Star grading for P & O cruise ships

[howard18]

Oh! What have I done!

Vacations to Go (a large American tour operator) has just posted (in some detail) ships star ratings.

I usually travel with Royal Caribbean which are usually 4.5 or 5 star. However on looking at P&O I was mortified ( yes mortified) to find that P&O vessels are rated either three star or four!

 

I thought when I booked my cruise on Ventura for next April that I would at least have had a similar quality. It appears that I am either in for a dissapointment or they got the ratings wrong.

 

Any comments would be most welcome.

[Z-P&O]

Relax, the Ventura is a fairly new ship. I think you will still have a great time. There are good reviews from fellow Cruise Critic members as well as a Cruise Critic staff review:

 

CC Member Reviews

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=383

 

CC Staff Review

http://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/review_page2.cfm?ShipID=383

 

Don't worry about it. You will have a fantastic cruise.

[Johnthed0g]

You should have a good cruise, I find it depends on your fellow passengers as much as the ship. The existing P&O ships are probably 4* at most, what does Berlitz say?

[jocap]

Berlitz '09 puts Ventura in 15th position, after various Cunard, Celebration and Princess ships, with a score of 1543 out of 2000, and 4*.

The first RCI in the list is the Indie, 27th, with 1532, and a rating of 4*= with Liberty.

The next P&Os come in a block at around 47th- Aurora, Oriana and Oceana, and around 1507 score, 4*, immediately followed by Brilliance, Legend and Splendour.

The scores are all very similar at this end of cruising. The main difference is that V scores 255 for food; Indie 245; Accommodation on V is 168: 161 on I.

Not much in it, then.- jocap.

[Suebiker]

Hi

 

Personally I wouldn't take much notice.

 

We sailed on Ventura last April and had a great time - in fact we have booked again for this April too!!!!!!

 

I have only sailed on one RCI ship which was IOS and to be honest I found the service and food dissapointing.Yes the ship was stunning and had fantastic facilities but I felt the service really let it down!!!!

 

The best thing you can do is go with an open mind - the P and O product is very different to RCI. You will find there are less outdoor activities on Ventura ie. no flowrider, climbing wall , ice skating rink etc. But I find the food and service make up for this!!!!!! The thing that I love on a P and O cruise is that I feel well and truly special. On our first cruise the bar staff greeted us by our name after a couple of days !!!!! I was gobsmacked. I just felt that whilst RCI had a lovely product this special touch was missing.

 

Plus points for me on Ventura - free shuttle buses at most ports, bar prices very reasonable (similar to British pub prices), free laundrettes (may sound strange but It really annoyed me that I couldn't iron a dress or shirt without paying for it on RCI). MDR - 5 course meal every night together with silver service and different menus every night! (On IOS most dishes were repeated regularly). Excellent speciality restaurants - loved "The White Room"!!! , Frankies pizzas are suberb as are the burgers (not normally a burger fan but these are gorgous). Fantastic kids club too

 

Anyway we are very happy with Ventura and I can't wait to sail on her again.As you can probably tell I am a fan -she is my favourite ship.

 

Hope this helps to put your mind at rest

 

Sue

[jocap]

Sue- I have to agree with your various points about Ventura. I haven't travelled with RCI yet, but the 2 American lines I sail with do let themselves down with all the extra charges. We were amazed at how reasonable the drinks were on V.- and no irritating 15% on top!

I'd like to add to your praise, that the tea and coffee making facilities in the cabins were superb, and how welcoming it felt to see it all gleaming there in the corner- along with the dish of sweets, and the flower vase.

Another thing was the amount of storage room, with the walk-in wardrobe, which was so useful by the end of the fortnight.

Jo.

[Smee]

About how many " Stars " will Azura be.............???