P&O Cruises - Ventura Ship Cruises Reviews

Thursday 9th Feb 2012

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Pando Cruises

Ventura

Great , But Too Big For Us!

Great , But too big for us!

Reviewed By: Richmond-Smith, Redditch on 14th Mar 2010
Cruise Line: P&O Cruises	Times cruised before: 1-2
Cruise Ship: Ventura	Sailed: February, 2010
Destination: Caribbean	Age: 36-45
Cabin: Balcony	Occasion: Birthday

Having only cruised once before on the P & O Aurora we were a little appreshensive about the Ventura but were pleasantly surprised. Check in at Birmingham was a little chaotic and not a good start to a holiday we had looked forward to and saved for for a long time. Flight was very good with Thompson, we upgraded to premium and consider it worth the money, particularly when flying home over night. P & O really have it down though when coming to arranging luggage transfer etc, what a joy not to have to think about that after a 9 hour flight. Transfer to ship was swift and pain free! The ship was impressive to look at. Upon boarding, the atrium had no wow factor but was pleasant enough. Our cabin, a balcony on C deck was great, quiet, large balcony and worth the money as we used it a lot for drinks after a day in the sun and to watch sunsets and sailaways. The ship as many people have said is very large and therefore lacks the personality of smaller ships, we did also feel that there was a lot of wasted space in some areas and the self service buffets areas were too small and cramped at busy times. Staff were generally good although bar service in the waterside was very poor at the evening buffets, we waited at least 25 mins on a few occasions for the wine waiter and gave up and went to the bar ourselves which is no major problem only on one occasion my husband came back to "no dinner" his plate had been cleared although full and I was sitting at the table at the time eating, when I looked up - no plate. I did not see it and was not asked if it was finished with ( full plate, I think not) what an awful waste. Room service also slow on many occasions. All the other facilities we used were great, dinner in the Bay Tree was fine and on the whole to food was very good and the drinks reasonably priced. Itinerary had been changed quite a lot from original and that was disappointing although we enjoyed the ports of call. On balance, we have had a fantastic holiday on Ventura and were please to have sailed on her. We would probably not sail on her again unless the itinerary was out of this world, as we prefer the smaller ships ( something we feel P&O do very well and wish they had stuck to rather than compete with the larger Americanised cruise ships) Aurora has more class but each ship is different, we appreciate that and each person will have their own feelings. We did however hear a lot of people talk about Oceana and came to the conclusion that she is obviously the darling of the fleet?? perhaps we should try her next time??
Quality of Food
WE split our evening meals between the Bay Tree and the evening buffets/beach house
Entertainment	n/a

Shore Excursions
Nevis sailaway from St kitts - a great day
Staff
Vanessa in Metropolis bar, remembered our names, drinks. Lovely person
Children's Facilities	n/a

Onboard Activities

Cabins

Overall Rating

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Question by Dollah, Cardiff (17 Mar 10 12:40) about this REVIEW

good review.. we are going on this cruise in december with a very very open mind and we are going to enjoy !. Could you giive me an idea of the flight times outward and inward as we are travelling from cardiff to birmingham and like forwarding planningas to how to arrive at the airport... Thanks

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Answer by Richmond-Smith, Redditch (17 Mar 10 20:07) to a QUESTION by Dollah (17 Mar 10 12:40)

Hello. I really hope you enjoy your cruise. We flew out of Birmingham on time at 11am UK time and arrived at 4.30pm Barbados time, on time and great. Return journey was just as efficient, flew from Barbados at 6.00pm local time and arrived at 6.00am British time. You obviously need to take into consideration the time difference of 4 -5 hrs, not sure which. If you are flying with Thompson as we did I\'m sure you will have a pleasant flight. They were pretty hot on weight of luggage at Birmingham though, so try not to go over the 23kgs otherwise they make you transfer the excess to other baggage. I\'m sure you\'ll have a lovely time.

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