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Champagne Sailaway on Ventura

CASPALL

By CASPALL,
in P&O Cruises ( UK )

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Gerrym

Gerrym

Posted
Posted
Where's the best place to be for the sailaway from Southampton on Ventura please?

Do P&O still have house fizz on offer for the main sailaway?

 

 

Caryl

 

 

Caryl, in my experience the best place to be for the sailaway is on the ship.

 

 

Hope that helps.

 

Gerry

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tom_uk

tom_uk

Posted
Posted

On Oriana just over a couple of weeks ago we were drinking house fizz at £2.95 a glass during the afternoon. Can't remember if it was during the sailaway or not; it could have been a bit earlier.

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humpy

humpy

Posted
Posted

hi caspall.we found the best place to be for the sailaway from southampton was on the promonade,port side ,about midships this was nearest the band.but if i were you i would get there very early as the prom deck isnt veyr wide and it gets very crowded very early.and there was champagne ot tap at £2.95 per glass.hope this helps happy sailing.humpy

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StLucia

StLucia

Posted
Posted
hi caspall.we found the best place to be for the sailaway from southampton was on the promonade,port side ,about midships this was nearest the band.but if i were you i would get there very early as the prom deck isnt veyr wide and it gets very crowded very early.and there was champagne ot tap at £2.95 per glass.hope this helps happy sailing.humpy

That's brilliant, our cabin is midships on the port side. We shall be on our balcony enjoying the atmosphere and our bottle of bubbly. We love sailaways.

 

Do they have the drill before or after the sailaway?

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humpy

humpy

Posted
Posted

hi stlucia.The lifeboat drill is before the sailaway party and therefore it is difficult to get to the prom deck before it gets full, but if you have a balcony cabin yu should be fine. happy sailing...humpy.

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K8T

K8T

Posted
Posted

Hi there

 

Speaking from experience last week!

 

The sailaway was after the drill. This is inside the ship, your location will be on the back of your cabin door, with directions. Ours was in East, it wasn't long, but enough to start getting bored and there weren't a lot of seats. P&O missed a good marketing opportunity here, not a menu on any of the tables, or little nibbles. They could have done a taste of things to come. East was never busy the whole cruise! - but I digress.

 

You need to be on the port side to see the band, but you also need to be midships. We were on the Prom deck and it wasn't great, as lots of people and equipment in the way. If you are in your cabin, you can't hear the band! I would suggest up on Deck 16, there is a convenient bar here too, but you may need a jacket. It is also easy to walk over to the other side and to the front of the ship, the journey out of Southampton is an excellent one.

 

Unforuntatley the days of free champers are long gone, and they are a couple of pounds, they didn't hand out any streamers either, which always makes it a bit special, but they did give out GB flags!!!

 

You will have a lovely time!

 

Kate

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LibraLass41

LibraLass41

Posted
Posted

The drill is always before sailaway (maritime law?) Agree Champagne is sold at £2.95 a glass. Prom deck was very busy on our cruise too, we went there because supposed to meet friends, but didn't find them as it was so packed. Cruise before we went up to the higher sundeck which was much better AND champagne tables were there too.

 

Sue

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The Monocled Mutineer

The Monocled Mutineer

Posted
Posted

Remember, with 3,500 passengers on board, with presumably most of the starboard balcony passengers* "slumming-it" with the "great unwashed" from the standard outside and inside cabins AND the very narrow Promenade deck, it gets very crowded.

 

*NB: Portside balcony passengers need to be aware that very occasionally, for operational reasons, the P&O ships tie-up to the quayside with the bow facing upstream.

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LibraLass41

LibraLass41

Posted
Posted

Derek,

I bet it does! Such a shame the prom deck is so narrow, and on such a big passenger ship!

Would you cruise on Ventura again?

 

I am looking forward to seeing Ventura on my weekender in September, but doubt I will choose this large family orientataed ship for a longer cruise.

 

Have a Independence ship visit arranged next month as well, so it will be interesting to see a even larger ship then as well.

 

Sue

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The Monocled Mutineer

The Monocled Mutineer

Posted
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Libralass:

 

Yes I would sail on her again (right price, right time of year, right itinerary).

 

Avoid the school holidays though. I'm comfortable with a "controlled" number of kids on board a P&O ship, given the superlative facilities and youth crew laid on, but I've experienced a 17.5%* complement of youngsters on board (viz Oceana 7n 07/2006 - 350/2000) and, depending on the sort of parents the kids are stuck with, the youngsters can dominate some areas of the ship, and not always at a time when you would expect them to.

 

"Controlled" numbers of kids on board does engender a wider age range of adults. I am, though, of the view that, except for nappy wearers and the children of our gallant armed forces serving in Iraq/Afghanistan, that during term time P&O should not offer discounts for all other children but instead lower the single room supplement for adults.

 

Child discounts should only be offered during the school holidays, and for Scots/NI children during the whole of July (I understand they break-up earlier?)

 

 

* For Ventura read > 600/3500

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tom_uk

tom_uk

Posted
Posted
Ours was in East, it wasn't long, but enough to start getting bored and there weren't a lot of seats. P&O missed a good marketing opportunity here, not a menu on any of the tables, or little nibbles. They could have done a taste of things to come.

 

I'm pretty certain that on each of the ships I've been on (5 different ships, 5 different lines), it's ben like that. So I think it must be policy, and may even be the law, that bars & restaurants should be closed during the muster drill. In the book "$elling the $ea" by Bob Dickinson & Andy Vladimir, they mention in a chapter about on-board revenue that "the only time there are no bars open that first day is between 4pm and 4:30pm, when everyone is required to attend a lifeboat drill".

 

(Incidentally, that's a very interesting book, albeit with a very US slant. It's about the business of cruising - not the experience, nor the ships - but the underlying business. Bob Dickinson was CEO of Carnival Cruise Line, so whatever you think of Carnival, you have to agree that he probably knows this business better than anyone.)

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