Ventura reviews

[storr]

Anyone seen any Ventura reviews yet.

[jeanlyon]

Yes, I've seen a review of the Maiden cruise on the Cruise Connections website and it's terrible. Ship unstable, tv not working, people walked out of the entertainment, food cold toilets blocked. Not good.

[loobylouuk]

Anyone seen any Ventura reviews yet.

 

Have seen a couple on crows nest which were quite positive but dont forget that it is based on a 2 nighter....... i am waiting for Derek aka the monoccled mutineer to post his review which will probably be VERY comprehensive.

I keep checking in to see if he has posted yet..........come on Derek put us out of our misery we are dying to find out whats what.

Lou

[Elaine0138]

guess you missed this one here :)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=768788

[daiB]

Yes, I've seen a review of the Maiden cruise on the Cruise Connections website and it's terrible. Ship unstable, tv not working, people walked out of the entertainment, food cold toilets blocked. Not good.

 

 

Jean,

 

That report was from a cruiser who forgot he was on a maiden cruise, all problems solvable apart from the 'lumpy bits'.

 

Still it cannot all be plain sailing:D:D

 

 

:)Happy Cruising:)

 

 

:cool:

 

 

Dai

 

BTW there are 2 very positive reviews on this board. e.g.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=768788

[Paul&Kathy]

Hi All,

 

I did submit a member review of the Ventura maiden cruise yesterday (Saturday) but it said it takes a couple of days to be published. Reading it again I realise how long it is and will probably bore everyone to death !!

 

It certainly was not terrible at all - yes there were some problems with the tenders, and with queues at various places, and the loos went wrong a couple of times (not the first time on a ship). I am sure these will all be solved very soon. A lot of people were moaning about the entertainment but we thought it was good - the downfall for us as first time P&Oers was the food and just a general feeling that they did not offer particularly good value for money compared with Princess/Celebrity/NCL/Carnival etc.

 

Hope my review appears soon but do ask questions in the meantime if you like. Sorry, no pics, we are awful photographers, but I do have copies of the menus if anyone has specific questions in that department.

 

I can't find the Cruise Connections review so not sure what the reviewer said about the stability of the ship. I forgot to mention it when writing my review but going out across the Bay it did roll from side to side far more than I would have expected of a large new ship in a sea that had a swell but really did not look too rough to me. I know nothing about the mechanics of ships but am a fair expert in sea-sickness (just got some extra qualifications !!!) and I don't think the stabilisers were working, or at least not working properly. A lot of people were ill. By the time we came back that problem did seem to have been solved but the ship was pitching quite a lot for a couple of days, which I know cannot be helped by stabilisers, but it was unpleasant for those of us who are not natural sailors.

[feebee_71]

Hi All,

I can't find the Cruise Connections review so not sure what the reviewer said about the stability of the ship. I forgot to mention it when writing my review but going out across the Bay it did roll from side to side far more than I would have expected of a large new ship in a sea that had a swell but really did not look too rough to me. I know nothing about the mechanics of ships but am a fair expert in sea-sickness (just got some extra qualifications !!!) and I don't think the stabilisers were working, or at least not working properly. A lot of people were ill. By the time we came back that problem did seem to have been solved but the ship was pitching quite a lot for a couple of days, which I know cannot be helped by stabilisers, but it was unpleasant for those of us who are not natural sailors.

 

Paul&Kath,

 

Here is the link to the P&O Cruise Connections report about the Ventura Maiden that you mention. Doesn't make for good reading.

 

http://www.pocruises.com/cruiseconn/asp/Messages/ViewMessages.asp?MID={9E464C20-DEF3-43FD-B834-301EBF3A84A4}&sessionId=F8D31AD8-1DC3-455A-B24E-229C9A467757

 

Feebee_71 :)

[supered]

Hi All,

 

I did submit a member review of the Ventura maiden cruise yesterday (Saturday) but it said it takes a couple of days to be published. Reading it again I realise how long it is and will probably bore everyone to death !!

 

Hi Paul&Kathy,

 

You're review has made it the Reviews section of the site at http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=41428

 

And it's not boring! It's always interesting to hear what others have to say and it's pretty comprehensive.

 

Thanks for posting it.

 

Eddie

[Madkitty]

Paul&Kath,

 

Here is the link to the P&O Cruise Connections report about the Ventura Maiden that you mention. Doesn't make for good reading.

 

http://www.pocruises.com/cruiseconn/asp/Messages/ViewMessages.asp?MID={9E464C20-DEF3-43FD-B834-301EBF3A84A4}&sessionId=F8D31AD8-1DC3-455A-B24E-229C9A467757

 

Feebee_71 :)

 

feebee can you copy and paste it here - Ive never been able to register with cc for some reaSON

[chirpy007]

Hi Paul&Kathy,

 

You're review has made it the Reviews section of the site at http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=41428

 

And it's not boring! It's always interesting to hear what others have to say and it's pretty comprehensive.

 

Thanks for posting it.

 

Eddie

 

 

I have just read it and found it very interesting, thank you very much for posting it.

[tom_uk]

Paul&Kathy wrote:

 

I did submit a member review of the Ventura maiden cruise yesterday (Saturday) but it said it takes a couple of days to be published. Reading it again I realise how long it is and will probably bore everyone to death !!

 

It certainly was not terrible at all - yes there were some problems with the tenders, and with queues at various places, and the loos went wrong a couple of times (not the first time on a ship). I am sure these will all be solved very soon. A lot of people were moaning about the entertainment but we thought it was good - the downfall for us as first time P&Oers was the food and just a general feeling that they did not offer particularly good value for money compared with Princess/Celebrity/NCL/Carnival etc.

 

Thank you for taking the time for doing this review. I thought it was interesting and honest. I get the feeling that if this hadn't been Ventura's maiden cruise, this probably wouldn't be the sort of cruise you'd normally do - would that be right?

 

The comments you made came across as reasoned and fair. Some were expressions of objective fact - e.g. the tendering problems - while some were obviously reflections of things that weren't to your preference, e.g. the menu choices. Like you I've seen Shepherd's Pie on a cruise menu - in my case, on a Fred Olsen cruise - and it was in fact delicious, a simple but perfectly cooked main course. I, too, was a bit surprised at first to see it there! I also agree that you'd never find it on an american cruise ship menu.

 

Once again, thanks. We're on Ventura in the autumn, and are looking forward to it immensely. Hopefully they'll have sorted out some of the glitches by then.

[storr]

Thank you a very well balanced review we are going on it for Xmas and New Year so any problems hopefully will be sorted out by then.

[miss mental]

Paul & Kathy,

 

Thanks for writing your review. I have been waiting with anticipation for some feedback from the first passengers to sail on the ship, having booked over a year ago for xmas / new year . I have had some doubts about the ship and sailing with P&O. Previously been with RCI, Legend & Navigator. How does it compare to RCI?

 

Thanks,

 

Heather.

[Bella36]

Thanks very much for your detailed and unbiased review on Ventura. We are going on the Med Legacies cruise in Sept and as a first time cruiser I found your review to be very helpful. I am sure P&O will have sorted out the few "teething problems" by Sept! We can't wait!:)

[Elaine0138]

Thanks for taking time to write your review.

 

I too found the food choices a bit strange on P&O. Missed the waffles at breakfast :)

[sexylou]

Paul&Kathy wrote:

 

 

 

Thank you for taking the time for doing this review. I thought it was interesting and honest. I get the feeling that if this hadn't been Ventura's maiden cruise, this probably wouldn't be the sort of cruise you'd normally do - would that be right?

 

The comments you made came across as reasoned and fair. Some were expressions of objective fact - e.g. the tendering problems - while some were obviously reflections of things that weren't to your preference, e.g. the menu choices. Like you I've seen Shepherd's Pie on a cruise menu - in my case, on a Fred Olsen cruise - and it was in fact delicious, a simple but perfectly cooked main course. I, too, was a bit surprised at first to see it there! I also agree that you'd never find it on an american cruise ship menu.

 

Once again, thanks. We're on Ventura in the autumn, and are looking forward to it immensely. Hopefully they'll have sorted out some of the glitches by then.

Hi Paul and Kathy

 

How was the the Ventura and the holiday this year I going on her very soon and how was the ship itself

[daiB]

Hi Paul & Kathy

 

Thank you for your interesting review, interesting because it came from a non-P&O regular

 

The meals you describe sound like the same sort of menus we have had on other P&O ships and I think are one of the things which give P&O their 'British' identity. For good or ill.

 

I am interested that you like a number of others did not find the menus outside the restaurants, when others on the same cruise had found them as usual, and they were in the bars so you could ring in your wine order. But that facility would only be available to those on club dining as it is now called.

 

When you say only one restaurant for freedom, could you confirm that as the pre-publicity was that there would be two for freedom and one for club. I would not surprise me at all if they had to change as most regulars would prefer club.

 

Most people have mentioned the difficulty with the tendering, hopefully this will improve over time.

 

 

 

 

:):)Happy Cruising:):)

 

 

 

:cool:

 

 

Dai

[Paul&Kathy]

Thanks Feebee for posting the link to cruiseconnections. I had to register then searched through all the Ventura posts and was pleased to see there are some fairly good ones as well as the "nightmare". I must say that the noises on deck 4/5 were pretty awful - we only heard it going into the restaurant a couple of evenings but it sounded as though the ship was breaking up and I can fully understand why someone who had that in their cabin at night came away with a bad view of the whole cruise. We did hear that a lot of people had been moved. I'm not sure I agree with the "nightmare" poster about the theatre as most nights the front area of the theatre was nearly empty but of course it may have been busier for the later shows.

 

Miss Mental, you are right, it would not be our usual choice of cruise. We had often talked about trying P&O but never quite found anything to interest us until now but we are still pleased we did it. We did do a maiden cruise on the Norwegian Gem last year which was great - no problems at all but nothing celebratory about it either, NCL just treated it exactly as any other cruise. It was a slightly shorter cruise than Ventura and we ahd to get a flight back from Barcelona but I think the cost was less than half of Ventura. As this time, we did not particularly choose it for being a maiden, just crusies we liked the sound of on dates we could go. I would do another maiden if I liked the price and itinerary and the dates fitted but I would not go out of my way to choose one again.

 

Tom UK - P&O v RCI is an interesting comparison. By co-incidence we have also been on the Navigator and the Legend. Both were transatlantics (his choice again....). The buffet area on Ventura is nothing like the magnificent spread on Navigator nor as good as Legend. Dining rooms probably similar except you will not get many steaks. I seem to be in the minority in liking the entertainment on Ventura so it just depends on what you like and what you get, I suppose. Both times on RCI we had Gordon as cruise director and he was great but some of the acts we were not so keen on. Ventura's CD (Neil Oliver) is nothing like Gordon but we thought most of the acts were great, especially the production shows. So far as the ships are concerned I think you will find Ventura comparable but without the "wow" factor of the Navigator's central promenade. Enjoy it, and perhaps one day try some other lines to see if you like them better - maybe Princess, NCL, Celebrity.

[K8T]

Hi

 

I really enjoyed your review, very balanced and informative. It also appeared to be very fair and gives me a bit of hope for the 30th this month when we board.

 

I too was surprised about the menus, they usually are outside restaurants and on every P&O ships we have been on so far, if you ask for steak they will cook it for you, whether or not it is on the menu. DP always has steak several times on our trips. Shame you didn't ask.

 

I am really interested in the ship for children, if anyone else has any information, I would be grateful, or looks like I will be writing my own review of Ventura with kids!!!

 

Keep them coming.

 

Kate

[daiB]

Hi

 

I really enjoyed your review, very balanced and informative. It also appeared to be very fair and gives me a bit of hope for the 30th this month when we board.

 

I too was surprised about the menus, they usually are outside restaurants and on every P&O ships we have been on so far, if you ask for steak they will cook it for you, whether or not it is on the menu. DP always has steak several times on our trips. Shame you didn't ask.

 

I am really interested in the ship for children, if anyone else has any information, I would be grateful, or looks like I will be writing my own review of Ventura with kids!!!

 

Keep them coming.

 

Kate

 

 

Hi Kate,

 

 

As I said above the menus are there as some people on other boards have confirmed.

 

 

 

:):)Happy Cruising:):)

 

 

:cool:

 

Dai

[supered]

Posting glitch!

[supered]

When you say only one restaurant for freedom, could you confirm that as the pre-publicity was that there would be two for freedom and one for club. I would not surprise me at all if they had to change as most regulars would prefer club.

Dai,

 

This is obviously not my experience as I am not due to sail until the end of October. However, I did read that The Bay Tree and Saffron were now Club Dining. Cinnamon was the only restaurant for Freedon Dining. However, that may change depening on demand. Who knows!

 

It's a bit of a shame however, as we are booked on Freedom Dining and liked the idea of being able to choose from two main restaurants. It won't spoil it though. As ever we aim to have a good time no matter what and that has stood us in good stead so far :)

 

Eddie

[daiB]

Dai,

 

This is obviously not my experience as I am not due to sail until the end of October. However, I did read that The Bay Tree and Saffron were now Club Dining. Cinnamon was the only restaurant for Freedon Dining. However, that may change depening on demand. Who knows!

 

It's a bit of a shame however, as we are booked on Freedom Dining and liked the idea of being able to choose from two main restaurants. It won't spoil it though. As ever we aim to have a good time no matter what and that has stood us in good stead so far :)

 

Eddie

 

 

Hi Eddie,

 

I had not picked up on that, although I knew the take up on Oceana last year was not great for freedom, so I am not surprised they have changed from 2:1 to 1:2.

 

I must admit we like to eat late and with the same group of 8 people. We have been very lucky so far.

 

 

 

:):)Happy Cruising:):)

 

 

 

:cool:

 

Dai

[BandBlady]

Hi

I know Derek will post a very positive review on CC.We met him at the CC meet and also throughout the cruise and he and Mrs Kane were having a wonderfull time.

There were a few niggly problems but nothing worth reporting.

The food was definately not as good as Arcadia Jan2008,the waiters agreed they are cutting back on choice .

The tender problem was due to the French not P&Q.

There is no question it is a beautifull ship .I can imagine in the carribean the deck space will be wonderfull.

If anybody has any questions just ask .As a regular P&O passenger I will give an honest answer

Happy cruising Kay

[Paul&Kathy]

That's correct, only the Cinnamon restaurant is for Freedom dining with the other 2 for Club.