Live from Ventura

[SarahHben]

We are onboard, unpacked & fed 😊 

Our arrival time was 3:30 but we arrived an hour early. It took a while to queue & sort the car with CPS, we dropped off the cases then waited in the early arrivals queue briefly before checking in & security. We embarked around 3:40, went to our muster station then straight to our cabin. Our cabin steward was waiting for us, she’s lovely, very friendly & helpful. 
 

Our cases arrived quickly so we unpacked before sail away, waved to my family on Iona as we passed them.

 

We hadn’t had lunch and were starving so we headed down to eat at 6pm. There was a small queue outside saffron but no queue at all outside Cinnamon so we went there.
 

Our waiter was a bit surly to begin with but cheered up as the meal went on. He didn’t offer us the drinks menu, we had to ask and the drinks turned up after we’d eaten out starters. Food was good though, smoked trout for starter, lamb (with green beans of course) followed by passion fruit pavlova. 
 

We then had a wander around before seeing the Privateers in the theatre, they sang folk music & sea shanties and were very good. We’ll go to see them again later in the week.

 

There doesn’t seem to be any drinking water to buy unlike when we were on Iona, and the tap water isn’t cold enough to drink so we’ll go in search of the buffet soon and find some, I’m sure hubby will get some snacks too.

 

The sea is definitely a bit bumpy but nothing bad so far.

 

The cabin is very nice, better than I expected and being c deck the balcony is huge.

 

Oh and we bumped into someone we know, small world! 

 

Edited August 5, 2023 by SarahHben

[Presto2]

4 minutes ago, SarahHben said:

We are onboard, unpacked & fed 😊 

Our arrival time was 3:30 but we arrived an hour early. It took a while to queue & sort the car with CPS, we dropped off the cases then waited in the early arrivals queue briefly before checking in & security. We embarked around 3:40, went to our muster station then straight to our cabin. Our cabin steward was waiting for us, she’s lovely, very friendly & helpful. 
 

Our cases arrived quickly so we unpacked before sail away, waved to my family on Iona as we passed them.

 

We hadn’t had lunch and we’re starving so we headed down to eat at 6pm. There was a small queue outside saffron but no queue at all outside Cinnamon so we went there.
 

Our waiter was a bit surly to begin with but cheered up as the meal went on. He didn’t offer us the drinks menu, we had to ask and the drinks turned up after we’d eaten out starters. Good was good though, smoked trout for starter, lamb (with green beans of course) followed by passion fruit pavlova. 
 

We then had a wander around before seeing the Privateers in the theatre, they sang folk music & sea shanties and were very good. We’ll go to see them again later in the week.

 

There doesn’t seem to be any drinking water to buy unlike when we were on Iona, and the tap water isn’t cold enough to drink so we’ll go in search of the buffet soon and find some, I’m sure hubby will get some snacks too.

 

The sea is definitely a bit bumpy but nothing bad so far.

 

The cabin is very nice, better than I expected and being c deck the balcony is huge.

 

Have a great time 😀

[AndyMichelle]

Very jealous... 

Aren't the Privateers great. 

Have a fantastic time. 

Andy 

[SarahHben]

12 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

Very jealous... 

Aren't the Privateers great. 

Have a fantastic time. 

Andy 

They were brilliant! Funny as well 😊
Thank you

[Selbourne]

Have a fabulous cruise. We are on Ventura in October, so will be very interested to hear how you get on, especially in the MDR with Freedom dining. The food looks good from the photos 👍

[CarlaMarie]

Have a wonderful time! 

 

Looking forward to reading about the rest of your cruise. 

 

Hope you got the water! You should be able to order the canned water and have it sent to your cabin. 

[Cloudyrain]

Have a lovely time: we go later in the month so I’m looking forward to following your trip with my excitement building 😊

[July morning]

Have a great time I am on Ventura in October with my daughter and grandson

[Jayneykul]

Thank you we are on Ventura 19.9.23

 

[SarahHben]

8 hours ago, CarlaMarie said:

Have a wonderful time! 

 

Looking forward to reading about the rest of your cruise. 

 

Hope you got the water! You should be able to order the canned water and have it sent to your cabin. 

We just brought glasses of water down from the buffet last night. Can’t see anything in the cabin about ordering water so I’ll leave a note for our room steward this morning. 

[davecttr]

6 minutes ago, SarahHben said:

We just brought glasses of water down from the buffet last night. Can’t see anything in the cabin about ordering water so I’ll leave a note for our room steward this morning. 

How about filling your bottles from the bathroom tap and putting it in the fridge to cool down. It drinkable and the same water as used in the restaurants and galleys.

[Fionboard]

30 minutes ago, davecttr said:

How about filling your bottles from the bathroom tap and putting it in the fridge to cool down. It drinkable and the same water as used in the restaurants and galleys.

Absolutely. Have always done this. Don't pay for water! 

[purplesea]

Have a great cruise and look forward to reading about the rest of your holiday.

[grapau27]

11 hours ago, SarahHben said:

We are onboard, unpacked & fed 😊 

Our arrival time was 3:30 but we arrived an hour early. It took a while to queue & sort the car with CPS, we dropped off the cases then waited in the early arrivals queue briefly before checking in & security. We embarked around 3:40, went to our muster station then straight to our cabin. Our cabin steward was waiting for us, she’s lovely, very friendly & helpful. 
 

Our cases arrived quickly so we unpacked before sail away, waved to my family on Iona as we passed them.

 

We hadn’t had lunch and were starving so we headed down to eat at 6pm. There was a small queue outside saffron but no queue at all outside Cinnamon so we went there.
 

Our waiter was a bit surly to begin with but cheered up as the meal went on. He didn’t offer us the drinks menu, we had to ask and the drinks turned up after we’d eaten out starters. Food was good though, smoked trout for starter, lamb (with green beans of course) followed by passion fruit pavlova. 
 

We then had a wander around before seeing the Privateers in the theatre, they sang folk music & sea shanties and were very good. We’ll go to see them again later in the week.

 

There doesn’t seem to be any drinking water to buy unlike when we were on Iona, and the tap water isn’t cold enough to drink so we’ll go in search of the buffet soon and find some, I’m sure hubby will get some snacks too.

 

The sea is definitely a bit bumpy but nothing bad so far.

 

The cabin is very nice, better than I expected and being c deck the balcony is huge.

 

Oh and we bumped into someone we know, small world! 

 

Lovely photo of you two.

I will be following along.

Best wishes for a fantastic cruise.

Graham.

[Presto2]

3 hours ago, SarahHben said:

We just brought glasses of water down from the buffet last night. Can’t see anything in the cabin about ordering water so I’ll leave a note for our room steward this morning. 

We asked and got large cans of water. Can't remember how many tou can order at a time. 

[Officeboy]

17 hours ago, SarahHben said:

We are onboard, unpacked & fed 😊 

Our arrival time was 3:30 but we arrived an hour early. It took a while to queue & sort the car with CPS, we dropped off the cases then waited in the early arrivals queue briefly before checking in & security. We embarked around 3:40, went to our muster station then straight to our cabin. Our cabin steward was waiting for us, she’s lovely, very friendly & helpful. 
 

Our cases arrived quickly so we unpacked before sail away, waved to my family on Iona as we passed them.

 

We hadn’t had lunch and were starving so we headed down to eat at 6pm. There was a small queue outside saffron but no queue at all outside Cinnamon so we went there.
 

Our waiter was a bit surly to begin with but cheered up as the meal went on. He didn’t offer us the drinks menu, we had to ask and the drinks turned up after we’d eaten out starters. Food was good though, smoked trout for starter, lamb (with green beans of course) followed by passion fruit pavlova. 
 

We then had a wander around before seeing the Privateers in the theatre, they sang folk music & sea shanties and were very good. We’ll go to see them again later in the week.

 

There doesn’t seem to be any drinking water to buy unlike when we were on Iona, and the tap water isn’t cold enough to drink so we’ll go in search of the buffet soon and find some, I’m sure hubby will get some snacks too.

 

The sea is definitely a bit bumpy but nothing bad so far.

 

The cabin is very nice, better than I expected and being c deck the balcony is huge.

 

Oh and we bumped into someone we know, small world! 

 

We are on our cruise in a few weeks, wondering what the ship air con temperature is like. Sometimes it is too cold and need a jumper on. Have a great time.

[Selbourne]

6 minutes ago, Officeboy said:

We are on our cruise in a few weeks, wondering what the ship air con temperature is like. Sometimes it is too cold and need a jumper on. Have a great time.

We noticed on Britannia recently that the air con temperature was nowhere near as cool as on previous cruises. In these cost cutting times we assumed that it was to save money. 

[SarahHben]

8 hours ago, davecttr said:

How about filling your bottles from the bathroom tap and putting it in the fridge to cool down. It drinkable and the same water as used in the restaurants and galleys.

Hi, yes we have done that now.

[SarahHben]

10 minutes ago, Officeboy said:

We are on our cruise in a few weeks, wondering what the ship air con temperature is like. Sometimes it is too cold and need a jumper on. Have a great time.

I was a bit chilly at dinner time yesterday so took a cardigan to the theatre but then didn’t need it. 

[SarahHben]

We went to breakfast in the Saffron MDR at 9am, there was a short queue but didn’t take long. If we had wanted a table for 2 we would have been given a pager but we were hungry so agreed to join another family. They were lovely and it was a nice start to the day. The little boy spotted one of his teachers on a table near by, not sure who would have been more horrified 😂

 

We have spent most of the day in the Retreat after a wander around the outer decks. The sun loungers are so comfortable that I dozed off for a few hours. They brought coronation chicken salad & dessert round at lunch time which was very nice and then at 3:30 we were given afternoon tea, scones, cream, jam & fruit cake. I could get used to this, you don’t even have to fetch your own drinks 😊 Seas are reasonably calm today, it’s sunny and windy. 
My sister & her family are currently on Iona and she’s sent me a message saying they aren’t going to Stavanger tomorrow.. again…we missed it last year due to bad weather.

We’re off to Sindhu later for dinner, will report back later I expect.

 

[Presto2]

My thoughts are with the teacher ........ 

[Purdey16]

Hi Sarah can I ask you about the early boarding que , was there many waiting in the que before you and if so did you get called out by time to board ? Just wondering if they are going to still make people stand outside in all weather conditions etc and if they got shelter.

Im glad you’re enjoying your cruise now and continue to do so and we also bumped into some friends from a cruise 5 years previously so we made arrangements to meet up before dinner and have a drink each night .

[SarahHben]

12 minutes ago, Purdey16 said:

Hi Sarah can I ask you about the early boarding que , was there many waiting in the que before you and if so did you get called out by time to board ? Just wondering if they are going to still make people stand outside in all weather conditions etc and if they got shelter.

Im glad you’re enjoying your cruise now and continue to do so and we also bumped into some friends from a cruise 5 years previously so we made arrangements to meet up before dinner and have a drink each night .

The early arrivals queue was outside but under shelter. I think because we had the latest boarding time it was all of the 3:30 arrivals that were asked to queue and then they took us through in batches. We went in around 3:15.

[SarahHben]

We had a lovely dinner in Sindhu, friendly service unlike our Cinnamon waiter last night. I’d read that Sindhu don’t give you little extra dishes anymore but we got several extras. 
I had the beef starter and my husband had the chicken, then he had the lobster & I had the signature plate of tamarind salmon curry, lamb rogan Josh & saffron chicken korma, all delicious! Mr B had bread & butter pudding & I had Chocolate Textures which was nice but a bit heavy.
My husband photographed the mains and he doesn’t have internet. 
I was very cold in Sindhu and around the ship tonight, I had goosebumps & had to put a woolly cardi on.

 

We were going to go to the late theatre show  but we are both really tired so we’ve gone to our cabin. 

One thing we’ve noticed is that on the smart casual nights there seems to be a fair amount of not at all ‘smart’ casual. People dressed up more on Iona last year. We’ll see what tomorrow’s formal night brings.

 

Night

 

[SarahHben]