Long Review - Ventura 11/06/15 - 25/06/15

Ventura, N516 11th - 25th June 2015

Portugal, The Canaries & Spain.

We've just got back from our fourteen night cruise onboard Ventura. Having read some of the previous reviews on here and elsewhere we weren't really sure what to expect. What follows is an account of what we experienced. Hopefully it will be fairly logical and reasonably free from waffle although I make no guarantees!

BOOKING

We booked through P&O direct, last September. We booked early so that we could choose our cabin and make sure that it was in the right location (midships, low down). However, as the date of our departure came nearer it was clear that P&O were having trouble selling the remaining cabins as they were reducing the cost of our cabin grade, quite substantially. Obviously, P&O can charge what they like for their cruises and I fully accept that if they had suddenly increased the cost of our cabin grade, I'd have been pretty miffed if they came to us asking us to pay more. However, in the spirit of it costing nothing to ask I rang them to see if they'd be willing to offer us some OBC in recognition that we had paid more than someone who was booking that day. They flatly refused and even refused to offer us a free meal in Sindhu or The Epicurean. Like I have already said, I didn't really expect much and accept that they are free to charge what they want. However, it would be hard to deny that this did not leave a nasty taste in my mouth and did not give me, as a first-time P&O customer, the best of first impressions.

EMBARKATION

We took the coach included in our Early Saver fare and departed Liverpool at 0715 on the 11th. We had a further pick up at a motorway service station about forty minutes away and then had a 45 minute break at Warwick Services. We arrived at Ocean Terminal at around 1315. The embarkation process was very efficient and although the terminal was very busy indeed it was a smooth, easy experience. Upon entering, you are given a coloured card with a letter on it (we were blue M). You then took a seat from one of the many available and waited for your colour and letter to be called. You then booked in and went on to security. From there, it was onto the gangway and then the ship. There were crew members on hand to let you know if your cabin was ready and to point you in vaguely the right direction. It's very much worth noting that P&O are extremely tolerant of you taking alcohol on board, as long as it is consumed in your cabin. We took a litre of Bacardi, a litre of gin and two bottles of red wine on and not even a single eyelid was batted.

CABIN

We, as we always do, had booked an inside cabin. We feel that, as we spend so little time in the cabin, it's not worth spending the difference. We'd rather spend that money on booze and meals in the speciality restaurants! We had E316 on Deck 8, Ecuador Deck, about halfway between the midship and the forward elevators. A great location as we were only a short way from the night-time action on Decks 6&7 and a quick elevator ride away from the pool and deck bars on Deck 15. We'd noticed from the deckplans that E316 was directly above The Glasshouse but we didn't hear any noise whatsoever. The cabin was perfectly acceptable, with everything you would need. Obviously, an inside cabin is never going to be huge but there was plenty enough space for the both of us. It's worth your while taking coat hangers though, as P&O don't provide many. Our cabin steward, Rocky, was lovely and very accommodating. One request brought us a fresh bucket of ice at around 1pm each day.

DINING

We had opted for Freedom Dining (ie we could turn up for dinner at anytime between 1830 and 2130) and were allocated Saffron dining room. Our first dinner did not leave a great impression as the waiters, one in particular, were rather surly and grumpy. However, we were seated in their area again a couple of nights later and they were totally different. Everyone's entitled to an off-day, I guess. The food was of a reasonable standard, with plenty of variety. Most dishes were well-cooked and tasty but some were very much of a 'mass-catering' standard. Now, I know that, by definition, a cruise ship is mass-catering, but in my opinion the food on a cruise should be above that standard. The meals come ready-plated, ie with vegetables already on and there was very little variety in what was served. If you like carrots, green beans and peas you'll have a ball. I have copies of all the menus served onboard during our cruise and if anybody would like to see them, please send me a PM and I'll attempt to scan them in and email them to you.

We had breakfast in the main dining rooms on all mornings except one when we didn't wake up until 0945. One of the hazards of having an inside cabin - we were very glad that it was just a sea day! The daily specials were nice but the portions were tiny. The P&O Cruises Breakfast is epic, including liver, black pudding and white pudding. You are more than welcome to mix-and-match your own cooked breakfast from what's on offer but you won't always get what you ask for as the waiters don't seem to listen properly. No biggie, as it leant an air of mystery to proceedings!

We only used one of the 'Speciality Dining' restaurants - Sindhu. If you like Asian food then this is a must. It was, simply, divine. Easily the best Indian food I have ever eaten, and I've eaten a lot. Well worth the £15 per person cover charge.

The Waterside Buffet was only used once, when we missed the MDR breakfast. Oh, and on a couple of occasions when we got an attack of the nibbles on the way to bed!

The pizza and burgers available at the Poolside Grill are very tasty indeed and make a lovely lunch if you're on deck sunbathing.

ENTERTAINMENT

Superb. Just fabulous. The ship's theatre company, Headliners, were amazing. A group of 13 very, very talented individuals. They put on six very good production shows with great sets and costumes. Unfortunately, this particular group came to the end of their contracts on this cruise so there will be an entirely different company on board by now. Perhaps the only criticism would be that all of the soundtracks for the production shows were pre-recorded. I'm at a loss to work out why this would be, when you have a very talented eight-piece orchestra onboard who seemed almost criminally under-used.

The visiting artistes were of a uniformly excellent standard, although mostly singers. There were two comedians, Tony Wallace and Dave Kristian who were very funny indeed, there was a comedy magician, Mandy Muden, who was very good and several singers the pick of whom was Steve V King who has spent time touring with The Drifters. He was excellent.

I had read a lot of negative comments regarding the Cruise Director (or Entertainment Manager as P&O now refer to the position) before the cruise and, whilst I found Hughie Taylor to be very personable and witty, he was not seen anywhere near enough. The only time I saw him outside of the theatre was when we were dining in Sindhu - he was in there with his family. I also thought that it was very remiss of P&O not to have him say 'goodbye' to the passengers on the last night. There was none of the usual run-down of how much food we'd munched through, no 'thanks for sailing with us' - nothing. Very bad form, in my book.

The ship's bands were great, very talented musicians all. The Electrix were a five piece band who played anything and everything and also backed some of the visiting artistes. Serious Sounds were a four-piece band who played soul, motown and disco. They were fronted by one of the quietest, most self-effacing lead singers I have ever seen but my word, what a voice! Megan & Joe were a trio who performed mostly in Metropolis, up on Deck 18. And the ship's Orchestra were also very good indeed who, as I have said before, were utterly under-used although they did put on a very good Glenn Miller show.

If you wanted to watch one of the shows, either in the Arena Theatre or in the two show bars (The Tamarind Club or Havana - a Cuban-themed bar, ironic really as Cuba don't allow cruise ships to dock) then you had to be in at least thirty minutes before each performance to be sure of getting a seat.

If you like quizzes and trivia then Ventura is the ship for you. However, there were no game shows such as 'Mr & Mrs' or 'Liars Club'.

PORTS OF CALL

I'll try to deal with these in order.

Lisbon

We arrived the day after a major carnival and so the area around the dock was filthy. Lots of rubbish in the gutters. It didn't help that it was overcast, raining and gloomy. We really didn't get a good impression of the city. We got utterly lost walking around the hilly, cobbled old quarter and then eventually stumbled across the main squares where we picked up the open-top sightseeing bus (which we'd already booked thinking that it would be good weather). Luckily we got a seat under the front covered area. All in all though, we weren't terribly impressed with the place but that would probably have been totally different had the weather been better.

Lanzarote

After looking at the ship's excursions we decided that, to see what we wanted to (Timanfaya National Park and the house of Cesar Manrique, one of Spain's foremost 20th century artisits) we would be better of hiring a car. I'd booked a Vauxhall (well, Opel!) Corsa with satnav online before we departed for a bargain £25.67 for the day. It was the first time that I had ever driven abroad so I was a bit nervous to say the least, but it all panned out in the end. We saw some marvellous sights and experienced some of the tiny little villages that we wouldn't have seen had we taken a ship's excursion.

Gran Canaria

As the 'old town' was a fair old walk away we decided to again use the open-top sightseeing bus. If you've never been somewhere before then they really are a great way to get a feel of a place. Our favourite tactic is to do the full circuit, noting places that we might want to investigate 'next time around'. We had a good rummage around the old quarter and then headed to a restaurant for a beer and a paella in the sunshine.

Tenerife

We docked in Santa Cruz De Tenerife, in the north of the island and had a good wander around. It's a charming little city, the first of our ports of call that I felt I could spend a week in. We walked up to the Cathedral and then on to the lovely market. After a potter about, trying to guess what the various dead things were we wombled back in search of lunch. I must have been influenced by what I saw in the market as I had some very delicious rabbit and a lovely, ice-cold beer. We then crossed the road to have a couple of wonderful-tasting Mojitos in a bar set around a huge lake right on the front. Very picturesque and civilised, especially as the sun was beating down. I took off my shoes and sat with my feet dangling in the cool water. Lovely. Until later in the day when I discovered that I had burnt the tops of my feet really very badly. Over the next few days, both feet blistered and were very, very painful. So much so that my wife had to borrow a wheelchair from Passenger Services (or the very dull 'Reception' as they now call it) to get me about. This cast a pall over the rest of the holiday so please, please make sure that you use sunscreen. I, foolishly, didn't and I paid for it.

La Palma

This is a small town, with some charming buildings and streets. In truth, there is not a huge amount to do other than womble so a ship's excursion may be a better idea.

Madeira

We really liked Funchal. It's a very green, pretty city. We had intended to take the cable car up to the Monte and the Botanical Gardens but my burnt feet, and my wife's cowardice where cable cars are concerned, meant that we reverted to our old faithful, the open-top sightseeing bus. This was a round trip of an hour and a half, taking us to the nearby fishing village of Camara de Lobos (a thoroughly charming place) for a very reasonable 11 Euros each. We then went in search of some Madeira wine to take home and some lunch. Another place where I could spend a week.

La Coruna

Another small city, and another very quaint and beautiful place but again there is not a huge amount to see. What there was was very interesting though and we were visiting on a festival day so were treated to a couple of marching bands which was nice.

MISCELLANEOUS

Ventura herself was in very good condition throughout. No worn carpets or upholsteries, no rust to be seen anywhere. On every port day, and most sea days, there were people painting the hull or sanding a varnishing deck rails.

There were warnings in the daily Horizon (the ship's newspaper) that the reservation of sunbeds on deck is not allowed. However, this did not seem to be policed and there were plenty of sunbeds to be seen draped with towels for hours on end. Similarly, there were frequent announcements that the reservation of seats in the theatre and other bars was not allowed. However, people still did which did not help other people to find seats.

The weather on the cruise was not great with only one of the six days enjoying unbroken blue skies all days. Of course, this is not P&O's fault! But it did expose Ventura's failings in accommodating over 3,000 passengers as everybody wanted to be inside, leading to some very cramped conditions.

CONCLUSION

We are very lucky to be able to afford to cruise and always go on every cruise in a positive frame of mind. However, we felt that our cruise on Ventura wasn't as good or as enjoyable as our two previous cruises on the Grand Princess. That's not to say that we didn't enjoy ourselves, or that we didn't have a relaxing holiday. However, I don't think that we'd be in a rush to book with P&O again.

Nice review. I was on the cruise prior to yours (see my signature) - N515 8th May to 11th June. I agree with your review, in particular Lisbon which we thought was a disgusting mess of a place.

If you ever get to Lisbon again then take a taxi (or walk) to Castelo de Sao Jorge. It's a wonderful, beautiful, large castle that overlooks the city and it's very easy to spend half a day (or longer!) there.... it's what makes Lisbon one of my favourite ports (apart from having to get up at 6am for the beautiful sail-in and missing dinner for the sail-out) :o

VP

p.s.nice review!

Lisbon, like a lot of city ports, is far too large to do in a day. We have spent three days there over two trips and it is one of our favourite cities, but we have barely touched what it has to offer. Do your homework before arriving and decide what you want to see. The public transport is excellent and good value.

All towns and cities have less than desirable areas, for us it was Vigo after coming across an area frequented by local drug takers and in Bergen we found ourselves on some less than clean back streets. Both were close to very tourist areas.

Agree about Funchal. As we can't do a two week break this summer we are going to Madeira for a week.

If you ever get to Lisbon again then take a taxi (or walk) to Castelo de Sao Jorge. It's a wonderful, beautiful, large castle that overlooks the city and it's very easy to spend half a day (or longer!) there.... it's what makes Lisbon one of my favourite ports (apart from having to get up at 6am for the beautiful sail-in and missing dinner for the sail-out) :o

 

VP

 

p.s.nice review!

How long does it take to walk to Castelo de Sao Jorge? We are in Lisbon on Wednesday on Ventura and have not got anything planned for the day as of yet...

Seems like a fair review to me but "La Coruna a small city". :confused: I would hardly call it a small city, I can only think that you only saw a small part of it. It's a very interesting city with many diverse areas and lots of things to see.

I also have to disagree with you over Lisbon not being very interesting, there's plenty to see and do in Lisbon but as others have said sometimes you need to do a little homework before you get there. I agree that it isn't the cleanest city in Europe but is no different to many others and the Portuguese economy has been suffering for a very long time now.

Thanks for the detailed review. I am a bit of a loss to understand how you don't want to travel P&O again after mostly positive comments!

I also agree with many here that Lisbon was my favourite port on my recent cruise - loved it! And the sail in and sail out. We concentrated on the Belem district(we went by Hoho bus so got an overview too) and if we go again I would go to the castle.

How long does it take to walk to Castelo de Sao Jorge? We are in Lisbon on Wednesday on Ventura and have not got anything planned for the day as of yet...

I can't answer exactly as it's up a very steep hill so could take a while. Next time I want to concentrate on the castle - where we got the Hoho bus in the square - one of the routes took you to the castle - or it might even have been on a tram. My Hoho bus took the Tagus route and it didn't go near the castle although we could just about see it from the square we got the bus from. (it's where P&O's shuttle takes you)

Seems like a fair review to me but "La Coruna a small city". :confused: I would hardly call it a small city, I can only think that you only saw a small part of it.

Well, given that we were only there for nine hours and there was no sightseeing bus available, it's possible that we only saw a small part of it and I made my comments based on that. I can only say as I find.

I also have to disagree with you over Lisbon not being very interesting, there's plenty to see and do in Lisbon but as others have said sometimes you need to do a little homework before you get there.

Fair point, and I did do plenty of homework. I never arrive in a port of call 'blind'. But when you arrive there and within two minutes of getting off the ship you are walking in the street because there is so much rubbish on the pavement it's hard not to form a negative opinion. I guess that I allowed the weather to cloud my judgement too, perhaps foolishly. However you do get a bit fed up when you are sat, shivering and with wet feet under the covered portion on the top deck of a sightseeing bus, unable to get off to see anything that looks interesting due to the torrential rain!

I was perhaps a little harsh in saying that we'd never go back to Lisbon and for that I apologise.

Thanks for the detailed review. I am a bit of a loss to understand how you don't want to travel P&O again after mostly positive comments!

I should have made that clear in my review - sorry.

There was no one major thing that makes us think that, but there were many little things that niggled. Actually, 'niggled' is too strong a word to be fair. We have previously cruised twice with Princess and we found that we prefer their ships (yes, yes - I know that Ventura is virtually identical to the Grand Princess!) and that, despite P&O's lower drinks prices, our onboard spend on P&O was greater than that on Princess despite not booking any shore excursions with P&O. We also got the feeling that P&O were cutting more financial corners and looking to make savings everywhere.

For example, where the Grand Princess generally travelled at 20-25 knots, Ventura only cruised at around 17 knots presumably to save fuel and thereby money. If she had travelled a little faster, then we could have had a bit longer in some of the ports.

We can only afford to cruise every other year or so, and have to save very hard to be able to do so. This probably makes our standards very high, perhaps too high. But we feel that, having spent what is to us a very large amount of money on a holiday, we want it to at least meet those standards. Sadly, P&O did not.

A nice well balanced review. :)

A nice well balanced review. :)

Thank you :)

Interesting review. I was only in Lisbon in April and we had a lovely time. I didn't notice it being particularly dirty with rubbish. We took the shuttle in to the main square and then caught a tram up to the Castle. It was fascinating.

I should have made that clear in my review - sorry.

 

There was no one major thing that makes us think that, but there were many little things that niggled. Actually, 'niggled' is too strong a word to be fair. We have previously cruised twice with Princess and we found that we prefer their ships (yes, yes - I know that Ventura is virtually identical to the Grand Princess!) and that, despite P&O's lower drinks prices, our onboard spend on P&O was greater than that on Princess despite not booking any shore excursions with P&O. We also got the feeling that P&O were cutting more financial corners and looking to make savings everywhere.

 

For example, where the Grand Princess generally travelled at 20-25 knots, Ventura only cruised at around 17 knots presumably to save fuel and thereby money. If she had travelled a little faster, then we could have had a bit longer in some of the ports.

 

We can only afford to cruise every other year or so, and have to save very hard to be able to do so. This probably makes our standards very high, perhaps too high. But we feel that, having spent what is to us a very large amount of money on a holiday, we want it to at least meet those standards. Sadly, P&O did not.

Fair enough, we did feel there was a lot of hard sell - especially in the spa area - just glad I didn't fork out the ridiculous fee for the retreat as our weather wasn't great every day and we always managed to get a lounger when it was good. Although this cruise we didn't feel they were constantly trying to sell us photos like before!

Interesting review. I was only in Lisbon in April and we had a lovely time. I didn't notice it being particularly dirty with rubbish. We took the shuttle in to the main square and then caught a tram up to the Castle. It was fascinating.

Ah yes I thought it might have been the tram to the castle. This is what we shall we do if we're in Lisbon again.

How long does it take to walk to Castelo de Sao Jorge? We are in Lisbon on Wednesday on Ventura and have not got anything planned for the day as of yet...

If you dock at the Tobacco dock it takes about 20-30 minutes depending on your walking speed. It took us about half an hour at a slow stroll on a hot day, heading to the big square with the man on horse statue, up the main street window shopping, then striking off to the right up the side streets (steep hills) to get to the Castle. It gets very busy so it's a good idea to go early on, otherwise you may be standing in a queue in full sun for some time.

Great review wobblybob74.

I agree Lisbon is dirty. We were there 2 years ago and I was really looking forward to showing it to my children, as I had great memories of a visit in the early 90s, with beautifully maintained old buildings, etc. We were there in good weather, but everything was very dirty, tatty, there was dog poo everywhere and everywhere smelled of urine. The buildings were looking very unloved. I know Portugal suffered very much from the financial crash and ensuing recession, but so did Spain and the Spanish ports we visited were attractive, clean and well maintained.

a really good review.

We too have to save hard to be able to cruise, but our way is to make sure we have 2 weeks work time covered at a time when we know there are a couple of cruises that we like the look of, and then wait and watch till the price goes down to what we feel we want to pay. we usually book a balcony guarantee and have never been disappointed. I know this wouldn't work for all cruises but for med and Caribbean it does as there are so many to chose from.

I should have made that clear in my review - sorry.

 

There was no one major thing that makes us think that, but there were many little things that niggled. Actually, 'niggled' is too strong a word to be fair. We have previously cruised twice with Princess and we found that we prefer their ships (yes, yes - I know that Ventura is virtually identical to the Grand Princess!) and that, despite P&O's lower drinks prices, our onboard spend on P&O was greater than that on Princess despite not booking any shore excursions with P&O. We also got the feeling that P&O were cutting more financial corners and looking to make savings everywhere.

 

For example, where the Grand Princess generally travelled at 20-25 knots, Ventura only cruised at around 17 knots presumably to save fuel and thereby money. If she had travelled a little faster, then we could have had a bit longer in some of the ports.

 

We can only afford to cruise every other year or so, and have to save very hard to be able to do so. This probably makes our standards very high, perhaps too high. But we feel that, having spent what is to us a very large amount of money on a holiday, we want it to at least meet those standards. Sadly, P&O did not.

The speed of the ships was determined by Carnival some 3/4 years ago. This has had more effect on P&O and Cunard than other lines, why I do not know. Eg QM2 taking 7 nights to get to New York.

I thought Lisbon was so dirty that I started taking photos..

Having 'lost' my first review somewhere in hyper space can see the logic of posting your review like this. Have done a second but not in the same detail and used copy and paste so as to save the original. Would never get round to doing a third .. memory not that good!

We headed out of the city in Lisbon using local train service to Sintra. Very cheap clean and frequent service .. every 20 minutes. We had time to visit the palace and money over for lunch in the historic town (if you compare the cost of a ship excursion). A perfect day.

Have to agree with you about P&O .... do the staff start indifferent or is it in response to how passengers treat them .. we were embarrassed to witness how some passengers spoke to staff .. but did have poor staff experiences too that we have not found on other cruise lines.

Good comprehensive review.

I will pass on your " Headliners" comment to my daughter, Fiona, who is the principal female singer.

Tonight is the last night of their eight month contract. Fiona is looking forward to coming home now.

Stewart

Was there any themed nights on your cruise? eg, Tropical nights or 60s/70s nights?

Good comprehensive review.

 

I will pass on your " Headliners" comment to my daughter, Fiona, who is the principal female singer.

 

Tonight is the last night of their eight month contract. Fiona is looking forward to coming home now.

 

Stewart

You should be very proud of her, Stewart.

Was there any themed nights on your cruise? eg, Tropical nights or 60s/70s nights?

There were, Andy. Both tropical and 60s/70s and also one of the formal nights was a 'black & white night'. The formal night theme seemed to be well adhered to but the others weren't.