Ventura in term time or Britannia in holidays...help please!

We've never cruised with P&O but looking at our first next year doing fjords. We know we want to do the itinerary with Flam in and have some date constraints which leaves us with the choice of Ventura 7-14 July or Britannia 20-27 July.

We're an older couple, kids all grown up so usually avoid school holidays, or at least places with lots of kids. Did do a fantastic cruise 2 years ago Scandinavia/Russia in holiday time but very few families there. A friend who has sailed on both ships said to avoid Ventura as it's very family orientated, and she loves Britannia.

So would you choose Ventura at the earlier date of Britannia in first week of holidays? Can anybody give the pros and cons of each ship, and maybe also any views on just how family full it will be given the destination

Both Ventura and Britannia are family orientated ships. Both will have a large number of children onboard during the school holidays, and very few in term time. So if you do not wish to share the ship with potentially hundreds of children I would sail outside the school holidays.

If I had this decision to make I would go with Ventura as most schools won’t have broken up. Added benefit of retractable roof just in case weather isn’t great everyday, also larger balconies. We also don’t have kids and have sailed on Ventura outside of school holidays and saw very few children. We wouldn’t risk a cruise during the school holidays on any ‘Non-Adult Only’ ship so the Britannia cruise wouldn’t be an option for us.

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Ventura with a few children rather than Britannia with lots is my choice as well. Both nice ships but I wouldn’t consider either during the school summer holidays.

Thanks all. It seems even the first of those weeks is holidays for US kids, and second week might be right at start before some British ones break up. Also it's Norway. I would expect loads of kids somewhere like Spain, France, Greece but not sure if Norway would get so many

You do know Scottish schools will be on holiday then.

I would go on either ship however in school holidays or out. Our main reason for avoiding the holidays is cost. I don’t mind children at all but if it is cheaper the week before then I will choose that one.

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We sailed on Britannia to the fjords in August with our son and family, there were a lot of children on board, but obviously we could not complain.

My preference would be Ventura but Britannia is newer, showers have glass doors rather than curtains, buffet is better laid out and dining rooms are quieter. But overall it is too bland for us the balconies are a sham and the lifts are totally inadequate.

We sailed on Britannia to the fjords in August with our son and family, there were a lot of children on board, but obviously we could not complain.

My preference would be Ventura but Britannia is newer, showers have glass doors rather than curtains, buffet is better laid out and dining rooms are quieter. But overall it is too bland for us the balconies are a sham and the lifts are totally inadequate.

I've read about the lifts, but what do you mean by balconies a sham? I heard they are bigger on Ventura

You do know Scottish schools will be on holiday then.

 

I would go on either ship however in school holidays or out. Our main reason for avoiding the holidays is cost. I don’t mind children at all but if it is cheaper the week before then I will choose that one.

 

 

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Sorry, should've said English! I'm very active in some FB groups that have a US v Brit split and went into auto :o

Having done a fjords cruise in school holidays (early August) with our children (on Aurora), comparatively there were fewer children and certainly fewer very young ones than you would get on a Med or Canaries cruise. I would say Ventura and Britannia are equally family orientated (been on Azura, Ventura's sister ship and Britannia).

We've never cruised with P&O but looking at our first next year doing fjords. We know we want to do the itinerary with Flam in and have some date constraints which leaves us with the choice of Ventura 7-14 July or Britannia 20-27 July.

We're an older couple, kids all grown up so usually avoid school holidays, or at least places with lots of kids. Did do a fantastic cruise 2 years ago Scandinavia/Russia in holiday time but very few families there. A friend who has sailed on both ships said to avoid Ventura as it's very family orientated, and she loves Britannia.

So would you choose Ventura at the earlier date of Britannia in first week of holidays? Can anybody give the pros and cons of each ship, and maybe also any views on just how family full it will be given the destination

Never sailed on Britannia so cannot comment but sailed on Ventura many times and the little blighters er I mean darling children have never been a problem and I'm not too kiddie friendly myself but you hardly see them

Happy cruising

We much prefer Britannia to Ventura, but would probably choose the latter for a Fjords Cruise. We booked a Fjords Cruise on Britannia because we wanted to do Flaam and Olden. A few months before sailing BOTH ports were cancelled and we went to coastal ports, not long Fjords. I found out that SIX port calls to Flaam by Britannia had been cancelled since launch. If getting to Flaam is a priority, the smaller the ship the less the chance of being disappointed.

I've read about the lifts, but what do you mean by balconies a sham? I heard they are bigger on Ventura

There is hardly room to turn round on them, the chairs will only fit sideways, I have seen bigger Juliet balconies.

Dai is spot on, the week on Ventura will be when Scottish schools are on holiday and also many public schools too in the UK. There will be children on board and maybe more than you think. Lots of connections with Norway in Scotland due to the oil industry and on each of the 3 Fjord cruises I have taken I found many Scots on board who had either worked there, married a Norwegian co-worker or just felt drawn to see a similar terrain. On the other side of the coin, out of interest, some tour guides in the Fjords were originally from Scotland, now living in Norway. Britannia, being bigger, always seems to offer more chances for avoiding crowds but its likely to have more children on board as the main UK school holidays will have started and the early ones not yet finished.

Norn'Irn on holiday too IIRC.

Thanks all. Have decided we prefer the look of Britannia more...the food and drink choices outweigh balcony as priority for us. And we're going to take the July hit. Now going to forget any school kid stuff and focus on looking forward to it