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Ventura - not a diaster - a pleasure |
| Reviewed By: Murfitt, Ely, Cambs on 14th Aug 2008 |
| Cruise Line: P&O Cruises |
Times cruised before: 1-2 |
| Cruise Ship: Ventura |
Sailed:
July,
2008 |
| Destination: Canaries |
Age: 46-55 |
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We have recently returned from our cruise on Ventura to the Canaries. This was only our second cruise but the first one with P&O. I have been reading the reviews and waiting before I wrote mine. Yes, we had a rough crossing through the Bay of Biscay but we prepared ourselves with travel tablets at 5am when we realised there was alot of movement on the ship and our daughter and myself wore travel bands that day. We had breakfast, lunch and dinner and were ok. You would never have guessed that there were 3000+ on board that day, it seemed like a ghost ship as lots of people suffered with travel sickness. We did think there was slightly more ship movement on Ventura than on Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Sea (which we cruised on last year). We assumed this was possibly because we were out in the Atlantic whereas last year we were in the Med. We were not able to dock at Lanzarote but it was a gale force 8 but we would rather be safe. We did not encounter any of the problems that alot of others seem to have had. We had 1st sitting for dinner in the Bay Tree Restaurant, our waiters Denis and Sachi were excellent. If we cruised again we would probably chose 2nd sitting as it often seemed a rush to get washed and ready for dinner for 6.30pm when we had been sunbathing on deck. We found the food in the Bay Tree very good and we nearly always had breakfast in the Saffron Restaurant as we like to be waited on when on holiday rather than self service. We did use the Beach House/Waterside during the day sometimes and could always find something to eat. We also had pizzas or burgers from the grill near the pool area and this too was very good. We had an inside cabin on Riveria Deck, very roomy with excellent wardrobe space. Our cabin steward Anna was always friendly. We would probably chose an outside cabin next time as it is hard to distinguish between night and day when inside. We went to the Arena Theatre most evenings. We only had one time when we were unable to get a seat but that was because we didn't get in there until 5 minutes before the show started. We then just waited for the later show and had no problems getting a seat. We found passengers started to go in the theatre about 30 minutes before the show and kept coming in until it started. You couldn't have everyone arriving in 5-10 minutes as it would be bedlam. If you go to any theatre show or cinema at home you usually have to arrive earlier than the time of the show so going in 30 minutes early or so wasn't a problem to us. Some of the shows we preferred to others but it is hard to please everyone all of the time. We went on two excursions and chose ones especially for our 10 year old daughter. The first to the Masplomas waterpark at Gran Canaria. We didn't rate the waterpark that much, have been to a much better one in Cyprus, so that was an expensive excursion. We also went to Loro Park, Tenerife. This was an excellent park, we really enjoyed it, well worth the money and would go again in the future. Our daughter had a fantastic time at the children's club. She took part in many of their activities and soon made friends with others. We took advantage of going to the Metropolis bar whilst our daughter was in the children's club and we throught that this was a great place to sit and enjoy a drink. Yes there were several children on our cruise but we never saw any being a problem and there definitely were no children running around when we went to dinner. Any children we saw in the Bay Tree Restaurant always looked very well behaved. At times there were several children in the swimming pools but then you get that whether you are on a cruise ship or at a hotel. The adults did have their own pool if they wanted to be away from the children. We also heard several past P&O passengers moaning about not realising it was a family ship and about the number of children on board. When we returned I checked in the P&O brochure and the Canaries cruise was advertised as a Family Choice cruise. I think some people (especially those who moaned about the number of children or about it being a family ship) ought to look more closely at the brochure before making a booking in future. I think Artemis or Arcadia would probably have been better for them. I read all the negative reviews from its launch right up until just before we sailed and I was getting slightly worried but all I can say is we enjoyed ourselves, we would cruise again on Ventura and like some others have said go and make up your own mind.
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| Quality of Food |  |
| Bay Tree Restaurant - 1st sitting evenings
Saffron Restuarant - breakfast | | Entertainment |  |
| | Shore Excursions |  |
| Loro Park, Tenerife | | Staff | |
| We thought all staff were friendly and polite | | Children's Facilities | |
| The Den's Kitchen - our daughter enjoyed being a chef for us | | Onboard Activities | |
| | Cabins | |
| An inside cabin, roomy, excellent wardrobe space | | Overall Rating | |
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