Ventura Questions

[Greaves_30]

Hello

 

We are travelling on the Ventura at the end of September begining of October to the Canaries. We have never been on a cruise before but my husband has a fear of flying so this seemed to be a compromise option. We are taking with us our 2 year old son and we have many questions to ask so if anyone could please help us that would be greatly appreciated.

 

On formal nights, does this apply to the whole ship or just the posh restaurants?

If yes:

Will my 2 year old son be expected to wear a suit?

Will I have to wear a long dress or will a 3/4 dress be suitable.

Does my husband have to wear a dinner jacket, shirt and dicky bow?

 

Are children allowed in the posh restaurants?

 

Is it wise to book your trips with the ship or can you literally get off the boat and jump in a taxi somewhere?

 

We are hoping that by going after the school holidays that not as many kids are on this cruise and therefore we can get him into the kids clubs and even the night nursery:

How far in advance do you need to book the childrens clubs

What time do you have to be at the night nursery to get a place

Are there any kids clubs open at night?

 

I think that should be it for now, we have decided to try and ignore all the bad reviews and stay postive.

 

Many thanks

[Laticfanatic617]

Hello

 

We are travelling on the Ventura at the end of September begining of October to the Canaries. We have never been on a cruise before but my husband has a fear of flying so this seemed to be a compromise option. We are taking with us our 2 year old son and we have many questions to ask so if anyone could please help us that would be greatly appreciated.

 

On formal nights, does this apply to the whole ship or just the posh restaurants?

 

generally speaking from what i remember that is the case... the main dining room and the MPW will certainly have the relevant dress code for the day... not sure about the buffet, but i think it is the same in there too.

 

If yes:

Will my 2 year old son be expected to wear a suit? i think a smart little boy will definately look the part during the evening, suit maybe a bit OTT!

Will I have to wear a long dress or will a 3/4 dress be suitable. my wife wears 3/4 lenghts on our trips...

Does my husband have to wear a dinner jacket, shirt and dicky bow? to be honest he will look a bit out of place if he didn't, although others wear dark suits etc..

Are children allowed in the posh restaurants? of course!!!

Is it wise to book your trips with the ship or can you literally get off the boat and jump in a taxi somewhere? yeah but remember, if summat goes wrong..i hope you can swin as the ship will not wait for you.....

 

We are hoping that by going after the school holidays that not as many kids are on this cruise and therefore we can get him into the kids clubs and even the night nursery:

How far in advance do you need to book the childrens clubs

What time do you have to be at the night nursery to get a place

Are there any kids clubs open at night?

 

I think that should be it for now, we have decided to try and ignore all the bad reviews and stay postive.

 

Many thanks

[Laticfanatic617]

oh and simply remember.....

 

opinion are like ........ well we all have one!!

 

every ship will either be...

 

too old

too new

too big

too small

too expensive

too busy

too quiet

too cold

too hot

too dirty

too clean

 

 

you get the idea?

 

don't let someone else's rambling spoil what more often than not is a fantastic experience...

you'd be hard pressed to find someone who hated it so much that they never went on a cruise again! they simply have their favourites and expect(quite rightly so!) perfection on holiday... very rarely does it pan out like that!!!

[Greaves_30]

Thank you for your comments.

 

Its ironic that you replied with your user name, I use to live in Sale many years ago and now I live in Sunnyside LOLs

[jondriver]

Hi Greaves_30,

 

We are on this cruise too with our daughter who will be 32 months by then. We haven't sailed P&O before but have looked into the kids club points ourselves.

 

You enroll into kids club onboard on the first day the information on where & when will be in the onboard information newspaper. I have the same concern about night nursery but the only info i've found says it's on a 1st come basis. Having said that i've never read a report from someone who didn't get in.

 

Again from what I have read the kids clubs stay open until late but i'm not sure of the exact time somewhere between 10.30 & midnight i believe. We were thinking if for some reason she won't settle or can't get into night nursery we'll get her ready for bed and let her play in kids club until we collect her after dinner.

 

I understand that all bars and restaurants adhere to the dress code but that kids under a certain age are not expected to wear formal attire just look smart.

 

I'm taking a couple of 3/4 dresses as well so at least you won't be alone. As for a dinner jacket my DH got one recently in M&S for £50.00. Not bad considering they get to wear it for every formal night.

 

We are only planning to take a couple of trips with P&O. In the other ports we are just going to wander off and see what's nearby. I believe there are shuttle busses available in most ports.

 

Hope this all helps.

 

Debs

[LEESRE]

To answer some of your questions.

 

Your husband will look perfectly alright if he wears a dark suit, if he has one, and a bow tie with that. Some people don't want to go to the expense of buying a DJ. Just depends if you plan more cruises.

 

Regards excursions, most people will say the ship does not wait for you if you do your own thing, only if you do a P&O excursion. Just plan to be back to the ship at least 1 hour before sailing and you should be fine. You will have plenty of opportunity to use a taxi in most ports to do your own thing.

We have done this for many many years and the price is about half what you would apy on P&O In my opinion the excursions are overly priced for what they are.

 

The dress code is supposed to apply to the whole ship from around 6.30pm, I must admit that on P&O it is adhered to most of the time, which is good. BUT things are a changing, not for the better, and you will see people not dressed for dinnr, if you know what I mean.

 

What ever you do just go and enjoy yourself, which I am sure you will and want to come back for more.

[LibraLass41]

Regarding ports, tell us which ones you are doing and we may be able to help with whether to diy it or do a pando tour.

My first cruise was a canaries one, but on Arcadia, I have a photo album on the web you can look at if you want, Tenerife, La Palma, Maderia and Lisbon featured, tell us where you are going?

 

LINK: http://picasaweb.google.com/AuroraPartyCruiseSueV/1stCruiseCanariesOnArcadiaMay06

 

 

You can leave your small son in the night nursery or cabin listening if you fancy a romantic meal together, especially the formal nights.

[Kitchie]

Don't worry about the children read this report from the Daily Express.

TRAVEL

 

FAMILY FUN ABOARD THE ACE VENTURA

 

 

 

 

FLOATING THEIR BOAT: The child-friendly superliner

 

 

Saturday August 2,2008

 

 

LIZ BIRD’s daughters so enjoyed touring the Med on P&O Cruises’ child-friendly superliner that she needed bribery to get them ashore...

 

It was all a bit surreal. My three-year-old daughter Bea and I were skipping along the ship’s deck following

a life-size Noddy, his bell hat jangling, singing “A sailor went to sea, sea, sea…” A dozen enthralled youngsters were also in tow, and we were all watched by a crowd of amused passengers, many taking snaps.

 

Such sights are not unusual on Ventura, P&O Cruises’ new 116,000-ton superliner, where children from toddlers to teenagers have plenty to keep them amused. It’s a formula that is proving particularly attractive to families.

 

Children made up some 800 of the 3,000 passengers on our two-week Mediterranean cruise out of Southampton to Gibraltar, Rome, Florence/Pisa, Cannes and Barcelona.

 

The last time my husband Matt and I went on a cruise we only had 18-month-old Eleanor, who was too young for the kids’ club. It meant our onboard daytime options were limited to paddling in the pool and toddling along the deck. Four years on, and with Bea now on the scene, we have discovered the joys of onboard childcare.

 

ADVENTURE: There's plenty to entertain young children

 

It’s not just a case of putting them in a room with a few toys. There’s a vast array of facilities on offer including – in the “Toybox”, for two to four-year-olds – Noddy’s house and car, a ball pool and computer games.

 

Older children can strut their stuff on a dance machine, test their skills at the Scalextric track, shoot hoops at the basketball court and learn to play an instrument at Rock School.

 

Over-eights can learn to use a trapeze at Cirque Ventura at the top of the ship. The girls were too young for most of the circus acts, but they did harnessed trampoline jumps where Bea’s somersaults amazed us.

 

The qualified staff – some of them nursery nurses or teachers on their summer holidays – were friendly and engaging. Bea, often difficult to leave without tears at her nursery, said to me on the second day of our cruise: “You can go now, Mummy.”

 

Five-year-old tomboy Eleanor was even more enthusiastic. We often had to resort to promises of ice-cream and lemonade to get them out of their clubs.

 

Our child-free days were a welcome reminder of what holidays used to be like – lounging, swimming, reading, followed by a bit more lounging, and the odd cocktail. Sometimes we headed to the adult-only Oasis spa pool where we burned off a few calories swimming against the endless current.

 

We hadn’t quite worked out what to do with the girls in the evenings but as soon as they saw the row of little curtained-off beds in the Night Nursery they wanted to go for a “sleepover” (we picked them up well before it closed at 2am but could also have left them for a play and slumber at their own kids’ clubs until midnight).

 

Matt and I had to contain our excitement at such a “result”. Rather than choosing set eating times we opted for Freedom Dining, which meant we could eat at a different restaurant each night.

 

Sometimes we headed to Spanish-themed Ramblas (£5pp supplement) for drinks and tapas.

 

Liz with Eleanor left, and Bea enjoy one of the many pools on the Ventura

 

But our favourite was undoubtedly The White Room, designed by renowned chef Marco Pierre White, who also created the menus and trained the chefs.

 

You could sit outside on the terrace overlooking one of the ship’s five pools while the sun went down as you tucked into foie gras with fried duck egg on toasted brioche, followed by grilled rib eye steak with rosemary oil and mascarpone crème brûlée. Be warned, it books up quickly, despite the £20pp cover charge.

 

Our other favourite pastime was sipping cocktails at Metropolis, which has stunning ocean views from three sides and a giant plasma screen displaying real-time footage of seven of the world’s most famous skylines.

 

Every night the drinks changed with the city, so we could be sipping a Sloe Boat to China or a Tiger beer with a backdrop of the Hong Kong skyline. More great cocktails could be found at the Red Bar, with its grand piano, plush red velvet sofas and back-lit crystal columns.

 

It was also a treat to take in a West End-style show at the 785-seat theatre. We saw an energetic version of Saturday Night Fever, which got the audience clapping and stomping their feet. Another night, Eighties star Toyah Wilcox wowed us.

 

Evening entertainment included something for everyone, from comedy and classical concerts, to salsa, karaoke and disco nights.

 

After picking up the girls, it was back to the cabin, where our steward had made up their sofa bed – an excellent space saver in the snug rooms – complete with thoughtfully placed pink and blue pillowcases for our “girlie girl” and our “yuk, Barbie!” tomboy.

 

The same attention to detail was evident in the cabin decor, with a flat-screen TV, contemporary lamps and sleek, matching cafetières and kettles.

 

Our holiday turned out to be more ship-based than we had envisaged. Our short excursions included a boat trip to the breathtakingly beautiful Italian port village of Portofino and a dip in the sea at chic Cannes.

 

But all Eleanor and Bea wanted to do was use the onboard pools and go to the kids’ club.

 

Matt and I had both longed to see Florence but were put off by the lengthy coach transfer and July heat. We couldn’t have left the girls behind, as the ship doesn’t allow unsupervised under-16s onboard – a policy which might frustrate parents with teenagers.

 

At the end of our cruise we had just as much trouble getting the girls off the ship.

 

We had to promise to return – and, hopefully, we will.

 

[Greaves_30]

My first cruise was a canaries one, but on Arcadia, I have a photo album on the web you can look at if you want, Tenerife, La Palma, Maderia and Lisbon featured, tell us where you are going?

 

Thanks Libralass, we are stopping at Maderia, Tenerife, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, Lisbon and Virgo. I can't remember which trip is where but we want to do the tobaggon run, Loro Park in Tenerife as we have a 2 year old son, fire mountain, and the boat and bus ride in Lisbon I think, any help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

[Greaves_30]

My first cruise was a canaries one, but on Arcadia, I have a photo album on the web you can look at if you want, Tenerife, La Palma, Maderia and Lisbon featured, tell us where you are going?

 

Thanks Libralass, we are stopping at Maderia, Tenerife, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, Lisbon and Virgo. I can't remember which trip is where but we want to do the tobaggon run, Loro Park in Tenerife as we have a 2 year old son, fire mountain, and the boat and bus ride in Lisbon I think, any help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

[LibraLass41]

The cable car station and Photos of cable car and gardens were on the photo album, a good day that you can diy easily (shuttle from ship to prom at Maderia and go to cable car station on prom and buy tickets)

 

In Lisbon, the same - free shuttle bus to the square, we got a tram ride ticket and took the 2hr sight seeing tram all around the city , then went into Lisbon city and looked around the shops etc.

[jondriver]

Hi greaves_30

 

We looked into hiring a car in Tenerife to go to Loro park but found that because we are there on the weekend the opening times weren't any good. Having said that when we saw the price of the P&O trip we decided it was good value as our daughter (being under 3) doesn't pay and when we added up the car cost + entrance fee it was better value to do the P&O trip.

 

We're considering the EXPO in Lisbon as our daughter loves fish and they have an aquarium there.

 

Only 7 weeks today!!!

 

We went over to Calais on the ferry today to see if our daughter would be ok and she loved it! Can't imagine how excited she will be when she gets on Ventura.

 

Debs

[Greaves_30]

Hello jondriver

 

Just wondered if you are doing any other trips?

 

Thanks

[jondriver]

Hi Greaves_30,

 

We only have one definite & then possibly the EXPO (undecided at the mo). We plan to take advantage of the ship being quieter on port days and stay onboard in a lot of places, maybe wandering off for a look around the local shops & nearby beaches.

 

That's about as much as we've planned for now but having an unpredictable toddler in tow everything could change at a moments notice!

 

Debs