Amsterdam on Ventura, just back.

[P&O SUE]

Afternoon, we’ve just been on Ventura for four nights to Amsterdam, we had a lovely time.

Highlights -

No using the app now for Freedom dining, just show up like ‘old times ’

Lovely meal in the Epicurean, big excitement as my Crepe Suzette was cooked at the table 😊 It was delicious!

The weather was fab, sunny and at times too hot 😆

We went to the ADam tower for a fantastic view, also had a breeze up the top! We went on a free ferry just behind the station. I only knew about this as I’d seen it on YouTube! Unfortunately Ventura was moored so it’s aft was towards us!

We went to our first ever silent disco, what a laugh! Great fun and John, who hardly ever dances was dancing away!

 

Any questions just ask.

 

 

[P&O SUE]

Another thing - no using the app to queue for MDR but we had lunch in the Glasshouse on the last day and we were asked if we’d joined the queue! We hadn’t but he did it for us and said we were no 3, we must have waited about 10 mins!

 

We used the MDR twice, both times we went at 6pm so that we had plenty of time for the entertainment, both times we went straight in! Although we were in Amsterdam til midnight the formal night so I expect many were off the ship.

 

Pleased to say Beef Wellington was on the Formal menu and chicken and steak were on every day.

[kalos]

Glad you had a great time on the Ventura and pleased to read of no problems .

 

How did your boarding go?  Were you early ,on time . In other words were you

happy with your boarding experience ? 🙂

[AndyMichelle]

Thank you for reporting back Sue, glad you had fun, looks fantastic. 

Andy 

[Selbourne]

Delighted to hear that Freedom Dining is operating how it should.
 

Two questions re the MDR. Did you pick up from other passengers whether those who dined much later than you (8/8.30pm) also had no waits to be seated? Also, how did you find the MDR food on the casual nights (choice, portion size etc)? Thanks.

 

P.S. Just goes to show that all the excuses as to why they cannot prepare dishes table side in Epicurean on Iona are hogwash, as we expected. 

[P&O SUE]

35 minutes ago, kalos said:

Glad you had a great time on the Ventura and pleased to read of no problems .

 

How did your boarding go?  Were you early ,on time . In other words were you

happy with your boarding experience ? 🙂

 
Thanks Kalos, we had a boarding time of 12.30, showed up at 12.15 and were sent straight in! Small queue to check our boarding pass then straight through to report to our muster station.

Cabin’s weren’t available til about 2.30 but we went to our cabin and asked if it was ok to leave our overnight bag there and it was fine.

[P&O SUE]

19 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Delighted to hear that Freedom Dining is operating how it should.
 

Two questions re the MDR. Did you pick up from other passengers whether those who dined much later than you (8/8.30pm) also had no waits to be seated? Also, how did you find the MDR food on the casual nights (choice, portion size etc)? Thanks.

 

P.S. Just goes to show that all the excuses as to why they cannot prepare dishes table side in Epicurean on Iona are hogwash, as we expected. 

Sorry Selbourne I didn’t speak to other passengers about their MDR experiences. We did the last two days in the MDR and mainly spoke to passengers about dining on the first two, sorry! 
 

Choice was good for us and portion size. Not huge but when we have three courses that suits us! Below is a photo of my beef wellington and the waiter came up half way through and asked if I wanted more vegetables! Which I didn’t. There were more peas and beans under the beef!

We were on Britannia last year and found the choice poor. 
 

 

Edited June 24, 2023 by P&O SUE

[P&O SUE]

In the Glasshouse John had the trio of sliders and I had three of the tapas style they do. Then we had a desert which we’ve never had in there before - there is a choice of three old school puddings or you could have one for £2.25! I had their take on walnut whip and John had the lemon meringue!

 

 

[Selbourne]

10 minutes ago, P&O SUE said:

Sorry Selbourne I didn’t speak to other passengers about their MDR experiences. We did the last two days in the MDR and mainly spoke to passengers about dining on the first two, sorry! 
 

Choice was good for us and portion size. Not huge but when we have three courses that suits us! Below is a photo of my beef wellington and the waiter came up half way through and asked if I wanted more vegetables! Which I didn’t. There were more peas and beans under the beef!

We were on Britannia last year and found the choice poor. 
 

 

No worries. Thanks anyway. Good to hear that waiters are proactively offering extra veg. Not so good to hear of your experience on Britannia. We are on her in a few weeks time, so hopefully things have improved. 

[P&O SUE]

44 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

No worries. Thanks anyway. Good to hear that waiters are proactively offering extra veg. Not so good to hear of your experience on Britannia. We are on her in a few weeks time, so hopefully things have improved. 

I’m sure it will be better for you. This was April 2022 when the ‘always available’ seemed to not include chicken fleet-wide.

 

I was worried about Ventura as I’d heard loads of complaints beforehand but it really was like cruising before 2020! The last night in the theatre was jam packed and I thought that was a good sight!

[zap99]

30 minutes ago, P&O SUE said:

I’m sure it will be better for you. This was April 2022 when the ‘always available’ seemed to not include chicken fleet-wide.

 

I was worried about Ventura as I’d heard loads of complaints beforehand but it really was like cruising before 2020! The last night in the theatre was jam packed and I thought that was a good sight!

Our first post  lockdown cruise was a 3 night staycation cruise on Britannia. We carefully examined all elements once on board. Wow, we're on a ship again. Wow, people in restaurants and bars, Wow,  a theatre and a band in the club room. All things considered....Wow.

Edited June 24, 2023 by zap99

[grapau27]

2 hours ago, P&O SUE said:

Afternoon, we’ve just been on Ventura for four nights to Amsterdam, we had a lovely time.

Highlights -

No using the app now for Freedom dining, just show up like ‘old times ’

Lovely meal in the Epicurean, big excitement as my Crepe Suzette was cooked at the table 😊 It was delicious!

The weather was fab, sunny and at times too hot 😆

We went to the ADam tower for a fantastic view, also had a breeze up the top! We went on a free ferry just behind the station. I only knew about this as I’d seen it on YouTube! Unfortunately Ventura was moored so it’s aft was towards us!

We went to our first ever silent disco, what a laugh! Great fun and John, who hardly ever dances was dancing away!

 

Any questions just ask.

 

 

Great photos Sue.

Is there still work being done near the terminal?

[SarahHben]

3 hours ago, P&O SUE said:

Afternoon, we’ve just been on Ventura for four nights to Amsterdam, we had a lovely time.

Highlights -

No using the app now for Freedom dining, just show up like ‘old times ’

Lovely meal in the Epicurean, big excitement as my Crepe Suzette was cooked at the table 😊 It was delicious!

The weather was fab, sunny and at times too hot 😆

We went to the ADam tower for a fantastic view, also had a breeze up the top! We went on a free ferry just behind the station. I only knew about this as I’d seen it on YouTube! Unfortunately Ventura was moored so it’s aft was towards us!

We went to our first ever silent disco, what a laugh! Great fun and John, who hardly ever dances was dancing away!

 

Any questions just ask.

 

 

So glad you had a good time! Lovely photos 😊

[purplesea]

Glad to read that you had a lovely time, and enjoyed looking at the photos.

[emam]

Wow, that's some fire. Lovely photos. We wanted to go on Ventura on our last cruise but she was in the wrong place.

[P&O SUE]

12 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Great photos Sue.

Is there still work being done near the terminal?

We didn’t notice anything going in Graham, but when we left there was some work going on but as we left about 7.30am it didn’t cause us any problems. This was Mayflower terminal.

[P&O SUE]

12 hours ago, SarahHben said:

So glad you had a good time! Lovely photos 😊

I hope you enjoy your cruise on her. After Iona I don’t know if you’ll think she looks a bit ‘dull’ . We did our first two cruises on Azura and Ventura so it was like coming home!

[SarahHben]

35 minutes ago, P&O SUE said:

I hope you enjoy your cruise on her. After Iona I don’t know if you’ll think she looks a bit ‘dull’ . We did our first two cruises on Azura and Ventura so it was like coming home!

I’m sure we will enjoy it but we are going knowing that she’s an older ship that won’t feel as bright and airy as Iona.

I’m expecting the biggest difference to be the cabin which looks more dated with the decor and furniture. I have warned my hubbie that he may not fit under the shower head properly and that there’s a shower curtain not a screen. The small tvs won’t bother us as we won’t be watching tv. We chosen a deck C balcony so that our outside space is bigger.

We were spoiled really with our first ever cabin being a conservatory mini suite. 
Sounds daft but I think we’ll miss having the Quays too.

 

One thing Ventura has that Iona doesn’t, drawers for your undies 😁

 

 

 

[sandancer]

Our last cruise was on Arvia and our next is on Azura. It’s going to be so good to actually put stuff in drawers. However we did enjoy Arvia and next time I will take some fold flat drawer dividers to stand on the shelves. 

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, P&O SUE said:

We didn’t notice anything going in Graham, but when we left there was some work going on but as we left about 7.30am it didn’t cause us any problems. This was Mayflower terminal.

Thank you Sue.

Was there work still going on near Amsterdam terminal.

[Teddy123]

A question: is the app now not used at all or just optional? (we think it's great). Thanks.

[Beckett]

1 hour ago, P&O SUE said:

I hope you enjoy your cruise on her. After Iona I don’t know if you’ll think she looks a bit ‘dull’ . We did our first two cruises on Azura and Ventura so it was like coming home!

Glad you had such a good time Sue - lovely photos of you and John. I feel the same as you about Ventura - coming home. I like her aged and reliable feel. I've done 6 cruises on her and looking forward to my 7th. Have a good day. Jane xx

[P&O SUE]

26 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Thank you Sue.

Was there work still going on near Amsterdam terminal.

There was some but it didn’t get in our way so to speak.

[P&O SUE]

21 minutes ago, Teddy123 said:

A question: is the app now not used at all or just optional? (we think it's great). Thanks.

On Ventura it wasn’t used at all for the MDR’s. For some reason it was for the Glasshouse, the other restaurants could be booked online before we went. 
 

We did sign into it but only used it to check our onboard spend!

[grapau27]

16 minutes ago, Beckett said:

Glad you had such a good time Sue - lovely photos of you and John. I feel the same as you about Ventura - coming home. I like her aged and reliable feel. I've done 6 cruises on her and looking forward to my 7th. Have a good day. Jane xx

I like the fact Epicurean is at the aft of the ship on Ventura and easy to get to from our aft balcony cabin.