Ventura to La Rochelle, Santander, Gijon and La Coruna

[SarahHben]

Hello

I've seen posts from @Selbourne saying that family are doing this itinerary at the moment but have missed 2 of the 4 ports. Does anyone know if this itinerary often misses ports, I know Guernsey for example is known for being hit and miss. We have the above itinerary booked for May 2026. La Rochelle was one of the main reasons for us booking.

[showingdiva]

I can't comment on P&O's "operational reasons", but I did La Rochelle, Bilbao (Getxo), A Coruna and Cherbourg this year on MSC Virtuosa and got into every port.   No indication that any of these ports (I've also been to La Rochelle on Arcadia) have the same issues that Guernsey, which is of course a tender port - and a difficult one at that, has.

[SarahHben]

Thanks for that reassurance, I'll keep a close eye on cancellations from Ventura in those ports.

[Josy1953]

We haven't  done these ports on P&O but we did them last year on Princess and we had no problems getting into any of them.

[Eglesbrech]

I have been to these ports many times and only once had an issue getting into any of them. That’s been on various cruise lines including P&O.

 

We once had an issue getting into La Rochelle as the French unions blockaded the port but that was a local issue and not entry to the port as such.

[Selbourne]

4 hours ago, SarahHben said:

Hello

I've seen posts from @Selbourne saying that family are doing this itinerary at the moment but have missed 2 of the 4 ports. Does anyone know if this itinerary often misses ports, I know Guernsey for example is known for being hit and miss. We have the above itinerary booked for May 2026. La Rochelle was one of the main reasons for us booking.

The captain announced that due to adverse weather they were having to plan a different course and would therefore miss La Rochelle. However, I watched their progress and they took exactly the same route that they would for La Rochelle - and cruised right past it 🤔This smacks of P&Os often used BS when it comes to justifying port cancellations. As to whether wind conditions cause problems berthing in La Rochelle I have no idea, but that’s not what they were told when justifying the cancellation, which was announced 2 days before. 
 

We went to La Rochelle once and it was the year after the Brexit vote, so the French played silly buggers and there were long and slow moving queues to get off and back on the ship due to prolonged passport checks 🙄 They were clearly making a point. I don’t recall there being much there when we got off the shuttle bus. The harbour area was quite nice but didn’t take long to look around. I appreciate that we hadn’t really researched it so there may be a lot more that we were unaware of!

[Eglesbrech]

7 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

The captain announced that due to adverse weather they were having to plan a different course and would therefore miss La Rochelle. However, I watched their progress and they took exactly the same route that they would for La Rochelle - and cruised right past it 🤔This smacks of P&Os often used BS when it comes to justifying port cancellations. As to whether wind conditions cause problems berthing in La Rochelle I have no idea, but that’s not what they were told when justifying the cancellation, which was announced 2 days before. 
 

We went to La Rochelle once and it was the year after the Brexit vote, so the French played silly buggers and there were long and slow moving queues to get off and back on the ship due to prolonged passport checks 🙄 They were clearly making a point. I don’t recall there being much there when we got off the shuttle bus. The harbour area was quite nice but didn’t take long to look around. I appreciate that we hadn’t really researched it so there may be a lot more that we were unaware of!

I’m sorry you missed it as La Rochelle is actually a really nice port of call. Lots of great shops, art, really amazing seafood restaurants etc.. It is also the port of call for visiting Cognac which is also really enjoyable.

 

Its one of the few ports where we have had a long queue for passports  post Brexit. It’s almost like they are on a deliberate go slow.

[Selbourne]

8 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

I’m sorry you missed it as La Rochelle is actually a really nice port of call. Lots of great shops, art, really amazing seafood restaurants etc.. It is also the port of call for visiting Cognac which is also really enjoyable.

 

Its one of the few ports where we have had a long queue for passports  post Brexit. It’s almost like they are on a deliberate go slow.

We actually got there, but that was years ago. We aren’t on the cruise that didn’t get there - family members are. Yes, the French are a law unto themselves and are masters at being ruddy awkward 😂 

[SarahHben]

37 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

The captain announced that due to adverse weather they were having to plan a different course and would therefore miss La Rochelle. However, I watched their progress and they took exactly the same route that they would for La Rochelle - and cruised right past it 🤔This smacks of P&Os often used BS when it comes to justifying port cancellations. As to whether wind conditions cause problems berthing in La Rochelle I have no idea, but that’s not what they were told when justifying the cancellation, which was announced 2 days before. 
 

We went to La Rochelle once and it was the year after the Brexit vote, so the French played silly buggers and there were long and slow moving queues to get off and back on the ship due to prolonged passport checks 🙄 They were clearly making a point. I don’t recall there being much there when we got off the shuttle bus. The harbour area was quite nice but didn’t take long to look around. I appreciate that we hadn’t really researched it so there may be a lot more that we were unaware of!

Thanks Selbourne.

I've been tracking Ventura this week and saw she'd sailed very close to La Rochelle, odd that they're missing the port.

We've been on holiday lots of times but never to La Rochelle and it's just somewhere we fancied going for a while, not to see anything in particular. I have a friend with family who live there and the photos look nice.

Hopefully we'll get there in 2026. I hope your family are enjoying the cruise despite the changes & cancellations.

[Selbourne]

Some shots from our visit to La Rochelle

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 07:18 PM by Selbourne

[Josy1953]

11 hours ago, Selbourne said:

We actually got there, but that was years ago. We aren’t on the cruise that didn’t get there - family members are. Yes, the French are a law unto themselves and are masters at being ruddy awkward 😂 

The problem with the French is that they think that the world should all speak French.  

During my working life I spent a lot of time in France and have seen how they will speak French when they hear someone speaking another language.  I used to speak to them in French just to let them know that I understood what they were saying.  They also love their bureaucracy.

[Selbourne]

41 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

The problem with the French is that they think that the world should all speak French.  

During my working life I spent a lot of time in France and have seen how they will speak French when they hear someone speaking another language.  I used to speak to them in French just to let them know that I understood what they were saying.  They also love their bureaucracy.

Very true, although, to be fair, us Brits are probably the worst at expecting the whole world to speak our language, partly because most do! I remember saying to someone once how lucky we were that wherever we went in the world it was almost always possible to find someone who could speak English to a certain degree. His response was, well they don’t, they speak American, his point being that they mostly learn English by watching American made TV programmes 😂 Sadly, I think that’s true. 

[thornegirl]

18 hours ago, SarahHben said:

Hello

I've seen posts from @Selbourne saying that family are doing this itinerary at the moment but have missed 2 of the 4 ports. Does anyone know if this itinerary often misses ports, I know Guernsey for example is known for being hit and miss. We have the above itinerary booked for May 2026. La Rochelle was one of the main reasons for us booking.

We are on Iona in 3 weeks time and when we booked this cruise 2 years ago La Rochelle was one of the ports, then about 8 months ago P&O removed La Rochelle and replaced it with Le Havre! Had an email saying that the stop to La Rochelle can no longer go ahead, no further explanation.  

[Selbourne]

42 minutes ago, thornegirl said:

We are on Iona in 3 weeks time and when we booked this cruise 2 years ago La Rochelle was one of the ports, then about 8 months ago P&O removed La Rochelle and replaced it with Le Havre! Had an email saying that the stop to La Rochelle can no longer go ahead, no further explanation.  

That’s very interesting. I know that Iona is a bit restricted as to which ports she can fit in, but presumably it’s not down to that or it would have never been scheduled in the first place. It will be very interesting to know if any other P&O ships make it there in the coming months. As mentioned, the authorities there can be awkward and I wonder if they’ve had a falling out with them?

[crompton21]

A little research on MSC Virtuosa:

 

"Described as the first prototype in a new design of ships, the Meraviglia class was uniquely designed, allowing for docking in harder to reach ports that other cruise ships can’t access"

 

The design of the ship is a presumably a factor when reviewing the safety risks of entering a port on a specific day?

[SarahHben]

58 minutes ago, thornegirl said:

We are on Iona in 3 weeks time and when we booked this cruise 2 years ago La Rochelle was one of the ports, then about 8 months ago P&O removed La Rochelle and replaced it with Le Havre! Had an email saying that the stop to La Rochelle can no longer go ahead, no further explanation.  

Thank you for that.

I think I'm going to watch what happens when Ventura does the same cruise next May and if there's issues we may change to another cruise. We had no real strong pull to that particular itinerary, other than wanting to go to La Rochelle one day. It was just the best pick at the time for a cheaper 7 day cruise in the May school holiday.

[showingdiva]

10 minutes ago, crompton21 said:

A little research on MSC Virtuosa:

 

"Described as the first prototype in a new design of ships, the Meraviglia class was uniquely designed, allowing for docking in harder to reach ports that other cruise ships can’t access"

 

The design of the ship is a presumably a factor when reviewing the safety risks of entering a port on a specific day?

 

Interesting quote, as Virtuosa is a Meraviglia Plus class ship, and the second of three sisters - Grandiosa, Virtuosa and Euribia (she's ever so slightly heavier).    The older Meraviglia class is the ship of the same name and her younger sister Bellissima.

 

I honestly don't recall Virtuosa having an awkward berthing in La Rochelle.  She's very similar in size / weight / draft etc to Iona.    She's back there 9 times over the next two years.

 

 

[NewWestwardbound]

I can’t observe on MSC Virtuosa’s ability to dock in La Rochelle, but as I commented in other threads we left Southampton one hour after Ventura last Saturday and sailed direct to La Coruna arriving as per our scheduled itinerary. We are currentky docked in a very warm Malaga, exactly as planned. 

[Ardennais]

7 hours ago, Josy1953 said:

The problem with the French is that they think that the world should all speak French.  

During my working life I spent a lot of time in France and have seen how they will speak French when they hear someone speaking another language.  I used to speak to them in French just to let them know that I understood what they were saying.  They also love their bureaucracy.

Well if French is their mother tongue, then they naturally speak French. 

[waddle]

We are currently on Ventura, docked in La Coruna

 

Captain announced as soon as we boarded in Southampton on Saturday that itinerary had changed. Due to expected high seas, direct route to La Coruna via Bay of Biscay wouldnt be possible. Therefore it would be 2 days at sea, hugging French coast to Santander and then changing the order of the Spanish ports, missing La Rochelle all together but no real explanation as to why we could not dock there on day 2

 

In Santander another annoucement that despite assurances we had the alternative berth at Gijon, turns out that in fact they could not accomodate us after all so we remained in Santander for 2 days. Apparently efforts were made to secure Bilboa or somewhere else but to no avail

[terrierjohn]

2 minutes ago, waddle said:

We are currently on Ventura, docked in La Coruna

 

Captain announced as soon as we boarded in Southampton on Saturday that itinerary had changed. Due to expected high seas, direct route to La Coruna via Bay of Biscay wouldnt be possible. Therefore it would be 2 days at sea, hugging French coast to Santander and then changing the order of the Spanish ports, missing La Rochelle all together but no real explanation as to why we could not dock there on day 2

 

In Santander another annoucement that despite assurances we had the alternative berth at Gijon, turns out that in fact they could not accomodate us after all so we remained in Santander for 2 days. Apparently efforts were made to secure Bilboa or somewhere else but to no avail

These excuses all sound very fishy, cruise schedules are arranges at least 2 years in advance, so the berths should  have been well organised long ago.

It would certainly be interesting to know how the number of P&Os cancelled ports compare with the industry average.

[Sussexboy]

I can only speak from my own experience, I have no missed ports with P&O but two with NCL.

[Snow Hill]

We have been to La Rochelle twice, both via land holidays never via a cruise, the port and town of La Rochelle has a number of places to visit, the Towers being the obvious, a meal in one of the many fish restaurants is well worth it, whiling away a hour or so with food and a glass of wine from the Girond. Take a stroll around the old part of town the Gabut, plus if you still have time visit the aquarium which takes around 2 hours. You can take the electric water bus to get to the other side of the harbour, saves the long walk around the Harbour edge to visit each of the towers.

 

I must admit our view of the French in the 20 years we have been going there, except for the Parisians, is a positive one we have always found them polite and helpful and they do appreciate it if you try to converse in French, but many are quick to switch to English if they realise you are struggling. We both speak reasonably good French and can usually make ourselves understood and most importantly can read the description on the back of wine bottles!. Yes they love their bureaucracy, mostly introduced by Napoleon, so it’s well bedded in. 
 

 

 

 

[NewWestwardbound]

Being a Bath (Rugby) supporter I would love an away draw to Stade Rochelais in the Champions Cup - though I would not be confident of a win!

 

I too have found the French a delight, even in Paris. 

 

 

[Josy1953]

5 hours ago, Ardennais said:

Well if French is their mother tongue, then they naturally speak French. 

My point is that even in an international meeting where they have been made aware in advance that the meeting lanuage will be English they will try to turn into a French language meeting.  I am fortunate that I speak French and Italian so didn't have a problem.  I and lot of other attendees would have had a problem when we held our meetings in Spain, Hungary, Russia, China, the Netherlands or any of the Nordic countries if each of the host attendees insisted on their language. 

In many companies meetings are held in English when there are a lot of different nationalities taking part.