P&O Ventura

The P&O Ventura creates a new style of P&O experience - a contemporary, family-oriented cruise experience. The P&O Ventura and its sister ship, Azura, are much larger than other P&O ships. This means more room for lots of fantastic kids' activities, plus adult recreation, too. There are still lots of retired people, but the Ventura is essentially P&O's flagship family experience.

P&O has a reputation for more mature guests, but the P&O Ventura comes packed with families and kids. The average age is early 40s. The feel is very British - in short, every guest is from the UK.

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Ship Stats & Features

Passenger capacity: 3,078
Year entered service: 2008
Beam (ship width): 118 feet
Draught (ship depth): 26 feet
Length: 951 feet
Tonnage: 115,000
Crew: 1,226
Number of passenger decks: 14
Number of cabins: 1,546

Food, Cuisine & Dining

The P&O Ventura has three main restaurants: Cinnamon, Saffron and Bay Tree. Saffron provides breakfast and lunch, while breakfast can also be taken in the Bay Tree. There's two-sitting dining in the evening.

Cinnamon is mainly an evening restaurant, with some excellent dishes. Self-service-wise, there are buffets at The Waterside and the 24-hour Beach House. There's a children's tea in the Beach House and the Waterside provides fine themed buffet evenings.

The White Room is a speciality restaurant serving Marco Pierre White dishes, as is East, with its Eastern menus.

The P&O Ventura's lounges include the favoured Metropolis Bar, with a plasma screen of a different city each night. Las Ramblas, named after the famous Barcelona street, is popular too, with its olive garden. There's also the Red Bar and the Tamarind, which offers themed party nights and live bands.

Over two weeks, you can expect four formal nights, four informal and six smart casual. Formal means very formal on the P&O Ventura.

Onboard entertainment & activities

The P&O Ventura is sensational for kids and families. Family shows include song-and-dance acts, pirates' shows and various comedy acts in the theatre and the Tamarind Club.

Expect the Ventura to be packed with families. That's because The Reef Club is the biggest kids' club afloat, catering for four age groups from 2 to 17, with a fantastic programme of daily activities. Younger kids will enjoy meeting Noddy in the Splashers club and Mr Bump is also a frequent presence in the Surfers. There's a Scalextric race track and even a Rock School for teens who like to thrash guitars and bash skins.

The young and young at heart will also enjoy Cirque Ventura, a circus-skills workshop comprising a bungee trampoline and trapeze and tightrope lessons. In the evenings, you'll find kids' and teens' talent shows and there are rock tribute acts on. A casino provides game tables and slot machines and a model trainset that runs around its bar.

Ventura also comes with fabulous sports facilities, well-equipped gym and spa, sports court and four pools, one with a retractable roof. Kids can also use the dip pool outside the children's club.

Spa & Fitness facilities

Take advantage of the Oasis Spa and all of the relaxation treatments on offer. Spa includes:
* Endless pool
* Thermal suite
* Jacuzzis
* Fully Equipped Gym
* Hair Salon

Cabins

The P&O Ventura has over 1500 cabins, 1100 of which are outside and most of which have a balcony. Rooms start at 160 square feet and finish at 534 square feet for a suite.

The P&O Ventura is a family ship, with sofabeds in the cabins, while all cabins have hot drinks facilities and fridges. Balcony cabins have an atlas and binoculars, plus welcome pack of champagne and truffles. Suites come with butler and Senseo coffee machines.

Common misspellings: Venturer, Venture, Adventure