On the cruises we’ve done, we’ve always sat in the travel agents or pawing over the P&O website contemplating the decision to upgrade to a Balcony cabin or not. And even after we’ve booked it, we’re still asking ourselves the same question.
There are some benefits of a Balcony Cabin of course, you get a view and a bigger room, but we think we’ve come up with the perfect solution. A Larger Inside Cabin, with The Retreat.
Larger Inside Cabins vs. Standard
On Britannia, there’s not a huge amount of differences between the cabins. We did a short 1 week cruise with a standard cabin, and there were two main things we noticed…
- Dressing Area: With the standard cabin, you get 1 cupboard in the dressing area with 4 shelves, one of these is taken up with a safe. In the larger inside cabin, you also get an open shelving area with 4 shelves. You do however get the same amount of hanging space with both cabins (and they come with a really decent amount of hangers!
- Floor Space: This is the bit that really makes us book a larger cabin, the floor space. If one of you is sitting at the dressing table, the other is unable to walk around the bed, it can get a little frustrating on the Gala nights when you’re trying to look all glam, but in reality, it’s not too much of a problem. If you’re on the ship for more than 7 days though, it might start to get a little tiresome.
- Bathrooms: These are identical, and even if you go for a balcony
So what does a balcony give you extra? Well of course even more floor space, but it’s not until you go for the slightly more expensive balcony cabins that you get a noticeable increase, with a sofa etc. With that in mind, we’ve decided our money is better spent on things we know we’ll enjoy!
The Retreat
On our first ever cruise, we spent 2 weeks in the Caribbean and we had got an upgrade to the Larger inside cabin, by chance! It was before her 2019 refit, and we spent our time on deck at the Serenity (adults only) pool. However, after her 2019 refit, we went again to the Caribbean for 2 weeks. We decided to book a Larger inside cabin and that we’d go straight for the Serenity pool again. That situation changed on Day 1.
After her 2019 refit, P&O kitted out Britannia with some new sunbeds. Sadly though, this isn’t ideal. The Serenity pool area is now anything but ‘Serenity’ with beds crammed so close together you have to crawl up the bed to get on! We went straight down to the Spa and booked, the super exclusive area, ‘The Retreat’, and we didn’t look back! For more information on The Retreat – take a look at P&O Crusies Website.
Our Verdict?
Here’s the deal, the Retreat (at the time of posting) is £300 per couple, per week. That’s a lot. And that may cost you more than the upgrade to a balcony. But really, isn’t it better to spend a little more to get access to two Hot Tubs, and a waiting service who will bring you drinks all day? That’s a service you won’t get on your balcony!
If you can’t justify the cost of the retreat and the larger inside cabin, we’d strongly recommend just going for the retreat!