prfg2012

Trips for one port (Athens) have appeared today, so presume others will follow shortly?

The team at TUI have confirmed that excursions should be showing from the end of the week. Thanks all for your replies 🙂

Thanks, tried that - still nothing showing. For each port it just says '0 excursions from ...' 

Hi all, 

New to TUI cruises - booked on a cruise in June 2020 and shore excursions aren't showing on my TUI account. Is this normal or should they be there by now?

Thanks in advance for you help fellow cruisers. 

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You're sitting in a steel box atop thousands of gallons of flammable fuel, in the middle of the ocean, miles from land. The term 'death trap' is therefore is entirely relative.

If there is a fire and a need to evacuate the theatre the issue won't be getting to the end of your row like Speedy Gonzales on amphetamines. It'll be that the theatre only has 2 exit's and a few hundred people with varying levels of mobiltiy are trying to navigate through them.

We were very lucky with the weather when we visited Olden, lovely place, small village surrounded by spectatular scenery. We just took a walk through the village up to a lovely red church, soaking in the atmosphere. My folks took the small tram/train/thingy around ... we all had a wonderful day and we're glad we didn't book an excursion.

Take a little bit of everything. Be ready for rain, hail, snow, wind and warm sunshine all in one day. The weather changes frequently and varies with altitude. However, no matter the weather it’s a magnificent part of the world.

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Sizzling chicken, skewers and steak lava rock in the Beach house were all great and we don't mind paying a little extra for it when it's good food :)

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With respect, you also have to realise that Ventura is not the only cruise ship sailing on the seas. If other cruise ships/cruise lines can provide much better cooking serving large number of customers, there is no excuse for the Ventura kitchen team to be below standard, is there?

 

Sure, millions of people have barely enough food to survive, but you do not pay substantial amount of money to go on a cruise to be "just satisfied" with mediocre food so we can avoid washing the dishes at home, do you? (Maybe some people do?). It would be fair to expect some degree of cuisine standard comparable to other cruise ships, wouldn't it?

 

There were some days in the buffet, that after taking the food and tasted them, they were so tasteless or poor, I could not even bear eat them. I had to leave them and walked away. Of course, there were other days that there were other things to fill me, but you do not just go on a cruise to fill yourself but not really to enjoy the food, do you?

 

We were not expecting every dish to be spectacular, and we would understand if only a couple of dishes were below expectations or even poor. But if you have a series of dishes that were below par, and if you have quite a number of passengers complaining about the poor cooking, then, it is reasonable, isn't it to say so? Or do you expect us to keep quiet, pretend everything is fine and grin and bear it?

 

Actually, when I first spoke to the F&B Manager, I said to him that it would be fair to mention my issues to him to see if he could fix it before I mention it on CruiseCritic. And it appeared he did not appear to have fixed them.

Of course if the food is truly terrible it should be raised. However when the cost of a cruise is sometimes as low as £60pppn people have to set their expectations appropriately. P&O are catering for the masses and the prices and the standards often reflect this.

Dear prfg2012, glad you are (easily?) pleased. (Did you enjoy those steamed vegetables which never seem to get any seasoning, no salt or pepper? Or their cheesecake that was hard to detect any taste of cream cheese in it? If it was just a couple of items in their cooking that was not too good, that would have been understandable, no ship cuisine is perfect. However, with so many food dishes which were probably due to poor cooking, that was quite inexcusable. Of course, food is very subjective, but when you have so many people on our last cruise who indicated how poor the food was, and not just us, then, there must be some truth in it.)

 

As for your saying it has better selection than your fridge, it does not mean that having more selection means the food tastes better, does it? As we had mentioned earlier, when we got home after the cruise, we cooked a roast chicken, and we realised how much better even such a humble dish was , than so much of the cooking on the Ventura. At least, our chicken dish had taste!

 

 

We hope P&O senior management would read this and see these comments as being constructive and try to improve on their food catering. After all, they have great cabins and most of their crew are polite and work hard. It is mostly the kitchen team which are letting the rest of the ship down. Remember, as cruisers, we have a choice, and P&O does not have the monopoly of the cruise market.

I'm just saying that there is usually something worth eating. Not every dish needs to be spectacular. I'm just grateful to have time away from cooking it myself. Yes some dishes are just ok. Yes the same vegetables seem to appear at most meals but in a world where millions of people have barely enough food to survive i don't let it ruin a holiday.

There's always a better selection than in my fridge at home, so dammit that's good enough for me.

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We've just disembarked, there were several offers going whilst we were on board. Free bottles of wine, last night they reduced the cover charge to £10. I don't think you'll have any problems booking when you get onboard but worth booking in advance if there's a special or particular night you want. Enjoy :)

We've come down to the conclusion that there are two types of moaners.

1) Those people who are generally unhappy. The kind of people who get narky in every day life over little things will be equally moany on holiday. The Victor Meldrews of the world.

2) Seasoned cruisers who see cruising as a time where they should be treated like royalty and should only get the best of everything because they are paying for the best of everything, and do not like how causal cruising has become. The Hyacinth Buckets of the world.

For me it's 2 weeks without work, 2 weeks without thinking what's for dinner, 2 weeks where the only decision I have to make is when to eat/drink/go somewhere. Pure bliss.

Sitting with my OH on the balcony, glass of wine in hand, watching the sun go down is my 'happy place', anything we think is a bit naff, or a meal that wasn't that good etc is just part of the fun. On our last cruise they served green beans with everything. We didn't moan we just chuckled every time another portion turned up. Guess it all just depends on your outlook on life :)

Can't comment on the suite facilities, but plenty of laundries dotted around with ironing boards in them [emoji3]

Hi, awful situation you're in, so sorry. Surprised they are not being more understanding, but suppose there's never a guarantee you'll get any form of deposit back when you effectively decide you are cancelling a holiday. Have you tried the usual routes of customer services, writing to them, trading standards, or some form of ombudsman?

Was on the Ventura last May, Sindu was nearly empty most of the time and the staff were roaming the boat desperate to get you to book. We went once, was ok but nothing special. The Epicurean had space most of the time, but was fully booked on formal nights, so if you want to splash out on posh night I'd get your reservation in as early as possible.

We loved the beach house and the glass house :)