ann141

1 hour ago, Sarnia 432 said:

We don’t sail until September, so any information you glean on shuttles, excursions etc would be greatly appreciated.

 

we have not sailed with Ambassador before, so are keen to hear your experiences.

It will be our first cruise with Ambassador too

10 hours ago, nigkar said:

Thanks for the information.

we will be on the Ambition in May also.

Perhaps the same cruise leaving Bristol on May 23?

3 hours ago, Sarnia 432 said:

We are going there with Ambassador too.

No excursions available yet, but we will either get a shuttle to Bordeaux and follow a GPSMyCity guide, or do a DIY walk in the port area.

In my planning notes, I have put the following - 

 

Le Verdon coastal walk to points of interest

Points of Interest - Le Verdon
  Saint Nicolas lighthouse
  Grave lighthouse 
  Cordouan lighthouse (rocky islet at sea)
  Pointe de Grave
  Church of Notre-Dame du Bon Secours et de Saint-Louis
  Town Hall

Thank you. That's helpful as we are going there in May too on Ambition 

It's a requirement for P and O cruises to have travel insurance,not just a good idea. Although they don't often check that you have it before you board they sometimes do and if you didn't have it you would probably be refused boarding 

It was easy to find a taxi at Cork station as there was a taxi rank outside. I'm afraid I can't remember the cost- obviously dearer than the bus but we wanted to get there early 

We sailed on Norwegian star last may and caught the train into Cork from Cobh. We then shared a taxi with another couple to Blarney castle which meant we arrived early and didn't have to queue. We then caught the 215 bus back to Cork and the return train to Cobh

We are considering booking an Ambassador cruise that departs from Bristol. We will be travelling by train but the Ambassador website states it's best to get a taxi from Temple meads station. As it's a distance of about 12 miles to the port I wonder if anyone has experience of getting there from central Bristol by public transport 

On 11/21/2023 at 1:43 PM, Cristaltips said:

I’ve just received a new itinerary from P&O with confirmation of the application of my shareholder benefits. It appears that we just overnight in Hamilton, Bermuda and leave by 9.00 am the following day. That would explain why no second day trips are available !

Thats disappointing.Still hopefully we will have a warm day at sea. By the way have you realised that some of the shore excursions and also the wi fi packages are discounted for Black Friday? I cancelled my wi fi package and have re booked at the new price

3 hours ago, Cristaltips said:

We’re on this cruise too. We have three r trips in total booked but most are now sold out. I find it strange that there is nothing at all listed for the second day in Bermuda. I hope there’ll be trips offered for that day as most of the previous days trips are sold out 

I'm a bit concerned that it may mean we won't be staying overnight or leaving in the morning on the second day.. We already have plenty of sea days

On 11/12/2023 at 11:02 PM, yorkshire traveller said:

Thank you   I couldn't see the roll call. I will have another look.  We were supposed to be going to Brazil and Carribean but had to cancel because of the yellow fever situation.  There wasn't a lot of options to choose from as a replacement so have opted for this one.  The itinerary does look good but Ventura isn't our favourite ship 

I think if you click on Ventura rolls and scroll down you should see the roll call. I notice it isn't listed if you select February but that could be due to the way it has been titled?

3 hours ago, yorkshire traveller said:

We booked this  cruise today. Can't access excursions yet

Welcome! Hopefully you will be able to book some excursions in a day or two though some of the more popular ones are sold out. There is a roll call for this cruise 

3 hours ago, Scar-face said:

Has anyone going on cruise on the PO Ventura 11 February 2024 been unabe to book excursions due to them being sold out?

We are on this cruise. We have booked some excursions but still not sure what to do in Miami as the tours we are interested in are sold out. However I am checking tours daily and we have managed to book previously sold out tours in Port Canaveral and Belize.As the balance date is due( we paid yesterday) I am hoping more tours will become available if people decide to transfer or cancel their cruise.

4 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Well our next cruise has come around already and tomorrow (Saturday) we board Ventura for a 14 night cruise to the Canaries. We have a 1215 priority boarding embarkation slot and having had no issues whatsoever with CPS or embarkation on Britannia or Iona this summer we shall just turn up at around midday. We always travel down on the day, as it’s only a few hours drive for us, but we are all packed apart from last minute things. 
 

I was very surprised to discover that this will only be our third cruise on Ventura and the last time was in 2017. It’s very true that time goes quicker as you get older 😂 We are booked in an accessible Superior Deluxe balcony cabin. I’ve seen a YouTube video of it and it looks huge. Unfortunately the balconies with these cabins are completely uncovered, which I don’t like, so hopefully the weather will be kind for us. 
 

The big difference on this cruise will be that we have reverted to Club (Fixed) dining (2nd sitting), for the first time since Freedom dining was introduced. We took the decision after some frustrations with the app not being used properly in the MDRs on Britannia. We have requested a table for 2 and are hoping that, if we are successful, it will be a proper table for 2 and not one that’s 6 inches from another ‘table for 2’. Wish us luck 😂 

 

We have booked two dinners in Epicurean and one each in Sindhu and the Beach House. If the MDR disappoints then we may book more, but if it’s as good as it was on Britannia and Iona then we will be very happy. I fully intend to try the extra cost MDR dishes if the trial is still running 😋
 

I shall endeavour to post updates as and when I can, but will struggle on sea days. I have never paid for the ships WiFi before, but am going to try it for the first time over 24 hours to see if it’s any good, as a trial for our 65 nighter on Aurora in January. 
 

If anyone has any specific question about Ventura, or would like me to find out anything for you whilst we are on board, please don’t hesitate to ask. 

Hope you have a great cruise. We are booked on the 35 night cruise on Ventura next February. I have booked the wi fi for the entire cruise as there are a lot of sea days so I will be interested to hear how you get on. I can't remember how many restaurants are on Ventura and how many are allocated to freedom dining? We have booked a saver fare and would prefer freedom dining but may end up with 2nd sitting so I will be interested to see what you think of it.

2 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

The town of Sarande is one of the most dispiriting places I’ve visited in the Med. Take an excursion or private tour out of town to Butrint. Even if you’re not a “ruins” person, the site is picturesque sitting on the water as it does. 

Thank you 

Has anyone suggestions for what to do in Sarande

10 minutes ago, Equiferro said:

 

We responded to that offer. Bopth Terrace and Balcony cabins were available on it and we booked a balcony

We couldn't book a terrace on exactly the same offer as was available for inside and outside cabins but still booked at a considerable saving

5 hours ago, Dermotsgirl said:

Looking at their itineraries, most Saga cruises seem to have ports that rarely/never appear on P&O schedules.  It might appeal to people jaded with P&O itineraries.

 

For example, we have done several P&O and CMV cruises in the British Isles.  We go on our first Saga cruise, Round Britain, on Friday, and there are two ports new to us.  We've also booked another British Isles cruise with Saga for next year, and that one has 4 ports that we haven't visited before.

 

If people want different ports, Saga is worth a look 

I agree that Saga offer different ports to P and O. Not as varied as Fred's offering but we have now sailed with Saga twice and feel they are worth the extra money if the itinerary includes several ports of call that will be new to us. If P and O , Fred and Saga had identical itineraries at the same price we would always choose Saga.

3 hours ago, yorkshirephil said:

Some good prices too, I have my eye on the one around Ireland for next year

We cruised with NCL around Ireland in May. Although the itinerary was great we were not impressed with what we felt was a very disorganized offering and in fact there were numerous complaints both onboard and once home and we were given a small refund.I think it was the first year NCL had offered this itinerary and hopefully some changes will have been made so that it is better next year.

11 minutes ago, ann141 said:

We have 😊

I have set up a roll call for this cruise which you are welcome to join 

14 hours ago, yorkshire traveller said:

A couple of weeks ago I got an email from FO offering 2nd passenger sails free with a choice of 3 cruises in Septemer/October.  We had no intention of booking another cruise at the moment as we have got 42 nights booked with Ambassador for January 2024 and world cruise 2025 on Bolette to look forward to.  However, the offer was too good to miss.  We have chosen A Scenic  Exploration of The Adriatic & Dalmatian Coast.

The other 2 cruises were going to Canada which doesn't really interest us.

7 of the ports will be new to us and we are looking forward to revisiting the others 

Has anyone else taken advantage of the offer?

We have 😊

6 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

@ann141 we have just been in a terrace cabin on Borealis. Lovely cruise with great food, service etc.

 

Couple of things you might like to know:

 

Our cabin was not visible from outside but many were very see through, no rhyme nor reason to which were and were not (we checked in daylight and dark).

 

There are lights on the promenade all night and the curtains don’t pull and stay together. Take clothes pegs or clips to keep them closed if you want it dark.

 

There  is much less storage space in the terrace cabins than the standard inside /outsides for some reasons (King sized bed perhaps). We always take hook magnets with us and on this occasion we really needed them as there was no room in the wardrobes for jackets and fleeces. There were 4 fixed wall hooks which we used for heavy jackets and we used the magnets for lighter items.

 

There are two 2 drawer cabinets next to the bed, a wardrobe for gents clothes (too short for dresses), a single wardrobe for hanging dresses (if you put up the shelf which you can) and a shelved wardrobe. There is also a bit of shelf space above the tea tray and safe.

 

Expect to be an early riser for tender ports as dropping the tender is noisy. Great early morning alarm call to get tender tickets.

 

The pads on the steamers get very wet so if they are dry, take them indoors overnight as the staff don’t. The coach at the window is great for watching the scenery if the weather is poor.

 

Please just ask if you have any other questions.

 

Thank you very much. Glad you had an enjoyable cruise 🙂

40 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

I would really advise you to check with the cruise line. Fusina is very strict in their access and from what I have read, no one has accomplished being able to walk on or off freely in the port. It is a working, industrial port and no one is allowed to randomly walk. There is no view from anywhere for the most part from the ship. I understand the “been there done that”  with Venice to a certain degree, but Fusina holds nothing attractive in the port itself. Maybe your cruise line offers different tours that Venice that you could take transport to and then DIY. We are not excursions people at all, and have used the transportation to get someplace, then find out what time and where to be back to the bus, and still tip the guide. Then all are happy. 

Thinking about it there will probably be a shuttle bus taking people out of the port area. There appears to be a beach and a lighthouse in Fusina but we will wait until we are onboard. If we have to go into Venice that's what we will do but hopefully the shuttle will drop people near to where the vaperetto goes and we can explore from ther

9 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

We took a RT out of Fusina this Spring. You have to transverse the causeway onto Venice island in each direction, which each time took approximately 30 minutes. You are required arrive at the old cruise terminal for embarking and disembarking. If you are just visiting the busses should take you to the Piazalle Roma which may be a shorter transfer time. In either of our directions of embarking or disembarking, we were not allowed to DIY from the ship. There did not appear to be much to do in that area as we drove through it, but I am thinking you likely will not have a choice to just plan your day from the ship without using ship transportation out of the port. It is a gated port with guards inspecting each vehicle. 
 

Thank you. No one is embarking or disembarking from the cruise we are on so hope we will be allowed out of the terminal independently. On one tour it states you have to walk a short distance to get on a boat for a tour of the lagoon so am presuming people will be able to walk out to explore 

13 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

One other thought occurred to me:  you might consider posting a query on the forum for whichever line you're sailing with out of Fusina. Others on earlier cruises departing from there may have sussed out some interesting things to do.

Thank you 

1 minute ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

The port is Fusina (not Fusini), which may help if you are googling for things to do.  

 

It's an industrial and ferry port with a large parking lot and campground nearby. Boats take visitors the short distance into Venice (15-20 minutes), which doesn't sound like much of a hassle, but if you want to stay in Fusina, this link gives a few things (including a 16th c. lighthouse) that might be worth a walk-about:

 

https://gangwaze.com/cruise-ports/fusina-venice-italy

Thank you