P&O Cruise aboard the Ventura, Portugal and the Canaries from Southampton

P&O Cruise, Ventura, N319 Portugal and the Canaries

Departing and returning to Southampton, stopping in Madeira, La Palma, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Lisbon.

Date & reason for travel: July/August 2013 for 12 nights, travelling for leisure as part of our honeymoon

How we booked: I chose to book direct with P&O on one of their “getaway” fares, I’m very impatient and when my new passport landed on the door mat I wanted to book now, now, now!  However, as this was our first cruise we may have benefitted from going via a travel agent.  I spoke to two different agents at P&O, one at the time of booking and one a little later when I realised I had some queries.  I found both of them to be very inexperienced and couldn’t answer basic questions on the tender process, whether there was air conditioning on board, the embarkation process, and the weather and therefore what to pack.  Having an experienced agent who could talk us through what to expect would have simplified things a little. 

Accommodation

We booked a balcony cabin on the “getaway” (late deal) fare and I think this was for a GE “AFT” cabin.  However, we were allocated cabin L218 on Ventura’s deck 15, the Lido deck, and this was classed as a GC cabin and as “FWD”.  We were about five cabins from the front of the ship and other passengers advised us being this far forward meant we would feel the sea more, however it wasn’t an issue for us.  The balcony on this cabin had a ceiling that came out more than the cabins further forward, due to the metal structure of the ship.  We thought this would stop us getting the sun but it had no impact, if the cabin to the right of us got sun so did we.  On cruise ships the bathrooms are notoriously smaller than hotels, but completely adequate.  Within the room there was a large, comfortable bed and loads of storage space.  This is one thing I’d been worried about as we completely over-packed and took so much luggage I’d wondered where we’d put it all!  However, there was a dressing area with lots of hanging and shelf space, and room under the bed for the empty suitcases.  The TV had movies (some payable) and channels with ship information, and there was a small fridge and hairdryer available.  The cabin was a decent size (dimensions can be found on the P&O website), and we spent a lot of time on the balcony gazing out to sea.  In fact I think we may have to frame some of the photos we took looking out as I don’t know how we can live without that view in our lives every day! 

 

 

Service

This was where we felt more improvements could be made on board.  Service was acceptable and functional but it didn’t “wow” us.  Due to the immense staff to passenger ratios on board I had much higher expectations of what the service would be like, and especially when compared with the service experienced at the pre-cruise hotel in Southampton, it didn’t quite meet those expectations.  We did experience some excellent service on the cruise and that deserves a special mention, our two wait staff in Saffron on an evening got to know us and anticipated our needs very well, the lunchtime service in East was also extremely attentive.  When I did raise a couple of issues with the Food and Beverage Officer he seemed to really appreciate the feedback and acted upon it.  An extra special mention has to go to the medical centre.  I had to attend (non-cruise related issues!) and the doctor and two nurses I saw completely put me at ease, were so warm and friendly and I felt like I was in safe hands. 

Food & drink

We were allocated the 8:30pm sitting in Saffron.  We opted for a large table and were glad we did, we were lucky to have met three other lovely couples and this had such an impact on our experience.  The food was to a very high standard, always cooked to perfection and presented immaculately.  The main courses in particular were so hard to choose from and included succulent steaks, Sunday roasts, beautiful vegetarian options like halloumi and hummus, fresh fish and regional dishes like chicken piri piri.  There was a smaller selection of starters and on a couple of occasions nothing took my fancy, not a problem as the waiter presented me with a lovely prawn cocktail instead.  Desserts again were varied, cheeses, pot au chocolat, lemon tart and lots of ice cream!!  The highlight was definitely the meringue swan, as pictured below.

In a morning we tended to order a continental breakfast through room service, having such a beautiful view from the balcony it would have been a shame not to! 

Lunches were, in a way, the most tricky for us.  We visited the buffet on a couple of days, and they had a wide range of good quality foods available.  I was slightly addicted to the fresh pizzas from the grill by the pool, with Mr Roadtripper going for the burgers.  What we felt was missing though was just some standard grub, by that I mean a nice sandwich or jacket potato!  We were treated to a fantastic meal at East, which is Atul Kochhar’s establishment.  The cover charge for this restaurant was £7.50 per person on a lunchtime, and this covered a three course meal.  We also pushed the boat out (excuse the phrase!) and had a bottle of Indian wine to accompany it. 

Public areas

The ship was in excellent condition.  It is so big that there is no way we can cover every single part of it on here!  Some of my non-cruising friends have said that they don’t fancy cruising as they feel it would be too claustrophobic.  This ship was so big you could get lost, and we did on many occasion! 

Our favourite spot throughout the day was the sun terrace around Breakers Bar on deck 16, aptly named the “Sun Deck”.  With waiter service from the bar and music coming from the pool below, it suited us perfectly.  This was the area used for any outside day/night entertainment, including the “sailaway” parties.  The picture below is of the busiest sailaway party, the last one, which they called the "Great British Sailaway".  These tend to start about half an hour before leaving port and last for about an hour. 

 

Metropolis was a sophisticated bar, which we visited for pre-dinner cocktails on occasion.  It was at the back of the ship with one long wall of windows overlooking the sea, and the opposite wall was full of screens that displayed the skyline of iconic cities across the world.  One night you could be in New York, one night you could be in Las Vegas!

We spent most evenings in Havana or the Tamarind Club.  Both were cabaret style, plush seating that focused on the stage area and dance floor, and both had a range of entertainment on an evening.  Havana would then turn into the ship’s nightclub at around midnight, where I admit to busting some dodgy moves on the dance floor!!

The Exchange was the English pub and was very popular on an evening due to the quizzes offered by the entertainment team.  We went on one night and found the “dad dancing” round to be one of the funniest things we’ve ever seen!  It was quite difficult to gets seats in this bar and if I was P&O I would look at moving the adjoining casino into one of the many function rooms and making that entire area The Exchange. 

Location

The biggest draw for us about this cruise was the fact it was “ex-UK” and departed from Southampton.  I’m not the best flyer in the world and something I’m utterly rubbish at is packing light.  This holiday let me avoid both of these things!  The holiday started as soon as we arrived at the terminal.  They have staff waiting to take your luggage for you as you pull up in the car, so you don’t even have to cart it to the check in desk! 

This itinerary had three days at sea, then visited Madeira, La Palma, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote all in a row.  This was followed by a day at sea, then Lisbon, then another two days at sea before returning to Southampton.  We’ll be covering each destination in separate blog posts due to the ever-increasing length of this one!

What next?

Apart from the couple of minor issues already mentioned, the main thing I’d like to see on Ventura is a dedicated adult only area on an evening.  Although I understand it’s a very family friendly ship, when we were in Havana (the bar/nightclub) at 1am/2am there were a lot of teenagers and it didn’t quite have the right ambience for us.  This view was shared by nearly everyone we spoke to about it. 

Overall

I can’t believe we’ve never cruised before!  We had such an amazing time, we relaxed, we sunbathed, we swam, we explored...!  We already have plans for summer 2014, but it has been tempting to change them to cruise again!  As it stands we will probably wait until summer 2015 and, as we can be fairly flexible, wait for the last minute fares to come out before choosing who to cruise with and where to sail.  P&O’s Ventura is an amazing ship with so many facilities and activities going on and we’d recommend it to anyone!