Ventura Review

[reece.twiggwhite]

Morning All,

 

We got back on Saturday from a week long trip on Azura so thought I would post a bit of a review / breakdown for anyone who may be slightly interested.

 

Our arrival time was given as 13:00, normally we are down a couple of hours earlier than this but as this was our first cruise whilst having a dog and needing to drop her off for her holiday week, meant we arrived at Southampton at 12:20. We couldn't book CPS this time due to the fact we booked the cruise late and they were full, so we used "Penguin Parking" and I have to admit the service both dropping us off and picking us up was excellent. Arrived at the terminal at 12:35 and we were sat in the Glass House having a drink at 13:00 

 

Sat and had another glass of wine until they announced cabins were ready and headed up to ours. We had booked the lowest rate saver fare possible with a sea view for this trip as it was a last minute decision but we were upgraded..... Ok, our cabin was more midship and central than originally planned which was fab, but our sea view became "obstructed" sea view with a lifeboat outside. In all honesty it would have been just as good as a fully inside cabin, we literally could see about an inch of sea if you stood on tiptoes and pressed your face flat against the window. It also blocked out 95% of all natural light, but oh well! Cabin was perfectly clean and in good condition! 

 

Our cabin steward didn't come and introduce himself which is our first cruise that this has ever happened on. We did bump into him in the corridor half way through the cruise and he asked if everything was ok. But that was the only time we ever saw him. 

 

What we did in Ports:

• First port was Vigo - we had booked to do a catamaran tour and local lunch. However on the first night we go back to the room and had two envelopes, one with the tickets in for it and another saying due to lack of demand they were cancelling it. On the sunday we went to shore experiences who confirmed it was indeed cancelled and we ended up booking the garden tours with wine tasting and it was absolutely fab.
• Lisbon - We did the duck tour which was so much fun and got to see a lot of the city, finished around 12:00 so this gave us plenty of time to still go off and do our own thing - mainly eating lots of custard tarts and i mean lots
• Porto - did the douane river tour with port wine tasting - was pretty good, got to see a fair bit of the area but everything felt very rushed, we were being hurried from one place to another. 
• Cherbourg - we didn't get off the ship - had a lazy day whilst the ship was quiet

 

Good Points:

 

• I was a bit worried by some things I had seen on youtube and FB about the state of the ship. But she is honestly in a very good condition. We couldn't see anything blazingly wrong with her. Obviously if you want to go and find issues, then you will find them!
• Service for the most part was EXCELLENT (some will be touched on in bad points) with everyone appearing happy to help
• Sindhu - first time for a few years we have ate here as the last couple of occasions we were left disappointed. But the meal we had here was fantastic!
• Epicurean - The meal we had in the Epicurean last year on Iona was appalling, it wasn't special and lacked any ambiance, This was well made up for on Ventura, ambience was back and it felt special from start to end. We loved the fact that they are back to preparing dishes at the table again.
• We had no instances of anything being out of stock at all, whatever was on the menus was available
• I complained last year about the soundproofing between the cabins on Iona and the fact you could hear EVERYTHING next door. I wondered if i was looking at previous cruises with rose tinted glasses. But I was happy to confirm that I was right in my own head. We didn't hear a single thing from the cabin next door, no toilet flushing, no noise at all and they even had a baby.... 

 

 

Bad Points:

• My Holiday App - we have never had any issues with this on previous cruises and worked like a charm. However something just didn't seem right on this one. Whenever you joined the virtual queue for a table (albeit we always did request tables for 2 only) the waiting time was on average an hour to an hour and fifteen (Around 40 minutes for breakfast) We both commented that historically in the days before the app, when you were given a buzzer, it would be a max of 20 -30 minutes at most. It seemed (and I may be completely wrong here) that it was as though they had two different sections working. One line was for people who had joined the virtual waiting list. And then another line of people just in a physical line and when you got to the front you were seated. 
• Portion size at breakfast in MDR - You no longer get a big bowl of bircher muesli, it is now small bowls (around 3 spoons) - I asked for baked beans one morning and I swear this is true - I had 8 baked beans......

 

•  We had the worst service in the MDR on the first formal night  we have ever had. We were seated on the row of tables for 2. We were the first on the row seated, shortly after another 2 tables were seated. Our orders were taken after these and then shortly a 3rd table next to us were also seated. So 4 tables of 2 in the end with us being the first seated. It started off badly when we asked someone if we could order wine and he said he would get someone, no one ever came back with a wine list. With the meal, In short, two of the tables were on to dessert by the time we received our mains, whilst we ate this the other 2 tables left and then we  were sat with empty plates whilst the 3 table next to us were served their mains. Our plates remained on the table untouched the whole time the table next to us ate. Their empty plates were removed and eventually ours were shortly after. The 3rd table were then served their dessert to which the gentleman said "i didn't order that, i had the cheese" so it was taken away and cheese was brought for him. It was at this point we clocked that we think they were given our desserts. Eventually someone came over and asked if we wanted tea or coffee and we advised we haven't had dessert yet, 15 minutes later and still nothing so we ended up walking out. This may all sound negligible but this meal took an hour and a half and we only had a starter and a main... We complained to the maitre d' on the way out and he listened intently, took our cabin number etc and promised he would put this right......We never heard another thing........

 

Niggles

• Last year on Iona, it didn't sit comfortably with me that their "Musicals" show, showcased Black musicals (Tina, Bodyguard) whilst only employing a completely white cast. There was no representation on the stage yet people were doing impressions of Tina Turner etc... I raised this concern to p&o at the time and was advised my comments would be passed on. Well if they were, clearly people there don't see the issue with this as now on a different ship, the exact same show with a different 100% white cast doing Tina Turner impressions etc.
• "Battle of The Exchange" in The Exchange bar - not a good idea really for one of the entertainment team to say "This did used to be called Battle of The Sexes until the world got all snowflakey" - Not good to be spouting comments like that when you are in a forward facing customer service role......

 

 

All in all we had an absolutely fantastic holiday and now counting the days until Britannia in December!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 10, 2023 by reece.twiggwhite

[kalos]

33 minutes ago, reece.twiggwhite said:

We got back on Saturday from a week long trip on Azura

 

Should this read VENTURA ? 🙂

[zap99]

39 minutes ago, reece.twiggwhite said:

Morning All,

 

We got back on Saturday from a week long trip on Azura so thought I would post a bit of a review / breakdown for anyone who may be slightly interested.

 

Our arrival time was given as 13:00, normally we are down a couple of hours earlier than this but as this was our first cruise whilst having a dog and needing to drop her off for her holiday week, meant we arrived at Southampton at 12:20. We couldn't book CPS this time due to the fact we booked the cruise late and they were full, so we used "Penguin Parking" and I have to admit the service both dropping us off and picking us up was excellent. Arrived at the terminal at 12:35 and we were sat in the Glass House having a drink at 13:00 

 

Sat and had another glass of wine until they announced cabins were ready and headed up to ours. We had booked the lowest rate saver fare possible with a sea view for this trip as it was a last minute decision but we were upgraded..... Ok, our cabin was more midship and central than originally planned which was fab, but our sea view became "obstructed" sea view with a lifeboat outside. In all honesty it would have been just as good as a fully inside cabin, we literally could see about an inch of sea if you stood on tiptoes and pressed your face flat against the window. It also blocked out 95% of all natural light, but oh well! Cabin was perfectly clean and in good condition! 

 

Our cabin steward didn't come and introduce himself which is our first cruise that this has ever happened on. We did bump into him in the corridor half way through the cruise and he asked if everything was ok. But that was the only time we ever saw him. 

 

What we did in Ports:

• First port was Vigo - we had booked to do a catamaran tour and local lunch. However on the first night we go back to the room and had two envelopes, one with the tickets in for it and another saying due to lack of demand they were cancelling it. On the sunday we went to shore experiences who confirmed it was indeed cancelled and we ended up booking the garden tours with wine tasting and it was absolutely fab.
• Lisbon - We did the duck tour which was so much fun and got to see a lot of the city, finished around 12:00 so this gave us plenty of time to still go off and do our own thing - mainly eating lots of custard tarts and i mean lots
• Porto - did the douane river tour with port wine tasting - was pretty good, got to see a fair bit of the area but everything felt very rushed, we were being hurried from one place to another. 
• Cherbourg - we didn't get off the ship - had a lazy day whilst the ship was quiet

 

Good Points:

 

• I was a bit worried by some things I had seen on youtube and FB about the state of the ship. But she is honestly in a very good condition. We couldn't see anything blazingly wrong with her. Obviously if you want to go and find issues, then you will find them!
• Service for the most part was EXCELLENT (some will be touched on in bad points) with everyone appearing happy to help
• Sindhu - first time for a few years we have ate here as the last couple of occasions we were left disappointed. But the meal we had here was fantastic!
• Epicurean - The meal we had in the Epicurean last year on Iona was appalling, it wasn't special and lacked any ambiance, This was well made up for on Ventura, ambience was back and it felt special from start to end. We loved the fact that they are back to preparing dishes at the table again.
• We had no instances of anything being out of stock at all, whatever was on the menus was available
• I complained last year about the soundproofing between the cabins on Iona and the fact you could hear EVERYTHING next door. I wondered if i was looking at previous cruises with rose tinted glasses. But I was happy to confirm that I was right in my own head. We didn't hear a single thing from the cabin next door, no toilet flushing, no noise at all and they even had a baby.... 

 

 

Bad Points:

• My Holiday App - we have never had any issues with this on previous cruises and worked like a charm. However something just didn't seem right on this one. Whenever you joined the virtual queue for a table (albeit we always did request tables for 2 only) the waiting time was on average an hour to an hour and fifteen (Around 40 minutes for breakfast) We both commented that historically in the days before the app, when you were given a buzzer, it would be a max of 20 -30 minutes at most. It seemed (and I may be completely wrong here) that it was as though they had two different sections working. One line was for people who had joined the virtual waiting list. And then another line of people just in a physical line and when you got to the front you were seated. 
• Portion size at breakfast in MDR - You no longer get a big bowl of bircher muesli, it is now small bowls (around 3 spoons) - I asked for baked beans one morning and I swear this is true - I had 8 baked beans......

 

•  We had the worst service in the MDR on the first formal night  we have ever had. We were seated on the row of tables for 2. We were the first on the row seated, shortly after another 2 tables were seated. Our orders were taken after these and then shortly a 3rd table next to us were also seated. So 4 tables of 2 in the end with us being the first seated. It started off badly when we asked someone if we could order wine and he said he would get someone, no one ever came back with a wine list. With the meal, In short, two of the tables were on to dessert by the time we received our mains, whilst we ate this the other 2 tables left and then we  were sat with empty plates whilst the 3 table next to us were served their mains. Our plates remained on the table untouched the whole time the table next to us ate. Their empty plates were removed and eventually ours were shortly after. The 3rd table were then served their dessert to which the gentleman said "i didn't order that, i had the cheese" so it was taken away and cheese was brought for him. It was at this point we clocked that we think they were given our desserts. Eventually someone came over and asked if we wanted tea or coffee and we advised we haven't had dessert yet, 15 minutes later and still nothing so we ended up walking out. This may all sound negligible but this meal took an hour and a half and we only had a starter and a main... We complained to the maitre d' on the way out and he listened intently, took our cabin number etc and promised he would put this right......We never heard another thing........

 

Niggles

• Last year on Iona, it didn't sit comfortably with me that their "Musicals" show, showcased Black musicals (Tina, Bodyguard) whilst only employing a completely white cast. There was no representation on the stage yet people were doing impressions of Tina Turner etc... I raised this concern to p&o at the time and was advised my comments would be passed on. Well if they were, clearly people there don't see the issue with this as now on a different ship, the exact same show with a different 100% white cast doing Tina Turner impressions etc.
• "Battle of The Exchange" in The Exchange bar - not a good idea really for one of the entertainment team to say "This did used to be called Battle of The Sexes until the world got all snowflakey" - Not good to be spouting comments like that when you are in a forward facing customer service role......

 

 

All in all we had an absolutely fantastic holiday and now counting the days until Britannia in December!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were on her a few weeks ago....in Malta.🤔

[Denarius]

10 minutes ago, kalos said:

 

Should this read VENTURA ? 🙂

Must be a slip of the finger. The OP refers to the Exchange bar; the pub bar on Azura is called Brodies.

[reece.twiggwhite]

13 minutes ago, kalos said:

 

Should this read VENTURA ? 🙂

Yep definitely Ventura 🙂 will get this changed!

 

[reece.twiggwhite]

Apologies all, as I had already edited once, I can't amend it appears. I can confirm the ship we were on was Ventura. 

[Denarius]

Regarding white artists  potraying black people, this is surely part of the trend towards "colour blind casting". As evidenced by a black woman recently playing Ann Boleyn on screen, and an Asian man playing David Copperfield. Something with which you may or may not agree with personally, but what is sauce for the goose is surely sauce for the gander.

Edited May 10, 2023 by Denarius

[CruisingConnor]

7 hours ago, reece.twiggwhite said:

Portion size at breakfast in MDR - You no longer get a big bowl of bircher muesli, it is now small bowls (around 3 spoons) - I asked for baked beans one morning and I swear this is true - I had 8 baked beans

 

I feel vindicated that someone else has noticed this! I always find breakfast in the MDR quite torturous, you wait an age for a tiny breakfast (beans being the stand-out) and thimble of juice, and there's never any sauces at hand so the waiter disappears for another age to find some (even if you make the point of asking for sauce at the time of the order). Small niggle but makes me brave the morning buffet crush more than I'd like.

[zap99]

3 hours ago, CruisingConnor said:

 

I feel vindicated that someone else has noticed this! I always find breakfast in the MDR quite torturous, you wait an age for a tiny breakfast (beans being the stand-out) and thimble of juice, and there's never any sauces at hand so the waiter disappears for another age to find some (even if you make the point of asking for sauce at the time of the order). Small niggle but makes me brave the morning buffet crush more than I'd like.

No complaints from me.

[Britboys]

3 minutes ago, zap99 said:

No complaints from me.

I love a fry-up but tbh, neither the bacon nor the sausage look very appetising on that plate...

[zap99]

20 minutes ago, Britboys said:

I love a fry-up but tbh, neither the bacon nor the sausage look very appetising on that plate...

When you are on the way back to the cabin after the all night silent disco.....just the job.🤣

[Britboys]

Just as well I don't Disco these days then - silent or not... 😄