Selbourne ‘Live’ from Ventura

[daiB]

7 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Yuk!!!, that looks disgusting, you really are an unlucky fellow when it comes to buffet dining.  But I suppose since we regularly use the  buffet, I quickly get to know the layout, so I know where to find things. Conversely I never enjoy the MDR for breakfast, the food seems tepid compared to the hot food in the buffet, and I always seem to under order,  which of course with self serve never happens. But I would like P&O to have waiters serving coffee and juice at the tables like Princess do  those drink stations are often a nightmare.

I also really enjoy the Jam Shed red wines, although I confess that I don't think I would be able to differentiate them on a blind test.

I am in to the Jam Shed as well. 😁 we have a bottle of the Malbec for tomorrow. 

[yorkshirephil]

1 minute ago, daiB said:

I am in to the Jam Shed as well. 😁 we have a bottle of the Malbec for tomorrow. 

Another vote for Jam shed, my favourite is the Tempranillo, but enjoy any of the range.

[Selbourne]

18 minutes ago, FatBoy20 said:

Having abandoned P&O after a post covid trip on Ventura which left a lot to be desired with poor quality & choice of Food together with very average service I have enjoyed 4 Saga Cruises since. The food on Saga is both superior to P&O in quality & choice but I also accept a step up in price!.

I had read a lot of reviews of Ventura that were similar to your experience, so I can only assume that P&O have responded and upped their game on the ship (of course, the staff change periodically as well, including senior staff, which can make a huge difference).

 

We have just been having a coffee and. with this cruise only having a few days left, were discussing our top likes and dislikes about Ventura. I will outline them in my final post on this live blog when we get home but (spoiler alert) I’m happy to share that two of our top likes will be food and service. These are hugely important issues for us on a cruise (as I’m sure they are for most people) and I can honestly say that on this cruise both have been excellent. 

[Purdey16]

Selbourne im really sorry serville didn’t turn out for you both but Cadiz is a lovely place we enjoy very much . 
Your butter dish is disgusting and I hope you took that further! I’m also a fan on trays and would love them back as I hate repeatedly going back up to get food but on another note we hardly ever eat in the buffet and prefer a more relaxed breakfast if we have one at all . 
Can I ask you a question about perfumes please 😂 , I don’t know if mrs Selbourne is in to her perfumes or not but if and I say if when passing the perfume shop could you please see if there are any deals on perfumes like buy one get 1 half price like it was last year has my perfumes have become pretty low  and I wondered if it would be good to wait until I’m on Aurora soon , please don’t go out of your way to try to find out but if your passing I’d much appreciate it . 
Im really enjoying your report 

[gsmt47471015]

1 hour ago, yorkshirephil said:

Another vote for Jam shed, my favourite is the Tempranillo, but enjoy any of the range.

Jam shed Shiraz is our go to red wine , just hoping the "pop up " glasshouse on Arcadia has it ? 

[Selbourne]

The Captain has just done an all cabin announcement to say the sea will be as rough on the way back as it was coming. 7.5 metre waves from midday tomorrow until midnight Friday 🤢

[Red Leicester]

See thee in Southampton, safe travels 

[carlanthony24]

Someone moaning on another site from Iona saying why is the Captain not making an announcement for leaving late.

[jh1809]

8 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Yes they do still deliver excursion tickets. It said 9am. The confusion arose because we’d been asked by separate letter to arrive at 8.30am due to my wife in her wheelchair needing to be loaded first, but when I cancelled her booking and was travelling alone they told me I didn’t need to do that and 8.45 would be sufficient for the 9am departure. That was incorrect. I’m not overly worried as we had a nice time in Cadiz, but I’ll be miffed if I have to chase the refund. 

It's very poor for all the coaches on an excursion to leave before the time on the tickets. At least one should wait until then.

[Red Leicester]

13 minutes ago, carlanthony24 said:

Someone moaning on another site from Iona saying why is the Captain not making an announcement for leaving late.

Two announcements just made, one for half a dozen passengers to make themselves known and then the captain saying pretty much the same things as Ventura re weather. 

[jh1809]

Looking at the second dinner menu, not for the first time I reflected that it seems to be rather random which dishes P&O think should be suffixed with an asterisk as potentially posing a health risk. Beef seems to merit an asterisk - a hangover from "mad cow" disease days, which must be 20 years ago now? - whereas pork and chicken, which I'd have thought if undercooked are more of a risk, don't.

[Presto2]

Its been interesting reading about the buffet v the MDR each morning for breakfast.

First of all - that butter dish .... ugh

 

Having said that we either have cabin service for breakfast if we are on an excursion or the buffet. We would use the MDR but find that it is open too early for us when we just want to have a lie in and not have to be up with an alarm clock. Perhaps when we retire we won't be as concerned about being ruled by an alarm clock. Then again, I am a bit of a night owl. I prefer to go to bed very late on holiday and wake up about 9ish.  This retirement lark is going to be a real game changer me thinks 😉

[Selbourne]

21 minutes ago, jh1809 said:

It's very poor for all the coaches on an excursion to leave before the time on the tickets. At least one should wait until then.

My sense is that other passengers had been told about the earlier departure and the chap who told me it was still 9am was in the wrong. 

[pete14]

7 minutes ago, jh1809 said:

Looking at the second dinner menu, not for the first time I reflected that it seems to be rather random which dishes P&O think should be suffixed with an asterisk as potentially posing a health risk. Beef seems to merit an asterisk - a hangover from "mad cow" disease days, which must be 20 years ago now? - whereas pork and chicken, which I'd have thought if undercooked are more of a risk, don't.

I think, as it is a potential health hazard for pork and chicken to be undercooked, it is always cooked to well done whereas beef can, and in my opinion should, be safely eaten with a degree of pink in the middle. 

[Clodia]

Solo  cruisers like me find the buffet impossible. You can get food, then there are no tables, or you can put your jacket on a chair then go for food to find someone else has thrown it on the floor when you reach the table. I gave up years ago.

[jeanlyon]

Well I will repeat.  We had no problem on Aurora.  About 0830 to 0900 we had no problem finding an empty table for our breakfast.

[Presto2]

1 hour ago, Clodia said:

Solo  cruisers like me find the buffet impossible. You can get food, then there are no tables, or you can put your jacket on a chair then go for food to find someone else has thrown it on the floor when you reach the table. I gave up years ago.

We have a strategy - we find a table then go one at a time while the other protects the table !

To be honest we avoid the days when we know it will be manic and use the buffet when everyone else has got off and peace resumes !

[jeanlyon]

2 hours ago, Presto2 said:

Its been interesting reading about the buffet v the MDR each morning for breakfast.

First of all - that butter dish .... ugh

 

Having said that we either have cabin service for breakfast if we are on an excursion or the buffet. We would use the MDR but find that it is open too early for us when we just want to have a lie in and not have to be up with an alarm clock. Perhaps when we retire we won't be as concerned about being ruled by an alarm clock. Then again, I am a bit of a night owl. I prefer to go to bed very late on holiday and wake up about 9ish.  This retirement lark is going to be a real game changer me thinks 😉

As I saw one single butter cube in each dish, I can only assume some passenger put three into one and then added something else.  Each butter dish in the buffet had only one cube in each.

[Interestedcruisefan]

4 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I had read a lot of reviews of Ventura that were similar to your experience, so I can only assume that P&O have responded and upped their game on the ship (of course, the staff change periodically as well, including senior staff, which can make a huge difference).

 

We have just been having a coffee and. with this cruise only having a few days left, were discussing our top likes and dislikes about Ventura. I will outline them in my final post on this live blog when we get home but (spoiler alert) I’m happy to share that two of our top likes will be food and service. These are hugely important issues for us on a cruise (as I’m sure they are for most people) and I can honestly say that on this cruise both have been excellent. 

I trust your judgement as well.

 

I know by the amount  of times you use Epicurean etc that if the MDRs weren't up to scratch you would say so and wouldn't use them as often

[terrierjohn]

3 hours ago, Clodia said:

Solo  cruisers like me find the buffet impossible. You can get food, then there are no tables, or you can put your jacket on a chair then go for food to find someone else has thrown it on the floor when you reach the table. I gave up years ago.

I don't think I have ever seen anyone take a table in the buffet where someone has left something to denote it is now occupied. Maybe I am just a lucky guy

[Winifred 22]

10 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I don't think I have ever seen anyone take a table in the buffet where someone has left something to denote it is now occupied. Maybe I am just a lucky guy

I have never had a problem either. If I need to leave my seat there is usually some I can tell and say I will be back. 

[lebreos]

before covid we had 2 very different experiences in Ventura MDR for fixed dining. 

The first occasion we were a party of 7 including my son, and both sets of parents... so 6 of us on table of 8 as son was always in nursery by 2nd sitting. Our waiters were awful and the food generally cold by the time it reached us. we were always promptly at the table as a group yet never served consistently. we had to involve the manager after 3 days where extra supervision and microwaving of hot food before it reached us ensued. service became acceptable.... Daytime service we went to the other restaurant where at least the service was better but the food was still below what we had had previously.

The second occasion around 11 months later same ship same second sitting this time just myself and wife on the table again only 6 each night - service good - food was excellent on the ship throughout. the head chef did cooking demonstrations and the restaurant staff were great especially as i was regularly checking in with night nursery during the evening meal.

So probably a change of crew gave a massive difference in the dining experience.

[sandancer]

12 hours ago, Presto2 said:

We have a strategy - we find a table then go one at a time while the other protects the table !

To be honest we avoid the days when we know it will be manic and use the buffet when everyone else has got off and peace resumes !

On the Azura you could pick up a card from the wait staff at the entrance to the serving area which could be left on your table to show it was in use. Great idea I thought. 

[purplesea]

42 minutes ago, sandancer said:

On the Azura you could pick up a card from the wait staff at the entrance to the serving area which could be left on your table to show it was in use. Great idea I thought. 

That's good to know. We are on Azura in January.

[Angel57]

58 minutes ago, sandancer said:

On the Azura you could pick up a card from the wait staff at the entrance to the serving area which could be left on your table to show it was in use. Great idea I thought. 

Wow. What a good idea. I hope it’s fleet wide as didn’t see that Aurora a few months ago, but then I wasn’t looking for it.