Britannia so far.

So I have had a few days to find my way around Britannia and I am still undecided how I feel about the latest addition to the P&O stable. My cabin with balcony on the 16th deck is really nice, massive wall mounted flat screen TV with loads of choice in programming. The powers that be have not been slow with the chance to make money on secondary spend by charging for some of the premium films. The bathrooms with shower enclosures are great and roomy. One thing I kept hearing was how small the balconies are, unless you are putting on a cabaret I think they are more than adequate, the only downside I can see is the balcony rail has been raised for obvious safety reasons and is in the eye line when sat. I would also say if you have not got a head for heights avoid cabins on the upper decks they are a long way up or down whichever way you look at it. The sound proofing has improved greatly, above my cabin is open deck and I have not heard a thing. It is noticeable in the dining areas that less staff are covering a lot more passengers and no specialist wine waiters. In the self service dinning area they have installed automated wine and beer dispensers, I kid you not, you swipe your cruise card and your appropriate choice gets charged to your cruise account. The set up for the buffet dining is very good the layout is excellent the serving islands are able to open and close independently so there is always plenty of choice along with plenty of seating. Another innovation is serving tea and coffee at your table, the menus are varied and imaginative everyone should be able to find something to suit. This is only a cursory over view there are also negatives, you always seem to have to wait a long time for lifts to arrive, on many decks there are no direct routes between venues on the same deck, which can be very annoying. In places it seems that there is an awful lot of wasted space. On this cruise ports stops have been daily so the fight for sunbathing space has not been too bad but on a Caribbean jaunt I could see this being a major problem, also on sea days. As you might have guessed from my observations it reinforces Britannia's image of being a  marmite ship. More to come on other aspects of life onboard.

Self Service Booze

Lisbon from my Balcony