Trying to book Theatre on Ventura

[Holidayfun141]

So I’ve tried to book the Theatre on my cruise next week on Ventura, at first it lets me book 3 nights but not the first night

so I called P and O , and the Guy said all the shows are fully booked ! When I explained my problem he said when I booked it hadn’t gone through

and it was now fully booked , so there was nothing he could do.

I cannot believe it’s all fully booked even before you board.

The P and O Guy also said it’s probably an error on the website and not to worry.

Has anyone experienced this at all ?
We thought we would give P and O a try, not impressed at all.

 

[TigerB]

The theatre shows we were able to book online for on our upcoming Britannia cruise are all early in the cruise, and were booked up the same day they were released. It appears quite clear that they've only released a limited number of seats, with plenty of availability to be found once onboard.

It will be same for your cruise so don't worry about. 😉

 

 

[Holidayfun141]

Thank you TigerB I had seen on another thread that someone had managed to book every night in the Theatre on our cruise.

Hopefully as you say we will be able to book onboard.

We love the Theatre and loved it when you could just turn up, I think P and O need

to change back to how it used to be.

[Valfan]

11 hours ago, Holidayfun141 said:

We love the Theatre and loved it when you could just turn up, I think P and O need

to change back to how it used to be.

That's exactly how I feel.  My otherwise fantastic cruise on Iona last week (my first cruise in well over 3 years) was almost ruined by this one thing. The 8.30 theatre show (which I always go to, except on a very rare occasion if it was a magician or something I didn't fancy) was consistently showing as "fully booked". Yet there were always plenty of empty seats. People had obviously booked, then changed their mind, or forgotten they'd booked, or whatever. 

If P&O persist with this system the artistes will never play to a full house. Apart from anything else it's discrimination against people who like to go to theatre shows, as there is no booking system for any other entertainment venue onboard. The Clubhouse was usually choc a block. I went there later every night and really enjoyed it, listening to the resident band Pulse and watching people dancing etc. And it was like night and day in comparison to the theatre: you could walk in any time you wanted and try to get a seat. What a difference to the "Thou shalt not pass" podium at the entrance to the theatre, with the young jobsworth saying, "Cabin number?"

If enough people complain and ask P&O to change back to how it used to be, maybe they'll revert to the old way of working. We can only live in hope.

[amajaa]

I agree it was great before when you could just turn up.We always eat early so we could get to the early show. The Theatre is one of the things we most enjoy on a cruise so would be gutted if we can't get in .

 

Have been on two Princess cruises out of Southampton since Covid and they were both just turn up as before. 

[Windsurfboy]

I  would have thought that booking theatre was a temporary Covid policy. It should be stopped and go back to normal.

 

I can see what's happening,  those tech savvy fast on fingers are booking seats just in case and then seeing how they feel on night.  No wonder it's half empty. 

 

If you can book and not turn up with no penalty it's bound to happen. 

[Valfan]

On 9/10/2022 at 8:33 AM, amajaa said:

Have been on two Princess cruises out of Southampton since Covid and they were both just turn up as before. 

Sounds like a good idea to switch my allegiance to Princess then, which is a terrible shame after doing 36 P&O cruises, on every ship in the current fleet and all those that have left the fleet in the last 28 + a half years. But if the alternative is standing in tears outside a theatre with lots of empty seats and being told it's "fully booked" and I can't enter, it'd be an easy call to make. I sincerely hope P&O don't make me do that. But it's not looking too hopeful at the moment.

[terrierjohn]

8 hours ago, Valfan said:

Sounds like a good idea to switch my allegiance to Princess then, which is a terrible shame after doing 36 P&O cruises, on every ship in the current fleet and all those that have left the fleet in the last 28 + a half years. But if the alternative is standing in tears outside a theatre with lots of empty seats and being told it's "fully booked" and I can't enter, it'd be an easy call to make. I sincerely hope P&O don't make me do that. But it's not looking too hopeful at the moment.

That would not happen, as long as there are seats available they would allow you in the theatre.

[Valfan]

On 9/12/2022 at 8:42 AM, terrierjohn said:

That would not happen, as long as there are seats available they would allow you in the theatre.

Well, there will certainly always be seats available under the present system, as long as people are doing as they obviously did on Iona when I was on - booking but not turning up. But I wouldn't like to be relying on the jobsworth guy on Deck 7 "allowing" me into the theatre. He had a determined "Thou shalt not pass" attitude.

And it wasn't just the problem of hoping I'd be "allowed" in, it was that a big chunk of the day was wasted on the Wednesday, keeping on phoning the 7070 phone number, or walking to the My Holiday podium in the Atrium, only to keep being told "The 8.30 show is fully booked". I don't want to go through that again.

I don't expect to be handed a guaranteed place in the theatre. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get in. I've often over the years left the dinner table before coffees were served. I've even missed out the sweet course from time to time, to give myself time to get to the theatre for 8.30. Years ago, for very popular shows, I've even stood at the back or leant with other passengers on bannisters/rails at the side of the theatre and watched from there, when all seats were taken.

But this new system, particularly for people like myself who don't have smartphones and aren't very good with technology, is not a level playing field. No matter what we are prepared to do, and no matter what we have paid to be there (including, in the case of myself and many others, often huge Single supplements), our fate is in the hands of others. And that's a game I don't really want to take part in. So if this new system persists, although it will break my heart, and cost me a fortune in lost deposits, I'd rather say farewell to P&O. Especially if it is the case that other cruise lines are still operating a fairer system.