Britannia Rules! (Royal Yacht Britannia (Leith))

Member Name: SusanLesley

Product:	Royal Yacht Britannia (Leith)
Date:	06/12/08 (250 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fantastic tour, lots of information, a real piece of history

Disadvantages: None apart from my feet aching!

At the moment Dave has a contract in Edinburgh and I have come up to stay with him for a fortnight to keep him company and to get a break from the daily routine.

For those of you wondering about Mew he has gone to the local cattery where he has under paw, sorry under floor, heating, so he'll be OK! I will be doing a review shortly!

Anyway today we decided to go and see the Royal Yacht Britannia which is currently moored in the waters of the Firth of Forth at Leith in Edinburgh.

When we were last in Edinburgh we drove out to see Britannia but didn't have time to actually go on board. She was moored next to a small building and car park and that was what we expected to find when we got there today.

Instead we found the yacht had been moved to the other side of the harbour next to a shopping mall called Ocean Terminal, which I shall be reviewing at a later date.

We went by car and parked in the large multi storey car park next to the mall and the parking here was free. It is also possible to get to the Britannia by bus from Edinburgh City Centre using Lothian bus number 1, 11, 22, 34 or 35.

The entrance to the Britannia is on the top floor of the Ocean Terminal so up we went. The entrance to the tour and the shop stand side by side and the shop is accessible directly from the mall without doing the tour.

The cost of the tour is £9.75 for adults, £7.75 for senior citizens, students with ID and members of the armed forces, £5.75 for children aged between 5 and 17 and it is free for the under fives and members of the Association of Royal Yachtsmen. A family ticket for 2 adults and up to 3 children costs £27.75. We also signed the Gift Aid form enabling them to get the tax back on the money we paid and for this we were given the chance to apply for an annual pass at no extra cost.

The tour is available from 9.30am until 4pm during July and August with slightly later opening and earlier closing times during the rest of the year.

The tour started with us walking through a room where there were pictures of the yacht, the Royal Family and lots of information about both.

We were then given handsets and instructions on how to use them to get commentary as we walked round the yacht. These were available in 20 different major world languages plus English, English for children, Basic English and English for the Visually Impaired! I won't list all the other languages here but they are all listed on the website which can be found at www.royalyachtbritannia.co.uk . This site also gives lots of information about the yacht, how to get there, what to expect, prices, history and much more.

Using the handsets the tour is self led so that you can take as much or as little time as you like at each stage. There are various discs dotted round the tour numbered from 1 to 27 and each time you get to one of these you just have to enter the number shown into your handset and press play. You then hear the information relevant to that part of the yacht. Obviously you can choose not to listen to all of these if you want to but we found them all so interesting we listened to every one.

We started the tour by walking across a gangway onto the top deck to see the Bridge. Apart from the workings of the bridge itself I was interested to see the special deck at the front of the yacht where the Royal Family would stand when she came into port so that they could wave to the crowds and be seen by the people waiting.

Then we headed back across the gangway into the visitor centre to walk down a flight of stairs and then walk back along the lower gangway to see the next deck. Incidentally there was a lift as well as stairs.

This deck included the bedrooms of The Queen, Prince Philip and guest bedrooms. We also walked through their personal sun lounge opening onto a private deck at the stern of the yacht. Apparently this had to be cleaned by 8am so that the Royal Family did not have to encounter any of the ship's staff whilst they were relaxing. If a seaman did happen to meet one of the Royals they had to stand still and look straight ahead until the Royal had passed!

While we are on this subject all orders on the Britannia were given in sign language to keep the noise to a minimum and thus help the Royal Family in their quest for a bit of relaxation!

The same manoeuvre regarding the stairs brought us down to the next level where we found the Queen's Office and Prince Philip's study. Then it was through to the State Ante Room and Drawing Room. These were both lovely big rooms and the Queen originally wanted a real fire in the Drawing Room until she found out that a seaman would have to be present at all times when it was lit for safety reasons! She went for an electric fire instead!

The State Dining Room was on the next level down and it took my breath away. All the tables were laid as though for a function and it looked stunning! You can actually hire it for functions but I dread to think how much it would cost! LOL! Had we moved from the Ante Room to the Dining Room without leaving the yacht we would have walked down a beautiful sweeping staircase, but although we could see this, it was roped off from visitors!

Over these last two decks there were the Officers Quarters with their Dining Room, where they all dined each evening in full uniform, the Officers Mess and their sleeping quarters but I can't remember which ones were on which deck!

We did go to visit on the right weekend though. Not only was the yacht decorated ready for Christmas there was free mulled wine and shortbread served in the Mess Room and it was lovely!

Just down the corridor from the Mess Room was the little Naafi Shop selling fudge made on board together with other sweets and drinks. There were about 8 different flavours of fudge and the two that Dave and I had were gorgeous! It was welcome to be honest as we had started the tour at about 11.30 and by this time we were feeling rather hungry!

The bottom deck housed the laundry, sick bay and the quarters of the able seamen (the lowest ranking on the ship) and these were cramped to say the least!

The last part of the tour was to go back outside on the dockside to see the Royal Barge which was moored in an inlet there and then back on board to see the engine room, which apart from being updated to take diesel instead of solid fuel hadn't changed from 1953 when the yacht was first used until its final journey in 1997.

The whole tour took about an hour and a half and it was really interesting. I was surprised that the Royal bedrooms and offices were not as opulent as I expected. I know the Queen requested special sheets for the bed and certain other things like that but the rooms themselves are quite spartanly furnished.

When the tour was finished we came back into the building, took the lift back up to the top and exited into the gift shop where we returned our handsets.

The shop had all the usual stuff teddy bears, pens, tea towels, postcards, food, drink, etc. and also replicas of the china and glass used on the yacht.

All in all I would certainly recommend this tour to anyone. It was fascinating to actually be on the Royal Yacht Britannia - if you had told me 15 years ago I would be drinking mulled wine in the Mess on board this magnificent vessel I would have been prepared to bet anything you like that you were wrong - but there I was!

Summary: Well worth a visit