Nearly a year since Britannia

May 2nd marks the 1st birthday of Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte and a year since our cruise on Britannia. For me this cruise holds special memories for several different reasons.  I have been on a couple of cruises since Mum passed away in September 2014, the first was on Royal Caribbeans Independence of the Sea and P&O's Britannia was the second of the cruises.  

When I booked Britannia in late 2014 it was for no other reason than we needed a holiday to get over a rather upsetting situation which was caused by the actions of the Co-operative Funeralcare who lost my Mum's wedding ring and after many weeks they finally accepted full responsibility and paid compensation. Between booking the cruise and taking it we had some of her ashes interred at her local church and the remaining ashes Mum wished for me to scatter somewhere special.  At the time I had several ideas in mind of what she would have liked but no final decision had been made.

Our cruise on Britannia was about the 5th cruise into her inaugural season and like many of my fellow cruisers I was looking for reviews and information that I might find helpful and like many people I am a member of several cruise related forums.  One day I received a newsletter from a list and I saw something that caught my eye and that was the scattering of ashes at sea.  Curiosity got the better of me and I clicked on the link and read a very heart warming account of how a chap had a relatives ashes scattered at sea on Britannia and it got me thinking.  My Mum had so many connections to the sea, my Dad who was in the Royal Navy and Mum's last holiday with me was to Lanzarote; which was going to be one of our ports of call on this cruise.  I wasn't sure how or if I could organise it but I thought I would try and my first port of call was our cruise agent who made the first contact with P&O. A lady contacted me and she wanted to know a bit more information regarding the cruise and whose ashes I wanted to be scattered.  At this point it was not certain if this could be done as it was down to the Captain and the port authority of the places that we were visiting. On my part I had to get a cremation certificate and this had to be got from the crematorium. The funeral director from the Co-op was kind enough to sort that for me and so I had my fingers crossed for some good news from P&O.  After I believe a week or so of waiting I received a letter to say that I had been granted permission by Captain Pembridge for the scattering of Mum's ashes in the Canary Islands.  I had to report to the information desk at the Southampton terminal and they would escort me through customs.

Britannia in the Canaries

I don't why I was so nervous about these ashes, maybe because once this final act that I could do for Mum that. Once on board I reported to the reception as per my letter and ask for Karen who was a young Officer who was going to guide me through this sad time and make sure everything went smoothly from the service to ordering a wreath, she was their for us throughout the whole cruise. On the day we reach Lisbon I handed over the small sealed container of Mum's ashes for them to examine and I was told that the harbour authorities in Lanzarote had given permission for the scattering of ashes in the waters just off the island.
A couple a days later we reached Lanzarote and Mum's ashes were going to be scattered in a early evening ceremony at 7:30pm.  That day was a bit surreal because we had spent the day on the ship sunbathing and doing such ordinary things. I was more nervous about meeting Captain Pembridge than having Mum's ashes scattered. Once we had departed for Gran Canaria we went and met up with the Captain, Karen and another Officer.  There was a set service that was taken by Captain Pembridge and then I was asked if I wanted to say a few words before throwing the  wreath of beautiful bright flowers into the sea and I watched it for a few moments as it floated away into the distance.  Afterwards I knew I had done the right thing by Mum scattering her ashes in a place that we both loved.  Several days later I was given a certificate to say that Mum's ashes were committed to the sea in position Latitude 28 50'N Longitude 013 36'W on 8th May 2015. This was also entered into the ships log for perpetuity.  

Glass House Fish & Chips

After booking this 14 day cruise it was announced that Olly Smith wine expert and one of P&O's Food Hero's was going to be on board in the second week.  When I found this out I was determined that we would do a wine tasting session with him. I am no wine expert but I do like a nice white wine and because I not that keen on red wine I was hoping he could change my mind.  On this cruise Olly only did a couple of wine tasting sessions and they were limited to 12 people so I booked it as soon as the flyer hit our cabin.  I had never done anything like this before so I didn't know what to expect.  I actually thought we would be out of our depth and that the other people would be wine connoisseurs but actually no one in the group was.  We had four wines to  taste, two white and two red and nibbles as well.  It lasted about 90 minutes and I actually came away liking one of the reds as well as both whites.  Olly truly loves his profession and passed on some knowledge and insight into what he is passionate about.  
Britannia is a lovely ship but as I have previously said but for me she does not have the "WOW" factor.  I found the atrium to be more like a shopping mall with its "Market Cafe" and shops that were on two decks. The spiral staircase was to one side of the atrium and really was nothing special to look at.  The reception was just off the atrium and it felt as if you were in a 4 star hotel.  I say 4 star because I have stayed in a 5 star plus hotels and this ship does fall far short of the standards that you would expect from such an establishment.
All in all I am glad that I have been on this ship but I won't be in any hurry to sail on her again unless it is the right itinerary and time.