TeetotalNot

Yes, the storm was recorded as force 10-11 (12 is a hurricane). It was frightening. The captain had to steer into the wind to alleviate the possibility of endangerment to the ship. There was never a 45 degree list as this would have meant capsizing, over 30 degrees you possibly go over, but there was listing. It's hard to believe the power of the wind pushing a 116,000+ tonne ship to list. Incidentally there were no cruise logs issued to report this. I applied for one by email quoting cruise N734 and this shows the weather for Sunday 10th Dec. winds 10-11 and Monday 11th force 9.

Insurance policies for a 3 day cabin confinement in my understanding are very vague. I've been informed for instance if you are confined, say at 6:00am on the first day and released on the 3rd day at 6:00pm you have only in effect been confined for one full 24 hour day. So instead of getting say £300 @ £100 per day they will only pay out £100. It might be prudent to look in the small print on cruise insurance policies.

We too were on the Ventura N734 9th to 21st December 2017 and on the 11th I contracted gastroenteritis & colitis (doctor's diagnosis?) and was confined to the cabin for three days. My wife was unaffected and free to roam around the ship but advised to refrain from using the buffet restaurants - I wonder why?. The pre-boarding advisory letter stated that the previous cruise had an increase of gastrointestinal cases and the upgrade of sanitisation was in place. I believe the virus was still prevalent on embarkation. On the entrances to the Waterside and Beach House buffets the automatic hand gel dispensers were non-existent, so much for the increase in sanitisation. Anyone could exit the toilets, on the same deck, and walk into the buffets without cleansing. Very poor. Incidentally the hand cleansers were there on the previous December cruise 2016. I gave a hand written complaint to the on board reception outlining that we both lost appetites worried of a recurrence and loss of enjoyment and enthusiasm for the remainder of the cruise. This was our 13th cruise with P&O and definitely the worst. We missed the first two ports because of my confinement. Cruise companies need to address this problem as a matter of urgency because the more publicity of this illness the more bad publicity for them. Fortunately we booked a balcony cabin and at least were able to enjoy the warm weather in confinement, but I hate to think what it would've be like in an inside cabin.