Ventura N824 "The Jet-Ski Cruise" Thoughts and Feedback

Hi Folks

My wife and I have just returned from a 13 night Mediterranean cruise on Ventura (N824).

We had been given an allocated boarding time of 1pm, and as we where staying in Newbury the night before departure we arrived in Southampton in good time. We then proceeded to the dock as we had booked the CPS parking, there was a bit of a queue to enter the dock gates as there was also a Royal Caribbean boat in as well as Ventura.

After depositing our bags with the porters we arrived in the departure hall and checked-in and after a short wait it was time to board.

We had a Forward out-side cabin on P Deck (P246 Deck 5).

Thought the cabin and décor was fine, liked the walk-in wardrobe/dressing area. While the bathroom is not the biggest the shower is a decent size, not too keen on the shower curtain.

We had chosen the fixed dining and our allocated restaurant was the Bay Tree second-sitting at 8.30pm. We found the choice, quality and service to be very good, with the only slight niggle being that green beans appeared on the menu every night in the MDR.

We usually had a pre-dinner drink in either Metropolis or the Red Bar, we tried the sliders for lunch one day in the Glass House and Olly Smith's beer which was also excellent.

As it was close to our wedding anniversary while onboard we had a meal in the Epicurean, which was delicious and worth the supplement, although the curse of the green beans struck again !!.

We didn't eat in Sindhu so can not comment on that venue.

When we used the Waterside buffet (not a peak times) we found the food fine and always found somewhere to sit.

We did not get to see Sam Bailey (ex X-Factor) but we did see DNA (ex BGT), the other professional acts where also all good. Did not see any of the Headliner shows other than Astonishing, as they are not our cup of tea. Francis Benali ex Southampton pro-footballer was also onboard and he gave some interesting talks on his ultra running/cycling marathons in aid of Cancer Research.

On the whole our expectations where exceeded....this was our fourth P&O cruise plus another two with Celebrity.

Would we book again...we are already booked-on Britannia for a Caribbean fly-cruise in 2019 and now we also booked a Baltic cruise on Azura for 2020.

Now for the "Jet-Ski" incident...after we had passed through the Straights of Gibraltar, the captain announced that that where persons in the water and that Ventura would have to turn around and investigate. There where indeed persons in the water which turned out to be 3 blokes on a jet-ski trying to get from Africa to Spain, but had run out of fuel. To cut a long-story short eventually these chaps where brought on-board Ventura by the rescue boat and we then had to wait for the Spanish Coast Guard to take these chaps off the ship. All-in-all this cost about 2-3 hours, which did mean Ventura arrived late in Barcelona and a taxi for us to the Sagrada Familia instead of the Ho-Ho Bus that we had booked.

We also had medi-vac situation between Barcelona and Monte-Carlo as a passenger was unwell. Again this caused another delay of 2-3 hours and Ventura arrived late into Monte Carlo bay. This did cause chaos with Monte Carlo being a tender port, with some P&O excursions being cancelled and others re-arranged. Passengers on official P&O excursions then had first dabs on the tenders, which is fair enough I suppose. While independent passengers could not queue for tender tickets until 11.30am. We had booked our own independent trip through and we where supposed to be dock-side at 9am, so we missed our trip, however we did get our money refunded.

Regards

Sid & Pen

Hope this doesn’t sound critical, but why not put this on the reviews instead of general forum?

I found it interesting though. Thanks.

They were brave on that jet ski!!

Busy bit of water that, and lots of very big ships.

Very interesting....

I am just off to the review pages to ask some questions....

Glad you had a good time.

Well I'm glad someone enjoyed that Ventura cruise! I thought it was the worst one I've ever done with P and O and absolutely hated Ventura; I have cancelled another cruise booked on her for 2019.

Hope this doesn’t sound critical, but why not put this on the reviews instead of general forum?

I found it interesting though. Thanks.

I enjoyed reading it on here, I’d be happy to see and read more long reviews like this on here :)

Hi Folks

 

My wife and I have just returned from a 13 night Mediterranean cruise on Ventura (N824).

 

We had been given an allocated boarding time of 1pm, and as we where staying in Newbury the night before departure we arrived in Southampton in good time. We then proceeded to the dock as we had booked the CPS parking, there was a bit of a queue to enter the dock gates as there was also a Royal Caribbean boat in as well as Ventura.

 

After depositing our bags with the porters we arrived in the departure hall and checked-in and after a short wait it was time to board.

 

We had a Forward out-side cabin on P Deck (P246 Deck 5).

 

Thought the cabin and décor was fine, liked the walk-in wardrobe/dressing area. While the bathroom is not the biggest the shower is a decent size, not too keen on the shower curtain.

 

We had chosen the fixed dining and our allocated restaurant was the Bay Tree second-sitting at 8.30pm. We found the choice, quality and service to be very good, with the only slight niggle being that green beans appeared on the menu every night in the MDR.

 

We usually had a pre-dinner drink in either Metropolis or the Red Bar, we tried the sliders for lunch one day in the Glass House and Olly Smith's beer which was also excellent.

 

As it was close to our wedding anniversary while onboard we had a meal in the Epicurean, which was delicious and worth the supplement, although the curse of the green beans struck again !!.

 

We didn't eat in Sindhu so can not comment on that venue.

 

When we used the Waterside buffet (not a peak times) we found the food fine and always found somewhere to sit.

 

We did not get to see Sam Bailey (ex X-Factor) but we did see DNA (ex BGT), the other professional acts where also all good. Did not see any of the Headliner shows other than Astonishing, as they are not our cup of tea. Francis Benali ex Southampton pro-footballer was also onboard and he gave some interesting talks on his ultra running/cycling marathons in aid of Cancer Research.

 

On the whole our expectations where exceeded....this was our fourth P&O cruise plus another two with Celebrity.

 

Would we book again...we are already booked-on Britannia for a Caribbean fly-cruise in 2019 and now we also booked a Baltic cruise on Azura for 2020.

 

Now for the "Jet-Ski" incident...after we had passed through the Straights of Gibraltar, the captain announced that that where persons in the water and that Ventura would have to turn around and investigate. There where indeed persons in the water which turned out to be 3 blokes on a jet-ski trying to get from Africa to Spain, but had run out of fuel. To cut a long-story short eventually these chaps where brought on-board Ventura by the rescue boat and we then had to wait for the Spanish Coast Guard to take these chaps off the ship. All-in-all this cost about 2-3 hours, which did mean Ventura arrived late in Barcelona and a taxi for us to the Sagrada Familia instead of the Ho-Ho Bus that we had booked.

 

We also had medi-vac situation between Barcelona and Monte-Carlo as a passenger was unwell. Again this caused another delay of 2-3 hours and Ventura arrived late into Monte Carlo bay. This did cause chaos with Monte Carlo being a tender port, with some P&O excursions being cancelled and others re-arranged. Passengers on official P&O excursions then had first dabs on the tenders, which is fair enough I suppose. While independent passengers could not queue for tender tickets until 11.30am. We had booked our own independent trip through and we where supposed to be dock-side at 9am, so we missed our trip, however we did get our money refunded.

 

 

Regards

 

Sid & Pen

My parents were on this cruise and thoroughly enjoyed it and pleased to read you did too.

They didn't get ashore in Monte Carlo until gone 1pm and their excursion in Barcelona was very rushed due to Ventura being late in, but that is all part of cruising.

They did mention they don't want to see another green bean for a while!