Is Britannia Too Big?

[snaefell]

Not the usual question about Britannia folks,we are hoping to do a Med cruise from the UK,probably early 2020 &  are particularly interested in calling at Gibraltar & Monte Carlo,the iteneraries I am seeing don't seem to include Monte Carlo for Britannia's sailings,would I be right in guessing that she is too big for berthing there?

[majortom10]

We have called at Monte Carlo in the past on Britannia but we tendered in to the port and didnt dock.

[Monorail Orange]

Yes, Monaco is by tender on Britannia.

 

It looks like Ventura & Azura are similar, although they are listed as "usually docked, but may tender" - so its a 50-50 chance there.

 

Seems odd that they are (unless I've missed it) the only 3 in the fleet that go to the country. You'd think the smaller ships would always be there as they can dock. I wonder, is it cheaper to tender? They're still taking passengers ashore, but they won't have to pay for all the full dock services of a port.

 

[Spike11]

6 minutes ago, Monorail Orange said:

Yes, Monaco is by tender on Britannia.

 

It looks like Ventura & Azura are similar, although they are listed as "usually docked, but may tender" - so its a 50-50 chance there.

 

Seems odd that they are (unless I've missed it) the only 3 in the fleet that go to the country. You'd think the smaller ships would always be there as they can dock. I wonder, is it cheaper to tender? They're still taking passengers ashore, but they won't have to pay for all the full dock services of a port.

 

We tendered from Oceana three weeks ago. There was also a mid-sized Celebrity ship which also tendered. I’m not sure they like even medium sized ships docking in the port any more. This might be something to do with the £10 billion land reclamation project just to one side of the harbour. We actually tendered to Fontvieille ( which is their other side of the promontory that houses the palace and cathedral).

[BrianI]

On Azura we docked in Monaco so no problem with ships of this size. It may depend on what other ships are in on the day  

Brian

[daiB]

11 hours ago, snaefell said:

Not the usual question about Britannia folks,we are hoping to do a Med cruise from the UK,probably early 2020 &  are particularly interested in calling at Gibraltar & Monte Carlo,the iteneraries I am seeing don't seem to include Monte Carlo for Britannia's sailings,would I be right in guessing that she is too big for berthing there?

Monte Carlo is a tender port for most ships. It does have a dock but rarely used. We have been 5 times and never docked. Unfortunately although rarely rough there is often a heavy swell at this port making tendering difficult as well.

[snaefell]

Thanks for your replies guys,much appreciated

[Denarius]

I have docked in Monaco a few times with Star Clippers but only once with P&O, on Oceana several years ago.  It appears to me that the pier can only handle one ship at a time and I think that it would struggle with anything bigger than the latter.

Gibraltar handles larger ships without any problems.

[terrierjohn]

46 minutes ago, Denarius said:

I have docked in Monaco a few times with Star Clippers but only once with P&O, on Oceana several years ago.  It appears to me that the pier can only handle one ship at a time and I think that it would struggle with anything bigger than the latter.

Gibraltar handles larger ships without any problems.

We have docked in Monaco on Azura, so clearly they can handle some bigger ships, I think I have also seen a photo of one of Princess's Royal class ships there, so Britannia could possibly dock as well.

[scarlet ohara]

We docked in Monaco on Britannia a couple of years ago, and also on Queen Victoria a couple of years before that. Haven’t ever tendered in Monaco!!

[Eglesbrech]

We tendered last time as a Viking ship had the main berth.  

 

Absolute nightmare on a large ship. We booked an am trip so we could get off then have a walk around pm on our own but still had a very, very long hot queue to get back onboard later.

 

Pray for the berth.

[snaefell]

Thanks again guys!

[jeanlyon]

I have been once on Oriana and we tendered.

 

[Mr Piano]

The main thing that makes Britannia bigger than Azura and Ventura is the number of cabins. The public areas are about the same size on the 3 ships

[Josy1953]

We have never docked in Monaco on the 5 P&O cruises that we have been to Monaco on but we have docked there on 3 Princess cruises ( grand class ships) and on a Celebrity cruise so they can definitely handle ships the size of Azura and Ventura.