My Ventura Weekender review and photos

[LibraLass41]

Ventura Weekender – September 12-14th 2008

I booked this weekender cruise way back in April 2007 when bookings opened for a ship, which wasn’t even built. At that time we got a great deal on a balcony, with free car-parking and £25pp OBC. The cruise subsequently sold-out in about a week, as it was Ventura’s only weekender in her first year at sea. As we all know, later in the year another weekender was hastily arranged - pre-maiden, this April 2008 as the ship was ready before her completion date.

We left early for Southampton as the Boat Show was opening on the day of the cruise, but as it happened we noticed no increase in traffic at all, and arrived at Dock gate 10 at 11.55am. Even though we were sent a key fob for the car from CPS, we had to park our car ourselves, this ran very smoothly, and we walked across the road and at the arrivals hall and posted our cases into the shoot of the ship, as per a usual cruise.

As we approached the arrivals hall we were given a health declaration form to complete while in the queue, I thought this was a good time saving idea with 3000 passengers to check-in, and I counted about 40+ check-in desks manned, so the queue, although large moved very quickly. Also to speed check-in further, our onboard account cards were registered at check-in and photo taken. We were onboard the ship in ½ hour from arrival at the car park! Fantastic.!

After the usual self service buffet lunch, this time in the Beach House, cabins were announced as ready at 2pm.

We had a balcony cabin on A deck. I loved the walk-in wardrobe, the comfy queen sized bed, and the flat screen with inter-active TV – so you could order room service or check the size of your cabin ob account.

The balcony was a good size, we could look down on other cabins and watch the occupants quite well, D deck had larger tables than us, and stuck out even more with no overhead cover, good for sun-bathing I suppose, but you are totally over-looked… (see photos). I was not over excited by the balcony furniture, and prefer the padded chairs on the other ships.

After muster, I then went to the Sun deck for sailaway. The Sailaway Party was very good. We had flags !!! which is quite unusual for a Southampton sailaway these days, lots of dancing and drinking, a really great time was had by us all. I stayed on with a few others enjoying the drink and chat to well after 1st sitting started, but as it became chilly it was time to get ready for dinner.

We were in the smaller restaurant – Saffron, on a table for 6 – we had an 8 confirmed, so 2 of our friends from the site were ‘bumped off’ and ended up in another restaurant.. The service and food were very acceptable and similar in quality as any other meal I have had onboard ship.

After dinner we went to a show in the theatre – now, this theatre looks very nice, but…the seats are very level, especially at the front, and then slightly steeped, I had problems seeing the show both evenings. Saw ‘Explosion’ on the first night, a very modern young show which included lads dancing with dustbin lids on their feet and lots of break dancing – not sure what the older pax thought of it…. The second show was ‘Chronicles’ a African adventure, which was probably the best show I have seen ever, and I’ve seen a lot now, after 6 cruises in 2 years, as we go to the show every night on every cruise. The martial arts, puppetry – even dancers dressed as giraffes, and dancing was breathtaking.

After the show, went to the 60/70’s night in the Tamarind Club, which was really ‘rocking’. The dance floor was packed, people dancing in the seating area, a really good time was being had, much more livelier than on a longer cruise, perhaps because of the younger cruisers onboard on a weekender, but mainly because people are determined to have fun, fun fun on this very short cruise!.

Clocks forward, so we went to bed at 2.30am.

Breakfast in the Baytree was good, then we spent a few hours exploring the ship, taking photos and then at 12.30pm we went off to Bruges on the coach , where the sun shone all afternoon, had a lovely time there, but weather turned on the coach ride back, and we got soaked waiting to embark ship in the queue up the gangway.

Now, for the Formal night…..

The ‘Welcome party’ was rubbish. The invite did say ‘The Ships Officers invite you', but as my place of worship (!) was at the Atrium, I foolishly assumed the Captain was coming to do his speech, as the' popes balcony 'was roped off in the atrium.

There were one or 2 drinks stewards for hundreds of people on our level of the atrium the drinks were hit and miss...some pax I saw didn't get one drink and were just stood about 'waiting for something to happen', and no nibbles at all. I had a nasty glass of red wine. After half an hour of this, we decided ‘that was it’ and as no dinner call was made, we assumed we better go to dinner, as by this time it was nearly 9pm…Never heard a dinner call on both evenings…which seems to cause confusion, but I suppose this has something to do with part of the ship being ‘freedom dining?

I found the young officers were not prepared to mix atall with the passengers, maybe they couldn’t be bothered as it was ‘just’ a weekender, but at this party and later in the clubs they kept themselves to themselves, chatting in groups with a sprinkling of young pretty ladies, dancers or girlfriends, I don’t know, but this was very poor.

I think a weekender should be used as a promotion of cruising for new cruisers onboard and they didn’t give 100% atall in this area on this ship.

Had a very nice Gala Meal at dinner, with the usual Lobster, Lamb and Venison on the Menu.

After the show in the theatre, it was midnight so we met up with friends in Metropolis, a great bar on the top level 18 with views of the sea from the back of the ship. There is no Crows Nest on this ship at the front – for some strange reason they have the Gym here? !

I liked Metropolis a lot, especially the video wall that screens real-time footage of the world’s most famous cities; we had London and New York on our 2 nights.

The service on this evening was much better than when we got on embarkation afternoon which was dire. We sat down and waited to be served, and waited,… over half a hour later, no one had approached us, so I went and found a steward myself he said he would come in a minute., after another 5 mins he came, and after another 1/4hr still no drinks… really fed up by then, would of walked out but had paid for them, so went up to bar and asked for them now!!! I was not impressed but assume they were short-staffed as probably a lot of the stewards were having their day off in Southampton.

No disembarkation cards given on this weekender, and after a leisurely breakfast we just walked off the ship, and went to collect our luggage in the hall as per a usual cruise, over to the car park and off home leaving at 9.30am.

A fab weekend, everything was as good as I expected from a 20 week old ship. All public rooms were modern and clean, our cabin was lovely and food as good as any cruise. We hit Sapphire level on this cruise and received a silver mirror compact and husband a pair of binoculars, not bad after 2 ½ years of cruising. The higher discount level starts from our next cruise.

There were just over 300 children onboard, saw them in the pools, but besides that they seemed to be doing there own thing and the ones I saw were all dressed very nicely on formal night.

The dress code for formal night was very good. A lot of men in their tux, some in suits and a few not bothering at all. Woman mostly very well dressed too, although did see a few strange sites, but a very good turn out overall.

I did take some photos for you, they can be viewed on this link, best seen on Slideshow mode a 5 secs or more.

Photo Link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/AuroraPartyCruiseSueV/VenturaWeekenderSept08#slideshow

 

 

[pudd]

I too was on this cruise. Without doing a full review I should like to make a few comments.

Dis/Embarkation-speedy and well organised.

Ship Ok-all new and tidy.

Food Ok- Breakfast hot and quick, better than expected

Dinner not so good on 2nd night,service quite bad. Wished I had seen the menu before sitting down,would like to have tried East.

Mixture of passengers different to those you would get on a longer cruise.

Captains party-only 1 bar open before free drinks were served = lots of confused people who wanted to buy some drinks.

 

I don't think I would try Ventura again. I have 2 more weekender cruises booked for next year.I will go on Arcadia in May and if things are poor I will cancel the Aurora trip in December. They need to try harder. A lot of people are booking these trips to experience cruising for the first time but I don't think they are a good advert.

[tom_uk]

Sue: many thanks for your review and the pictures. I'm getting mixed messages from them....

 

I've read other reviews/comments from the same cruise, and they were generally not as positive as yours! One comment that was made very strongly was that the decor was brown, brown and even more brown. What did you think of the decor in the lounges?

[woodlands]

Hi Sue

thanks for the report - it sounds like you had a good time. We're off on Ventura in November so were very interested to see the photos.

Thanks again

Berni

[LibraLass41]

Tom,

 

The decor was fine, they are all different. There is a RED BAR, which is.....Red , as you see from photos the Tamarind was very colourful too and Ramblas. Havana photo does do justice to it, at night when the music was thumping the strobe lights along the back of all the seating were neon blue - very techno! Metroplois was great, like the crows nest but at back of ship with live webcam walls in colour of Newyork or another city in the background.

 

Its a fine ship, try and see like I did, perhaps too much knowledge is dangerous, and everyone is different after all!;)

[LibraLass41]

I too was on this cruise. Without doing a full review I should like to make a few comments.

Dis/Embarkation-speedy and well organised.

Ship Ok-all new and tidy.

Food Ok- Breakfast hot and quick, better than expected

Dinner not so good on 2nd night,service quite bad. Wished I had seen the menu before sitting down,would like to have tried East.

Mixture of passengers different to those you would get on a longer cruise.

Captains party-only 1 bar open before free drinks were served = lots of confused people who wanted to buy some drinks.

 

I don't think I would try Ventura again. I have 2 more weekender cruises booked for next year.I will go on Arcadia in May and if things are poor I will cancel the Aurora trip in December. They need to try harder. A lot of people are booking these trips to experience cruising for the first time but I don't think they are a good advert.

 

You seem to agree with me, and as I mentioned they do need to try harder -for eg my comment on officers not mixing with the passengers atall.... I even tapped one on the shoulder and asked him where the drinks were at one stage! At the welcome (ha!!) aboard party, as there were NO waiters at one point offering drinks to new people coming in - really bad and no nibbles.

 

You say you wished you had gone to East after seeing menu, but did you know they raised the price 'especially for us on the weekenders' to £25pp!!! And it was fully booked anyway, so if its any concilation you wouldn't of got in anyway!

[pudd]

You mentioned the thumping music in the Havana bar Sue. We did experience this while we were dining in the Baytree restaurant. All we could hear was thumping bass and the ceiling was vibrating. It must have been quite loud if you had a cabin above the bar!

[OldJerseycruiser]

We had an lovely aft cabin above Havana on this cruise and didn't hear any noise at all. We also went to East on the second night where we had excellent service and the food was good, but don't think it was worth the extra £25 a head.

[LibraLass41]

Tom,

 

The decor was fine, they are all different. There is a RED BAR, which is.....Red , as you see from photos the Tamarind was very colourful too and Ramblas. Havana photo does do justice to it, at night when the music was thumping the strobe lights along the back of all the seating were neon blue - very techno! Metroplois was great, like the crows nest but at back of ship with live webcam walls in colour of Newyork or another city in the background.

 

Its a fine ship, try and see like I did, perhaps too much knowledge is dangerous, and everyone is different after all!;)

 

 

have added a few more photos, including havana in the evening with blue neon lights,

[pretenda]

Thanks for the brilliant review Sue - I saw it just as soon as i'd asked how you got on (on the other thread)! One of my Senior Moments!!!:)

Glenda

[LibraLass41]

You mentioned the thumping music in the Havana bar Sue. We did experience this while we were dining in the Baytree restaurant. All we could hear was thumping bass and the ceiling was vibrating. It must have been quite loud if you had a cabin above the bar!

 

 

Funny you should say that Pudd.... we were in Saffron and could hear music thumping away - from the Tamerind club above us

[KarenR_UK]

Funny you should say that Pudd.... we were in Saffron and could hear music thumping away - from the Tamerind club above us

 

Sounds like perhaps 1st seating wasn't such a mistake then (after all my worries about Freedom, we were assigned a table for 2 in BayTree on 1st seating Club:D ) - 6.30 is a bit early for me, but as it turned out it gave us the evening to 'play'.

 

Loved your photos Sue - looked for us in them:) , but we were not:( - I only took 4 :eek:

 

Karen

[LibraLass41]

You didn't come to the meet up then Karen? at breakers bar?

[stopgo]

Quick question Sue, which is better Ventura or Independence of the Sea.

[KarenR_UK]

You didn't come to the meet up then Karen? at breakers bar?

 

Sue, we went through several times, before, during & after sailaway but couldn't see any group standing out. As you are the only person I thought I would recognize, I looked out for you throughout the weekend, but we were obviously at opposite ends of the ship at all times:D

[LibraLass41]

stopgo

 

If you are cruising with children of any age I would say INDY was great for them and happy kids = happy parents. We were shown all the childrens clubs on INDY - the toddlers playrooms, the childrens arcade -oooh they could have fun with a cruise card in there! but you can 'load it up' with say $20 or so a day to stop over spending, the teengers club with a NON-alcoholic cocktail bar and their own jacuzzis! The rock climbing wall, golf, wave simulator and pools such as H20 with water jets for children...and a proper 'adult only pool for child free couples...

 

Ventura is the best ship in the pando fleet for children, not so sure if its the best for childless couples/singles.... but everyone should try it once and make their own minds up. If you like brit ships and have kids you will love Ventura.

 

Next week I will be visiting the small child free. elderly Artemis, look out for a photo album on 1st October

[stopgo]

Thanks Sue, Its just me and the wife on a carribean cruise in November. I am determined to really enjoy it. It will be probally my last one for the forseeable future, as I was a victim of the credit crunch a few weeks ago.

[LibraLass41]

Sorry to hear that Stopgo, I do hope you find a job very soon, and if you had any redundancy payment you can then spend it on more cruising!:D

[tom_uk]

Just 5 more days for us - and after the lovely weekend we've just had, yesterday & today have been dire and are a good reminder of why we are going away.

 

Sue: how bad was the buffet scrum at lunchtime on embarkation day? I personally think that first hour or so on board is just about the most stressful period of the whole cruise. Once I've had some food, got into the cabin, started unpacking and begun to make some sense of the ship, I start relaxing. Then there's just the safety drill to get through before we can have that sailaway glass of fizz!

[Stackerman]

Ventura is the best ship in the pando fleet for children,

 

 

 

I am afraid that my family and others do not agree with this statement,

on what experience do you base this other than P&O hype.?

[stopgo]

Well it should be as its designed and sold as a family ship. I don't think anybody who as not been on holiday with their children can judge I agree with you on that score.

[Gerrym]

Well it should be as its designed and sold as a family ship. I don't think anybody who as not been on holiday with their children can judge I agree with you on that score.

 

 

Yes, but does a family ship HAVE to be the best ship for children, my family consists of no children for example.

 

I happen to think Ventura is great for kids, unfortunately its great for them but no thought for adults which is why I will not return on her.

 

 

Gerry

[Stackerman]

Perhaps the best judge are the kids themselves just ask ours, and others who have done a couple of cruises on Ventura.

It may be being hyped as designed for Britain, but make no mistake it is a modified Grand Class off the self ship.

[LibraLass41]

Ventura is the best ship in the pando fleet for children,

 

 

 

I am afraid that my family and others do not agree with this statement,

on what experience do you base this other than P&O hype.?

 

 

Blimey if it isn't the best ship for children what is Ventura there for!

 

Which ship would YOU say is the best for children in the pando fleet then Aurora, Oriana or Oceana?

[Stackerman]

You havent answered the question, What experience do you have to make such a statemant?.

And it isnt for me to decide the best ship for children, it's my children. And just as a matter of interest they prefer Oceana.