Ventura - Second time around |
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Reviewed By: Jane, Eastbourne on 2nd Jul 2009
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| Cruise Line: P&O Cruises |
Times cruised before: 3-5 |
| Cruise Ship: Ventura |
Sailed:
June,
2009 |
| Destination: Mediterranean |
Age: 56-65 |
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Having just returned from the latest Med cruise on Ventura, I thought I would read the other reviews and comments to date before posting my own. My goodness, what a diverse lot we are and isn't it interesting how so many people apparently have such a different experience on the same cruise.
Reading Improving Ventura (Lewis), Ventura - Butlins at Sea (Webb) and Cruising on the Ventura (Powell), it is amazing what some people say! Never boring, that's for sure! Anyway, I love this site and always try to tell it as I see it, so here goes.
We arrived at the Ocean Terminal after a rather tortuous crawl from the old exit that we used to take for the Mayflower Terminal at Dock Gate 10. Added another 20 mins to do about what, 2-3 miles(?), but it's all part of the start of the holiday so no worries, except coming up to the last T junction round the one way system where there was no sign or say go left or right. Panic, but it seemed to be logical to go right and thankfully, we were. CPS were their usual efficient self and we were inside the teminal within 5 minutes. However, having told our my husband's sister and husband who were joining us for their first ever cruise how easy and hassle-free it was to get on to the ship, it wasn't, and we didn't board for an hour and a half, which was a huge difference from our last cruise on Oriana when the whole procedure took less than 20 minutes! The problem apparently (as others have already mentioned), was that on the Baltic cruise two cruises back, they had a really bad outbreak of norovirus which lingered on to the next 7 day cruise to the Fjords. It was decided that the ship had to undergo a thorough deep clean before any new passengers were let on, which obviously was reassuring, but did mean hundreds, if not thousands of us simply sat and waited and waited.
Anyway, we eventually got on board and went straight up to the Waterfront for lunch where the staff all wore plastic gloves, didn't allow us to handle anything and made sure we all took hand gel. No problem and for the first few days in the Saffron restaurant we had no salt and pepper pots, only individual sachets. Eventually the powers that be decided that the virus had been eradicated (contained?) and normal service resumed. I was pleased to see however, that hand gel was everywhere and staff were always ready to give you a squirt before entering any food area. Amazingly, after the Captain telling us at Muster what the problems were and how we should be extra careful about hygiene, I still saw ladies walking straight out of the loo without washing their hands - I couldn't believe it!
As to the cruise itself, we all had a great time, helped of course by fantastic weather and great ports. However, for the first time ever I felt sick in the Bay of Biscay. Last year on the Baltic cruise we had force 9 gales and I was absolutely fine, but this time all four of us felt queasy and I did wonder if Ventura's sheer size and height accentuated the rolling you can get in Biscay, even in fairly calm seas. Still after all of us taking one seasickness pill that we'd fortunately packed at the last minute we were fine once we started eating dinner and after that it was sun, sea and plentiful quantities of alcohol all the way!
The teething problems that we encountered on our Ventura cruise last year seemed largely to have been ironed out and we could see that P & O have tried to alleviate the sun bed problem by adding loungers to any spare area they could find. However, as others have already said, the blue towel brigade are still out in force big time and P & O are clearly making no attempt to deal with it. I saw loungers with towels on unoccupied literally all day while we hunted to find even one empty lounger. It is true to say that you could usually find the odd one, but four together - no way. On the last two days, I finally decided if you can't beat them you have to join them, so bagged 4 together, but we were out on them shortly after breakfast so didn't feel too guilty. I just wish something could be done about it, but it takes real effort and I don't think P & O have the stomach for it.
We were on a great table of 8 second sitting, with two fantastic waiters, Jason and Pasqual. We have always had good waiters and are well aware of how hard they work, but these two definitely went the extra mile and never stopped smiling. I would agree with some reviewers that the food isn't brilliant. For mass catering it's a very good standard and we ate at Ramblas and East twice and every time they were excellent. Having eaten at Whites last year and been slightly disappointed, we thought it only fair to give it another try, but sadly I have to make the same comment. Nothing wrong with it, but certainly not exceptional given the hype. However, staff were excellent at all the specialist venues and I only wish that all the waiting staff could read these reviews so they could realise just how much most passengers appreciate them. Same goes for our cabin steward Victor. He was unfailingly helpful and anything we asked for appeared in our cabin almost instantly. Our cabin was always cleaned by the time we had breakfast and you can't ask better than that.
As for the passengers, most as always are great, but it was quite interesting talking to the first timers, of which there were far more than previously encountered. Without prompting, on asking them what they thought of the cruising experience and the ship, virtually all of them said they loved the cruise but thought Ventura was too big and whilst they would definitely cruise again it probably wouldn't be Ventura. Interesting, when you consider the way the industry is heading with ever larger ships...
I've commented several times on other cruisers reviews, that whilst we enjoyed our first Ventura cruise and were going on her again, we probably wouldn't choose her for a third time unless the time and itinery were the only sensible choice. There is nothing wrong with the ship as such and she certainly isn't a Butlins (which incidentally we did go to a couple of times when the children were small and we were broke!), but some things for us simply aren't as enjoyable as on the other ships we have cruised on. She is a great family ship and very suited to the more casual and probably younger cruiser. We did notice that passengers were far more casually dressed in the evening than last year, the dropping of the informal nights has obviously had an influence and 'smart' casual is more likely to be my idea of going down the pub or to the supermarket for the weekly shop. I love the dressing up bit, there are so few occasions when we ladies get the opportunity and I think it's such a shame that the glamour is definitely disappearing except for, increasingly a minority. We didn't find the children a problem, indeed we hardly ever saw them, but I've already commented in the Lewis review that I do think children of school age should only be taking holidays in term time under exceptional circumstances. Just to take your kids out of school because it's cheaper doesn't cut it with me.
We like taking the tours, accepting that they can be costly, but for us the reassurance that the ship won't sail without you and the opportunity to have an English speaking guide to point out loads of things that you would probably miss if you were doing your own thing make it worth it for us. We took a very interesting tour to Guardalest when we were in Alicante. Having docked in Alicante before and looked at the forest of highrise blocks and cranes we didn't even bother to get off, but this time we did and were really glad we had. We also took the Vesuvius and Herculaneum tour in Naples which was absolutely fantastic, even in 37 degree heat! We loved Ajaccio, waking up on a beautiful morning and looking out at the marina and the waterfront with the restaurants, palm trees and the hills behind was something I will long remember. I also loved the Great British Sail Away in Barcelona. Yes it's kitsch, but it's so British and great fun, it was great to see Ocean Village responding as we sailed past them.
So all in all another great cruise and we can't wait to do the next one
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| Quality of Food |  |
| Mostly in Saffron for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Avoided the self-service unless absolutely necessary, simply because of the problems finding a table and the crush and somewhat manic atmosphere. | | Entertainment |  |
| Didn't bother with Havana as read so often of the difficulty of actually seeing the performer unless you watch one of the screens. I can do that at home! The Ventura Theatre Company were on the whole pretty good and better than last year, although disappointing that the main productions were the same as a year ago. I would have expected them to change after 12 months. | | Shore Excursions |  |
| Best excursion definitely Vesuvius and Herculaneum. No least favourite. | | Staff | |
| As already mentioned, Jason and Pasqual in Saffron (table 97). Victor on D deck and I must mention Fatima in Tamarind who was lovely. | | Children's Facilities | n/a |
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| Spoilt for choice. How anyone could say there wasn't enough to do is beyond me! | | Cabins | |
| Second time on this deck and as before no complaints. Some people complain about the balcony being overlooked, but has never bothered us. In fact with family in the cabin immediately above on C deck a bonus that we could chat while both being on the balcony. | | Overall Rating | |
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