Ventura….Hit or Miss???

After so much talk about the Britannia recently I thought I would take a look at another of P&O’s  favourite ships and one I was lucky enough to be on when she launched …Ventura.  I recently booked my friends on a 2 week Caribbean itinerary on board Ventura, just home I went round to catch up with them and find out all about it and of course pinch some of their photos for my blog! This is my favourite photo they took of the Ventura looking like she’s almost on the beach with them….this was taken in Grand Turk!

Mark my friend, spent a lot of years in the Navy and so loves ships and cruises just as much as I do so I couldn’t wait to find out all about it. Chatting to them they had a great time, enjoyed the ship, the itinerary, the entertainment but weren’t as blown away by it this time. A couple of years ago they did a very similar itinerary on the same ship and had the most amazing time but this year it didn’t seem to match up. Is this because the first experience is always the best,  the most memorable, or is it that P&O have let standards slip somewhat so the overall experience doesn’t have that wow factor? I think to be honest it’s a bit of both, I think sometimes your expectations are very high from your last experience and the second time doesn’t quite get there. I also think that P&O and cruise lines in general have made cut backs and changes  over the last few years that have had affected your overall cruise experience and has meant that some of the wow factor has been lost.

One topic that is always great to talk about is dining. Mark and his wife both enjoyed the food and the dining options and were impressed with the speciality choices.  Like you would expect on such a large ship there are plenty of dining options twelve to be precise! This includes three very different speciality restaurants. My friends recommendation was for anyone sailing on board Ventura to try each of the restaurants at least once and to make sure you booked them early!

Atul Kochhar’s East restaurant is a popular choice and serves variety of Asian cuisine. The cover charge to eat here is only £15 per person and it’s a really beautiful restaurant to dine in. This restaurant gets great reviews for both fantastic service and deliciously mouth watering food and flavours.

The White Room is the restaurant inspired by Marco Pierre White who designs the menu and the charge here is £25. This is a fine dining experience and again another beautifully designed restaurant, one that gets booked up very quickly so do make sure you make your reservations so as not to be disappointed. Going back to when I was on board I remember an amazing meal in here and my friends enjoyed this one a couple of times on their cruise.

The new speciality restaurant on board Ventura is a more relaxed informal option, The Glass House. Here you can enjoy wine from all around the world and it’s matched with a great menu inspired by Olly Smith. To dine here the charge is £30 but this does include the wines with the various courses so really great value again.

After talking to my friends I think I can safely say they had a great time and really did enjoy their cruise. They enjoyed the entertainment especially the shows outside around the pool area. They loved the Caribbean islands they visited. They enjoyed great food throughout and a real good variety of restaurants.  I wanted to share with you their photos of the final sail away party…..how amazing does it look!  I really love sail away parties and this one looked like a fantastic one to be part of!!

thanks for reading Abbi x