Ventura Review / Log of our Cruise N002 part 1

[Stitchman]

Hi all - we're back and tanned and happy (and freezing cold of course).

 

After all the worry about getting to the airport we got there fine, and I'm glad we got there early as we got extra leg room seats.

The flight was great. No sleep as usual as I'm always too excited whilst en-route. Very smooth flight, complimentary drinks all the way (in economy ..... great).

As usual P&O was as efficient as ever with transfers, immigration etc. and we were on the ship about an hour after landing.

The ship looked magnificent from the outside and then as soon as we got onboard we were greeted by little Clare (entertainments on OV) and had a good look inside the atrium. It was fantastic. After 1.1/2 years missing out on cruising this was a welcome return!

As usual, we were told it would be a few hours until our luggage was delivered to our cabin (good old P&O) so we thought we would explore a little.

First our cabin (C312) disabled inside front port side (all that was left when we booked 1 month before cruise) - what a lovely cabin though. Good size (but we expected this as it needed to accommodate a wheelchair) - lovely wet room so no complaints there. Then we met our cabin steward (Edwin) and went outside up top at Breakers Bar for a bevvy or 2 in the glorious Barbados late afternoon sunshine!

The 1st thing we noticed upon having a walk around on the outside decks was the somewhat difficult access to get from 1 area to another - sometimes having to go up or down to another deck to get to the midships or front or aft of the ship etc. We also noticed there seemed to be far too many sunbeds for the space on deck - it appeared to be a bit of a health & safety risk for passengers and crew serving drinks etc. but as always this is only a real problem on all at sea days.

All our plans for our 1st night at St. Lawrence Gap went out the window after we enjoyed a few too many drinks and the ever so fab P&O food for our dinner so we crashed out after unpacking but were ready for our 1st full day in Barbados all fresh on Sat. 16/01/10.

We decided after lots of previous cruises to these same islands that we would predominantly do our own thing this time as we've done so many of the excursions organised by the ship on past cruises so we just wanted to relax, chill out and and rest on this cruise.

We shared a taxi and a lovely day (with Dorothy & Paul who we'd just met) on Turtle Beach in Barbados. We walked along the beach to Sandy Lane, swam out to the turtles when the catamarans came in (for free), hired some jet skis, drank loads of Banks beer and special rum - what a great 1st full day of our cruise. We were swimming in the glorious Caribbean sea by 8.30am and it was WARM - fantastic - just what the doctor ordered.

Back in our cabin and we realised we had almost ran out of toilet roll, our box of tissues was missing, the shower gel was nearly empty and we had only been left 1 packet of P&O biscuits!!!! So we asked our cabin steward to sort this all out. Unfortunately he didn't remember so that evening had to go & get some toilet roll from another cabin steward who happened to be in the corridor. We were a little annoyed that these very basic requirements (especially the toilet roll) were not being monitored by Edwin. It was as though he had other things on his mind and so couldn't concentrate on the job in hand? We have never experienced any problems with any of our previous cabin stewards on P&O or indeed any other cruise line so we were a little disappointed.

After a few days and the problem not going away, we decided to confront Edwin rather than just going to his manager. So we called and asked for Edwin to bring us some coffee and sugar and biscuits and more toilet rolls and a couple of beach towels and when he brought them to us, we asked him to try to be a little more vigilant when cleaning our cabin and to just check that all these basic things were restocked as necessary. We told him we wanted to treat him well (ie give him a good tip at the end of the cruise) but that he was making this very difficult for us!! We have to say he did improve a little but his standard of cleaning is very different to ours. If you're reading this and you had Edwin, could you let us know if you had any similar problems please?

Onwards and upwards - 2nd full day - St. Lucia - Sun 17/01/10.

We decided to have a lazy day on the ship and just pop into the port shops / bar maybe! Well we ended up in the karaoke shack just inside the port so we found out straight away who the party people were and had a fun afternoon in here (2 beers for $3 - what more can I say)!

The best news for us is that we had been confirmed on 2nd sitting in the Saffron restaurant (as we were waitlisted due to booking so late) however we felt really bad as due to being a little intoxicated, we missed dinner completely this evening :cool:

Sunday 18/01/10 - Grenada

The only excursion we booked via the ship was the Rhum Runner (our 5th time) and as usual, it was a scream and we couldn't believe there were so many people on this trip who had also done it before and most of them from Ocean Village too. But the worst thing i've ever seen happened, a fight broke out. I won't lie, I was disgusted how they had no regard for fellow passengers. The captain also threatened to report them to the local Police. Shame they didn't really!! Believe it or not, we really stayed in control as we were determined to make it to dinner tonight and we did!!!

Decided on the way to dinner to take part in the 80's music pub quiz in The Exchange bar at 8pm and ended up winning a photo frame - woohoo!

Got to dinner and was really pleased to meet our fellow diners for the next 2 weeks (Elaine & Mark, Brenda & Bill and Barbara & Richard - all lovely people - we've always been really lucky and sat with great people). Had a wonderful meal and met our waiters (Vijay, Brian & Nelson (wine)) who were super efficient and then went to see a show in The Havana Club (or so we thought).

Got there and it was absolutely rammed full to the rafters (Anthony Scott - comedian). We ended up standing at the entrance to The Havana and eventually managed to squeeze into a couple of seats at the side but couldn't see anything but the show sounded funny.

To be honest, this is the worst venue on any ship we've travelled on as the layout is all wrong. The seats are not tiered, and the bright lights on the back of the seats hurt people's eyes. There are columns everywhere blocking the view to the stage (hence the TV screens dotted everywhere), and when standing, someone who is seated will have their view impaired. Also, it is not a big enough venue for some of the shows that Ventura hosted there and The Arena would have been far more suitable except the Ventura theatre company were always putting on their shows in there and these were nowhere near as popular as the tribute acts and comedians who were always on in either The Havana or up on Deck 16.

11.30pm so we sauntered back to The Exchange & Fortunes (casino) and we won £240 so not a bad start then we thought why not sing a song or 2 in the karaoke where we met some more lovely people and some even better singers (Loopy Lou & Louise were brilliant). We asked Greer (entertainment officer) if we could do a song and she said we were too late! We were upset about this as the 1st sitting karaoke was on from 8.30pm-10.30pm but the 2nd sitting was from 11.30pm-12.30pm and it started 20 minutes late as well. We complained about this and hoped it would change another night.

We made the trek to Havana (up 1 deck and aft of ship) and it was empty as it is in completely the wrong place. People can't be bothered to go there only to find an empty club with no atmosphere (take note Ventura as this lets the ship down). Arcadia has it right with the Rising Sun pub, casino and Electra nightclub all adjacent to one another.

Monday 19th Jan 10 - Day at Sea. Mandy had been sunbathing on top deck midships topless as its out of the way. I might add its always been empty up til this point. So as there are so many sunbeds I had been stacking up about half a dozen of them just to make a bit of space up there. this solved the problem of access for us and staff and other passengers up there. After I got a bit hot I went down to the beautiful Tamarind club and watched and listened to Rob the pianist and enjoyed a swift Becks before getting ready for the first formal night. Mandy looked beautiful and I looked dashing and everyone looked fantastic. Had another go at the Robbie and Diana Ross tribute in Havana but couldn't handle the struggle in there any more, so went to watch jeapordy and had a karaoke sing song until about 2.30 in the exchange. A great night thanks to Jay and Pablo the hosts. But believe it or not the casino had shut by then. Thats the first time i've seen that on a cruise ship !!

 

Im going to give it a rest now. Part 2 soon.

 

Stitch x

[Johnthed0g]

Thanks for the report, interesting insight into the ship, I did think going out 1st night was ambitious!!

[Stitchman]

Thanks for the report, interesting insight into the ship, I did think going out 1st night was ambitious!!

And you were right. The intent was there but we met a few lovely people and got chatting and drinking etc !!

[Johnthed0g]

That Stitch is the story of my life... met people, got chattin' & got a drinkin,' my wife can't understand why a takeaway is always cold when I go... & takes longer too. Not as bad as a mate of mine who went out in his slippers to pay the rates, came back days later, never paid the rates AND lost his slippers!!

[capasamari]

We didn't like the layout or the blue lighting in Havana either. I also would have liked a disco that started before midnight, as we were on early dinner it was a very long evening to fill! I spoke to Bennie about it one time and she said Havana was the only disco/nightclub venue, they were all dancing in there til 4a.m. Our trouble was we were booked on early trips most days and had to be up at 7a.m!

 

We made up for it at the deck parties though.

 

I liked my C-deck balcony for sunbathing, nice and private.

 

Looking forward to the next instalment, did you bring some nice rum back with you?

 

Carol x

[CASPALL]

I also thought Havana to be the worst venue on Ventura.

Those lights are too annoying! Hoped they might have changed it by now.

Second sitting diners always lose out on the karaoke - it's the same on every ship - must be the ent.officers bedtimes or something. This always annoys me and I mention it on the questionaire every cruise.

[MattyBarlow]

I agree. Havana is very badly laid out. A lot of the smaller ladies couldnt see over those stupid partitions that are everywhere.

[Norfolk Brit]

I agree. Havana is very badly laid out. A lot of the smaller ladies couldnt see over those stupid partitions that are everywhere.

 

Panic not, I've told Castro. Together, we shall either re-build it, or round up all small ladies and have them shot. Depends which is cheaper.

 

Sir Martin

[thranite]

Panic not, I've told Castro. Together, we shall either re-build it, or round up all small ladies and have them shot. Depends which is cheaper.

 

Sir Martin

 

What a good idea. Could you please include some fjords and glaciers to relieve the monotony of the Caribbean?

 

Perhaps the small ladies could be re-designated as garden gnomes.

 

:D

[CASPALL]

"Have them shot" indeed Sir Martin!!!

 

Well if I'd stayed any longer in Havana I would have lost the will to live anyway!

 

With more champagne in my system I might have thought I was on the dodgems at the funfair! That's what those seats reminded me of.