P&O Ventura – Our First Impressions Maiden Cruise

[WeLoveCruiseShips]

:) We have just returned from the Maiden Cruise of the new P&O ship Ventura and had a terrific time!

As with all maiden cruises there were a few things that went not so well but more about that later.

Now the first thing I want to say is if you are of the elderly persuasion then after the first 15 minutes of being on board I guarantee that you will say ‘oooh well it’s not like the Oriana / Aurora is it?’ – well my dears no it is most certainly NOT! You should have read up on the blooming ship before booking the Maiden Cruise where you know things will go wrong and all you do is complain that it is not Oriana or Aurora. If I heard it once I heard it a thousand times and how the crew did not send a few of them overboard is beyond me!!! Now that I have that off my chest lets get on with it.

Take Arcadia and make her bigger, add some more public rooms and lots of entertainment and a sprinkling of children and you have a great ship for families and younger couples. If you do not want to hear yourself saying ‘bloody kids’ all of the time then avoid the ship and stick with Oriana. All things aside the cruise went off without too much of a hitch apart from the usual 1st trip in the tenders at Villefranche. The delays had people screaming and shouting at receptionists not very becoming of P&O Passengers and not fair on the crew but they coped extremely well.

You board the ship at deck 5 just by Tazzines Coffee Shop and the lowest point of the 3 deck atrium. The atrium acts as the gateway to the rest of the ship and indeed if you look up you will see that four immense marble ‘gateways’ (stone from India) frame the atrium – a terrific view as you step aboard. Looking up you will see a crowning oval of light reminiscent of the one in Arcadia’s atrium. This changes colour during the day from blue to gold and red. As you would expect most public rooms lead off the atrium. Exchanges – the bar is the only inside smoking venue on the ship. This does have its problems however as every smoker on the ship tries to get a seat in the already cloudy, smoky atmosphere. As a non smoker it quickly became apparent that this was to be a no go area and indeed only had a drink in here on the day of embarkation. This caused problems in the Red Bar which was one deck up on deck 7. The aircon from the atrium sucked the smoke from Exchanges up one deck and smothered guests in the Red Bar. I fear P&O will either have to invest in some ‘super suck’ aircon in Exchanges or ban smoking inside the ship altogether.

You will find on Ventura the biggest photo gallery I have ever seen at sea – there was no congestion even during peak times. I did feel however that the photographers themselves were rather young and inexperienced. Do get your photographer to check for closed eyes, cutlery that appears to be sprouting from your head and even having half of your body chopped off. Our welcome aboard picture was most disappointing.

Deck space is vast with more sun beds than you can shake a stick at on many different decks. Our favourite spot for sail-a-way was deck 15 forward where you can get a terrific ‘Captains Eye’ view over the bow.

And don’t forget Metropolis on deck 18 aft – offering more great views along and behind the ship. Say hi to the best waitress in the west – Girlie and say Mr Coleman and Mr Heald sent you!

I could ramble on for hours but that would spoil the fun of you exploring for yourselves. If you have any questions just let me know.

Ventura is a great ship that will do even more for families that what Oceana has already accomplished.

Darren & Nick

www.welovecruiseships.com

[Guest Daimen]

Thank you so much for your views on the ship!

 

Is that 3D Cinema working yet? :p

[miss mental]

Hi Darren & Nick,

 

Thanks for you review. It's good to read a positive one for a change. I kept thinking I'd made a big mistake booking on Ventura. :)

 

Regards,

 

Heather.

[Elaine0138]

I don't think the die hard P&Oers like change.

 

How was the space in the cabin, did you have plenty of storage. We have a cabin on C deck with the half exposed balcony

[Madkitty]

thanks Darren and Nick - any piccies?

[chirpy007]

Pictures please,menus, entertainment :D what cabin did you have ?

[Paul&Kathy]

Hi Darren and Nick,

 

Are you the Darren who won the party cruise in the quiz ?? If so congratulations !!!

 

Nice to ready your comments. I sent in a member review of the Ventura yesterday so hopefully it will be published online in the next day or two. It was our first time on P&O so we could not compare with Aurora/Oriana but as you say we heard plenty about them !! Other than 2 couples on their first ever cruise we did not meet anyone else who had not done a number of past P&O cruises. We enjoyed the cruise and there was certainly nothing seriously wrong but to be honest I don't think we have been converted (if you were listening to us we were probably saying "it's not like the Golden/Grand Princess...." ).

[feebee_71]

Thank you so much for your views on the ship!

 

Is that 3D Cinema working yet? :p

 

Daimen,

 

The 3D cinema is not even onboard the ship anymore.

 

The equipment would not work and nothing the technical crew did could change the fatal flaw (whatever it was we weren't told, other than that it was defunct from the moment they got it onboard!!) As a result P&O have now removed all reference to a 3D cinema from Ventura literatre - though some press information still has details of it as was noticed in the news reports that came from the ship on the day of the naming ceremony.

 

Sorry if this is not the news you wanted to hear.

 

Feebee_71 :)

[Guest Daimen]

Daimen,

 

The 3D cinema is not even onboard the ship anymore.

 

The equipment would not work and nothing the technical crew did could change the fatal flaw (whatever it was we weren't told, other than that it was defunct from the moment they got it onboard!!) As a result P&O have now removed all reference to a 3D cinema from Ventura literatre - though some press information still has details of it as was noticed in the news reports that came from the ship on the day of the naming ceremony.

 

Sorry if this is not the news you wanted to hear.

 

Feebee_71 :)

 

Oh no! That's a real shame - I'd imagine that one to be a good addition for the kids (and adults alike). The reason I asked again, I've seen press reports on the web, tv, print etc recently still mentioned it.

 

Thanks for clearing it up .;)

[WeLoveCruiseShips]

Hi Darren and Nick,

 

Are you the Darren who won the party cruise in the quiz ?? If so congratulations !!!

 

Nice to ready your comments. I sent in a member review of the Ventura yesterday so hopefully it will be published online in the next day or two. It was our first time on P&O so we could not compare with Aurora/Oriana but as you say we heard plenty about them !! Other than 2 couples on their first ever cruise we did not meet anyone else who had not done a number of past P&O cruises. We enjoyed the cruise and there was certainly nothing seriously wrong but to be honest I don't think we have been converted (if you were listening to us we were probably saying "it's not like the Golden/Grand Princess...." ).

 

Sorry we did not get to meet you and yes I did win the cruise! I can't wait to get back on board when there aren't so many P&O die hards on board!

 

I think perhaps a Maiden Cruise on P&O for your first time out was the best choice. Please give Arcadia a try and you will see a whole different side to P&O. We have sailed on her twice. Have a look at her on the website. www.welovecruiseships.com and see for yourself - and it's child free!

 

WLCS

[Paul&Kathy]

Child free sounds good to me - although I must say we have never been troubled by kids on a ship we never cruise in school holidays. We may give P&O another try in the future and will look out for Arcadia.

 

Hope you enjoy your party cruise. I nearly came and said hello after you won but I was not sure you were the same Darren as ahd bee nposting on here and I did not want to look like an idiot !

[BandBlady]

Hi

Sorry we didn.t meet up .We had a wonderfull time but do agree with you r comments .These people don,t do carribean cruises so it was a new experience for us too.

We have known Girlie for a long time so anybody going on Ventura please say hello from The Campbells.

She has a little boy now and is very homesick.Luckily her husband works on the ship

 

Happy cruising to you all

Kay:)

[sasmisjas]

Hi All, did get to meet Paul and Kathy but no one else. Had a fabulous cruise with no complaints whatsover. I could chat on about the positives forever but I would bore you to tears.:rolleyes: I enjoy cruising with Princess but also love P&O for different reasons. It is a bit annoying when passengers constantly compare one ship with another. It's probably already been said but everyone has enough info prior to booking re number of passengers/size of ship etc to make some kind of informed choice. Anyone looking for perfection should probably avoid maiden voyages as it ain't going to happen. To all those who were on this trip and have something good to say it would have been nice to have met you all. Yvonne and Gary

[Lilliebeth]

Hi

It was wondeful not to hear constant complaints about Ventura. I keep reading the reviews as i am sailing in July, and quite worried to hear the service is appauling! Can you give me your oppinion?

 

I agree they have a right to complain and i hope they have done so to P&O, I have cruised previously and always found the staff excellent.

 

Lillibeth

[MeandHim2]

Hi

It was wondeful not to hear constant complaints about Ventura. I keep reading the reviews as i am sailing in July, and quite worried to hear the service is appauling! Can you give me your oppinion?

 

I agree they have a right to complain and i hope they have done so to P&O, I have cruised previously and always found the staff excellent.

 

Lillibeth

 

Lillibeth

 

I wouldnt worry too much about all the complaints. I'm not well clued up on cruises but there is on common theme that is coming out in all the websites. All ships & companines have detractors. But there are also the "Cruise Bore's."

 

My feeling on this, and again it's just an opinion, is that the Bores are mumping on not because they are having a bad time but more becuse they like to name drop and covertly show off. Perhaps they think some folks might think... wwwwoooooowwww Isn't he / she wonderful they are so experienced in cruising... I'm sure you remember the types from the playground. :eek:

 

The review that Darren and Nick have done was excellent and the pictures were a good touch. So I'd pay more attention to their review... as it seems balanced and not dotted with opinions and condescending remarks... All in I liked it... And I don't want the Bores putting me off...

 

Steve.:)

[daiB]

Hi

It was wondeful not to hear constant complaints about Ventura. I keep reading the reviews as i am sailing in July, and quite worried to hear the service is appauling! Can you give me your oppinion?

 

I agree they have a right to complain and i hope they have done so to P&O, I have cruised previously and always found the staff excellent.

 

Lillibeth

 

Lillibeth, I would not worry about the service on Ventura. Any problems they had on the maiden will have been resolved long before your cruise.

 

Keep reading the reports but I would concentrate on those by newish cruisers. You will find in general that the negitive comments come from more experienced cruisers.

 

 

 

:):)Happy Cruising:):)

 

 

 

:cool:

 

 

Dai

[ps646566]

Perhaps that's because the more experienced cruisers are able to discern what's right and what's not better than people who have little or nothing to compare with.