What To Do in the First Few Hours On A P&O Cruise

I did my research, wrote down the names and addresses of all the best cafes and places to visit and even revised my knowledge of the history of Norway. The day finally arrived, we were going on a cruise!

Britannia, P&O’s flagship is a large ship but I was not ready for just how big as we drew up to to the cruise terminal. Insert huge gasp! 

I have read quite a few blogs about what to expect on the first day of your cruise (I can see you rolling your eyes at me) but many leave out any information about the embarkation process, so I thought that I would. This only applies to P&O Cruises though as the embarkation can vary between companies....or at least I think so but this is my first ever cruise so I wouldn't really know.....

Your embarkation time depends on which deck your cabin is. Lower decks board the ship first while the higher decks, like deck C where we were staying, go on board later in the afternoon. 

When we pulled into the dock gate, the Cruise Parking Service directed us where to go and wait and wait and wait. 

Eventually, the queue of cars thinned so we were able to drive round to the front of the terminal where a porter loaded our bags onto the ship and the valet parking service drove the car away. We were then free to stroll into the terminal building.

On entering the terminal we were all given a coloured, lettered card which dictated when we could check in, have our credit or debit cards scanned and receive our cruise card. 

The cruise card is basically your identification on the ship and is scanned every time you get off and on at the port stops so that the crew always know who is on board and who isn’t. (The ship won’t wait for latecomers though so make sure you are on board in plenty of time before the ship leaves the dock.) 

Your cruise card is also the key to your room and can be used to pay for extras like drinks and spa sessions which are not included in your package, so try not to lose it or forget it in your room like I did quite a few times.

After check-in, it was time to head through security. Cruise security is pretty much exactly like the security process at an airport but the main difference is that you are not restricted to carrying only 100ml of liquids in your hand luggage. 

Due to a fire alarm having been set off on the ship earlier in the day, the whole embarkation process had been delayed which pushed back the time of the muster drill. 

Jolly good, just enough time to find the cabin and dump our hand luggage. Hey look at that, our main luggage had arrived and was waiting outside the room. 

The muster alarm is a full security drill that is mandatory for the whole ship and demonstrates exactly what you should do if there is a Titanic moment and we hit an iceberg or something else goes wrong. It also meant that we all had a chance to locate and try on our life jackets.

Once this was over, our holiday could begin! 

With so much choice with what to do, the question was, where to start? 

Many blogs and even the cruising series with Jane McDonald have told me that I absolutely must not miss the ‘sail away’ but guess what kids….I did. 

If you are confused by P&O’s freedom or select dining options then let me tell you, so was I... who are we kidding... I still am. 

There are 10 restaurants and places to eat on the Britannia and 5 of those are included in the cruise price. 

We selected freedom dining which meant that we were free to eat at any time. Yet as we found out this didn’t mean that you could pop in and any restaurant and try them all.

The dining card in your cabin shows which restaurant is yours for the week and we were allocated the Peninsular. 

this is actually the glasshouse just to be confusing

A five-course dinner later and feeling decidedly stuffed, we headed over to the Headliner’s Theatre for a dazzling she of Broadway songs in ‘I’ve Got The Music In Me.’ 

Fun fact: 90% of the costumes used in the performance were designed by the team behind Strictly Come Dancing.