Just off Britannia

[shot2bits]

Two weeks of flat out air conditioning and bland, tasteless, repetitive food and now I’ve tested positive for Covid! Perfect end to a dreadful cruise..

[CarlaMarie]

9 minutes ago, shot2bits said:

Two weeks of flat out air conditioning and bland, tasteless, repetitive food and now I’ve tested positive for Covid! Perfect end to a dreadful cruise..

 

I'm sorry to hear you didn't enjoy your cruise. The food was a slight issue when my Mum and Dad were onboard Britannia in May, but others have since found it better. Was the food and air conditioning the main two issues, or did other things affect your enjoyment? 

[shot2bits]

Yes, forgot to mention four days of food poisoning that I am still getting over!

[Spike11]

1 hour ago, shot2bits said:

Two weeks of flat out air conditioning and bland, tasteless, repetitive food and now I’ve tested positive for Covid! Perfect end to a dreadful cruise..

Sorry you didn’t enjoy your holiday. It would be useful if you could expand on why it was a dreadful cruise. Was everything dreadful, or were there some positives?

[shot2bits]

I have written a review which goes into a bit more detail but the ship is run down and grubby, stains all over the carpets in the corridor and especially in the cabin. The food in the peninsula restaurant was bland and tasteless, featuring mostly vegetarian and vegan options. They loved serving lamb and if you didn’t fancy that there was the chicken or 5oz steak to fall back on, which was like leather! Very little information was given, certainly not in the horizon news sheet which featured mainly stuff to relieve you of you hard earned. I made the mistake of having a shrimp dish followed by clam chowder. This led to the four days of food poisoning. I could go on but fear the hard liners are going to roast me! That was the final cruise for us. Positive, the ship is very stable and the crossing over the bay of Biscay down to Madeira was very smooth.

Edited October 7, 2023 by shot2bits

[AndyMichelle]

7 minutes ago, shot2bits said:

I have written a review which goes into a bit more detail but the ship is run down and grubby, stains all over the carpets in the corridor and especially in the cabin. The food in the peninsula restaurant was bland and tasteless, featuring mostly vegetarian and vegan options. They loved serving lamb and if you didn’t fancy that there was the chicken or 5oz steak to fall back on, which was like leather! Very little information was given, certainly not in the horizon news sheet which featured mainly stuff to relieve you of you hard earned. I made the mistake of having a shrimp dish followed by clam chowder. This led to the four days of food poisoning. I could go on but fear the hard liners are going to roast me! That was the final cruise for us. Positive, the ship is very stable and the crossing over the bay of Biscay down to Madeira was very smooth.

You are not the first to say how run down Britannia is and I appreciate you can only speak as you find. 

However, we were on her in July and commented how good condition we found her to be in. We didn't look too close, but our cabin was spotless and the public areas seemed good to us. 

Not everything was perfect, but we thought the ship was in good nick. 

Please don't take this as a criticism of your post, we would have also been unhappy with stained carpets, bland food etc. 

Sorry you didn't enjoy Britannia as much as we did. 

Andy 

[Selbourne]

4 minutes ago, shot2bits said:

I have written a review which goes into a bit more detail but the ship is run down and grubby, stains all over the carpets in the corridor and especially in the cabin. The food in the peninsula restaurant was bland and tasteless, featuring mostly vegetarian and vegan options. They loved serving lamb and if you didn’t fancy that there was the chicken or 5oz steak to fall back on, which was like leather! Very little information was given, certainly not in the horizon news sheet which featured mainly stuff to relieve you of you hard earned. I made the mistake of having a shrimp dish followed by clam chowder. This led to the four days of food poisoning. I could go on but fear the hard liners are going to roast me! That was the final cruise for us.

I’m sorry to hear that you had such a poor cruise. What a difference a few months makes. We were on Britannia in July and we enjoyed all the food in the MDR, other than the Celebration night (the Marco Pierre White dishes were poor). Neither of us are vegetarian or vegan either. I love lamb and unfortunately didn’t see it on the menu once, but we ate in the speciality restaurants around half the nights. I had lamb in Sindhu but didn’t particularly enjoy it. I prefer mint sauce on my lamb to whatever they had cooked it in! Luckily we’ve never had food poisoning or Norovirus on any of our 20+ P&O cruises, but we’ve put that down to avoiding the buffet 😂 
 

We thought that the ship looked in very good condition back in July, but someone on the cruise after ours reported on similar things to you. Odd we didn’t notice them though. So sorry to hear that you got Covid to top off all your problems. We are having our boosters next week (2 weeks before our next cruise) as I’m conscious that Covid and cruise ships are very happy bed fellows, especially in the cooler months. 

[Megabear2]

38 minutes ago, shot2bits said:

I have written a review which goes into a bit more detail but the ship is run down and grubby, stains all over the carpets in the corridor and especially in the cabin. The food in the peninsula restaurant was bland and tasteless, featuring mostly vegetarian and vegan options. They loved serving lamb and if you didn’t fancy that there was the chicken or 5oz steak to fall back on, which was like leather! Very little information was given, certainly not in the horizon news sheet which featured mainly stuff to relieve you of you hard earned. I made the mistake of having a shrimp dish followed by clam chowder. This led to the four days of food poisoning. I could go on but fear the hard liners are going to roast me! That was the final cruise for us. Positive, the ship is very stable and the crossing over the bay of Biscay down to Madeira was very smooth.

Did you report the food poisoning and if so what did P&O say/do?  Assumedly you were not alone if it was caused by the food onboard and clearly would have been a major health issue needing their action.

 

I'm sorry it sounds like an all round bad experience. I wish you a speedy recovery.

[shot2bits]

No I didn’t report it. I really didn’t fancy being interrogated by the on board medical people. I probably should have done. I’m feeling better now, just the Covid to fight. The experience has terminated my cruising for good sadly

 

[Eglesbrech]

11 hours ago, shot2bits said:

The food in the peninsula restaurant was bland and tasteless, featuring mostly vegetarian and vegan options

I have to say that describes perfectly my experience of the food on Iona in the MDR. We ended up eating mainly in the speciality restaurants as the Mdr food was really not to my taste.

 

Others have had much better experiences and really enjoyed the food.

 

@Selbourne had a good experience recently on Britannia and reported it on an interesting and comprehensive “live from”.
 

While food is extremely subjective there seems to be such a wide divide in opinion from one month to the next that it probably points to some lack of consistency / change of staff.

 

Sorry you didn’t enjoy your holiday and hope you recover soon. Don’t let one bad experience put you off cruising.

[S1971]

8 hours ago, shot2bits said:

No I didn’t report it. I really didn’t fancy being interrogated by the on board medical people. I probably should have done. I’m feeling better now, just the Covid to fight. The experience has terminated my cruising for good sadly

 

 

I doubt you're the first person not to report the medical centre.

 

By doing so they'll deny all responsibility and charge you at an extortionate rate for the experience, as they all do.

 

I can fully understand how this experience has put you off cruising, but this can happen on land based holidays too, hopefully once you've fully recovered you can think again about cruising as in all honesty it is the best way to travel.

 

Hope you feel better soon.

[majortom10]

Let's be honest we can catch COVID on any ship in fact anywhere whether at sea or not

 I don't think there is any one area to avoid catching it when there is large number of people in confined spaces i.e. buffet, coach excursions/shuttle buses and lifts. The blame cannot be put on any cruise line.

[Winifred 22]

1 hour ago, S1971 said:

 

I doubt you're the first person not to report the medical centre

 

By doing so they'll deny all responsibility  and charge you at an extortionate rate for the experience, as they all do

This what travel insurance is for. Your expenses would be reclaimed from your policy. 

[S1971]

2 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Let's be honest we can catch COVID on any ship in fact anywhere whether at sea or not

 I don't think there is any one area to avoid catching it when there is large number of people in confined spaces i.e. buffet, coach excursions/shuttle buses and lifts. The blame cannot be put on any cruise line.

In all fairness I don't think the poster is blaming P&O for catching covid, and agreed just like Norovirus, Covid can be caught anywhere.

 

I think it just topped off what was all in all a bad cruise, following bad food, uncontrollable air con and food poisoning.

[S1971]

6 minutes ago, Winifred 22 said:

This what travel insurance is for. Your expenses would be reclaimed from your policy. 

 

Quite right,  but this is not paid instantly and if P&O deny responsibility which is highly likely then there's no guarantee insurance will settle, more especially nowadays after years of false claims.

 

All cruiselines rarely take responsibility for this kind of complaint for obvious reasons.

[mklions]

33 minutes ago, Winifred 22 said:

This what travel insurance is for. Your expenses would be reclaimed from your policy. 

Plus in most cases a hefty excess on your claim!

[majortom10]

28 minutes ago, S1971 said:

In all fairness I don't think the poster is blaming P&O for catching covid, and agreed just like Norovirus, Covid can be caught anywhere.

 

I think it just topped off what was all in all a bad cruise, following bad food, uncontrollable air con and food poisoning.

Food is so subjective that one person's opinion might be the opposite to others so don't think one opinion makes it on the whole a bad cruise.

[Megabear2]

15 minutes ago, S1971 said:

 

Quite right,  but this is not paid instantly and if P&O deny responsibility which is highly likely then there's no guarantee insurance will settle, more especially nowadays after years of false claims.

 

All cruiselines rarely take responsibility for this kind of complaint for obvious reasons.

Food poisoning is a very serious issue.  It is also something other passengers would have experienced if it was from food consumed and served onboard and unless investigated a source cannot be blamed.  On a ship with 3,000 people if the food poisoning was as a result of something prepared and served onboard it is highly unlikely that P&O would have only one case. It is extremely difficult to not accept responsibility faced with many passengers with the same complaint.  In July this year following a land based Kefalonian holiday my husband was seriously ill with food poisoning. The difference here was over 150 people were struck down and the source was undeniable.  Unfortunately if it is not reported it is impossible to trace the source and therefore cannot be confirmed as even having come from the ship.

[S1971]

20 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Food poisoning is a very serious issue.  It is also something other passengers would have experienced if it was from food consumed and served onboard and unless investigated a source cannot be blamed.  On a ship with 3,000 people if the food poisoning was as a result of something prepared and served onboard it is highly unlikely that P&O would have only one case. It is extremely difficult to not accept responsibility faced with many passengers with the same complaint.  In July this year following a land based Kefalonian holiday my husband was seriously ill with food poisoning. The difference here was over 150 people were struck down and the source was undeniable.  Unfortunately if it is not reported it is impossible to trace the source and therefore cannot be confirmed as even having come from the ship.

 

I agree with you, however there may well of been others affected and reported but we have no way of knowing as we only have the posters experience posted on here and it's very unlikely that P&O would highlight they've had a food poisoning outbreak onboard.

 

 

 

 

[S1971]

31 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Food is so subjective that one person's opinion might be the opposite to others so don't think one opinion makes it on the whole a bad cruise.

Agreed, but taking into account all the things experienced I'd certainly be inclined to but it down to a bad overall cruise.

 

Whether I'd not cruise again based on one bad experience is another thing, it certainly wouldn't put me off.

[Megabear2]

3 minutes ago, S1971 said:

 

I agree with you, however there may well of been others affected and reported but we have no way of knowing as we only have the posters experience posted on here and it's very unlikely that P&O would highlight they've had a food poisoning outbreak onboard.

 

 

 

 

Sadly as it wasn't reported we will never know, however going on to a public forum and stating uncategorically that the ship is to blame is a serious matter unless you can have proof that is the case.

 

However if a food poisoning outbreak has occurred I have no doubt it will only be a matter of time before we hear of it in through other channels.  It is all well and good to say insurance claims are too difficult but a matter of public health should override anything else.  What if it was something like E-coli or botulism which can kill, not reporting it could have tragic consequences.

[S1971]

16 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Sadly as it wasn't reported we will never know, however going on to a public forum and stating uncategorically that the ship is to blame is a serious matter unless you can have proof that is the case.

 

However if a food poisoning outbreak has occurred I have no doubt it will only be a matter of time before we hear of it in through other channels.  It is all well and good to say insurance claims are too difficult but a matter of public health should override anything else.  What if it was something like E-coli or botulism which can kill, not reporting it could have tragic consequences.

 

As you say we will never know, but it certainly doesn't mean it didn't happen!

 

I guess putting it on a public forum is just one way of sharing the frustration experienced to others, which I guess is what this and other forums are for, its then down to individuals like us as to whether we believe it or not.

 

Should the poster have reported it, probably, would P&O or any other cruiseline accept responsibility probably not, you've only got to look back in history to see cruiselines rarely take full responsibility and more often than not it's put down things beyond their control or blamed on the pax themselves.

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, majortom10 said:

Food is so subjective that one person's opinion might be the opposite to others so don't think one opinion makes it on the whole a bad cruise.

It can also be down to choice, many is the time I have looked at someone else's main course and wished I had made the same choice.

[Megabear2]

2 minutes ago, S1971 said:

 

As you say we will never know, but it certainly doesn't mean it didn't happen!

 

I guess putting it on a public forum is just one way of sharing the frustration experienced to others, which I guess is what this and other forums are for, its then down to individuals like us as to whether we believe it or not.

 

Should the poster have reported it, probably, would P&O or any other cruiseline accept responsibility probably not, you've only got to look back in history to see cruiselines rarely take full responsibility and more often than not it's put down things beyond their control or blamed on the pax themselves.

I certainly am not doubting the poster was ill, clearly if they were unwell for 4 days and ongoing it is quite serious and this is my concern that it should most definitely have been reported.  Having just been involved with a serious food poisoning event which hospitalised my husband I do not like to see these things not dealt with.  We are due on Britannia for our next cruise and if there were lessons to be learned I would have preferred P&O to have had the chance to rectify anything that may have gone wrong.

 

Clearly the OP has had a rough time and has chosen to tell us, however P&O should be the ones who were told at the time it happened so they would have had go investigate. It is true that they may not have taken responsibility if it was a one off (initially this happened with our hotel in July) but if others reported illness they may well have had to.  

 

Real food poisoning rather than just eating something our stomach disagrees with is an extremely dangerous thing and in some cases can be life changing or even cause death.  

 

 

[zap99]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

Sadly as it wasn't reported we will never know, however going on to a public forum and stating uncategorically that the ship is to blame is a serious matter unless you can have proof that is the case.

 

However if a food poisoning outbreak has occurred I have no doubt it will only be a matter of time before we hear of it in through other channels.  It is all well and good to say insurance claims are too difficult but a matter of public health should override anything else.  What if it was something like E-coli or botulism which can kill, not reporting it could have tragic consequences.

As you say, if a food poisoning outbreak has occurred it should be reported to P&O at the time. It wasn't so nothing for P&O to investigate.