ventura review.

[humpy]

just thought id post a short review on ventura.

we were on the maiden mediteranean cruise and thought the ship was amazing.once you found where everything was because she is a large ship.all the bars and lounges had good themes and good shows.the baytree resteraunt was excelent as was the food and service.the pools are great as are the jacuzzis.the casino has 2 roulette tables,3 blackjack tables and 2 poker tables and numerous machines.the waterside and beach house resteraunts are the best place to eat at lunch time but get very buisy from 12.30 onwards.frankies is great for burgers or pizzas around the pool.the bar staff are always ready to serve drinks all day.the cabin we had was an inside one on p deck at the front,and was very well apointed and did us proud.the cabin steward could not do enough for us.we didnt use the oasis spar but we did use the gym and it has all the latest upto date equipment.we ate in the white room and the food and service was second to none but you do have to pay £20.00 per head,the same for east resteraunt.the bar called ramblas is another good venue and you can get food here again you have to pay £2.50 minimum.all in all the cruise,ship and staff were excellent and i would highly recommend a holiday on ventura.

[Kitchie]

Hello Humpy,

 

Thank you for that. It is good to see a positive reveiw for a change.

 

I am looking forward to my trip. Only three months to go.

 

Kitchie :)

[humpy]

Thanks for the reply kitchi i hope you have a great time on ventura, we all enjoyed it and will be looking at ventura next year for the following year.were all booked up for 08&09.

[haggis]

Thanks for posting Humpy. We're on her this Friday and it cant come soon enough.

Jimmy

[humpy]

your welcome haggis were going to the canaries in october on oceana,this will be our first visit there. happy cruising. humpy

[daiB]

just thought id post a short review on ventura.

we were on the maiden mediteranean cruise and thought the ship was amazing.once you found where everything was because she is a large ship.all the bars and lounges had good themes and good shows.the baytree resteraunt was excelent as was the food and service.the pools are great as are the jacuzzis.the casino has 2 roulette tables,3 blackjack tables and 2 poker tables and numerous machines.the waterside and beach house resteraunts are the best place to eat at lunch time but get very buisy from 12.30 onwards.frankies is great for burgers or pizzas around the pool.the bar staff are always ready to serve drinks all day.the cabin we had was an inside one on p deck at the front,and was very well apointed and did us proud.the cabin steward could not do enough for us.we didnt use the oasis spar but we did use the gym and it has all the latest upto date equipment.we ate in the white room and the food and service was second to none but you do have to pay £20.00 per head,the same for east resteraunt.the bar called ramblas is another good venue and you can get food here again you have to pay £2.50 minimum.all in all the cruise,ship and staff were excellent and i would highly recommend a holiday on ventura.

 

Hi Humpy

 

 

 

Glad you enjoyed your cruise, we have 8 month to go before we venture on to Ventura. Not sure if we will get to the Gym:D, but the food sounds good.

 

 

 

:):)Happy Cruising:):)

 

 

:cool:

 

 

Dai

[janem2]

After reading some of the reviews here I wrote to P&O and asked for confirmatin on the Freedom Dining vs Club dining.

Their response...

"Freedom Dining main restaurant is The Cinnamon Restaurant,

you can dine any time between 6.00pm and 10.00pm"

 

Club is waitlisted.

 

So far as a first time cruiser I am already disappointed with P&O..I booked Ventura as it was the right time and itinery but so far, the Freedom dining has been reduced & the Cinema has gone...not sure what will go next before we get on board!

 

I know a new ship has glitches but its the removal of items by P&O without any information to their paying passengers that is concerning me. When exactly do they think it is appropriate to tell us that items are being removed? Freedom dining was sold to us as a chance to try more than one restaurant - that is not the case.

 

I hope I will love cruising as much as you guys obviously do but I think this will be the last time I will go with P&O...as I assume that other Companies don't have the same level of poor Customer Service that we are receving over Ventura.

 

J

[loobylouuk]

After reading some of the reviews here I wrote to P&O and asked for confirmatin on the Freedom Dining vs Club dining.

Their response...

"Freedom Dining main restaurant is The Cinnamon Restaurant,

you can dine any time between 6.00pm and 10.00pm"

 

Club is waitlisted.

 

So far as a first time cruiser I am already disappointed with P&O..I booked Ventura as it was the right time and itinery but so far, the Freedom dining has been reduced & the Cinema has gone...not sure what will go next before we get on board!

 

I know a new ship has glitches but its the removal of items by P&O without any information to their paying passengers that is concerning me. When exactly do they think it is appropriate to tell us that items are being removed? Freedom dining was sold to us as a chance to try more than one restaurant - that is not the case.

 

I hope I will love cruising as much as you guys obviously do but I think this will be the last time I will go with P&O...as I assume that other Companies don't have the same level of poor Customer Service that we are receving over Ventura.

 

J

 

Hi Janem2,

dont be put off as i am sure you will love your cruise.

Apparently there is still a cinema albeit not a 3d one, in the tamarind club.

As for the Freedom dining, all of the meals served in all of the main club resturants are exactly the same regardless of where you eat it.

The main advantage of Freedom dining is the flexibility it gives you because you can go when you want and if you decide not to go to the main dining room and get some thing from room service or the buffet or a select resturaunt you do not have to explain to other table mates why you were not there.You will also sit with different people every night...not a bad thing in my opinion especially if you dont your table mates!

When i have freedom in the past there has normally only been one resturant allocated.......this is not just a Ventura glich!

I am on Ventura in 3 weeks and am also doing Freedom dining i'll let you know how it went.

Lou

[janem2]

Thanks Lou! I am probably just a wee bit nervous - it has taken me 10 years to get my other half on a cruise so I want it to be perfect! One thing is for sure though - if everyone on the cruise is as nice as you guys on here then it should be a blast.

 

J

[daiB]

Thanks Lou! I am probably just a wee bit nervous - it has taken me 10 years to get my other half on a cruise so I want it to be perfect! One thing is for sure though - if everyone on the cruise is as nice as you guys on here then it should be a blast.

 

J

 

 

 

Jane,

 

They have reduced the freedom dining to one restaurant because the majority of cruisers want club. Therefore even with 2 club restaurants club dining is waitlisted ie. there is a queue.

 

 

 

:):)Happy Cruising:):)

 

 

 

:cool:

 

 

Dai

[old git]

JANEM2

just go with an open mind and enjoy your cruise,i'm sure you'll love it .

 

we done our first last year on ORIANA don't know why we waited so long it was brill!!

 

going on ARCADIA in nine week, read all sort's of review's,the good the bad and the ugly,but we'll take it as it comes and enjoy it .

 

been crying all week went to pay for it last saturday sob sob.

 

keep smiling happy cruising

[BandBlady]

Hi

Having just done the Maiden on Ventura .I would definately do freedom dining next time .We asked for second sitting and table of eight club dining.On arrival at the table we were seated with 3 couples all old enough to be my parents.and I am 52.Club dining is too tying for us now.Please enjoy she is a lovely ship .

Likewise so is Arcadia we had a wonderfull cruise in january with superb food.

Regards Kay

[daiB]

Hi

Having just done the Maiden on Ventura .I would definately do freedom dining next time .We asked for second sitting and table of eight club dining.On arrival at the table we were seated with 3 couples all old enough to be my parents.and I am 52.Club dining is too tying for us now.Please enjoy she is a lovely ship .

Likewise so is Arcadia we had a wonderfull cruise in january with superb food.

Regards Kay

 

Hi Kay,

 

You must have been unlucky or things have gone badly wrong as we have found the restaurant managers have done a very good job for us in getting a table of similarly aged cruisers. Have you cruised before?

 

We have had 10 great tables.

 

 

 

:):)Happy Cruising:):)

 

 

 

:cool:

 

 

Dai

[Flat booby]

Going on Ventura in Dec and have been looking at cruise.co.uk forum and most of them are complaining about Ventura being the worst P and O ship they have ever been on ..thinking of changing to Independence of the Seas instead as they have had fabulous reports and they too are a brand new even bigger ship where even the Captain talks to the passengers while on Ventura the Captain ignores them. to get a drink you have to q for ages. I was just so disapointed to read all those bad reviews.

[daiB]

Going on Ventura in Dec and have been looking at cruise.co.uk forum and most of them are complaining about Ventura being the worst P and O ship they have ever been on ..thinking of changing to Independence of the Seas instead as they have had fabulous reports and they too are a brand new even bigger ship where even the Captain talks to the passengers while on Ventura the Captain ignores them. to get a drink you have to q for ages. I was just so disapointed to read all those bad reviews.

 

 

Hi Flat booby,

 

Keep looking there are far more positive reports than negative and I would take this type of comment with a pinch of salt "Captain talks to the passengers while on Ventura the Captain ignores them. to get a drink you have to q for ages."

 

I have never seen any comment about not being able to get a drink. Queues at the tender port and in Gib yes but not to get a drink. Remember Arcadia was slated by the same people when she had her first cruises and she is a fabulous ship. Most of the moans come from the 'its not Aurora/Oriana brigade' and they would not like anything which was not a direct copy of them.

 

We like all the ships and their differences and look forward to going on Ventura in January.

 

As everyone says go yourself and do not take all the reports as gospel especially when they conflict as much as they do. Remember many of the faults found by some cruisers were those associated with the crew and the ship bedding in and will be rectified.

 

 

:):)Happy Cruising:):)

 

 

 

:cool:

 

 

Dai

[daiB]

Going on Ventura in Dec and have been looking at cruise.co.uk forum and most of them are complaining about Ventura being the worst P and O ship they have ever been on ..thinking of changing to Independence of the Seas instead as they have had fabulous reports and they too are a brand new even bigger ship where even the Captain talks to the passengers while on Ventura the Captain ignores them. to get a drink you have to q for ages. I was just so disapointed to read all those bad reviews.

 

 

Hi again I have just come across this from Darren who was on the cruise following the maiden who gives a different picture.

 

 

Thanks to Derek for his in-depth report

 

I can only agree with most of your report. I intended to do a similar thing but won’t bother now thanks to you superb efforts!

 

I will say the passengers we meet on the whole liked the ship but we too met some moaners we were just lucky not to meet as many as you.

 

Best complaint I heard was to a senior officer. An elderly lady was complaining and doing the usual comparison with OLD ships, she did not like the "lino" prom deck preferring wood, and she then said she still preferred the Canberra. The reply from the officer was “oh yes the Canberra, that's the one with a concrete Prom deck painted green!" That soon ended that complaint and I have to admit I just had to laugh.

 

What a difference a week makes. The second cruise was very busy at night till early hours of the morning, the overall age was much younger and possibly nearer to the right balance for Ventura. But when you can have Heavy rock in Havana, Ballroom dancing in Tamarind (although on a VERY small floor) and a brilliant Dusty Springfield act in Arena, Plus a quiz, all at the same time I think Ventura has something to offer most.

 

I read a report earlier I can’t remember who from but you will have all read it. It appeared to do nothing but complain. All I can say is that some of the things have already been attended to, I certainly spotted a few new signs the third week and also a load of new toys had been delivered to the Kids area.

As we had the Grand Children with us on the last week, we had already noticed the balcony door safety issue and were also concerned with the inability to secure the cabin door from the inside, we would never leave children in the cabin alone but our three year old has been known to sleep walk so we were worried we may wake up with him missing! Fortunately nothing happened but it could be a problem.

Derek mentioned problems in the tender ports, we too heard many moans about them, all I can say is we were lucky. In villefrance, we got an early boat ticket (No3) and only had to wait about 15 mins with no queue to get back on board.

In Santa Margareta, again we almost were on the first tender off, after about an hour I had to go back on-board (silly me had left my wallet) and again got straight on a tender both ways.

It just goes to show if you are lucky with your timings you can avoid queues.

We did find things very different on the week cruise, I did not remember how hard it is to get our two grown up kids and their kids up and off in a morning, consequently we were always in a long queue somewhere to get on or off the ship and on and off shuttle buses. It appeared everyone was trying to get on and off together, never mind we will sort it next time

My only main disappointment was the white room. Nothing wrong just did not seem special enough somehow. We went as a party of 10 to celebrate a birthday, the food was good but not particularly much better than the main restaurant especially considering the extra per person charge, and maybe we had an off night?

I thought East was very good, just a shame they put it up by £5 for the one weaker, I just could not justify paying 30% extra so only got to try it once.

Is Ventura now my favourite ship? Well frankly no, I think it is hard to have a favourite, I still love Aurora, but if cafe Bordeaux becomes only available for dinner when it becomes a Rhodes restaurant it will loss points from me. And I always look where Oriana is going as well as Arcadia.

Hope my ramblings help anyone thinking of trying Ventura and to those who don’t like her, please stay away and let us who do enjoy it without listening to complainers.

Regards to all

 

Darran C

 

 

 

 

 

:):)Happy Cruising:):)

 

 

 

:cool:

 

 

Dai

[Flat booby]

Thanks daiB for bringing the review from Darren to my notice, it made me laugh to read about the passenger who was comparing Ventura to Canberra having a concrete deck instead of the wooden one it was funny. I will just have to keep on reading the reviews and hoping that Ventura will get better through time when hopefully someone looks at the reviews we look at and can look into thier faults and change them long before we join our cruise. Never being on a cruise before I was beginning to worry if I had done the right thing on trying cruising as we had always went abroad staying in very good hotels never being disappointed so when reading bad reviews it does make me want to change our plans. We always use Trip Advisor to find good hotles and enver listen to what the brochures say as they gloss over hotels so Cruise Critic and Cruise UK is really good to find out anything we need to know. thanks again daiB

[Elaine0138]

Hi flatbooby

I think by the time we go in December all the little niggly things will have been sorted and the staff and crew will be on top form and we will have a great cruise.

[BandBlady]

Hi Dai

Yes we have done 9 P&O cruises. I do not understand why they cannot put people of the same age group together.On other tables we have been on we have had great fun and down future cruises with these people.

Ventura is a wonderfull ship but I have been a great fan of P&O till now and like everyone they are having to be more competitive in the ever increasing cruise market therefore standards are dropping.

Happy cruising

Kay:)

[Flat booby]

Hi Elaine dont the months just fly past I bet our cruise will come quickly, I have been stocking up in evening wear as I had never needed to bother about it before as Smart Casual is what we wear in Hotels. Hubby wanted to bring his kilt but thats off as the case would be too heavy so will be looking for dinner jacket instead. Really hope the Ventura will be running smoothly by the time we get our cruise otherwise It will be my 1st and last cruise. Tempted to change to the Independence of the Seas with their great reviews but after what Dai said I think I will wait and see. xx

[daiB]

Hi Elaine dont the months just fly past I bet our cruise will come quickly, I have been stocking up in evening wear as I had never needed to bother about it before as Smart Casual is what we wear in Hotels. Hubby wanted to bring his kilt but thats off as the case would be too heavy so will be looking for dinner jacket instead. Really hope the Ventura will be running smoothly by the time we get our cruise otherwise It will be my 1st and last cruise. Tempted to change to the Independence of the Seas with their great reviews but after what Dai said I think I will wait and see. xx

 

 

 

Hi F.B.

 

Here we have some more good news from some current cruisers.

 

"We have been on Ventura for 3 days, the ship is beautiful and have found very little to moan about, apart from 1 thing the weather, we have not seen the sun since leaving Southampton the temperature has not risen above 15 degrees. We know back home its wall to wall sunshine. We have an inside cabin and its small but well layed out. The staff as normal are all excellent. Freedom dinning works very well whatever time you turn up, you are seated immeadiately. We can not find any negatives to talk about, and we are sure that it will continue this way. We will report again in a few days. Lets hope the captain can find us some sun and warmth we need it badly. Bye for now." Steve and Dawn

 

 

 

:):)Happy Cruising:):)

 

 

 

:cool:

 

 

Dai

[Gerrym]

Hi F.B.

 

Here we have some more good news from some current cruisers.

 

"We have been on Ventura for 3 days, the ship is beautiful and have found very little to moan about, apart from 1 thing the weather, we have not seen the sun since leaving Southampton the temperature has not risen above 15 degrees. We know back home its wall to wall sunshine. We have an inside cabin and its small but well layed out. The staff as normal are all excellent. Freedom dinning works very well whatever time you turn up, you are seated immeadiately. We can not find any negatives to talk about, and we are sure that it will continue this way. We will report again in a few days. Lets hope the captain can find us some sun and warmth we need it badly. Bye for now." Steve and Dawn

 

 

 

:):)Happy Cruising:):)

 

 

 

:cool:

 

 

Dai

 

 

This was from a very good friend of mine, I do hope he has found the sun today. I think they have a sea day today.

[Sparkle 123]

Hi everyone

we were on the 2nd May Ventura Iberian adventure cruise so I can offer a few more opinions of the ship if you want to hear them!

This was our 2nd P&O cruise, the 1st one was on Arcadia and we have cruised a number of times with Celebrity and RCI.

 

First the positives:

We thought the choice of bars was fantastic, we especially liked the Metropolis at the top of the ship with its video wall of a different city sunset every evening with themed cocktails and drinks to match, very sophisticated! Ramblas was also a great venue and we enjoyed the tapas (£2.50 for 3). The Tamarind Club and the Red Bar are also very opulent, swish drinking venues!

The entertainment was outstanding; I think they must have fit 2 weeks worth of shows into one. The production shows were all highly enjoyable especially Masquerade a Andrew Lloyd Webber extravaganza and the Saturday Night Fever show was as good as the West End. The couple who do the acrobatics and aerial performances were amazing and they featured in all the production shows. Brian Conley came onboard in Lisbon and packed the theatre with his hilarious show. There was also the Dusty Springfield tribute and the actor Mark Williams (from the Fast show and Harry Potter films) gave a talk about his career as well as live bands in various venues so really there was no chance to be bored in the evenings!

The food:

On the whole we enjoyed our meals. We ate in the Bay tree restaurant although there were only 4 of us on a table for 8. There should have been others but they didn't show so I felt sorry as the waiters would be down on their tips. The food was very good and well presented and we enjoyed all our meals there.

We ate in the White Room and was glad I pre purchased the gift package at the price of £46.50 for dinner for 2 with a bottle of red or white Chilean wine as it worked out cheaper than paying £20 per person just for the dinner.

The service in there was very good and it had a nice relaxed atmosphere. We enjoyed the food although I wasn't wowed like I am with the specialty restaurants on the Celebrity ships, but a very pleasant evening all told.

We didn't dine at East purely for the fact we had such good meals in the dining room although we would have dined there if we were on a longer cruise.

Our cabin:

We chose a balcony cabin on C deck which proved to be a good choice as the balconies on this deck are double depth to the other decks. It was a nice quiet area towards the aft, our cabin steward, Cezar did his job very well and we liked the tea and coffee tray which you don't get on any of the American ships! The interactive TV kept freezing up but they seemed to have rectified this by the end of the cruise .When it worked there were loads of film and TV programmes and music videos to watch on demand. You can also check your on board account.

Now for a few of the not so good bits...

The design of the ship doesn't 'flow' too well, mainly because of the different dining rooms, you have to walk down to the Bay tree because the galley is in between. We did miss the grand multi level dining rooms of RCI and Celebrity; also there is no background music whole you dine which would have been nice.

 

The Oasis pool was supposed to be a relaxing adults only area but there is a sports court above it so the atmosphere is somewhat spoilt by the sounds of golf balls and the like! Also the endless pool feature was not working due to it being damaged by rough weather on the previous cruise, which brings me to another comment. I have read that the ship doesn't handle rough seas too well. We were very fortunate to have very calm seas but one of the spa staff commented that a lot of people were sea sick when the ship was in rough seas because of the flat bottomed design. I have to say that we once saw the Golden Princess (same design as Ventura) pitching and rolling terribly whilst we felt very little movement on the Zenith which was a much smaller ship, so there may be some truth in that.

We also missed the lack of a walking/jogging track on the open decks, again this is due to the fact you can’t walk all round the pool decks on one level.

 

Well I have rambled on long enough, all in all we had a great week on the Ventura there really is so much to do we could have done with a few more days!

Any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!

[BandBlady]

Hi Abbafan

Good report, very interested to read that the tribute Dusty was on board..We have a hand signed letter fom Mr Easdale welcoming us on board for the Maiden voyage ,telling us about the wonderfull entertainment on board one being the winner of the one and only show.

That was obviously another P&O faux pas because she never appeared.

I know you like us are fans of aft balconies but in rough seas D734 was a bad choice.Massive balcony but covered over and no reclining chairs.

We did think the beds were the most comfy of any ship.

Think we are going to try celebrity for our next cruise

Happy cruising

Kay:)

[Sparkle 123]

Thanks Kay, yes the beds were really comfy! Interesting what you say about the aft balconies, they don't look as nice as the tiered balconies on Arcadia or the Celebrity Millenium class ships. If you can get one of those they are fantastic!

Lisa