As you are all probably aware by now, on February 22nd, P&O Cruises officially took ownership of Britannia. The traditional ceremony included the exchange of flags, in which the shipyard flag is taken down and the P&O Cruises flag is flown. Britannia’s Captain Paul Brown was also presented with the first water to touch the hull of Britannia during the official float out ceremony.
Guests at the handover ceremony included some of P&O Cruises Food Heroes; TV wine expert Olly Smith who is represented in The Glass House wine bar and restaurant as well as master patissier Eric Lanlard and cheese expert Charlie Turnbull who are represented in The Market Cafe and Epicurean fine dining restaurant.
I am told it was quite the event, but the REAL fun is yet to come. In just 17-days time, yes, SEVENTEEN, Britannia will let go her lines and sail from Southampton on what can only be described as one the most highly anticipated cruises of 2015 (and of my entire cruising history thus far!), and as there are less than 3-weeks to go until the big event, I thought now would be a good time for us all to get to know P&O Cruises Britannia a little more – prepare for stats and pictures Britannia lovers! 🙂
Britannia Statistics
141,000 tons
3,647 passengers (lower berths)
1,350 crew
15 passenger decks
13 bars
13 places to eat
Nine places to enjoy entertainment – including a 936-seat state of the art theatre
Four pools
Three-tier feature atrium
£1m+ art collection
Extensive children’s facilities, including four age group areas, a night nursery and outdoor splash area for teens
Sports arena
1,837 cabins – all outside cabins have a balcony
64 suites
1,313 balcony cabins – including 15 single balcony cabins
460 inside cabins – including 12 single inside cabins
Oasis Spa & The Retreat
Extensive gym
Library
Extensive shops – the largest in the fleet at 660 sqm (17% bigger than Azura/Ventura
Britannia will leave Fincantieri shipyard at the end of this week and arrive in Southampton on Friday March 6. She will be officially named on Tuesday March 10 before her maiden voyage to the Mediterranean on Saturday March 14.
CruiseMiss.com 
I have been on Azura & Ventura a couple of times & have to say we never found it crowded at anytime. Looking forward to being on Britannia later this year.
I should preface my comment by explaining I worked for P&O in the 70’s & 80’s, which at that time and prior was a highly traditional company.
I just can’t get over the ship’s livery changes. P&O Passenger ships have had buff funnels and clear white hulls for over 80 years. The P&O ships with blue funnels were cargo ships. I guess the new management team isn’t aware of these traditions, or they wouldn’t have changed the livery to a blue funnel.
Will we try it, or a Princess equivalent – possibly. The size is a concern, but with that you also have to consider the pax/space ratio and design. We recently tried a Princess super Grand Class – Emerald Princess, which is a Grand class with an extra deck of pax cabins, about 500 extra pax. Only problem is basically the same hull. Way to crowded, but we are willing to at least try one of the new mega ships to check the pax/space ration and potential bottlenecks.
Will be interested in reading your reports on the ship – what is it like when the theatre show ends, how easy to find a seat in the lounges, access to deck chairs, atrium seating, access to drinks at the basic cocktail party, etc.
Hi Danielle,
it will be interesting to read, what your trip ist going to be like. I am also planning to try her out for my travel blog http://www.hideousjourneys.com. Big cruise addict as well:)
Have a safe and excellent trip and make sure you try out all those yummy places to eat:)
Thank you for your time and effort for this information,we are on in August for 2 weeks and then 4 weeks in March 2016.
as we will never go on Azura or Ventura as they are far to big for us it follows that Brittania being even bigger will certainly be of zero interest to us
Fancy there’s 13 places to eat and 13 bars. Hope it’s lucky.