Denarius

The problem with Ventura and Azura is that they are ships based on Grand Princess with public spaces designed for 2500 passengers, with an extra deck of cabins added taking their capacity to 3000. Celebrity Solstice is a ship with public spaces designed for the number of passengers she carries. I have however, read somewhere that the next generation of Solstice class ships will also have an extra deck of cabins and may well be perceived as overcrowded as a result.

My thought was that Ventura is a large ship and less formal (with no Semi Formal nights) than say Azura. I think that may be the reason for tge deployment.

 

Eddie

But it would have been quite simple to relax Azura's dress code if that was seen as a problem. Otherwise the ships are now extremely similar except on the open decks, where Ventura's covered pool is a boon in wetter/colder climes and Azura's seascreen in warmer and drier ones.

I thought that Ventura was an odd ship to base in the Med for the summer season. Her covered pool is marvellous but of little benefit in a warm area with little rain in July and August. Oceana would have been ideal or, if they wanted a larger ship, Azura. Ventura and Aurora, with their covered pools, are ideal for the Baltic and fjords.

We have booked for caribbean 2014 and on cruise personaliser have our flight details, which state, hold luggage maximum of 23kg per person. This is with Thomas Cook (worse luck) flight. But I must agree with most of the other posts it is not P&O it is handling regulations, we are travelling to Southampton by train in three weeks and they to have regulations with baggage weight.

Hope that this is so. I am flying to Atlanta shortly with BA and am allowed 2 suitcases each up to 23kg max. Why P&O need to restrict to 20kg whilst BA obviously don't is difficult to comprehend unless it is just another cost cutting measure.

Where are these stuck up P and O cruisers? We were on Oriana for l7 nights and only met really nice, down to earth and friendly people,. We certainly didn't meet anyone that would look down on anybody.

My earlier comment was made with tongue firmly in cheek.

The vast majority of people you meet on P&O cruises (and I have sailed with them 23 times) are normal well adjusted people with a "live and let live" approach to things like dress codes. A minority however, take such things much more seriously and tend to be over represented on P&O fora. This does P&O a disservice and gives the impression to others that P&O is full of stuffed shirts who judge people on what they wear. Nothing could be further from the truth.

There is an easy way round this problem, "formal nights" wear a dark suit and tie, "semi formal" go for dark suit no tie, "casual" wear suit trousers and shirt, no problem, fill the rest of case with partners clothes!;)

A practical solution as long as you don't mind P&O traditionalists looking down their noses at you on Black Tie nights because you are not wearing a dinner suit.

Hi, I think you kind of missed the point, our complaint is not about being charged for excess weight, we offered to pay whatever the excess charge would be, to increase our allowance! Our gripe was the number of formal/informal nights on a 14 night Caribbean cruise, with only a 20kg allowance was unreasonable, especially as we have upgraded our seats to premium. Having been before, we know it's difficult to squeeze it all in!

Until a couple of years ago P&O cruises in the Caribbean only had formal and casual evenings. Then for some unknown reason semi-formal was introduced on Azura, putting presure on packing with the need to pack a second jacket as well as a DJ. No other line, as far as I am aware, does semi-formal in the Caribbean. Surely with the lower 20kg baggage limit (it used to be 25kg in the old days) semi-formal should be dispensed with once more.

Hi, I'm not really sure why you are " having a go " at P&O for these restrictions, as the luggage weights are pretty much standard on any fly holiday. In fact on our last holiday we were only allowed 20kg each.

As previous posters have said if you pack sensibly then you should have no problems. Unless you are like a relative of mine who always takes 14 different outfits for day wear then another 14 outfits for evening wear !:rolleyes: You may have problems if you do that. There is always the free laundry or the laundry service if you don't want to do it yourself. And as you are going to the Caribbean you will only need light clothes. I'm sure you will manage.

On page 31 of the new 2013 P&O brochure it states that the luggage allowance for P&O fly cruises is 20kg. If you struggle at 23kg you will be in real trouble next year.

23 kgs is standard now, even for scheduled flights. Having said that, I have done P&O fly cruises to the Caribbean and land tours to the USA with this allowance and have never had any problem staying within it. I follow the rule of "if you think you might not wear it, don't take it"

Is it not time, however, for P&O abandon formal/semi-formal in the Caribbean. That would free up a lot of space in suitcases for important items like shorts and tee shirts. ;-)

We went to the ballroom dancing lessons on Oceana which were held at Starlights. I did see some dancing in the evening in the Atrium but it didn't seem very well attended.

On Oceana last December they had ballroom dancing to CDs in the Atrium almost every evening. It was not particularly well supported, usually only 3 or 4 couples. Some passengers felt that it spoiled the atmosphere in the Atrium, which used to be a quiet place for conversation with a cocktail pianist.

"Seems to be a love it or hate it with little in between... is this an age split or just an 'outlook' split.."

A bit of both, really.

Pre Ventura, P&O was a very conservative line with a high level of formality. Middle Endland at sea, popular with quiet living individuals with middle class credentials or pretensions. They used to have onboard get-togethers for Freemasons, Rotarians and masonic widows, which will give you a good idea of the typical customer. Then along came Ventura. Out went much of the formality, dress codes were simplified with the elimination of semi-formal nights, and in came a more cosmopolitan type of cruiser who may not previously have considered sailing with P&O. Middle England at sea no longer! This did not go down well with some of P&Os traditional customers, who tend to use terms like "dumbing down" and to make references to Ocean Village when discussing her. For others, however, Ventura represents P&O finally entering the 21st century and realising that many people just see a cruise as a holiday at sea, no more no less, and do not really want the high level of formality that used to go with it.

It is, therefore, more a matter of outloook than age, although it is true that Ventura tends to attract a considerably younger age group than say Oriana or Aurora. I am a retired professional man in my 60s and she is my favourite P&O ship.