Ventura Weekender Sept12-14 08

[LibraLass41]

Well, have now received my brochure and dvd for the new ship Ventura which is being built at the moment and will be launched next year.

Have pre-booked the only weekender in the 2008 sailing schedule 0n 12-14 Sept 2008 to Zeebrugge for Bruges, Belgium. (N814)

 

Did this cruise in Dec 06 on Aurora and paid £275 for a inside cabin, interestingly on this ship I can have a balcony (none are obstructed) for £239 , should be good. Mid sept, might still catch the last of the summer rays as well. The ship looks fantastic with a Tapas bar, a comedy club and The White Room, Marcos' restaurant onboard, and will be the biggest ship in the pando fleet.

 

Anyone else considering her for 2008?

 

Sue:)

[Sparkle 123]

Hi Sue

Yes we received the same info from P&O and we are considering the Christmas caribbean cruise. I rang my travel agent this morning to get a price for a balcony and he quoted me quite a bit less than the P&O brochure price, so we are pretty tempted. I know its a long way out to book but we did the same for the Arcadia Xmas cruise and I know we got a fantastic price by booking so far ahead and now thats been and gone already although at the time 20 months seemed forever!

We really enjoyed christmas on a cruise and the Ventura one covers New Year as well so thats even better. We can fly from East Midlands and the flight upgrades are only £199rtn and after 10 hours to Barbados on Thomas Cook with our knees up to our chins we will definitely go for the extra legroom this time!

It does look like its going to be a great ship, more like the Princess ships, lets face it P&O will have a lot of competition when RCI starts cruises on its mega ships from Southampton so they have got to come up with something to compete with that and it looks like the Ventura will do that nicely. I especially like the Tapas bar idea and the balcony dinners.

Looks like I've convinced myself about this cruise already, can't wait till next Monday, hope my travel agent gets us our chosen cabin (aft balcony) loved it on Arcadia, nothing better than watching the wake of the ship whilst enjoying a glass of wine or 2!

[bandit0000]

Hi,

 

I have just pre registered for the 5th December Caribbean cruise and will hopefully get my chosen aft cabin, roll on Monday. I think the prices look pretty good, do you think they will go up.

Would you recommend the flight upgrade, we have never been with P&O before so not sure what it is like, but as you say flying from east midlands is just great for us, just down the road, so that played a big part, as well as the fabulous ship & itinerary of course.:D

What can you tell me about P&O.

Thanks,

Lisa:)

[Sparkle 123]

Hi Lisa

The prices definitely will go up. I watched the price on the Arcadia cruise after we booked it and never saw it any less than what we paid, most people I spoke to had paid nearly £400 per person more!!

I would recommend the flight upgrade for the extra legroom alone as the flights are on charter airlines and the standard legroom is not very good, people were complaining about the flights for most of the cruise! Hopefully it won't be Thomas Cook out of East Mids.

As far as P&O, we usually cruise with the American lines of Celebrity and RCI and I have to say we preffered the food on Celebrity however the entertainment on P&O was very good and the drinks are more reasonable as they don't add a 15% service charge. Also liked the tea/coffee making tray in the cabin. The Arcadia is not a typical P&O ship but somehow i have never been drawn to any of their other ships so we liked it.

The Ventura looks like it is going to be more like a Princess ship. If you look at deckplans and photos of the Crown Princess it is exactly the same. What I liked is the expanded choice of dining venues as the one weakness on the Arcadia was the buffet restaurant which got very crowded at lunchtimes and reminded me of a canteen, so we would often have room service for lunch if we didn't want to go to the main dining room.

Did a bit of reserch on aft balconies on Crown princess and B750 and B751 have a metal beam on the balcony so I should avoid those on Ventura as it looks like the same design.

Any other questions please ask!

Lisa

[hollyanna]

LibraLass41 - where did you get such a good price for balcony cabin on the 2 day(£239)? I want to pre-book but was quoted £199 for inside. if you would like to email me my email is villasofd@yahoo.co.uk . Thanks I would be grateful for that! The ship looks amazing.Hollyanna

[bandit0000]

Hi Lisa

The prices definitely will go up. I watched the price on the Arcadia cruise after we booked it and never saw it any less than what we paid, most people I spoke to had paid nearly £400 per person more!!

I would recommend the flight upgrade for the extra legroom alone as the flights are on charter airlines and the standard legroom is not very good, people were complaining about the flights for most of the cruise! Hopefully it won't be Thomas Cook out of East Mids.

As far as P&O, we usually cruise with the American lines of Celebrity and RCI and I have to say we preffered the food on Celebrity however the entertainment on P&O was very good and the drinks are more reasonable as they don't add a 15% service charge. Also liked the tea/coffee making tray in the cabin. The Arcadia is not a typical P&O ship but somehow i have never been drawn to any of their other ships so we liked it.

The Ventura looks like it is going to be more like a Princess ship. If you look at deckplans and photos of the Crown Princess it is exactly the same. What I liked is the expanded choice of dining venues as the one weakness on the Arcadia was the buffet restaurant which got very crowded at lunchtimes and reminded me of a canteen, so we would often have room service for lunch if we didn't want to go to the main dining room.

Did a bit of reserch on aft balconies on Crown princess and B750 and B751 have a metal beam on the balcony so I should avoid those on Ventura as it looks like the same design.

Any other questions please ask!

Lisa

 

Thanks so much for your advice, particularly regarding the aft balcony cabins. I did ask the agent when pre registering if she knew of any metal beams as I know they do have them on some ships.

The cabins I have requested are either D734/735 or C752/753 & I did not know the deck plans are the same as the Crown. I am off to take a look now just to double check before they book on Monday.

Do you know if they are the only 2 afts affected by a beam

If the Ventura is anything like the Crown, from the reviews I have read we will be in for a treat.

I normally travel the American lines also but have heard very good things re. P&O, so I really wanted to give them a try, but like you other than Arcadia none of the other ships have really appealed to me.

Thanks again,

Lisa

[Sparkle 123]

Hi Lisa

Thay are the exact cabins I am looking at too! Looks like us Lisas think alike!

I see you found my post on the Princess boards asking about them. I think I may be leaning toward the C deck cabins now as I think they will be quiet and away from any air inlets and beams etc although the D deck look bigger balconies but they do seem to have more metal around them.

Found these pictures on webshots of the Crown Princess aft

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2592668260081189881tiBhPL

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2613805090014642629gIenxy

If you get any other info let me know!

If you book the 5th Dec cruise you will be on it the week before us!

Lisa

[bandit0000]

Hi Lisa,

Is it the 19th December you are thinking about then?

Thanks for the pictures they are the best I have seen yet. I would be happy with any of those cabin choices, but not sure what to do if I can't get any of them. What are you going to do if you cannot get them?

My excitement for this one is overtaking the one I have booked for this year & my hubby thinks I am totally mad for booking this far ahead, but I think it's a good deal on a ship I really want to try, going to lovely places I haven't been to and flying from an airport half an hour away. So I say in my defence why not!

If you just type in the cabin number & princess ie. c752 princess on google it comes up with quite a bit of info.

I'll keep posting here if I find any additional info.

 

Lisa:)

[Sparkle 123]

Hi Lisa

Yes it is the 19th December.Its a lovely way to spend Christmas. Beats watching repeats on TV and all the Christmas food shopping!

Not really thought about which cabin to get if the aft ones aren't available. Will cross that bridge IF I come to it!

Tell your husband you are not mad! He won't be saying that when he finds out how much money you've saved him and getting the pick of the best cabins and your chosen dinner seating by booking so far ahead! Plus you have got another cruise to look forward to before then as we have if you look at my countdown clocks! I like to have em lined up!

Whereabouts do you live? We are about 1 and a half hours from East Midlands in Skegness. I must say it will be better than the long trek down to the London airports!

By the way I have done the google search too, spent ages last night looking at cabins! My Husband thinks I'm cruise obsessed, he's probably right!

Bye for now

Lisa

[bandit0000]

Hi Lisa,

 

We are from Ravenshead in Nottingham, so really close to EMA.

I am a bit worried about the flights though after reading some reviews. I feel loath to pay the extra for the premium seats, as that would probably pay for a lot of our onboard account. Are the seats really that bad? We went to Vegas last year on a charter (airtours) that was pretty bad, but just about bearable. How long is the flight do you know?

I am going to think hard over the weekend about the flight upgrade, but I know if I do upgrade it will have to be my little secret.

Some reviews have said that if you fly from East Mids the flight may not be as bad, as it probably won't be thomas cook. I am unsure what to do to be honest.

I am leaning more towards the 2 C cabins as I have asked for opinions on a different thread & I think those 2 are better being on the corner. You never know I might be keeping your cabin warm for you.

I hope we get the one we want.

Lisa:)

[Sparkle 123]

I know what you mean about the extra price for the flight uggrade. I felt exactly the same when we went last December. We had the dreaded Thomas Cook from Gatwick and the upgrade was £300 pp. I wouldn't pay that, as you say thats an awful lot of spending money. What we did instead was to turn up at the airport early to try for the exit row seats. we got one, the other was on the aisle opposite and had a seat in front of it. I let my husband have the seat as he is 6ft 2 although we did swap for about an hour! Bear in mind the seats you get on the way out will be the same ones on the way back.

Its more likely to be Thomsonfly from EMA and they had the least complaints.

Its a 9 hour flight to Barbados.

I found it bearable at 5ft5 but my husband would struggle.

As the flight uprade is £199pp according to the Ventura brochure and P&O are offering us £75 pp onboard credit if we book as past cruisers it doesn't make the price so bad. However if it was down to me I would probably chance not upgrading but then again if I was as tall as my hubby and hes willing to stump up the extra ££s who am I to refuse?

By the way I just called my TA and told him to try for the C cabins as my first 2 choices and the D ones 3rd and 4th!

Fingers crossed till Monday!

[E201]

Hi guys,

 

We too have pre registered for Ventura, very excited, we have gone for midships balcony decks A or B, this is the usual position on a ship we go for.

 

We too are going for the two night in September, its my partner Steve's birthday then so it should be a good celebration! We have registered for the cruise after the two nighter also, we will be going with two other people.

 

We live in Southampton so very handy for the ships, only a short journey to Mayflower Terminal, this is one of the perks to living here.

 

I bet Christmas on a ship is great, whats Christmas day like? Ive heard all the staff go all out to make it extra special?

 

I am very excited about Metropolis looks good, but then again the whole ship looks like its going to be great!

 

Cannot wait till Monday just want the confirmation that we are on there!

 

Gemma :)

[daiB]

This what we like to hear everyone keen and eager to book on Ventura as she looks an excellent addition to the P&O fleet and I think that more and more people should go and book for summer 2008.

 

 

 

This means of course that we will get good offers on the cruises we want to do on the other ships like Aurora and Oriana.:rolleyes::rolleyes:

 

So go on, keep booking, only 4 days to go as the Email from P&O said this morning.

 

 

:)Happy Booking :) and Cruising:)

[Sparkle 123]

Hi Gemma

We enjoyed being on Arcadia at Christmas. The ship was tastefully decorated for Christmas, they had a gingerbread village on display, midnight mass for those who wanted it, a great deck party on Christmas eve when Santa made an appearance on the ships funnel! Everyone got a present left in their cabins,(silver P&O champagne flutes). Traditional Christmas dinner was served or there were alternatives if you don't want turkey. Then a Christmas themes buffet a couple of days later.

Certainly beats stopping at home slaving over a hot stove!

[bandit0000]

I know what you mean about the extra price for the flight uggrade. I felt exactly the same when we went last December. We had the dreaded Thomas Cook from Gatwick and the upgrade was £300 pp. I wouldn't pay that, as you say thats an awful lot of spending money. What we did instead was to turn up at the airport early to try for the exit row seats. we got one, the other was on the aisle opposite and had a seat in front of it. I let my husband have the seat as he is 6ft 2 although we did swap for about an hour! Bear in mind the seats you get on the way out will be the same ones on the way back.

Its more likely to be Thomsonfly from EMA and they had the least complaints.

Its a 9 hour flight to Barbados.

I found it bearable at 5ft5 but my husband would struggle.

As the flight uprade is £199pp according to the Ventura brochure and P&O are offering us £75 pp onboard credit if we book as past cruisers it doesn't make the price so bad. However if it was down to me I would probably chance not upgrading but then again if I was as tall as my hubby and hes willing to stump up the extra ££s who am I to refuse?

By the way I just called my TA and told him to try for the C cabins as my first 2 choices and the D ones 3rd and 4th!

Fingers crossed till Monday!

 

Hi Lisa,

Just found this, so I am really hoping it wil be thomsonfly. Do you know when you find out who you are flying with.

Flying with holiday firm Thomson is set to get more comfortable as the company announced it would introduce more legroom for long-haul passengers.

Thomsonfly, the company's airline, will take out 32 seats from each of its Boeing 767 planes, meaning that standard class passengers can enjoy 33 inches of legroom, while premium class flyers will have 37 inches.

The changes will be made to all long-haul flights – either as part of a package or a seat only – for the summer 2007 season and prices will remain the same.

 

"Travellers no longer want or expect to be crammed into a plane for an eight hour flight at the beginning of their holiday," said Thomsonfly's managing director, Colin Mitchell.

The new standard class legroom will exceed that of both British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. Called Thomson Plus, the new service will also include touch-screen seat back TVs and a choice of eight meals that can be booked ahead.

The airline flies to more than 80 destinations around the world, including the Caribbean and Florida.

Thomsonfly also allows passengers travelling from certain airports to use self-service check-in kiosks to remove the hassle of queuing at the check-in desk.

 

Lisa:)

[Sparkle 123]

Hi Lisa

Thanks for that, really hope its thomsonfly from EMA. We didn't get our flight details until about 5 months before the cruise last year, by which time all the upgrades had gone.

If I knew for sure it would be Thomson I wouldn't need to shell out for the extra legroom seats.

Can't wait till Monday. I'll be on edge all morning until my Travel Agent calls!

[bandit0000]

Hi Lisa,

May have some good news for you. I have just checked with the agent I am booking with & their office manager said that it will be first choice flights from EMA.

She says she will double check with P&O tomorrow because if they know, they should tell her.

I have heard good things about first choice, so fingers crossed.

Maybe you won' have to upgrade to premium. The seat pitch for them is 33" or 36" premium.

Good luck for tomorrow, hope you get what you want,

Lisax

[daiB]

Hi Lisa,

May have some good news for you. I have just checked with the agent I am booking with & their office manager said that it will be first choice flights from EMA.

She says she will double check with P&O tomorrow because if they know, they should tell her.

I have heard good things about first choice, so fingers crossed.

Maybe you won' have to upgrade to premium. The seat pitch for them is 33" or 36" premium.

Good luck for tomorrow, hope you get what you want,

Lisax

 

 

But this is a disaster!!!!!!!!!!!:(:(

 

If they put on decent aircraft, with good leg space what will people have to moan about next October, on here, or over on CC(P&O).

 

This should be stopped now:mad:

 

 

:rolleyes:Happy Cruising:rolleyes:

 

Dai

[bandit0000]

Hi,

Has anyone heard back from their agents yet regarding their booking. Did you get what you want?

I am still waiting to hear, ooh it feels like waiting for Christmas. The question is will I be disappointed or not:D

Good luck,

Lisa

[Sparkle 123]

I'm still waiting too!

I expect they are busy with all the other bookings, not just ours!

Luckily Monday is my day off so I can keep myself busy with housework until they ring.

Will post on here when I hear anything,

Fingers crossed!!!

Bye for now

Lisa

[flea b]

I am still waiting, will be dead annoyed if my TA cannot get us on as my sister booked through another TA and she heard first thing. Grrrrrrrr. (Christmas Cruise). Think my TA had hundreds to book so that's a bad thing I never thought of.

 

Flea B x

[bandit0000]

I know what you mean, I really don't think I will get my chosen cabin. My agent said they should ring me by 10am or 12pm at latest. I still haven't heard anything. Maybe they will call us when they have completed their extensive booking list if everything is ok & they only ring us earlier if there is a problem and they cannot get our chosen cabin. Here's hoping!

Did your Sister pre-register also or did she just ring an agent to book this morning?

I was thinking if I had just rung & booked this morning (as opposed to pre registering), do you effectively beat the queue or do you have to wait until they have done the pre-registered ones , if you know what I mean.

Hope we hear soon

Lisa:)

[Sparkle 123]

The suspense was killing me so I called the travel agents and they have got me the cabin I wanted, just finalising the flight details and I am waiting for him to call me back to take the deposit payment. Hope everyone else gets what they are wanting.

[bandit0000]

Hi Lisa,

Did you get one of the 2 c cabins?

Lisa

[bandit0000]

I definitely do not think it will be good news for me, I just rang my TA & she has not even spoken to them yet. She says P&O system crashed and will call me as soon as she has any news.

I have just decided if I do not get my cabin choice I am not going to book, I'll leave it & see what else comes on offer a bit nearer the time.

I feel really dis-heartened now.

Glad you got what you wanted Lisa,

Regards,

Lisa:)