Ventura Adventure continued…..

Don’t worry – I’m not about to bore you with every detail of our holiday, but hope to give you an overview and a few tips along the way, and of course, my impression of the Ventura.

It’s a big ship – carrying over 3000 people, 116,000 tonnes, 14 decks.  Personally, too big for me, I prefer a smaller ship.

So, the cabin.  We had a Balcony Cabin on Deck 12 Australia Deck A530 Portside Mid-ship. Spacious, very clean, plenty of wardrobe and storage space,

and an added bonus was that our balcony wasn’t overlooked, whereas the cabins below us were.

Excuse the mess…..

This is the life……

My first Top Tip – As soon as you can once you’ve unpacked, take the time  to explore the ship.

My second Top Tip – Explore the ship! It’s worth the hour or 2 it will take you, and you won’t miss anything.  Believe me, it’s worth the time invested at the beginning of your cruise.  It took me 5 days to find my way around, and I was only on the ship for 7!

Find out whereabouts on the ship you are.  Get your bearings. Where you are in relation to the restaurants, pool, lounges and bars.   And if you’re a smoker, where you can smoke.  A rule of thumb on the Ventura is that you are allowed to smoke on the Starboard side of the open decks.

Actually they’re a great place to socialise and make new friends!  Common interest etc…. We met some great folk whilst having a cigarette!   Our most visited bar was aft of the ship at the Terrace Bar on Deck 15, through the Beach House Buffet, turn left, and plenty of room to have a drink and a cigarette and watch the sun go down.

Every evening you have your Horizon delivered to your cabin which gives you a full list of activities and useful information for the following day in order that you can organise your day and evening entertainment.  I found that very handy, as it also gave you information on the port of call you were visiting next.

Talking of entertainment.

The Arena Theatre (Deck 6&7 mid-ship) is where the main entertainment takes place, with 2 shows a night, at either 8:30 pm or 10:30pm for the late diners.

Get there at least 20-30 minutes early if you don’t want to wander around looking for 2 seats together.   I do think the Arena should be better organised with usher/usherettes showing people to their seats, to avoid all that frantic seat searching….  During the day you could watch one of the latest cinema releases.

Alternatively you could visit the Tamarind Club (Deck 7 mid-ship) where you could dance to music from a Live Band. Or during the day, you could listen to one of the guest speakers on their specialist subject.  (not for me…..) Also that’s where we had our Muster Drill on the first day.  Hilarious, a large crowd of newly boarded passengers struggling to put our lifebelts on!  Here’s me and a fellow traveller having successfully ‘dressed’ for the occasion!

The Havana Bar was a particular favourite of mine. (Deck 7 aft)  More lively with South American sounds, Motown Magic & Floor fillers into the wee small hours. Here’s the guys, ‘Laz’,’Sober’ & ‘Clyde’ oh and that’s me trying out yet another of the Cocktails. – Sea Breeze if I remember rightly (hic!)

The Exchange Bar (Deck 6 Forward) was the place for the traditional pub quiz, karaoke, and sports on the large wide screen plasma TV. I thought the Karaoke was absolutely hilarious – not brave enough to take to the mike myself you understand, but love to see the drunk and deluded belting out ‘My Way’ and ‘New York, New York’

We went to the Metropolis Bar – (top of the shop on Deck 18 aft). Very intimate club like atmosphere which featured a great pianist. Classy.

Finally the Red Bar (Deck 7 mid-ship) I didn’t spend any time in this bar to be honest, it seemed to me to lack any atmosphere, it was just ‘there’. Conveniently situated near the Atrium for the men to sit and have a drink while the women shopped.

Outside on decks there were 3 pools for families, mainly occupied by the kiddies, and one ‘Oasis’ of a pool for adults only.  The Oasis Pool on deck 16, near The Retreat Spa.  My refuge for the days we were at sea).

For the first couple of days we dined in the Saffron Restaurant on Freedom Dining.  The menu is the same whether you dine in The Saffron, Cinnamon or Bay Tree Restaurants.  Waiter service, food was ok.  Not great, not bad.  Waiters were attentive and friendly.  The busiest time was between 7-830pm, having said that as long as you don’t mind sharing a table, as we didn’t, you are seated straight away. The food in the buffet restaurants was ok, a bit ‘samey’.  The full English breakfast was surprisingly good, but the toast was always cold!

I didn’t use any of the 3 Specialty Restaurants: The White House, East & The Glass House. They looked great, but personally I didn’t see the point in paying £25.00 per person.

Then we discovered the Beach House, which is a buffet restaurant during the day, and in the evening a portion of the restaurant is closed off for waiter service, and the food is divine!  Try the Steak on the Lava Rock – you pay an extra £6.50 per person, but well worth it.  I thought the food was as good as you would get in one of the Specialty Restaurants without the £25.00 per person cover charge.  We dined there for the duration of our cruise, and sampled most of the menu – delicious and thoroughly recommended.  Here’s me with Kirk D’Souza & Sameep Head Waiter & Waiter at the Beach House.

Get there early, people start queuing from 6:15pm as they only allow the first 30 people in, as the food is freshly cooked. After that you will be given a pager and ‘beeped’ when a table is ready for you.  Worth the wait – believe me.

Right, well that’s enough for you to ‘digest’ so to speak.  I hope this has been helpful, and would appreciate your comments especially if you have recently returned from this cruise.  Everyone has a different experience and I would love to hear about yours.

Next instalment – Shore Excursions – P&O versus Independent Traveller – interesting…..             Plus the journey home, courtesy of good old Thomas Cook Airlines!