Are all cruise ships unstable even on calm seas

[sidekick180]

As Jo's post, the basic ship design of Ventura is the same as Azura and a number of Princess ships, and other than steering / propulsion not a lot different to a great many cruise ships. She's certainly no less stable than most.

 

And although BoB has a reputation it's calm more often than rough.

 

The number of times that particular cruise and the subsequent one, and "mechanical issues", have been discussed rather suggests a particular problem with the ship, hopefully short-term before it's fixed.

 

So don't let that unfortunate experience put you off.

Yes, the Caribbean is almost always calm in the winter, which is out of hurricane season & when P&O operate there. Just once in a dozen Caribbean cruises have we experienced any movement at all and that was on a Thomson ship - some folk struggled with it, tho it was only a slight swell.

Main thing about the Caribbean is that each island is worth a day but few are worth longer, which makes it ideal for cruising. Both P&O and Thomson (now called Marella) offer fly-cruises direct from regional U.K. Airports with seamless transfers.

Give that some consideration - I think Ventura's problem was a one-off

 

JB :)

 

Hi John,

Thank you for your input. It does sound as though the Ventura is going through a few problems at the moment. Just a shame that they don't seem to be able to find enough time to fix the problems but I guess that as it never seems to be in port for longer than a day, it doesn't give them a great deal of time to get it sorted out.

We definitely would not go on Ventura again, partly because of the experience we recently had but also because we have now cruised on that one.

I am seriously considering the possibility of a med cruise next based on what most people have been saying. Just need to try and convince the girlfriend to give it another go.

[sidekick180]

You can get unlucky on any cruise with technical faults/crazy weather or a mix of both.

 

However, the newer larger ships will handle any bad waves the best. Since you are from the UK and have sailed out of Southampton may I suggest a Independence of the seas Med cruise?

 

This will allow you to be on a huge, generally stable ship (that has was more to it than P&O) an the Med is less open ocean so will generally have better weather/waves.

 

Any area near open ocean (like your cruise) has a higher risk of being rocky...areas than are surrounded by land are a better bet (Med or Baltic). There is a never a guarantee but thats the nature of cruising.

 

There will be cruisers here (like myself) who have been on many ships in different areas and not had any seasickness. Give it another go!

 

Thank you Velvet for all your advice and input. Based on everything I have been reading lately and the advice of people like yourself, I think it is definitely worth considering a Med cruise on a bigger ship. As I mentioned once before, I would have no hesitation going on another cruise. I just need to try and convince my girlfriend to give it another go. I keep showing her all the posts on here and she seems to be coming round to the idea of maybe trying again somewhere else on another ship.

[John Bull]

Hi John,

Thank you for your input. It does sound as though the Ventura is going through a few problems at the moment. Just a shame that they don't seem to be able to find enough time to fix the problems but I guess that as it never seems to be in port for longer than a day, it doesn't give them a great deal of time to get it sorted out.

We definitely would not go on Ventura again, partly because of the experience we recently had but also because we have now cruised on that one.

I am seriously considering the possibility of a med cruise next based on what most people have been saying. Just need to try and convince the girlfriend to give it another go.

 

Winter in the Caribbean.

 

But for the summer .......................

Most CC contributors are North American - for them a Med cruise is an ideal way to combine several countries into one holiday. But mainland Europe is so easy and comparatively inexpensive for us Brits that we tend to do land tours in Europe - cruises only give you a quick peep at the destinations.

But the Baltic is made for cruising - Sweden Finland, Russia, Estonia are so difficult and time-consuming to combine by road and so expensive and complicated to combine by air. No-fly cruises from Southampton, Dover and elsewhere, or from ports like Copenhagen.

Like BoB or the English Channel or the North Sea, the Baltic is almost always calm in summer.

 

JB :)

[Sue Do-Over]

I've been on cruises where the water was sloshing out of the hot-tubs. Poor crew member in rubber boots with a squeegee spent a couple hours out there.

 

And as for seasickness... On a long-ago trip, shared an interior cabin with my sister. Our beds were set against different walls (at right angles). She felt seasick when lying on the bed 'across' the ship, rocking head to toe, but felt better almost immediately when we traded, and she rocked side-to-side like in a hammock. We all joke now that we have to re-arrange the furniture when someone feels ill.

[jocap]

Don't go along with the idea that the bigger the ship, the more stable; the ships which do world cruises are often much smaller than Ventura, and have been built with long ocean cruises in mind...and Oasis of the Seas had a poor time on her first Atlantic crossing; Anthem of the Seas had a bad time off the south east of USA last year... as we were sailing smoothly away from the Caribbean- on Ventura...

If you look at Fred Olsen's Black Watch, she's a tiddly ship and very old, yet year after year she goes round the world, and doesn't seem to have problems with stability.

The largest ship built for ocean crossing is the liner Queen Mary 2, which was specifically built for rough, northerly crossings from Southampton to NY. But if the water's rough, even that grand lady will have the sick bags out! :)

[sidekick180]

Yes, there's been quite a lot of discussion about your particular cruise on social media; I read that the technical fault caused discomfort and about the missing port.

Ventura is a Grand Class ship, which is used by Princess for many ships; they all seem to be very stable in average seas. V had her dry dock in December, and returned to do two Transatlantic cruises soon after, with no reports of trouble, so it does seem that the reported fault was the cause of your discomfort.

We've sailed on that very ship for many days, including across the Atlantic without any problems.

 

Have a look on the P&O UK page on this site, as you may find others commenting about your particular cruise; as I say, we were all hearing about it from passengers on social media.

EDIT: I've just looked on P&O UK on Cruise Critic, and there's 2 posts about this cruise, and the next cruise, when Ventura didn't leave Southampton until late evening. They are presently on page 2 of that site.

 

Hi Jo,

Thank you for your input. Yes I did see the review posts on this site and feel reallly sorry for the ladt that decided to fly back home from the first port they visited. I don't think our cruise was anywhere near that bad. Certainly not bad enough for us to consider flying home cutting the cruise short.

I would be very interested to see what people have been saying on the social media sites. Which sites did you see those comments on and how can I get on them to see what people have been saying. Just really curious to see other peoples feedback from our cruise and the one after. thanks

[Essiesmom]

Hi Jo,

Thank you for your input. Yes I did see the review posts on this site and feel reallly sorry for the ladt that decided to fly back home from the first port they visited. I don't think our cruise was anywhere near that bad. Certainly not bad enough for us to consider flying home cutting the cruise short.

I would be very interested to see what people have been saying on the social media sites. Which sites did you see those comments on and how can I get on them to see what people have been saying. Just really curious to see other peoples feedback from our cruise and the one after. thanks

 

 

Go back to the main boards page here, scroll down to P&O-UK, under Cruise Lines P-Z and look for the thread. A new member might be excused for thinking those are links to the cruise line websites, but they are forums for cruisers to ask questions and discuss their cruises on those lines. EM

[jocap]

Hi Jo,

Thank you for your input. Yes I did see the review posts on this site and feel reallly sorry for the ladt that decided to fly back home from the first port they visited. I don't think our cruise was anywhere near that bad. Certainly not bad enough for us to consider flying home cutting the cruise short.

I would be very interested to see what people have been saying on the social media sites. Which sites did you see those comments on and how can I get on them to see what people have been saying. Just really curious to see other peoples feedback from our cruise and the one after. thanks

I'm not sure if we can mention names? But think of the most famous ... :) and put P&O in the search engine.

The recent comments are all talking about what happened to Ventura afterwards- she didn't leave the dock until late evening, and eventually ended up in Vigo where the problem was worked on- and fixed. Since then everyone's been happy.

Sadly, things like this can happen even with a new ship, and sometimes you hear on this site about cruises being completely cancelled because of an engine fault...

I hope you will have a better time on the net ship you choose... there's a lot of them out there!;)