N017 Ventura or Ocean Village 3 ?

[Capnahab]

Hi, just back from N017 Western Med on Ventura but wondering if this should consider being renamed Ocean Village 3. :confused:

As a passenger on the verge of achieving gold status I felt a need to comment on my experience of our latest cruise and see what other people thought.

We were on Freedom dining in the Cinnamon restaurant and saw people wearing shorts, sandles,flip flops,T shirts and hoodies respectively, also on two occasions we were moved to the Saffron restaurant, same findings. We are not posh, I am from a coal industry background - 45yrs old so if the dress code says smart casual then I dont expect top see the above in the dining room, equally if the dress code is shorts and the like then thats ok too because then I can make my choice accordingly, considering booking on NCL or for now OV.

The cruise director regularly made reference to the dress code but it seems this was not supported by the restaurant managers. Fine dining is a big part of my cruise experience and the dress code is one of the reasons I choose to sail with P&O :), rather than NCL or OV etc.

Apart from the above, we thoroughly enjoyed the cruise - our first without our 17yr old son who after many cruises decided he didn't fancy this one.

Great ports, great weather and can't wait for the next short cruise on Azura in October.

But please P&O, sort out the dress code.

[angiebabes]

Thats such ashame! We went on our first cruise last Feb on the Ventura and didnt see anyone in our restaurant (we also decided on freedom dining) in shorts, flipflops etc. I would have been upset too as i spent alot of time, effort and money getting my husbands and my outifts sorted! He wore a tux on formal nights and i bought four beautiful long dresses. I also wore mostly Karen Millen and the odd designer dress or two for the rest of the evenings. Everyone on our tables looked lovely and we had a great first cruise. And consequently we have booked two further cruises (both P & O). January 2011 and Xmas 2011! I have already bought more dresses for these cruises as dressing up and looking glamourous is why we decided to book a cruise! Hopefully Oceana and Azura will live up to our expections!!!:D

[OldJerseycruiser]

I am also on Oceana in Jan 2011 and Azura Xmas 2011 and I'm sure that the vast majority of us will be dressing up. :)

[angiebabes]

Look forward to comparing dresses!!!!:D

[liverpoollad]

We were on OV recently for 19 nights & we didn't see many, if any. people in shorts at dinner. We did see the 3/4 type but not many. I worked in an office for over 40 years so I like the feedom code but I don't understand the ones who wear shorts all day & then dine that way, but its their choice.

 

Maybe Ventura being a lot larger does get more people wearing shorts.

[ROSEBASKETS]

East could be used for those who want to dine in shorts. It might get more use and they'd be out of site as nobody goes there :eek:

[David&Heather]

We were on OV recently for 19 nights & we didn't see many, if any. people in shorts at dinner. We did see the 3/4 type but not many. I worked in an office for over 40 years so I like the feedom code but I don't understand the ones who wear shorts all day & then dine that way, but its their choice.

 

Maybe Ventura being a lot larger does get more people wearing shorts.

 

Your experience on OV reflects ours, maybe the situation on Ventura has more to do with the sale of heavily discounted cabins via tv shopping channels etc?

Its about time they stopped marketing this ship as all things to all people.

[Presto2]

Agree with that - we were on the OV2 last year and the vast majority of people dressed up in to smart casuals for the evening - there really were not a lot of shorts about. I know that some people wore jeans but they were 'smart' and people had smart casual shirts on as well - the ladies were generally dressed in nice dresses / tops and dress trousers / skirts.

 

Looking back we had a great time on OV2 and hope that our Oceana cruise this year is half as good !

 

:D:D:D