Thomson vs P&O Review

HI PEEPS ,

My review of the Ventura is now posted and ready for anyone to read should you want to know my take on the ship.

In a nutshell ... We loved it and will book that ship again .:)

The review :-

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=503073

:cool::cool::cool:

I enjoyed reading your review kalos. Thanks for flagging it up. Glad you had a good time and found everything up to expectations (except slow service one night). I do agree that Thomson's showteams are second to none of those we've seen on other ships in terms of standard of performance and frequency. I often wonder what the showteams on other ships spend their time doing in comparison.

I enjoyed reading your review kalos, and glad that you enjoyed Ventura.

She is lovely and with the added bonus of a sliding roof over the pool, it doesn't matter about the weather!

Great review kalos :) Still tracking Ventura for September.

HI PEEPS ,

 

My review of the Ventura is now posted and ready for anyone to read should you want to know my take on the ship.

 

In a nutshell ... We loved it and will book that ship again .:)

 

The review :-

 

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=503073

 

 

:cool::cool::cool:

Hello Kalos. The ship sounds fantastic. Could you tell me how the tip thing works? Areyou charged per person per day? Also how did the drinks compair in price? This is the two things that put me of booking with other lines. The thought of a large bill at the end of my holiday is not a pleasent thought. Thanks k8ti

Hello Kalos. The ship sounds fantastic. Could you tell me how the tip thing works? Areyou charged per person per day? Also how did the drinks compair in price? This is the two things that put me of booking with other lines. The thought of a large bill at the end of my holiday is not a pleasent thought. Thanks k8ti

In case kalos is en route and doesn't tune in for a few days.... it's just gone up to £5 p. p. /day. I factor it in when I see cruise prices and just take the cruise price as the advertised one plus tips. You can have the tips removed or reduced and some people do but we find it's more but not that much more than we would tip voluntarily the crew who look after us personally on Thomson. Our last Caribbean cruise was no more expensive than Thomson even including the tips - but we did have two extra sea days which was the compromise.

Drinks are no more expensive than Thomson and have the service charge already included in the menu price. We got a reasonable bottle of red for under £15 and tried a few but never paid more than £16. They will keep a bottle that's not finished for you too as will Thomson. They do wine packages with around a £15% discount but it's a set selection of mixed bottles of varying price so we preferred to buy them individually so we could choose ones we liked. You can buy a package before you go though so it wouldn't be on your bill at the end. Sorry can't help with other prices but we felt they were OK and nothing like as expensive as say, Celebrity. They don't do AI though.

Hope that helps.

Thank you. It is a great help. Himself thinks I worry to much but I have to know how much I am spending each day. I start to worry if I do not feel in control. That makes a holiday no fun. I was worse when we had all the boys with us. However himself is still here so maybe I am not that bad...

I enjoyed reading your review kalos, and glad that you enjoyed Ventura.

 

She is lovely and with the added bonus of a sliding roof over the pool, it doesn't matter about the weather!

That sliding roof came into its own when we had gale force winds so bad the captain had two tugs all day pushing the ship to port side :eek:

Around the pool you would never had guessed how bad the weather was outside ,we think she's a great ship.

Great review kalos :) Still tracking Ventura for September.

Happy hunting Linda:), we just booked 2016 with them .

Hello Kalos. The ship sounds fantastic. Could you tell me how the tip thing works? Areyou charged per person per day? Also how did the drinks compair in price? This is the two things that put me of booking with other lines. The thought of a large bill at the end of my holiday is not a pleasent thought. Thanks k8ti

Hi the tips work just as Kruzze has explained to you and if your reading this Kruzseeka (of course you are ;)) Hope your having a great holiday and thanks for your kind words.

Regarding drinks we loved the Metropolis bar (Sky Bar) and we used to buy a Southern Comfort each and share a bottle of diet coke with it , all for £8.40.

Or a couple of bottles of becks £7.70.

The ship does allow you to board with your own drinks for cabin consumption as well ,providing its a reasonable amount .

The Duty Free Shop had some good offers as well , we were buying Southern Comfort (1ltr) for £18 .. Some other spirits were 2 for £20, so not too bad price wise .

As for keeping track of your spending that's easy, turn on your cabin TV (not all P&O ships have this yet) and its all there for you to see.

Getting around the ship is easy as well ,as you step out of any of the main lifts on Ventura the even cabin numbers are to your left and odds to your right .

Hope that helps you :) :)

Dead right I am! In Kamari now having beer at Navy's Beach looking at everyone quizzically trying to work out a) if they are Brits b) are they still untanned therefore arrived yesterday in the rain c) were on a B'ham flight (embarrassing tale - got on Saga bus at airport and asked if anyone was called Malc - blank looks, weird woman - only to realise they'd just got off our Gatwick flight!! :o ) - several conversations later and I haven't found you. Not for the want of trying! :D

Anyway have a great time we're enjoying being laid back with no deadlines!

Sorry folks not on topic but wanted to connect however loosely with kalos. :)

Just got around to reading your review, Kalos. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I think we will do around the UK one day. It's an easy way of seeing a lot at once.

I'm sure you live in Yorkshire, did you go down on the coach? If so how did you find it?............not the coach :rolleyes: the experience.

Hello Kalos. The ship sounds fantastic. Could you tell me how the tip thing works? Areyou charged per person per day? Also how did the drinks compair in price? This is the two things that put me of booking with other lines. The thought of a large bill at the end of my holiday is not a pleasent thought. Thanks k8ti

k8ti, you can have the tips removed and just pay yourself if you want.

I really enjoyed reading your review, Kalos. Thank you :)

The more I hear of P&O, the more I am tempted to try them. Ventura sounds a lovely ship and the sky bar and folding roof are great attractions.

We are looking at the Caribbean for next year but the one thing that concerns me is that you can only be guaranteed anytime dining if you pay a select fare, which is fair enough, but select fares can be a bit pricey.

It is good to hear that gratuities are included in the drinks prices. I have a question for you. Were you allowed to take your drinks from the duty free to your cabin for your own consumption? In your review it reads like you can, but just checking. We do like to have a drink while getting ready to go out.

I'm sure you live in Yorkshire, did you go down on the coach? If so how did you find it?............not the coach :rolleyes: the experience.

We always take the car and tend to go down the day before we sail.

I was at work that morning 5am - 11am and at midday we took a steady run

down the M1 via the A43 stopping two hours later at Cherwell Valley Services Oxford area .

After a quick break we head down to Southampton but stay with the motorway down to Redbridge roundabout .

We find it easy this way and the next morning we park the car up at Marchwood and jump on their coach,

next time we see our cases from there ,it's in our cabin on the ship .

We enjoy the journey down doing it this way.:)

 

I have a question for you. Were you allowed to take your drinks from the duty free to your cabin for your own consumption? In your review it reads like you can, but just checking. We do like to have a drink while getting ready to go out.

Regarding the drinks Nell , the Duty Free sale was a one night offer as far as we were aware .

When I purchased the bottles we paid and half expected the guy telling us to collect on the day home ,but no,

he put them in a sturdy bag for us to take to our cabin there and then .

So I would say we could have opened them and drunk them .

It was same at embarkation we took a bottle on board in our hand luggage ,not a problem.

The steward even offered to bring us some ice for our own drinks :cool::D.

 

We are looking at the Caribbean for next year but the one thing that concerns me is that you can only be guaranteed anytime dining if you pay a select fare, which is fair enough, but select fares can be a bit pricey.

Hi Little Nell - it's worth watching the Select fares and offer prices. We booked our first P&O cruise for September and chose Select. The OBC more than covered what we will have to pay for the tips and the price we paid was much cheaper than anything we could find with Thomson for September even taking into account no AI drinks package (there was an offer on at the time). We were also able to choose and book our cabin without extra payment and free safe. The only downside we could see is the 2 sea days which will be a challenge for us as we love visiting the ports each day with Thomson.

I was worried about getting early sitting Eleanor, but I was told that was most popular followed by second sitting. I think everyone we spoke to had been allocated anytime dining. I think you could change it if you don't get the one you want, but not sure about that. You would have to ask on P&O boards :O :D

Thanks Linda :)

I am being a bit dense here but do you mean that anytime dining was not popular on your cruise

Regarding the drinks Nell , the Duty Free sale was a one night offer as far as we were aware .

When I purchased the bottles we paid and half expected the guy telling us to collect on the day home ,but no,

he put them in a sturdy bag for us to take to our cabin there and then .

So I would say we could have opened them and drunk them .

It was same at embarkation we took a bottle on board in our hand luggage ,not a problem.

The steward even offered to bring us some ice for our own drinks :cool::D.

I am pleasantly surprised by that, Kalos. Thank you :)

Hi Little Nell - it's worth watching the Select fares and offer prices. We booked our first P&O cruise for September and chose Select. The OBC more than covered what we will have to pay for the tips and the price we paid was much cheaper than anything we could find with Thomson for September even taking into account no AI drinks package (there was an offer on at the time). We were also able to choose and book our cabin without extra payment and free safe. The only downside we could see is the 2 sea days which will be a challenge for us as we love visiting the ports each day with Thomson.

Thanks, Dronnygirl :)

I will be looking soon at their itineraries. Actually, I don't mind sea days. I like the opportunity to enjoy relaxing and use the ship's facilities.

Thanks Linda :)

 

I am being a bit dense here but do you mean that anytime dining was not popular on your cruise

I did get some remarks saying that if we really wanted a particular sitting we should choose a select booking! I know you get some perks like choosing a cabin, dinner sitting and free shuttles as well as OBC, but you have to look and see how many shuttles you would need and how much OBC you get as the select fares are sometimes a lot more expensive.

Hope this makes sense xx

Sorry, what I meant was, that I asked on P&O boards before I booked whether we could change our dinner sitting if we were allocated first sitting (which we don't like) and was told early sitting was most popular, so we would most likely get second sitting or freedom dining. I think a lot of regular P&Oers are used to club dining and don't really like freedom dining, so I think you would be more likely to get it.

 

I did get some remarks saying that if we really wanted a particular sitting we should choose a select booking! I know you get some perks like choosing a cabin, dinner sitting and free shuttles as well as OBC, but you have to look and see how many shuttles you would need and how much OBC you get as the select fares are sometimes a lot more expensive.

 

Hope this makes sense xx

Thanks, Linda. Makes perfect sense :)

Dead right I am! In Kamari now having beer at Navy's Beach looking at everyone quizzically trying to work out a) if they are Brits b) are they still untanned therefore arrived yesterday in the rain c) were on a B'ham flight (embarrassing tale - got on Saga bus at airport and asked if anyone was called Malc - blank looks, weird woman - only to realise they'd just got off our Gatwick flight!! :o ) - several conversations later and I haven't found you. Not for the want of trying! :D

Anyway have a great time we're enjoying being laid back with no deadlines!

 

Sorry folks not on topic but wanted to connect however loosely with kalos. :)

Oh dear! Sorry about that Kruzseeka. Our flight landed 14:00 local time, a couple or hours after yours I think. However, thanks for the effort. It's the thought that counts and much appreciated. You can stop looking now as we are off to Paros today on the 15:30 ferry from Atheni port. Enjoy the rest of your week and I hope you get at least one day without thousands of cruise passengers blocking up Fira.

All the best,

Malc.

Oh dear! Sorry about that Kruzseeka. Our flight landed 14:00 local time, a couple or hours after yours I think. However, thanks for the effort. It's the thought that counts and much appreciated. You can stop looking now as we are off to Paros today on the 15:30 ferry from Atheni port. Enjoy the rest of your week and I hope you get at least one day without thousands of cruise passengers blocking up Fira.

 

All the best,

 

Malc.

Thanks for the good wishes kalos. Managing to avoid the busiest times - brought a list with me of all cruise ships in during our stay so off to Oia tomorrow 'cos there are none due in!!! ;)

Enjoy the other islands you're visiting. :)

Thanks for the good wishes kalos. Managing to avoid the busiest times - brought a list with me of all cruise ships in during our stay so off to Oia tomorrow 'cos there are none due in!!! ;)

 

Enjoy the other islands you're visiting. :)

Beautiful Oia. Enjoy, Kruzseeka :)