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!
