Caribbean cruise 2-17th March ‘18 Disappointing

This was our third cruise but our 1st with P&O. We’ve been with Princess twice.
We knew we’d be bombarded with the extras we’d have to buy when we arrived on board, drinks packages, coffee & ice cream packages, & WATER packages ?!!!
The Internet was blocked on our phones when we arrived and the daily cost for it was £25 which is ludicrous when you are captive on board – truly a low blow !!
Drinks weren’t included (they ARE on the Princess Cruises if you’re happy for unbranded spirits, they charge only for branded spirits, specialty wines, liqueurs, speciality coffee & ice cream)

The Retreat on the top deck, is designed to be a more luxurious open air sunbathing and pool area to hide away in or for some small bites to eat, but we enquired if we could book some days and knew there’d be another extra charge (of course !!) but were told we had to book the whole x14 days ? How does this work then if you want to go ashore & pay for an excursion ? This would have been the equivalent of over £600 for both of us ?!!!
It wasn’t even as opulent as the Princess Royal or Emerald, doesn’t compare at all and nothing really special which might’ve made us think about it….we walked away in disgust and really that’s how we feel about the whole holiday.

The speciality restaurants promised a bit more glamour and we’d’ve been happy paying the extra £25 each plus wine our meal for two cost £75 if it hadve been better than the Freedom dining we already had, although the service was really good, the food was really disappointing.

The gym was well equipped clean and cool but why charge even a nominal fee, for a yoga or Pilates class which should come for free ?
I didn’t bother.

Why do cruiselines charge these add-ons when we paid a whopping £8k for the cruise ? Ok we upgraded our room for a suite with a bath & balcony, we changed our airport to a local one (which was a smart move with the snow delaying Manchester flights) and had a Premium seat (probably the BEST thing about the holiday it was FAB !) but other people had similar and paid so much less ?

The black tie evenings were nothing more than another excuse for P&O to ask you to put your hand into your pocket to buy the photos again !! It’s a giant money sucking experience. Unfortunately we weren’t “allowed” to dine in all but two restaurants because my husband didn’t take a dinner suit or tie & jacket. (Our fault I should’ve read the the brochure more carefully) so we had to eat in the buffet area or the Limelight club (which is again an extra).
My husband looked immaculate even without his DJ, we didn’t realise the dress code was something Brittania didn’t want to lower their standards on and I had a gown on.

The sail always were the best thing and our cabin steward was fabulous and worked very long hours and incredibly hard.

If this had been our 1st cruising experience I’m afraid we wouldn’t bother again.
Seeing lots of different places is great but P&O Brittania is not as luxurious as the Royal Princess (which is slightly older).
Can safely say P&O are really not the cruise line for us.