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You can get standard balconies with a sofa on deck 5 and then decks 9 upwards. The only thing with getting one on deck 5 (which are usually the lowest priced) is that most of them are shaded by the lifeboats that are above. I’ve seen some that are ok because they’re in gaps between lifeboats, but it is something to be aware of. Other than that, I’d go for deck 10 and above as this keeps you well away from the promenade on deck 8, which gets busy on sunny sea days and when you’ll hear the people talking when out on your balcony. Standard balconies go all the way up to deck 17 and you might want to choose one of the higher decks if you want quick access to the pools, sunbeds and buffet. Bear in mind though that if you go on the higher decks there is more movement if you’re in rocky seas (so deck 10 is better to reduce this as it’s more midway up the ship with less momentum - it really depends when and where you’re sailing though). If you want minimal movement though then deck 5 balconies are actually best for that. Hope this helps

An interesting observation. My vocal tone probably aligns with the dining experience

Glad you found the video useful. I’ve sure you’ll have a great time. My main tip on Arvia would be to book any speciality restaurants you want to try (and regular restaurants) before the cruise (as I recall the pre-bookings open 2 weeks before sailing date). I say this because it makes it easier to go straight to your table every night rather than having to physically queue or join a virtual queue. It’s also worth booking any entertainment you’re keen to see in advance too. Having said that, some of the entertainment can only be booked once onboard, and for that I recommend booking on the app the day that you get onboard (or get the app support staff in the atrium to sort it for you). This is because some of the entertainment gets heavily booked up early in the cruise and therefore it’s best to book on day 1 to get what you’re keen to see. Hope this helps

@CruiseRight many thanks for the advice/tips that are helpful and much appreciated.

Wish I had tried Sindhu but never got the chance - ran out of time trying all the other restaurants. Glad to hear it was good though. Next time I’ll make sure I book Sindhu too. Thanks for watching

We cruised on Britannia in September. Our room was excellent, nice big bed, 2 TV's, bath as well. Always kept spic and span.

Good point about Iona featuring the wraparound promenade deck too. Glad you liked the video - thanks for watching

Yes, so does Aurora, although she's a very different proposition from the larger ships. 🙂

I thought exactly the same thing - Britannia’s refit would have been a perfect opportunity to add the Quays - it’s a big plus on Arvia. I suspect they wouldn’t be keen to add it to smaller ships though because it’s a free option rather than a paid premium restaurant. As such they’re probably only willing to put it on their largest ships that need more dining options to accommodate that many more guests. Still, I wish they’d have done something to boost the dining options on Britannia

I absolutely wanted to try Sindhu but never got round to it. Ran out of time in the end. Next time for sure

Totally agree, Celebrity is a big improvement. The areas I’d say P&O are competing on are prices and occasionally itinerary. The last two P&O cruises I went on had dramatic discounts a few weeks before the cruise (from £799 for 2 weeks) and I booked both very late so for me the low price meant I was more willing to live with the shortfalls. For itineraries, I find for transatlantics they offer the best option as they actually stop in a few Caribbean islands as part of the cruise. Most competitors tend to stop on the Mediterranean side more and often skip the Caribbean altogether, just going straight to Miami, Fort Lauderdale etc (for me that’s a shame as I love the Caribbean)

@@CruiseRight I’m not really a transatlantic cruiser as such …I base my cruises in Mediterranean or Northern Europe itineraries. I agree P&O are very competitive on price but tbh I’d rather pay that little bit extra and get exactly the experience I’m looking for. If they’re offering deep discounts you have to ask why. A good friend of mine has done loads of cruises across all ships and found P&O Aurora to be very very disappointing, poor quality food, miserable staff & skimping on towels etc and long lines at buffet. She’s not one for moaning and is normally very positive, so her opinion counts. On Britannia it was seemingly slewed towards pub quizzes, karaoke & ball room dancing - lovely pastimes which people will love, but it’s not for me. Celebrity vibe is spot on - but that’s just my opinion! 🙂

What did they do

That’s interesting to hear. I think the tricky thing with entertainment that can cause some variance is when these acts/performers are doing a circuit around the different ships in the fleet and so there might be times when you get a number of disappointing ones all showing up on one cruise. That said, it doesn’t change the fact that they should be maintaining a decent overall standard of entertainment, so it’s a shame to hear that Arvia didn’t deliver a better standard on your cruise - especially as it’s the newest ship in the fleet with such a large passenger capacity. They ought to be making more effort on that ship so there is some consistency of standard across the fleet. Thanks for watching the video

Arvia balcony cabins have slightly more spacious bathrooms than Britannia’s. But if it’s a standard inside cabin then Arvia has a much smaller bathroom - it was shocking. Deluxe balconies on Britannia add a bathtub whereas Conservatory Mini Suites on Arvia (the closest equivalent cabin) don’t add the bathtub (they’re identical bathrooms to a balcony) so it all depends on what cabin grade you have as to which is bigger

of cvorse

Know how you feel our room on the iona was not very clean ,had to get them to change the bedding ,on britania next year and going to take cleaning stuff and our own sheets 😂

Absolutely, it’s unfortunate that it’s gone this way but it’s an undeniable fact.

That definitely sounds familiar. I went on Arvia twice - once on a transatlantic when it was about 1000 guests short of being full and once when it was pretty much full. I remember the busy cruise had far more queueing and hassle getting sunbeds etc. I can’t really judge how Britannia compares on that front because I was on a cruise that was nowhere near full, so everything was easy. If it’s not full, it’s going to be all the better for it! Whatever happens, have a great rest of your current cruise and an even better one in July

Thank you for pointing this out. It was an oversight on my part, but I’ll remedy that in the future. Ultimately, it all depends on what rooms are free for me to film at the time but I’ll make sure I attempt to find accessible ones too going forward

Hi, that’s pretty much exactly what I did too. I went on the Arvia transatlantic last year then wanted to try Britannia too. The Caribbean in January is a great choice. Have a brilliant trip!

Deck 7

Glad you liked the production. I’d have liked to try both of those restaurants too but time just didn’t allow us to get to every single restaurant onboard for dinner, partly because we felt we needed to eat in the main dining room at least a few times to get an idea of how consistent the quality of food was. Although, in the interests of full disclosure, I always had Green & Co lower on the list as I’m not much of a healthy eater and so me reviewing Green & Co would be about as useful as a vegetarian reviewing a steak house. Seriously though, I do take your point but this was only the first food review video I’ve made, so I always knew there was going to be room for improvement….and I guarantee it will only get better going forward.