When it goes wrong, boy it goes wrong

The cruise, Britannia’s second, to the Atlantic islands of Africa, plus a call in at the mainland was in the main very good. It, however, got off to a bad start when the boarding ramp blew out of position in strong wind. Nothing wrong on the side of P&O for that but the mayhem in the departure area had to be seen to be believed.
No one could hear the announcements down stairs, so most went upstairs. It was then like a cup final day at Wembley. Letters of the alphabet in red and blue were being handed out for boarding, but no one mentioned the fact. It just dawned on folk as they saw the scrum. Some had been upstairs at least half an hour, others more fortunate walked up and picked a letter for boarding straight away, then took a seat for a long, boring wait.
The ship is wonderful and very stable, even in the force 9 we experienced. We had a balcony cabin similar to one we had on Arcadia which seemed less roomy than aboard Arcadia, not by much, but noticeable non the less.
Only other gripe was disembarking back in Southampton. No one took any notice of allocated times etc. and it became a free for all
with those trying to follow the instructions ending up almost an hour late getting off, and the lifts at these times just cant cope.