P&Os New Class CATTLE CLASS!!
Four flights , over 1000 passengers , all arriving in Genoa Airport at a similar time of day, herded together like cattle with no clear direction as they made their way, taking over two and a half hours to Genoa Port. Welcome On Board Ventura!!!!
The coach transfer from Genoa airport to the port is a 15 minute transfer and great that your luggage is taken from the airport to your cabin. Unfortunately for some passengers that is where the stress free experience ended.
Once at the port terminal building , and already with a huge build up of passengers from the coaches into the port area, groups of people with no clear direction were taken from one area to another, then to another and finally what can only be described as reaching the end of a conga line headed towards check in. With only around 20 counters checking in hundreds of passengers you can imagine this was a very long line. After what seemed like a lifetime and before customers were directed by No P&O representative I might add and only security customers were met by a Photographer saying ‘Happy Holidays’ or such like , well I can imagine at this point you would possibly have thoughts about this photographer that weren’t to be repeated . So the herding of the passengers continued through many more security checks before finally embarking the Ventura a mere two hours fifteen minutes later. I think maybe a sorry for the delay from a P&O representative would have been good at this point. I guess from the feedback from customers is maybe to change the timings of the aircraft’s so they don’t all arrive at once hence causing unnecessary queues.
The majority of feedback from the Ventura has been great, apart from maybe more wine waiters at dinner, I can’t disagree with that and a little more organisation is needed when customers are disembarking at ports of call as again , customers seemed to be queuing for hours to get of the ship.
Unfortunately though if the experience at the start of the holiday wasn’t enough to distress many passengers then it sure was on the return. As my picture shows, all Thomson flights leaving Venice to head back to the Uk were all within minutes of each other so you can imagine over 1000 people is a very small space, waiting over an hour with nothing but the odd Vending Machine to buy a drink from and not enough chairs for even the elderley or families with young children to sit down on , the experience left a sour taste for many customers who on this experience may not travel with P&O again.
Maybe we are going to have to start employing sheep dogs at the airport to cope with all the passengers crammed into a small space .
This has all come about because of the flight situation, and I genuinely think something can be learned from P&O when organising there flight schedule, if not then definitely more P&O representatives need to be on hand guiding customers through with refreshments available to make the transition from airport to port and back again alot more pleasurable.
Have you been on the Ventura and what was your experience from airport to ship and back, also any feedback on your cruise would be great.
39 Comments on “P&Os New Class CATTLE CLASS!!”
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Sorry to hear of your bad cruise with p&o we sailed with the emerald princess to the carabian & a great time was had by all really worth a try maybe for your next cruise happy cruising good luck Susan.
The last time I travelled on Ventura I found that they did not cater for the huge number of passengers – it was difficult to find a table and seating for meals at the open food areas and had too walk to the other end of the service area because the hot water machine was not working and a lot of queues everywhere. Never again will I go with P&O.
We took our grandchildren last year on the Ventura- never again. Our cabin was filthy stains on all the carpets, bed linen all bits and nothing matched, plastic covers on pillows and mattresses, the children were 12 and 13. as it happened my husband was taken ill and he had to be taken to hospital in Gurnesey. The staff at P&O were very good in helping with all the arrangements that had to be made. But the ship, well, I found it very dirty, the cabin my dog sleeps in better! even in the eating places were in need of a good clean never again, I just wish I had made more fuss, but nobody was interested.!!
We embarked and dis-embarked Ventura at Southampton when we had our cruise on-board her, and the organisation was 1st. Class. BUT on many occasions during the cruise it was frustration queuing for most things. Going ashore and returning took a lot of time, particularly when using the shuttle bus. On-board, we found that waiting for the lifts at mealtimes became one of the biggest GRIPES and one time it took 18 minutes to reach the restaurant. Our table had finished the 1st. course and the waiters had thought we were not attending. It’s understandable with 3,000 people on-board. Based on our experience, we would never fly to join / leave a cruise and this report has proved to us our thinking.
A few years ago we joined Ventura in Barbados, passengers boarded and departed over two days while ship in port, it went smoothly. We spent the last day at the beach, and the transfers went smoothly. Maybe thus could be the same instead of cattle class
We had a wonderful cruise on Ventura when she sailed from Southampton, but the situation in the Buffet for breakfast and if you went there for lunch could be very trying. There were never enough tables and people sat chatting so that made it even less tables, but so saying that you are entitled on your holiday to sit and have a chat, and not feel you are pressurised into vacating your table. My biggest gripe was the number of electric scooters and the lift situation they created, one scooter and a couple of people and the lift was full and at meal times it was a nightmare to get a lift to the restaurant. I don’t advocate that electric scooters should be excluded but I feel P&O should limit the numbers in an enclosed environment even a ship the size of Ventura has a limit to space especially on sea days
I only hope you don’t find yourself needing to use a mobility scooter! These are the life line to being able to enjoy a holiday. Have some consideration use the stairs maybe if your legs work!!!!!
We left the house 10 30 p m drove to manchester sat 3 hours went through all the hassel at genoa got on board and found out we could have flown from newcastle the following morning at 10 30 a m but had a lovely holiday
There is no doubt these “fly-cruises” are popular, especially with those passengers who don’t particularly like being at sea. But there is no way I would take one. Being from Canada, it is bad enough that I have to fly across the pond to get to England. When we have taken cruises on P&O and Cunard, they have always been from Southampton. The Bay of Biscay, in our experience, has rarely lived up to its reputation. Only once did we have a rough crossing in about 10 voyages.
We lived in Spain and France for 9 years and got very used to being able to drive to the ports and catch a cruise ship. We got back to England 2 years ago and decided that we would not go back to fly cruises and are delighted to be able to drive to Southampton to board our cruise ships.
We had one bad crossing of the Bay of Biscay (on the QE2) but we prefer that to flying and the airport caffuffle.
I do feel sorry for those guys, Genoa airport is tiny and it was busy enough when the handful of British guests got off MSC Fantasia.
But I’m currently sat on the floor of the ocean terminal in Southampton and I’ve never seen a checkin like it. Have been on Ocean Village, Celebrity twice, MSC and NCL and this is my first P&O cruise. This coloured boarding card thing is just a pain and already an hour and half spent in the terminal. Perhaps it’s the adage you get what you pay for… thing is per night Celebrity isn’t much more and I think I’ll be going back to them.
Your heading ‘Cattle Class’ is a complete misrepresentation of our experience.
Perhaps Venice has a different system to Genoa?
Just returned from a great 14 day cruise on Ventura 23 April to 7 May) around the Med and did not experience anything like you described.
In fact we thought it was well organised and ran smoothly from the time we left Gatwick to Venice arrived 10.45 and onto the ship at 12.30. We have no qualms whatsoever about using P&O again for our next holiday. Well done the staff and crew of P&O for organising and running such a big undertaking in moving 1000+ people from the UK to Italy in a few hours.
Thankyou for your comments, I really appreciate your feedback. Regarding my post unfortunately this was a view of many customers with all flights arriving at once , although my articles praise many cruiselines and customer experiences , I feel that it is only fair to give views on all experiences not just the good ones. Its great that you had a fantastic time, and I genuinely hope that all customers have the stress free holiday that you had. Thank again your comments are appreciated. Kind Regards Holly
We went on the Ventura in January flying from Manchester to Barbados. Passengers arriving over 2 days. It took less than 1 hour from landing in Barbados to stepping into our cabin. Our luggage arrived just as we were leaving for dinner. More than happy with this arrival procedure.
We elected to have freedom dining and never had to wait for a table, although we were always happy to share a table.
Absolutely agree with Pauline Wright.
Flew from Manchester to Barbados in January 2014 (and in 2012). Lovbe Ventura, Love P&O, never had any real problem, or gripe with P&O.
January went so smoothly, 1 hour into our cabin !
Don’t see the standard going down dramatically !
We had five cruises with P and O on Ventura and Azura. We noticed standards going down, down , down. On the last cruise we tried relaxing on the top…after squeezing a sun bed into an awkward space, only to leave when the loud music blasted Agadoo!!! At dinner we sat with fun folk, but they kept commenting on our posh food while they demanded fish or pie and chips, before they went off to bingo. We are not snobs, but expected rather more for our hard earnt savings. So this year we tried Royal Caribbean -what a great improvement and now we understand what “organisation” and service, and value for money mean.
Going on our first Fly Cruise next month, ( only ever gone from Southampton) sailing from Venice on The Ventura, but we are staying 1 night before and after in Venice, so hopefully we will avoid the problems at the airport, as we will be arriving at the cruise terminal straight from the hotel.
P&O have positioned Ventura in the Med, solely to avoid the sailing time from Southampton, and have not realised the lack of facilities at Genoa & Venice to cope with fly/cruise, its size warrants 2 days embarkation in Barbados.
We had a fantastic time on Ventura last year from Southampton to the Norwegian Fjords. Had to admit it wasn’t a fly-cruise but the organisation for embarkation and disembarkation at Southampton was very good……even though we arrived a lot earlier than was suggested by P&O. It was all very civil. No hassle whatsoever. We have done fly-druise before on other ships and I cannot remember a situation like the one described. Perhaps we were younger then and the hustle and bustle would not have bothered us overmuch. On all cruises we’ve been on, I have never been aware of much delay to disembark on excursions. However, I must point out that open dining is a pain in the ass on ALL cruise liners. It certainly isn’t just P&O, I can assure you. Some people DO hog the seats in these places when it’s plain to a blind man that they aren’t eating nor have they dined. This is annoying and I think the hotel section on these cruises could tighten up with obvious offenders, who are just being thoughtless or just plain I’VE PAID ME MONEY, I’LL HAVE ME SIT-DOWN attitude. Sea-chavs I call them. I will be with P&O again in just 12 days and I’m really looking forward to it. Hope my contribution helps.
My husband and I travelled from Manchester airport last February to join the P and O Azura going out to Barbados was fine not seeing our luggage until we reached our cabin.The return journey was not so good all the flights were leaving Barbados within an hour and a half of each other. We were all bused to the airport together.There were no seats 1500 P and O passengers plus all the other flights leaving it was chaos we were fortunate being the first to arrive and getting a seat.Our flight was called first then soon after the next two flights all told to proceed to gate 13 probably 900 people all queuing people on the first flight couldn’t get through and then people accusing others of Q jumping not good .Not the ideal end to a lovely cruise.
We had a fantastic time on Ventura last year from Southampton to the Norwegian Fjords. Had to admit it wasn’t a fly-cruise but the organisation for embarkation and disembarkation at Southampton was very good……even though we arrived a lot earlier than was suggested by P&O. It was all very civil. No hassle whatsoever. We have done fly-cruises before on other ships and I cannot remember a situation like the one described. Perhaps we were younger then and the hustle and bustle would not have bothered us overmuch. On all cruises we’ve been on, I have never been aware of much delay to disembark on excursions. However, I must point out that open dining is a pain in the ass on ALL cruise liners. It certainly isn’t just P&O, I can assure you. Some people DO hog the seats in these places when it’s plain to a blind man that they aren’t eating nor have they dined. This is annoying and I think the hotel section on cruiselinerss could monitor this problem tighten up with obvious offenders, who are just being thoughtless or just plain I’VE PAID ME MONEY, I’LL HAVE ME SIT-DOWN attitude. Sea-chavs I call them. I will be with P&O again in just 12 days and I’m really looking forward to it. Hope my contribution helps.
Just done our first P&O cruise to the Caribbean on Azura. had a lovely time will think twice before using them again. Celebrity, Royal Caribbean both much better quality and value. You do get what you pay for and we paid more than most on the ship by booking early and then loads of “special offers ” were available later. Not good! We had open dining on NCL and it was not a problem at all. Efficient use of pagers when there was a delay was helpful and our party of 3 rarely had to wait for long.
Hi really sorry to hear your issues re the flights out. We flew into genoa on 16th April to board Ventura and had nothing like this. We landed at 10.30 and were on board in an hour. Was your flight a later arrival. We had no issues on return either taking off at 1135. I wrote a positive review of the cruise and never mentioned flights other than how beneficial it was. Sorry your experience was so different. But I would love to know your flight times.
We were on the Ventura 2 April and flew to Genoa. Having to be at the airport 3 hours before the flight and going from one queue to another is bonkers.
Landed in Genoa from Manchester in 2 hours and another 2 1/2 hour to get from the airport to getting on the ship and get something to eat.
When we got to Venice the queue to got off the ship was one hour then it cost £30 for a boat to the centre another 30 mins, then a walk about 1/2 mile to were we were to get on a grand canal boat only to find we had missed the boat and anyway out ticket was for the day after when we would be on our way home.
Great cruise spoiled be queues.
We went on the Ventura flying to and from Genoa.we were the first unfortunate passengers to experience the herding about from airport to ship.The transfer took longer than the flight. The Italians had no organisation and herded us like cattle from one area to another,the lady who did our paperwork spoke very poor English and did not register our debit card properly,thus causing embarrassment 2 days later.the 2 policemen sat chatting whilst hundreds of people tried to get on board the ship. Too many planes arrived at the same time and the Italians could not cope.there was no p&o reps anywhere to be seen.very poor reflection on p&o and I hope they sort it soon as they carry this out weekly in Venice and Genoa throughout the summer.on the way back home the airport was full to bursting with people whose flights all left with a short space of time.not enough seating or toilets.
We sailed on Ventura in the reverse direction over Easter – Venice to Genoa.
We too noticed several flights within minutes of each other from Manchester. we were a little nervous of the flight arrangements as the airline in question had lost some of our luggage on the outward flight to a cruise 2 years previous, but pleased to say it was a nice flight. The fact that the luggage was taken straight to the ship was nice and thankfully it all arrived. We did have to make a very early morning departure considering the distance flown, but it did mean that we enjoyed a lovely sunny afternoon walking round venice before the ship departed, and we experienced none of the checkin delays you mention at Genoa. This was our first experience of P&O having done 12 cruises in the last 10 yrs – My comments would be as follows – The food was excellent, but as for the overall experience I’m not sure if we would ever do another P&O cruise. The last time we saw crew behaving with so little regard for passengers the ship sank! (Costa Concordia).
I am not surprised at some of the comments that I have just read. I have done 12 cruises 8 of them with P & O. and have experienced the very small minority of people on every trip who seem to make a point of complaining about the most minute of issues. Face the facts some people are never happy unless they are complaining. The old adage ;You can please all of the people some of the time ,some of the people all of the time but you’ll never please all of the people all of the time. I am just an ordinary working class person who wants to have a good holiday see the sights ,dress up for dinner and enjoy myself. If people are not happy with P & O may I suggest they travel with Cunard. Rather a lot of class distinction and you pay for it .Give me P & O every time I have no complaints Looking forward to 2015 and sailing on the new ship BRITANNIA. To the moaners and groaners I say GET A LIFE and live for today.
Have traveled on Ventura 3 times – but only from Southampton where the whole operation at the port is very slick and stress free.
We travelled on the Ventura last October. Coach down to Southampton which was fine except when we reached Southampton there was loads of other coaches so long wait before we could check in. The theatre isn’t big enough for roughly half the passengers at a time. People were at the side on the stairs. The flight back was from Barbados and we had to wait because they appeared to have 2 extra passengers onboard!!!! Plus they only had one piece of equipment to board the disabled passengers for all the flights leaving so that delayed things as well. Not impressed with Thompson flights. The flight attendants were all male and not very pleasant or helpful. I asked for a coffee which I paid for and it was lukewarm. During breakfast I asked for a second cup of tea so the flight attendant seemed put out as he had to fetch another milk for it. P&O is ok and we have been on the Oriana which was fine but on the Ventura again I think not.
I went on a 7 day cruise on the Ventura from Geona to Venice. The ship was fine but have noticed the standard dropping. The worst thing about the holiday was the Italian airports, no organisation at all, crowded waiting area’s, no clear signs or help from anyone at airport. Never, never again, are we going on a fly cruise, especially to/from Italy
Agree with the Cattle Class comment, we came in through Venice, leaving Gatwick at 07.40am. UK time and got to our Cabin at 13.30 local time, and having sailed on Ventura previously, I found this cruise to be a lesser experience to my past experience. The crew seem too busy to exchange even a few words or be friendly and are of a completely different calibre to those we had before. Ship had theadbare corridor carpeting on our particular Deck “C” It was O.K but in no way special
Cruised on Ventura 2011, 12, 13, and Lovely All the way must always remember if you are one of Three Thousand other travelers it can only be as individually exclusive as this number of people dictate, we are in mass market tourism, live with it!!
We went on this cruise from Manchester last month. There were 3 flights all around 6 am and one at 8.30. The flight and transfer to Genoa port went smoothly but at the port the handling agent staff (not P&O) were responsible for the the problems at cruise check in. Passengers were told to wait in the overcrowded cruise terminal building with insufficient seating until called. Once we were allowed to go up the escalator to cruise check in we saw an empty spacious check in area with lines of comfortable seating and the actual check in was very quick and efficient. It seemed as if the Genoa port authority staff did not want to allow access to the upstairs seating area and so kept everyone crowded in “cattle class” intentionally. This is something that P & O needs to monitor. I cannot comment on the problems at Venice as we returned from Genoa and this went smoothly. In all we had an excellent cruise and would certainly repeat it.
I sailed with MSC from Genoa-and their transfers and organisation were great. It can be done!
I am sailing on Ventura on this ship .was looking forward to it ,but after reading write ups on it I have doubts now .what could be worse than searching for a table to sit and eat .sounds like p.o squeeze too many on .Surly someone at the top can solve this problem as this is a complaint of many cruisers
We travelled from Manchester to Venice on 23rd April and left Manchester at 0630 and arrived on the Ventura at 1050 after a perfect transfer and journey. The return journey on 7th May was also perfect. There were plenty of seats and eating places at Venice. You were told only to go through passport control when your flight was called!
From Julie and Chris.
I was one of those cattle and the experience after a car journey from starting at midnight to Gatwick airport then flight to Genoa, is bad enough only to find out we could have flown from Cardiff; tut tut!!
Upon arrival at Genoa (2nd April) the view out the planes window was not good with two other 757’s and a couple of 737’s adds up to a lot of passengers. On would question if they have infrastructure to cope with large volumes of passengers?
The flight out was OK. Arrival at Genoa, walked through to the meet and greet area not quite what one would expect large number of P and O passengers with very little direction from the Italian staff. Taken out side in batches of approx. 50 to a series of waiting coaches.
The drive to the port of Genoa was quick and without hassle; so far so good.
Um, this is the first pinch points as we were taken into the terminal then moved upstairs and seated; not enough seats. Moved from here to down stairs then up a different set of stairs to another area. Moved again to the end of the conga!!! I speak Italian and passed comment to the Italian staff; raised eyebrows!!
The trail of the conga was long. No representative from P and O to explain that they were sorry for the dely. However, there was a rather irritating Member of the photographic team walking along saying” sorry guys for the delay” and trying, he was trying to make it feel it was OK!! Um, would it have been better to say, “Ladies, gentlemen and children” or have we moved on to less manners?
I felt sorry for the older passengers and ones with children; luckily we had some water from the aircraft. This irritating photographer was demanding bags just placed before the photo shoot, rather than walk round the area with your hand luggage; totally un called for.
Whist waiting in the queue they closed all the checking area due to another queue ahead passing through the Italian x-ray machines and Electronic arch’s. Also yet another queue ahead two State Police checking boarding passes and passport. To make it complete yet another queue with a female member checking boarding passes before entering the ship and electronically scanned in.
As you can see from above there was much duplication, which caused chock points. I know there are regulations for boarding vessels, but with a bit more forethought the boarding process could have been speeded up. Oh, and for info I am a security professional so I do know what I am talking about.
My wife agrees with the comments about hot water points not working!! Oh, we have cruised before so we can pass comment. Of comment, Thomson Fly/Cruise are very good with out the complication of being treated akin to cattle with P and O.
With large ships you can expect some delays when disembarking; here again if the Ships Security Officer can have a big say on how many exit points for the ship could be used in conjunction with the port security staff.
So here we go again the Shipped docked at Venice on 8th April, at approx. 13:00hrs. Do we go ashore straight away? No we waited for an hour and 10minutes. Before making our way to the exit point: only to be greeted by another queue, for us it took 8 minutes and 30 seconds before disembarking the ship. Looking back at the ship there was an upper and lower exit point from the ship; the lower one was not in use!!!
The best is yet to come on finally leaving the ship the following day. We had all been given boarding cards for the airport; which when presented to airport staff were not recognised. After some protests they finally relented and allowed us to enter the airport terminal.
Now if you have flights to Manchester, Gatwick, Glasgow and another UK airport all leaving at the same time, yes you get to play sardines!!! Oh, coupled with a Turkish fight, no seating; sardines only!! I agree with the photos I also have some. The airport authorities then closed the escalators to stem the flow of passengers; to late to many already crammed in.
So this brings me on to a very interesting point The Corporate Manslaughter Act 2007. If a person had taken ill there was no way they would have received quick medical attention nearly 900 passengers to board UK aircraft.
Part Two
So who would have been held responsible, an interesting area. The airport authorities, Thomason or P and O?
I know this was the first of many fly cruises, but surely with all P and O’s experience they could have made a better effort in logistics? Although Thomson ships are smaller approx. 800 passengers never had a problem. Again never experienced a problem at Southampton.
Oh, the last person I spoke to on the queues at the airport was a crew member (female, one gold bar)
at the exit point before boarding the bus to the aircraft, who said “if I want to complain the go ahead” lucky for her I did not get her name.
P and O take note and treat people like people not cattle. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seems like a simple solution , just cut the flights from Manchester, its well known Mancunians always complain and the first topic of conversation ovef Dinner is HOW MUCH DID YOU PAY FOR YOUR CABIN?