delux balcony for us. Paid extra and did the select so we could choose cabins in the middle on good decks.  Very pleased.

I think that was an extremely wise decision - cabin location is so very important, and it can make or break a cruise.  You will now have peace of mind - and that's worth a bit extra.

[Harry Peterson]

10 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

 

Well done. Britannia is a lovely ship and you will have a great time. All of the Select Dining restaurants are well worth trying. The Epicurean restaurant on Britannia is our favourite restaurant of the entire P&O fleet. Your parents will be able to have breakfast in there as they are suite passengers. Sindhu is also very good, as is the Beach House if you fancy something more casual. The Limelight club is a good night out if you can find an act that appeals. Have a great cruise. 

I'd agree.  Breakfast in the Epicurean (only tried Ventura and Azura so far) really is something else - particularly outside in the sunshine when weather permits.  A real pleasure every morning - wonderful food, a wonderful location and wonderful service.

 

Excellent dinners too!

[Selbourne]

1 minute ago, docco said:

I'd agree.  Breakfast in the Epicurean (only tried Ventura and Azura so far) really is something else - particularly outside in the sunshine when weather permits.  A real pleasure every morning - wonderful food, a wonderful location and wonderful service.

 

Excellent dinners too!

 

There’s no outdoor dining option for the Epicurean on Britannia as it is port side forward rather than aft. That said, we always find the service to be far superior to the Epicurean on Ventura. 

[Harry Peterson]

23 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

 

There’s no outdoor dining option for the Epicurean on Britannia as it is port side forward rather than aft. That said, we always find the service to be far superior to the Epicurean on Ventura. 

I see what you mean.  The positioning on Azura/Ventura is perfect for breakfast in the sunshine.  We found the service to be absolutely impeccable - on a par with Michelin-starred dining in the UK, as was the food in the evening.

[Eglesbrech]

4 hours ago, DevonianCruiser said:

Anyway guys, thank you for all the comments.

 

we've booked this afternoon, a suite for my parents and a delux balcony for us. Paid extra and did the select so we could choose cabins in the middle on good decks.  Very pleased.

 

Glad you got something that suits you. You will enjoy Brittania, lovely ship.

 

 

[Eglesbrech]

3 hours ago, majortom10 said:

I can only say what we experienced but equally the problems you have experienced and others there is equally many reports of people on cruise forums who have not had any problems. Many on here and other forums have never been on Britannia but form an opinion of soot and staircase problems which we did not, I would never have an opinion of anything I havent experienced myself but too many spread stories without having any experience themselves which is wrong whatever the situation or ship.

 

My opinion is based on my personal experience of ruined clothes and constant cleaning due to the soot. I am glad you were not affected by this problem but the problem does exist.

 

Otherwise we enjoyed Britannia. 

 

 

 

 

[terrierjohn]

8 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

 

My opinion is based on my personal experience of ruined clothes and constant cleaning due to the soot. I am glad you were not affected by this problem but the problem does exist.

 

Otherwise we enjoyed Britannia. 

 

 

 

 

Never having sailed in a stern balcony on any ship I am unable to give an opinion on the soot issue. 

However during our behind the scenes tour of the engine control room on Ventura the chief engineer said that Ventura now uses scrubbers to clean up the funnel emissions, when asked about the occasional black smoke this happens when they start one of the engines when they need a very rich mixture, which results in some unburnt fuel being discharged, but only for a short time, this system enables Ventura to have lower emissions using HFO on its larger engines than it does using low sulphur diesel on it smaller engines.   

I would have expected hat Britannia would have similar scrubbers installed, or maybe it won't get them until the first refit.

Edited March 1, 2019 by terrierjohn

[miniyorkie]

9 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

 

My opinion is based on my personal experience of ruined clothes and constant cleaning due to the soot. I am glad you were not affected by this problem but the problem does exist.

Otherwise we enjoyed Britannia. 

 

Quote

Just to confirm the general opinion re soot. We wanted to try Britannia and had an inside cabin ( No soot problem lol) however we did find plenty of available sunbeds at the Aft one day and had been there awhile when I noticed black marks/streaks on my new, white, linen trousers and was rather confused as to the reason. We have been on Britannia since that soot episode but obviously avoided relaxing at the aft of the ship. I agree that the OP has made a wise choice to book select and can then make judgment for future cruises based on this trip.

 

 

 

[Harry Peterson]

How much better these forums would be without what appears to be a constant need for some posters (and I mean nobody in particular by that - this is a comment that applies to a few people) to score points off each other, and others to take every comment as a personal criticism.

 

What's particularly sad is that those posters all have a lot of useful information to share - so thanks for that, anyway.  🙂

[alija1960]

Hi without appearing rude towards a lot of posts on here but I think the subject has gone off on a tangent.  The OP was mainly asking for peoples views/experiences of choosing either Select or a Saver fare - not much use the replies they have been getting.

[Eglesbrech]

3 hours ago, alija1960 said:

Hi without appearing rude towards a lot of posts on here but I think the subject has gone off on a tangent.  The OP was mainly asking for peoples views/experiences of choosing either Select or a Saver fare - not much use the replies they have been getting.

While you are absolutely correct in your observation you will find that not many of the threads on here stick strictly to the initial question, it’s the nature of the beast. Without this these cruise boards would die off very quickly😀

 

What starts as a saver v select, moves to the best select to pick (at the ops request) and so naturally to potential pitfalls with a variety of aspects of ships/ cabins and then to a different experiences. Everyone has different views based on their own experience and has every right to express them, debate usually follows.

 

At least the op did get what they needed and have now booked.

[DevonianCruiser]

Well I got some great advice which I’m grateful for and learnt a bit about the ship as well. Very pleased to have booked. Thanks all 😎

[Caravan 37]

On 3/1/2019 at 12:33 AM, Eglesbrech said:

Would ‘aft’ soot issues also apply to ‘mid aft’ cabins?

thinking of F605 on Britannia

 

My opinion is based on my personal experience of ruined clothes and constant cleaning due to the soot. I am glad you were not affected by this problem but the problem does exist.

 

Otherwise we enjoyed Britannia. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Eglesbrech]

We were right at the back so I can’t say if it would affect mid aft or not for sure, sorry.

 

 

[davecttr]

On ‎3‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 9:06 AM, terrierjohn said:

Never having sailed in a stern balcony on any ship I am unable to give an opinion on the soot issue. 

However during our behind the scenes tour of the engine control room on Ventura the chief engineer said that Ventura now uses scrubbers to clean up the funnel emissions, when asked about the occasional black smoke this happens when they start one of the engines when they need a very rich mixture, which results in some unburnt fuel being discharged, but only for a short time, this system enables Ventura to have lower emissions using HFO on its larger engines than it does using low sulphur diesel on it smaller engines.   

I would have expected hat Britannia would have similar scrubbers installed, or maybe it won't get them until the first refit.

I have read recently that the exhaust cleaning system or whatever they call it has filters that need periodic cleaning. Apparently they clean the filters by using high pressure steam? blowing the filter deposits out of the exhaust? They do this at night

[terrierjohn]

21 minutes ago, davecttr said:

I have read recently that the exhaust cleaning system or whatever they call it has filters that need periodic cleaning. Apparently they clean the filters by using high pressure steam? blowing the filter deposits out of the exhaust? They do this at night

That's not what Ventura's chief engineer said, the deposits are kept in suspension and discharged at sea once out in deep water.

[Harry Peterson]

Have you ever looked, from the rear of the ship, into the far distance?  There’s almost always a faint but very visible yellow haze.

 

Presumably just one of the more  obvious signs of the pollution these ships create.