Live from 35 nights on Ventura, what have I done?

[lancashire_cruisers]

12 hours ago, TigerB said:

I've been anticipating your updates, thanks!

 

Great photos.👍

 

It would have been annoying getting in first at Barbados and still getting the rubbish parking spot; having to get a shuttle even to the ports shops would have been a pain in the proverbial.

 

We like St Lucia, not so much for touring as it's difficult for our lass, but sitting on the balcony and watching the planes land and take off, and having a mooch in the Port Seraphine shops. I always come away with some banana ketchup from the 'local shop'.

Banana ketchup is the only thing that makes St Lucia worth going to. Not my favourite island for a variety of reasons but still hoping I’ll get to like it one day! 🤞

[TigerB]

31 minutes ago, lancashire_cruisers said:

Banana ketchup is the only thing that makes St Lucia worth going to. 

 

I love the stuff. We should have been there in March but we cancelled the cruise, so I got our eldest daughter to get me two large bottles in November.😋

[lancashire_cruisers]

2 hours ago, TigerB said:

 

I love the stuff. We should have been there in March but we cancelled the cruise, so I got our eldest daughter to get me two large bottles in November.😋

Nothing better on a cheese butty!

[mrsgoggins]

In my last post, I managed to get a gap between my photos - anyone know how I did that please because I'd like to do it again 🤔?

 

Last night's theatre entertainment was excellent IMO - the Blue Jays, a 4 piece rock band who play 50s and 60s music. The lead singer had played Buddy Holly in a touring version of The Buddy Holly Story and did a few of his numbers including Rave On, the title of their own touring show, which I intend to Google. A packed theatre of course.

 

Today we are in Grenada and although it was a rainy humid start, it wasn't a bad backdrop to my friends' WhatsApp video clips of their gardens covered in snow. I took a look at the CCTV of our own snowy drive and tried to suppress my smug feelings. Actually, 2 weeks in and I am missing my friends and our activities. I can't imagine ever signing up for a cruise longer than this, despite being happy with most things.

 

On to my gripe of the day.  Of the 6 mid ship lifts one has never worked from the start.  One of the remaining, one goes down intermittently and this morning 3 of the 6 displayed the dreaded X.  By afternoon that was up to 4 working. Hmmmm!

 

We have been on a Grenada tour previously and have sufficient nutmegs to last many years, so we only took a walk into the terminal building/shopping arcade and had a short stroll outside, but it was too hot and humid to stay long. Photos attached I hope.

 

We are starboard on C deck and today is the first day we have had full sun on our balcony, and the first time we have had heating gizmo set to cool.

 

Today's menus again are the same as those posted by @Selbourne and so I was able to select the cheese and onion pie before going down for lunch thanks to him - and delicious it was too.

 

 

 

Edited January 16 by mrsgoggins

[TigerB]

Thanks for the update. Good photos👍🏻

When we've been to Grenada we like to take the sometimes perilous route through the tunnel and to that inlet/harbour at the other side.

 

Your photo conundrum:

Position the cursor to the right of an inserted photo, then press the return key twice. You can now insert the next photo, and you will have your gap.

[Sussexboy]

We had a lovely trip out on a catamaran in Grenada, followed by a beach lobster bbq. It was a great day to finish our cruise proper before sailing back to Barbados to catch the flight home. Thank you for sharing those photos, they made me think back to happy memories.

[Fionboard]

Always get the local bus to Grand Anse beach. One of my favourites. 

[mrsgoggins]

1 hour ago, Fionboard said:

Always get the local bus to Grand Anse beach. One of my favourites. 

 

Not really beach people. Are there other things there? Bars etc? Planning for next time 😉

[Fionboard]

5 hours ago, mrsgoggins said:

 

Not really beach people. Are there other things there? Bars etc? Planning for next time 😉

Walk through the tunnel to ' La carenage ' (the inner harbour),  for bars and restaurants. 

[terrierjohn]

24 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

Walk through the tunnel to ' La carenage ' (the inner harbour),  for bars and restaurants. 

Is it safe to use the tunnel pushing a wheelchair? Last visit we wandered the other direction, so next Jan I thought we would try through the tunnel.

[TigerB]

@terrierjohn, you'll be fine with a wheelchair if you are careful. To be fair, the traffic doesn't speed through the tunnel, and our lass would maintain a driving course close to the wall so those bipeds wishing to overtake her, or walking towards us would have to step into the road. 

Given the height of the kerbs anyway and the hit and miss locations of drop down kerbs, she spent a fair bit of time using the roads in St George, with me protecting her from traffic.

[mrsgoggins]

Thursday, 17th January update

 

Yesterday was a sea day so little to report. We took a walk around the deck, did a lot of reading and visited my newly-discovered Metropolis bar.

 

We dined at Sindhu, which has never been a favourite of mine, and this remains so. At 6pm the service was glacial, the background music, a tad loud and the food just okay - this is probably due to our taste in food however.  DH said he prefers M&S Jalfrezi (?). I'll attach a photo of my salmon and DH's Sindhu Signature for anyone who feels differently.  I had the cinnamon bread and butter pudding to follow which was incredibly sweet and half of it got left. 

 

'Astonishing' was the theatre show, which we enjoyed, despite having seen it a couple of times. The lone lady who sat next to me wanted to chat before the performance but I'm afraid to say it was a long list of complaints which she had brought to the attention of management but remained unimpressed. In a nutshell, she was a Cunard regular on her first P&O cruise, which would also be her last!  Oh dear.

 

 

 

[daiB]

Just now, mrsgoggins said:

Thursday, 17th January update

 

Yesterday was a sea day so little to report. We took a walk around the deck, did a lot of reading and visited my newly-discovered Metropolis bar.

 

We dined at Sindhu, which has never been a favourite of mine, and this remains so. At 6pm the service was glacial, the background music, a tad loud and the food just okay - this is probably due to our taste in food however.  DH said he prefers M&S Jalfrezi (?). I'll attach a photo of my salmon and DH's Sindhu Signature for anyone who feels differently.  I had the cinnamon bread and butter pudding to follow which was incredibly sweet and half of it got left. 

 

'Astonishing' was the theatre show, which we enjoyed, despite having seen it a couple of times. The lone lady who sat next to me wanted to chat before the performance but I'm afraid to say it was a long list of complaints which she had brought to the attention of management but remained unimpressed. In a nutshell, she was a Cunard regular on her first P&O cruise, which would also be her last!  Oh dear.

 

 

 

We were there last night as well, wonderful meal. Best in Sindhu for some time. 

[TigerB]

2 hours ago, mrsgoggins said:

Thursday, 17th January update

 

I don't mean to rain on your parade, but you appear to be having a 'Selbourne moment' with your dates.🤭

 

Thanks for the update, by the way🙂

Edited January 18 by TigerB

[mrsgoggins]

1 hour ago, TigerB said:

 

I don't mean to rain on your parade, but you appear to be having a 'Selbourne moment' with your dates.🤭

 

Thanks for the update, by the way🙂

 

Yes, it was much later when the penny dropped 😁

[mrsgoggins]

3 hours ago, daiB said:

We were there last night as well, wonderful meal. Best in Sindhu for some time. 

 

I am delighted to hear it 👍. We did once have a favourite Indian restaurant, so we are not averse to Indian food.  Sindhu gets lots of good reviews but only an okay from us.

[mrsgoggins]

4 hours ago, daiB said:

 

 

Sorry @daiB, I don't seem to be able to delete the above 🥴

 

Thursday, 18th continued

 

Lest I give the impression that we are not enjoying ourselves, well, we are!  But another gripe will follow.

 

A daily early morning swim is what DH looks forward to most of all on our cruises. This is the first ship we have been on where pool opening hours have not been published, or displayed by the pool - and it's normally 7 am. This morning he returned at 7.20 am and no one could tell him when it would open. He did manage a swim after breakfast along with a trip to reception to find out what time it should open. If he had a time he'd work with it.

 

I wasn't with him so I'm second hand reporting that the guy on reception looked everywhere for the information, made an unsuccessful phone call and when asking for an appointment with a relevant manager, was told that he would get back to him. Not happened yet, so guess we'll have to be a squeaky wheel. Anyone know the job title of the person responsible?

 

On to the positives.  Today we decided on a late short walk into Curacao as we were only here last year and did a ship's tour of the island. However, we ended up doing a local bus tour after we had asked about the leg room and were invited aboard to take a look. Eventually deciding it was okay, we joined 2 other Ventura passengers and later more came from Carnival Magic, which was docked next to us. The tour was $25 per person and included a couple of stops and a visit to the same Curacao liquor factory as last year.  The guide, fellow passengers and driver were all friendly and it had a jolly feel to it.

 

Sorry @TigerB I can already see that I've failed to insert the spaces I wanted beneath - I tried!

The first photo is the liquor distillery, the second is a sculpture I felt an affinity with, and the third a scene from the colourful street market taken from inside the bus.

 

 

 

[mrsgoggins]

My elderly neighbour, with whom I keep in touch when away, likes to tell me her meals for the day and asks about ours, and so I send her the occasional photo and I'll be sending her the ones below for her approval (she will approve 😄).

 

Tonight's meal doesn't pretend to be fine dining but we both agreed that it was all very tasty indeed - it was liver, onions and bacon followed by apple streusel and custard. Our excellent waiter took it upon himself to bring a side order of ice cream 😋. I'll be resembling today's statue even more by the time we disembark!

 

Edited January 19 by mrsgoggins

[Selbourne]

2 hours ago, TigerB said:

you appear to be having a 'Selbourne moment' with your dates.🤭

How rude. I don’t come here to be insulted. I can stay at home for that 😉 😂 

[Waju]

Excuse me for butting in - would anyone have any idea how much a bog standard inside cabin might have cost on this cruise?  Very rough amount will do as I know it will have gone up and down - just curious 🙂

[mrsgoggins]

2 hours ago, Waju said:

Excuse me for butting in - would anyone have any idea how much a bog standard inside cabin might have cost on this cruise?  Very rough amount will do as I know it will have gone up and down - just curious 🙂

The same/very similar cruise for January 2026 shows prices starting at £2499 per person.  Currently, if you book on board you can get 10% off that price.  As to how much it has gone up; no idea.  We didn’t book early and so could book for around £1K per person less, for the same mid-ship balcony by booking now - 2 years in advance!  Many on this cruise are booking their long cruises for 2026 on board and Future cruises desk is always busy.
 

No excuses necessary for ‘butting in’ by the way 😉.

[grapau27]

14 hours ago, mrsgoggins said:

 

Sorry @daiB, I don't seem to be able to delete the above 🥴

 

Thursday, 18th continued

 

Lest I give the impression that we are not enjoying ourselves, well, we are!  But another gripe will follow.

 

A daily early morning swim is what DH looks forward to most of all on our cruises. This is the first ship we have been on where pool opening hours have not been published, or displayed by the pool - and it's normally 7 am. This morning he returned at 7.20 am and no one could tell him when it would open. He did manage a swim after breakfast along with a trip to reception to find out what time it should open. If he had a time he'd work with it.

 

I wasn't with him so I'm second hand reporting that the guy on reception looked everywhere for the information, made an unsuccessful phone call and when asking for an appointment with a relevant manager, was told that he would get back to him. Not happened yet, so guess we'll have to be a squeaky wheel. Anyone know the job title of the person responsible?

 

On to the positives.  Today we decided on a late short walk into Curacao as we were only here last year and did a ship's tour of the island. However, we ended up doing a local bus tour after we had asked about the leg room and were invited aboard to take a look. Eventually deciding it was okay, we joined 2 other Ventura passengers and later more came from Carnival Magic, which was docked next to us. The tour was $25 per person and included a couple of stops and a visit to the same Curacao liquor factory as last year.  The guide, fellow passengers and driver were all friendly and it had a jolly feel to it.

 

Sorry @TigerB I can already see that I've failed to insert the spaces I wanted beneath - I tried!

The first photo is the liquor distillery, the second is a sculpture I felt an affinity with, and the third a scene from the colourful street market taken from inside the bus.

 

 

 

Great photos and reviews @mrsgoggins.

 

[TigerB]

Posted in error 

Edited January 19 by TigerB

[grapau27]

8 minutes ago, TigerB said:

Lovely.

[mrsgoggins]

11 minutes ago, TigerB said:

You have given me a little glow of happiness! Thank you, I love the photo 😍