P&O flagship Britannia emerges from dry-dock following refit and refurbishment

P&O Cruises’ current flagship Britannia has re-entered service after a major refit and refurbishment that saw a number of interior design changes made to the ship, and Twitter is loving it.

Paul Ludlow, President of P&O Cruises, shared pictures of the ship’s redesigned central atrium on Twitter, saying she looked ‘spectacular’.

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While the president of the cruise line will no doubt be biased, P&O fans and cruise media were quick to agree.

“Looks so much better without that questionable ‘Egyptian/maze’ carpet,” said Travel Junkie. “Looks very fresh, airy & contemporary now & personally I think the carpet removal alone has transformed it, because other than that it’s not that different, except the centre.”

Cruise Ship Paradise was quick to spot that the newly refurbished Britannia is also now sporting her annual Christmas decorations.

Britannia arrived at the Port of Southampton Tuesday to embark passengers for her first cruise following the refit, a 2-night Western Europe voyage that will be followed by a repositioning trans-Atlantic to the Caribbean.

Britannia will homeport in Bridgetown, Barbados and Castries, St Lucia until March, 2020 when she will return to roundtrip sailing out of Southampton. While in the Caribbean, she will sail 7 and 14-night cruises to Curacao, Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts, Antigua and St. Maarten.

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Among the other changes made to the ship during her refit are a new Arctic cold room and aroma steam room in the thermal and hydropool suite in the spa, as well as two new express spa pods offering a range of new treatments from high-tech massages and a zero-gravity lounger to eyelash treatments.

A permanent art gallery has been introduced adjacent to the atrium lobby on Deck 5, next to Blue Bar, with sweet treats from master pâtissier and Food Hero Eric Lanlard at The Market Café across the atrium.

Almost all her public rooms and cabins have had soft furnishings refreshed or changed and according to P&O there are whole host of new passenger amenities.

The ship was refurbished at a shipyard in Brest, France. This was the first of many such projects to come for the new(ish) cruise ship, which was introduced to the fleet just five years ago.

She will soon be superseded as the flagship, however, when P&O’s new LNG-powered mega-ship Iona is launched.