FANTASTIC VENTURA |
| Reviewed By: Stus, Halesowen on 17th Aug 2008 |
| Cruise Line: P&O Cruises |
Times cruised before: 10+ |
| Cruise Ship: Ventura |
Sailed:
August,
2008 |
| Destination: Mediterranean |
Age: 36-45 |
|
As I sit here in the Bay of Biscay in a Force 8 gale and moderate
seas (according to the TV), with the ship gently rocking from side to
side - it is a time for reflection on the last 16 days on the cruise
ship Ventura.
A bit of background - not to brag, but for the reader to understand a
bit about who is posting this review, I am 43 years old and have a
fairly "interesting" job selling stuff - take "interesting" to read
stressful….. Holidays are what I work hard to pay for. I have a
husband, 53 and a son 13, both of whom are with me on this holiday.
Also travelling with us are my mother and step-father and a couple of
old friends. We have done over 10 cruises in the last 8 years - 2
with NCL on Spirit and Jewel, 1 with RCL on Navigator of the Seas, 1
on Queen Mary 2 and the rest with P&O on Aurora, Oriana, Arcadia,
Oceana, Adonia (as was) and now Ventura.
I am not going to review the ports or even the public rooms on
Ventura, as this has all been said before beautifully well, I am just
going to give you my thoughts and opinions on what I have experienced
over the last couple of weeks. I am also not going to comment on
the "moaners" as I have come to realise that it is part of our
culture unfortunately. This review will probably be a bit disjointed
as they are my ramblings and thoughts as they come into my head so I
apologies for that - but sit back, relax and enjoy the read……..
16 days ago on Friday 1st August we arrived at the port of
Southampton, with some trepidation I might add, due to the extremely
negative reviews that I had been reading over the previous few months
since Ventura launched. After reading said reviews, I was expecting -
bad service, a ship that "corkscrewed" and was dreadful in rough
seas, a significant drop in P&O's usual standards, terrible
passengers, dreadful food, sun bed wars, an overcrowded but enormous
ship with no "wow factor" and extremely long corridors and the
nightmare that was "Freedom Dining", along with terrible
entertainment, and Bernard Manning style comedians.
All I can say is my worries were unfounded and I experienced none of
the above (thank heavens). Here is what I did experience - in no
particular order, and please remember these are my views and thoughts.
Arrival at Southampton - we arrived at 11.30am, and yes there was a
queue to hand the car over to CPS, we waited in the queue for about
50 minutes - but this only served to build the anticipation on
getting on board! In truth this issue could easily be solved by
allowing passengers to drop their bags off at the "hole" and then
self park the 200 or so yards away from the ship (which is what
happened with Navigator last year), as the major hold up was caused
by waiting for the staff to come back from dropping off previous
passengers cars. However if P&O did do this, then I am sure there
would be some moans about that too - so they won't win either way.
Anyway I digress - on to check in - we literally waited a couple of
minutes and signed the necessary declarations, registered our credit
card, picked up our cruise cards, went through security and were then
on our way leading onto the Ventura. Staff waited to greet us and we
were advised that lunch was being served on deck 15 in the Beach
House and Waterside Restaurants. I remembered that this is where
allegedly you could never get a table and that the serving area was
dreadful - I can thankfully report that I must have been on a
different ship to previous reviewers, as never once did I have to
wait for a table, and never once did I or any of my fellow travellers
have issues with the serving areas - they are slightly different to
other P&O ships, but they work very well. The standard of food on
offer was about the same as 3 years ago when I last travelled with
P&O.
At 2.00pm the announcement came over that the cabins were ready - we
had a balcony on Deck C - 503, which was serviced by the very
efficient Archie. The cabin is beautifully appointed and I was very
impressed with the walk in wardrobe, much better than normal
wardrobes, and my long dresses hung correctly without dragging on the
floor. There is a also a cupboard with several shelves, negating the
need for drawers. The bathroom was adequate, although there wasn't
much storage space in there, but what there was is absolutely fine.
There are also tea and coffee making facilities and the lovely P&O
biscuits - which are different from previous ones, but just as nice -
I will be eating them for the next 6 month judging by the size of the
bag I have just packed LOL! The bed is extremely comfortable and has
the usual duvet and pillows.
Interactive TV worked a treat, and is much better than what was
previously available - there are 98 movies/TV shows to choice from -
the majority being free to view with about 20% having to be paid
for. You can order room service, view your account online etc etc.
You can also access BBC World News, Skynews and CNN as well as BBC
Prime and Cartoon Network.
We had elected to try Freedom Dining, which again based on previous
reviews I was absolutely dreading, but I have no idea what the fuss
is about. You can book a table at 6.00. 6.30 and then 8.30 or 9.00 -
they do not take reservations in between these times, and you simply
turn up, if there isn't a table ready for you at that exact time, you
are given a pager and it will buzz when the table is ready. 5 of us
ate each night in Freedom dining in the Cinnamon Restaurant and NEVER
had to wait more than 20 minutes. Alan the lovely restaurant manager
was always extremely accommodating and always found us a table for 6
so we did not have to share. I personally loved Freedom dining, as I
think 6.30 is too early to eat and 8.30 is too late. Generally we
got a table around 7.30 which was perfect for us. Service was as
good as ever, and in fact - many times they went over and above the
call of duty, one of our group has a penchant for Shropshire Blue,
which was not always on the cheese board - 3rd night in, he asked for
it, and they did not have it that night in the restaurant, the Waiter
went off to find some, and returned with the Head Waiter, who then
made a note for a "standing order" each evening of Shropshire Blue to
be available should it be required - and it was always available
thereafter. Need I say more.
East - we decided to eat at East one evening, and a very pleasant
experience it was too - the food and service was very good, and the
ambiance of the restaurant very nice. Not sure I would go back there
as I personally did not feel that the menu had a significant wow
factor (this may have been down to my choice that particular
evening), but I am glad we tried it.
The White Room - this is a stunning restaurant at the back of the
ship, and is beautifully decorated. We had a fantastic meal - I
opted for the lobster, and the food, service and attention to detail
was as good as Mirabelle (another MPW restaurant in Mayfair - not
name dropping but simply comparing to previous experiences of MPW
restaurant), which we had the good fortune to try earlier on this
year.
Entertainment - Wow! We haven't travelled with P&O for the last 3
years, and one of the reasons for trying other cruise lines, was
because on previous P&O cruises, entertainment had let them down a
bit. This has changed significantly on this ship - the choice of
entertainment has been phenomenal, and on some nights, we struggled
fitting in dinner LOL. The production shows have been amazing, and
why other reviewers have complained about the couple that were
on "Britains Got Talent" doing the strength/balancing act, is beyond
me - I never tired of watching them. Masquerade, Explosion and
Chronicles were fantastic, as well as the Pirate Show up by the
Laguna Pool - so much work and effort and money has gone into these
shows - they cannot be faulted. We always went to the 7.15 show and
never had any trouble getting a seat, although the 8.45 show was
standing room only, and people queued to get in the theatre before we
even left the 7.15 show - no idea why - they must just like queueing -
can't see the point really, as there was plenty of other stuff going
on, but hey they are on holiday so they can do what they want. There
was also another show at 10.45, which again was busy but there were
always seats available.
We have had 4 deck parties this cruise - maybe even 5, and the
entertainment team have been the most visible I have ever seen on any
P&O ship. We have been fortunate to have 2 cruise Directors this
trip - Neil Oliver and Nigel Travis - both excellent, and both always
having time to stop for a chat and make sure we were happy.
We also had an extremely talented Abba Tribute Band - very timely in
light of Mamma Mia being out in cinemas at the moment, who got
everybody up dancing, as well as True Brit who are an extremely
versatile pop band playing Kaiser Chiefs, Greenday, The Killers,
Oasis etc - I loved them, and never thought I would see such top
class, modern entertainment on a P&O Ship. Comedians wise - I did
not get chance to see the ones on the Tamarind Club, as unfortunately
there was always other stuff I wanted to do, but hubbie and Mom saw a
couple of them, and both agreed that one was great, but the other not
so great, however comedy is subjective, so what "floats one persons
boat" may not float anothers. Last night Mick Miller (of the
Comedians fame) came on board, and did 3 shows in the Arena Theatre -
he went down very well. There has also been a RNLI chappie talking
about various rescues he has been involved in, and this has been
interesting, as well as Dermot Gallagher - a football referee talking
about his career - all of which has been extremely well received.
There have also been classical recitals for those that like that, as
well as pianists, and easy listening bands throughout the ship, Mr
and Mrs, various quizes, scallectric, Rock School, Cirque Ventura,
Give us a Clue, Bridge - in fact something for everyone, from kids
right the way up to great grandparents - which is what makes Ventura
such a great "family ship".
Stability - I get sea sick, my son gets sea sick - its something we
expect if we hit rough seas - we are in the Bay of Biscay in a Force
8 with Moderate seas (they were rough earlier) as I type- neither of
us feel in the least bit sea sick, and the ship appears to be very
stable.
Tenders - we have had 2 tender ports this cruise, Cephalonia and
Korcula - we decided not to do organised trips, and that we would
disembark around 40 minutes after docking to enable the people on
trips to get off as requested in the Horizon newsletter. We never
once had to queue, we never saw any queues - not sure if there were
ever any though.
Much has been mentioned about queues for excursions and trying to
collect tickets, we only did the one in Gibraltar, and arrived when
asked to collect our sticker from the Tamarind Club, we then had to
wait about 10 minutes to be called off the ship and then got
straight off and onto our excursion, no problem or queues at all.
Sunbeds - this is the only area where there is a real issue - I am an
early riser usually up and about by 7.30am on holiday (sad but true),
even at this hour of the morning, sunbeds have been reserved - I have
never seen so many blue towels catching the early morning rays. P&O
do post a notice in the horizons magazine saying that passengers
should not reserve sun beds, but that they did not police it and it
was up to passengers to self police - this will never work, as there
is no way I would remove somebody elses possessions, as you never
know who you are dealing with. P&O could easily sort this out by
employing sunbed police (I would happily do the job!!), where they
could drop a calling card on the bed saying that if it had not been
sat on within 45 minutes, possessions would be removed, this would
stop people reserving them in the first place. The amount of times I
saw blue towels from 8.00am until lunch time with nobody on or near
them….. Anyway enough said - I raised it on my comments card, along
with a lot of other passengers, so I am sure they will look at taking
some action on this soon.
In summary - this has been a fantastic cruise, with an excellent
itinerary, with some fantastic fellow passengers, excellent
entertainment (if you wanted it, and a lovely quiet Terrace Bar in
the evenings at the back of the ship if you wanted peace and quiet -
with a fantastic sunset), with wonderful service and beautiful food,
on a ship that is truly magnificent, aimed at the "family market" and
when I say family I don't mean Mom and Dad with Kids, I mean
the "Whole" family from babies right the way up to Great
Grandparents - there literally is something for everbody. Well done
P&O.
Roll on next May when our "whole family of 18 - from a baby neice or
nephew that is not due until September to my 78 year old step dad"
will be cruising to the Fjiords on Ventura to celebrate my Moms 70th
Birthday - I can't wait…….
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