Ventura Reviews

Ship Ratings
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Areas
Entertainment
Cabin
Spa & Fitness
Shore Excursions
Rates

after stopping in the premier inn overnight we transfered to ventura where on arrival our luggage was taken off us ,we were then given a coloured ticket to check in which took no time at all.after boarding we were told to go to the waterside restaraunt for lunch till our cabin was ready. when we got to our cabin it was of a very good size with a large picture window comfortably furnished with tv and chairs,the bathroom was fairly small but ok for what we needed.the safe was free aswell which when we have been on other ships you have had to pay,when we set sail the captain announced we would not be calling at cadiz which didnt go down too well with a lot of passengers myself included but the other ports of call were excellent . vigo: what a nice little place this was but very hilly lisbon:they put courtesy busses on to take you to the main square but the queue for the busses back was horrendous so we got a taxi,do check the fare before you get in 1 as we were charged 20 euros and another family were charged 10 euros so we were ripped off. chivitevichia:we went on the 1/2 day panoramic tour well worth it. livorno:missed due to high winds monte carlo:i wasnt impressed with this place to many posers in there ferraris showing off. barcelona:great place to visit with plenty to do gibraltar:been here several times so stayed on board. the staff on board were a vast improvement from when we 1st went on ventura,this time they could not do enough for you. the showteam put on some excellent shows in the arena theatre and the guest acts ,mick miller from the comedians fame was very good,the freddy mercury tribute was fantastic and the other guest comedians were very good both in the arena and havana,the only guest speaker john kettley(weatherman)why they had this man giving a after dinner speech was beyond me. the days at sea were ok with having no problem finding sunbeds when the sun was out which was different to the last on board where they were all reserved before breakfast. the exchange bar was a decent night out with andy the entertainments officer. all in all it was a excellent cruise meeting lots of nice people each night cannot wait to go back on board.

Hide this review

Ship Ratings
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Areas
Entertainment
Cabin
Spa & Fitness
Shore Excursions
Rates

From the minute we stepped on the Eavesway coach from Preston we experienced first class service! The staff on Ventura were absolutely fantastic ALWAYS happy, polite, efficient and eager to be of service, such a refreshing change from the usual British service! Our cabin was spotless, and perfectly adequate, our cabin steward John made sure it remained so throughout our cruise. We opted for Freedom dining which meant that we sat with different people each meal, this was perfect for us and we had the pleasure of meeting lots of very nice and interesting people. The food was always beautifully presented, there was always a good choice of menu and it was always delicious! The only real criticism was the price of ordinary lager. The only draught lager was Stella Artois which my husband dislikes and so he had to settle for cans of lager which proved very expensive.....a 330ml can of carlsberg cost ??3.50...that meant a pint cost ??7.00 which was really quite outrageous when compared to Stella which cost half of that! The wines were nice, I drank Bili Bili Shiraz which was lovely and cost ??17.95 per bottle, which is probably comparable to British restaurant prices. The entertainment on offer was very good, and the cinema offered some excellent films on the days we were at sea. We didn't use the pools because the weather wasn't brilliant but there was always plenty to do so that was no great hardship. Apparently there were about 700 children on board but the kids clubs must have been excellent because it never felt as if there were many children on board.....and those that we saw were very well behaved! Of the places we visited, our favourites were Monte Carlo and Barcelona. I had looked forward to our tour of the Vatican on Easter Saturday but unfortunately it was so busy and overcrowded we were just pushed along with the crowds and not allowed to stop and browse the beautiful art work.....there was actually no enjoyment, it was all just too uncomfortable! I think most passengers were surprised and disappointed that our stopover in Cadiz was suddenly changed to Gibralter.....we're still not sure about why the decision was made...apparently it had something to do with paying VAT if we did not visit a non EU country ???? All in all we had a fantastic time on the beautiful Ventura, and despite the few negative comments, we really loved our time on the cruise and will certainly be cruising with P&O again....in fact we have already paid our deposit!

Hide this review

Ship Ratings
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Areas
Entertainment
Cabin
Spa & Fitness
Shore Excursions
Rates

Ventura, 1st April Med cruise All started well with a B&B with parking and transfer at Chilworth Hilton, Transfer got us on the way before 12 and with an excellent check in we were having lunch on board soon after 1pm. We went to check out the cabin and we were told not to go in because it was being used as a show cabin (very abrupt). When we were let in our Superior Deluxe Balcony Stateroom, we were overcome with the smell of urine in the bathroom, the flowers in the cabin were dead, the white room pamper pack was missing, the carpet was stained, the settee was threadbare, the window was covered with children's hand prints and every flat surface was covered in thick dust. I ran my finger over one area and could have knitted a jumper with the fluff. On investigation of the bathroom we found the bath had black mould all round it as did the shower curtain, the toilet seat was badly chipped and ingrained with yellow stains, no guessing what that was. We reported the issues to reception who said it may not have been cleaned yet, so we left it for another hour and reported it again. The housekeeper came round had a look in the bathroom and said it was the ventilation. I explained to him it was due to the mould on the shower curtain and the state of the toilet. We left the matter with them and they changed the shower curtain. This did seem to reduce the smell, so my wife cleaned the room for them with ant-bacterial wipes and this got rid of most of the smell. The following day a man came to strip out the bath seal and replace it, at least this looked more inviting to have a shower or bath. The toilet seat was never changed and is still there for the next people, I just hope they notice and put paper on it. The cabin was never dusted in all the time we were there so I wrote DUST on every surface this was still ignored and will be there today. So that was the cabin but in general the ship is not very clean, the only parts are the bits you can see; but if you look if it does not move then no one will notice its not been done. The public don't help with leaving plates etc. anywhere on the floor, stair wells, lifts, but then there does not seem to be any member of staff willing to move them. If you want a real shock that should but does not shame P&O, then check out the floor in "Havana". Without exaggeration I have seen cleaner underpasses in city centres. It is the type of tiled floor you get in a shop and should be stripped and polished every week and buffed daily. It has less foot fall than a shopping centre and they seem to be able to keep them clean. This should be a dance floor but it is covered with chairs and never used for its original purpose. As expected for an Easter cruise there were a lot of children on board, in the main they seem to be catered for very well apart from the pool areas. Be aware if you have children this is a danger area in every sense of the word, it is unsupervised and they are allowed to "bomb" into the pool and even go in on very rough days when waves in the pool could have smashed a child's head on the side of the pool. They were allowed into the Jacuzzis unsupervised with adults, and it only needs the wrong sort of adult to be in with them and who knows what could happen. I did report this as a child protection issue as many adults had also expressed concern and no action had been taken. The entertainment in the theatre was first class and they worked very hard throughout the cruise, there were some low points with the one off acts but the show team, band and production staff put on some class shows. The food in the main dining room was very good and varied; we never felt the need to try the specialist venues due to the quality of fare. The staff who attended us were first class, and though the tips were now put on the bill it did not seem to affect the attitude and service we received. Yes we did have a lot of gripes but feel they were justified and put a damper on the cruise, we visited some very nice places and on the whole had good weather, apart from missing Laverno due to strong winds; but this was compensated for by moving quickly to our next port of Monte Carlo for an afternoon docking and an overnight and next day stay. The original port of Cadiz was also changed to Gibraltar, this did not bother us but had upset others who were meeting people in Cadiz. The disembarkation went quite smooth and again we were well looked after with the Hilton having the transfer waiting for a quick return to pick up the car. In summary far from being a superior deluxe cabin though it was a good size it was more "inferior". The ship looks impressive from the outside, but very dull on the inside, not very clean, a lot of "dead spots" during the evening away from the theatre, the entertainment just does not seem to flow. The tribute acts left a lot to be desired, Freddy Mercury looked like a cross between Bugs Bunny and Billy Bunter and Phil Collins tried to sing with a fake cockney accent and sounded more like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. Our standard of cleanliness is as a minimum what we have at home, but if paying a lot of money expect this with extra touches. You get the latter but this does not cover up the dirt. Do not be fooled with the brochure or internet as it must have been done when the ship was new.

Hide this review

Ship Ratings
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Areas
Entertainment
Cabin
Spa & Fitness
Shore Excursions
Rates

We have just returned from the Ventura one week 'Atlantic Coast' cruise. We have cruised before a couple of times ( Ocean Village and RCL Voyager of the Seas) and wanted to try out a no- fly cruise and also see what P&O was like. It started off very well, getting to Southampton from Norfolk was about the same as getting to Gatwick and the embarkation was very well handled plus the cabin was ready early! The cabin, a balcony on B deck was fine, a little tired perhaps, but the Tea-making facilities made up for that, and the cabin steward was very welcoming. We had a quick explore of the ship (not as impressively glitzy as Voyager but fine for us), and as we were tired a relaxing meal in the Waterside. We'd had lunch there (limited selection) but assumed that the evening meal would be more impressive. Wrong! The was very limited choice of mains, they were presented in school-meals style and tasted as if they had been prepared days ago. Also, it may be a small thing but the hand-sanitizers were on the wall and there was no attempt to get you to use them. It was down-right depressing all the staff seems dour-faced and there under sufferance. In fact we seemed to be in the way as staff pushed past to slop more food into the waiting troughs. Where were the friendly welcoming faces of the other boats who seemed pleased to see us? When we tried the main dining room (Freedom dining) we had a half-hour wait (shorter than we expected and we had the buzzer to tell us when a table was ready), but the service was impersonal and rushed -- we were asked for drink preferences only when we were waiting for our sweets and then hassled out at the earliest convenience (for the staff that is). And we were expected to wear a Tuxido/Suite on formal nights for this? We were lucky to discover the Beach House (evenings only -- free but some items had a supplement attached) and East (charged ??20pp) both of which had friendly, attentive staff who seemed interested in ensuring that you had an enjoyable meal. The main dining room (served) and Waterside (buffet) which were the only two options for breakfast, saw equally poor quality food. Almost certainly kept hot for ages, rubbery rolls and toast, with second rate coffee. Although, to be fair, dining room coffee had been only slightly better on the other boats -- I wonder what it is, this was sub-instant by a long chalk. And on that subject (coffee) we did try Tazzine but the 'Costa' coffee there, despite the long wait (waiter had loooong chat with mate at bar) just tasted of diluted milk. Other passengers seemed to find the food OK or even enjoying it with plates piled high with salads, curries, roasts (yes all on the same plate) which they attacked with gusto. Also there seemed a good take-up of the Tuxedo standard on formal nights (Lobster Tails (1st) and Sirloin Steak(2nd)) but in general I felt that this was people on a very ordinary cruise trying to pretend that they were on a 'Posh' boat. Both of us got 'tummy trouble' which we put down perhaps unfairly (?) to poor food standards when lunching in Waterside, so we changed to Pizza on deck (although the burgers did look OK too) not bad but I should mention that the Diavola was one day so chilli-hot as to be almost inedible and the next not a trace of heat to be found-strange. The shows appeared to be of a high standard (selections from West End x 3, Beatles Tribute) and the films were all recent and popular (P&O get good marks in this area). The ports of calls were fine and probably good choices for the Atlantic Coast (Corunna, Bilbao, St Rochelle & Le Havre), shuttles were free even when the town centre was distant (Bilbao), we didn't do any of the P&O trips preferring a leisurely walk round the towns and a much needed (decent) local coffee. What we found was that whole ship's staff was generally unfriendly/disinterested with some oasis's of good service (Cabin Steward, East, Beach House, Metropolis). Would we sail again with P&O? Probably not Ventura, due to the two main issues food and staff, but maybe one of the other smaller ships. We would be very careful to read the reviews first, we had though that P&O was a premium band (which it isn't!) and be tempted by an exciting itinerary. Having said that, as there are a lot of cruise lines offering similar trips on genuinely 4* ships and with service/food to match and I think that we would want to try these before giving P&O a another chance.

Hide this review

Ship Ratings
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Areas
Entertainment
Cabin
Spa & Fitness
Shore Excursions
Rates

We had previously cruised with NCL, Princess and Celebrity and were really looking forward to sampling P & O but unfortunately we were rather disappointed with some aspects of this cruise. Our flight was a Thomas Cook charter to Barbados, and it was as good, if not better than many schedule flights, with plenty of legroom and attentive cabin crew. Ventura is a large ship, chosen by us as I do not have the best sea legs and we thought it would be good to choose a large ship as we were crossing the Atlantic. Our cabin was very nice, well equipped with a very helpful cabin steward. However, the public rooms were not as grand as we had previously encountered, no impressive atrium or quiet reading rooms. The dining room (Bay Tree) was well appointed and we were pleased to have a table for two, our two waiters were very attentive and pleasant but the food was not up to the usual cruise ship standard and the menu was not very varied. The drinks however were very reasonably prices, both the wine and the bar drinks, in some instances half the price of other cruises which was naturally a real plus. We went on three shore excursions which we thoroughly enjoyed, our first was a tour of St Kitts where our guide was very knowledgeable and made the trip a joy. We then did a snorkeling trip on Tortola with two snorkeling sites, again our guides were very professional with the snorkeling being best off 'Treasure' Norman Island. Finally, we did a tour on the Azores, which again was very good with a lovely local guide. The Azores was an unscheduled stop but a real gem and far preferable to Tenerife. Unfortunately there were two aspects of this cruise which really spoilt our holiday; the first was the attitude of the Shore Excursions and shop staff on board ship, we found they lacked any social skills and had total apathy when you expressed any interest in any port of call or any shop items. The second was the number of places on the ship where smoking was permitted. As people who like to take a stroll along the Promenade Deck you had to walk through the 'fog' every time on the Starboard side. Additionally, smoking was also permitted in one of the outside bars, near one of the pools and on the balconies, one of our neighbours was a smoker which spoilt our use of our balcony. Indeed, the smoking issue was a real down side for us, we will seriously have to consider whether we would cruise with P & O again if they continue to give preference to smokers over non smokers.

Hide this review