this was our first time on ventura and the fourth with p&o.We took the freedom dining option and although a little apprehensive no worries.The only main difference is that you eat with someone different each night.The food is the same and if you do not like the menu there is always an alternative dish to that on the menu.Service excellent,we had a balcony cabin on deck A and deck A and B balconies overlook the balconies of C and D.This I suppose can be alittle intrusive to some people especially if you have breakfast on your balcony.Breakfast continental style can be ordered through the TV screen in your cabin which doubles as a bit of a computer as your personal statement is also on there.The cabins are clean and big enough and the beds are really comfortable.Other dining areas were,Waterside a nightmare at lunchtime we did not eat in there at night,the Beach house has just changed at night to the new york diner where you can eat steaks burgers and ribs,Ramblas which is spanish style food and very poor portions and not worth the £2.50 surcharge,The white room where we had excellent food although some people were not satisfied but we understand they have two menus.We did not use east.The entertainment was mediocre and the best of the lot was Bucks Fizz who were on for two nights.The ships dance troupe performed saturday night fever which was extremely poor.Our son was married on the ship whilst at sea in the caribbean and the ceremony was short and intimate and well organised.Overall it is a new family ship although we did not see many children and we only saw Noddy once.The ship may be too big for some people as it is not as intimate as oceana,the food is good and well presented,entertainment is only fair,the trips are mostly the same at each island but if you are a first timer in the caribbean you will probably enjoy them

This was Caribbean Cruise 6 to 20 December from Barbados. The Itinerary did not appear very exciting - one change was made after we booked - but we felt we were going to be on a luxury liner, and pampered and entertained for two weeks. This did not prove to be the case.

Cleanliness - in the cabin there was one set of toiletries for two people for two weeks. The towels were changed daily but the bed linen was only changed about four times in the whole cruise. The shower cabin was very small and the shower head was not detachable so it was only really possible to clean head and shoulders - the rest of the body being inaccessible.

In the late eventing the Gents and Ladies toilets had paper bins full and overflowing onto the washbasin areas and floors.

When visited the late night snack restaurant all the tables were full of trays with leftover food, used crockery and cutlery on them.

The food was acceptable but not outstanding. In the late night snack restaurant there was very little choice of food and most of it obviously leftovers. On two nights there was no hot water to make tea or chocolate drinks.

We were on freestyle dining. On four occasions we were used with a buzzer and had to await being called.
At times we were seated at an empty table and had to wait up to 15 minutes before the table was filled and orders taken. By Sunday night the flowers on the tables were dead. I mentioned this to a waiter and by the next night they were gone but no replacements ever appeared. Whilst dining waiters were rushing around adjoining tables setting them up again for the next nights dining, not that nights dining.
We discovered in due course that £22.40 had been added to each of our accounts. We did have this removed.

The entertainment overall was of poor standard. The comedians were recycling the same jokes. The theatre shows by the ship's own cast appeared amateurish. One night the only entertainment in the theatre was a film.

We did several times complain to crew members referred us by the Reception Desk about our concerns but this seemed to have little effect.

We have visited many countries and used many types of accommodation. We have also been on many cruises including two previously in the Caribbean, once on Norwegian Sun and once on Ocean Village.

If we visit a hotel in a city in UK or Europe and do not feel the standards are adequate it is possible to leave and seek other accommodation but this option was not feasible on a cruise in the Caribbean.

BRIAN AND HAZEL DEWHIRST, SHEFFIELD

Ifound the rooms very clean but the ship cleanlinesss very poor,the food was very good but not 5*,the waiters, waitresses and dining room staff excellent but let down badley by incompetant administration staff, the reception staff, ( assistant & manager ) were a disgrace to the name of P & O.
The entertainment was shocking.
We were booked in for club dining but on arrival to the ship this was changed to freedom dining.(unhappy)
The ship could not get into 3 ports due to high winds!
in my opinion the ship was not suitable for the cruise we booked, much to big. Anyone who goes on this ship needs to take a fully stocked 1st aid kit.
We are booked on this ship for our 25th anniversary in September for 17 days, Never Again!

Ok well this would have been my second cruise on Ventura, the first being in May 08. To start off with the check in procedure was fantastic, we flew from East Midlands on the 20th Dec 08 at 9.00 in the morning. The plane left on time and after 8 hours we touched down in Bridgetown, Barbados. As predicted the heat hit us as soon as the opened the plane doors. We waited on the runway for 15mins for a coach which took us straight the ship. It was good to know that we wouldnt have to mess aorund waiting for our luggage and that it would all be delivered to the ship.

After boarding Ventura, we were advised during dinner that we wouldnt be leaving on time as one of the flights back to the UK had been delayed and for the comfort of P & O's former passengers, the captain had decided they could stay on board and be transfered to the airport later when there plane had landed. This meaning we didnt leave barbados until 12, which no one had a problem with as our next day was at sea anyway.

First port of call was Antigua. every thing fine there! Managed to port!!! Always a good thing. The dissapointing thing was we were unable to port on 3 island-cruises-summer-holidays/">islands, these being Grand turk, St Kitts & Tortola. Now seeing as we had paid to dock in 10 ports not 7 we dont feel we got our monies worth and if we wanted so many days at sea we could of done the atlantic crossing for half the price!!! I didnt have to be up early when we were mean to be in Grand Turk i was looking forward to a lie in and didnt appriciated being woken up at 8 with an in cabin announcement off the captain stating due to high winds and bad sea conditions we were unable to dock. Never the less at least he let us know i guess. Ok so that would be our second sea day. Still quite a bit of entertainment to do so wasnt bored yet. Then the same thing happened again this time it was Tortola. With the same reason??? People started to ask questions after hearing that the ocean village ship had been taken to St vincent instead when it couldnt get into Tortola and the passengers on Ventura wondered why we couldnt. 2nd announcement from the captain that day at 11 stating he had been in contact with his office in southampton and there was no spare spaces in other ports so we had to remain at sea :( oh well still only up to like 4 sea days!! Not to bad but it was starting to take a turn with the passengers! People were demanding to see the captain!!! A few days later it happened again . . . . this time St kitts!!! Now my mother was up recording our arrival here and the sea was like a 'Mill pond' we were yards away from lining up against the walk and the ship just turned round and exited the port???? Again we were woken up to be told we were unable to dock. This time no reason was given????

After befriending the crew on board, we found out apparently there is a design fault with Ventura, this being the fact she is too high and there is no through passage for the wind to go. Meaning she is unable to dock in open ports if there is any chance of high winds!!! Even if the seas are calm the captain wouldnt risk it!!! Maybe this could be addressed when building the new ship?? Also passengers were outraged to find when we couldnt dock in st kitts( i think, dont quote me) one of the ships had managed to port but Ventura had spent another day at sea!!! Getting on very well with the crew meant we also found out that the captain Keith Dowd (i think was his name) hadnt sailed the ship over from Southampton himself, apparently it was his commadore??? Now you start to question why he was put in charge, hes unable to transfer the ship from Southampton to Barbaods, and now hes unable to port while hes there?!?!?!?! No wonder he was unseen for the duration of the cruise!!! It was slightly embarrasing when people from other ships (Aurora, Navigator of the Seas, Grandeur of the Seas) were asking if we were on the ship that NEVER docks!!!! Very demeaning!!!!
on one of the evenings there was an announcement by the captain (the one we never saw all cruise) saying there had been an emergency and the passenger involved needed hospital treatment urgently and due to this we were going to try and dock in Martinique and guess what we were able to, 3 ports missed and 2 ports in one day :) how very kind of P & O!!!

Now all the major bad points out the way, we did a trip in st lucia, FANTASTIC. We did the ATV beach tour. Which was a quad bike ride round a couple of beaches. I wouldnt recommend taking new trainers mind!!! They got very dirty!!! The ATV's were easy to get to grips with, meaning after you got used to the accelerator, the speed you got was amazing!!! Some of the sights they took you to were well worth a picture! Also the private beach was beautiful and for £62 well worth it, even if slightly over priced!! We orignially were booked on the ATV tour in St Maarten but recieved a letter 4 days before stating the picture in the brouchure was off putting and that it wasnt off road it was main roads!!! Also recommended you had driven one before and were experienced and competent??? We changed after receiving the letter as none of us had been on an ATV before.

The other tour which we did was in Dominica. This was done outside of P & O. We got a taxi outside of the port, an official P & O approved taxi might i add. Who took us to do the river tubing. It worked out at $55 per person for a tour of the gardens (cant remember the name) the trafalgar Falls and rain forest and the river tubing. My little brother and cousin were free. Would highly recommend the river tubing!!! Well worth it!! It lasted about 40 mins on the river and the staff that took us there were fantastic, very friendly and we even got some complimentary punch!!! YUMI!!

The food on the whole was good, nothing bad to say about it! People would complain that the salad and some of the hot things were the same but there was always so much choice! Why change it???

The service in the main restuarant was amazing our waiter 'Madhu' was awesome!!! Couldnt have asked for a better waiter! Extra pudding, chips with every meals for my little brother and cousins seeing as there not keen on potatoes. Very much appriciated!

Cabin stewart, Angelo was very good, spes having to clear away all the bottles and cans every night from our room!! Not very good at restocking the biscuits of filter coffee, we only had the one packet all holiday :(

Havana . . . where do i start well to start with this was the only place to go that you could class as a 'nightclub' theres two entrances this being a problem to start off with!!! Theres no one on the door. The one night we were in there and a group of children from the kids club were seen in there at 4 in the morning, drinking???? The kids club runs up until 17 year olds!!! PROBLEM that P & O need to address!!! The amount of under age drinking that was taking place was shocking!!! Havana should be over 18's after a certain time!!!! Some one needs to be there to make sure this happens!!! Also after arriving back in Southampton in April havana is being refitted, the steps are being taken out and a whole new design being fitted!!! WOOOO about time!!

Now seeing as im 20 and the group of people i was with are all over 18, having so many sea days was a bit of a bummer! with there only being the pool as an activity, which were over run with children. there being 450 on this cruise!! Which took us by suprise as we were expecting alot more seeing as it was christmas holidays!!! ahh well! We were able to cope with it!!!! after realising some of the youth staff were on from previous cruises (when we were young enough to attend) we decied to pay them a visit! and after that we became 'Extra Teens' spending our days chatting with the youth crew!!!

New years eve . . . . BIG fight in havana at about 5 AM an annoucement went out over the public areas, parently some guys had got into a fight and one of them had been glassed! As expected P & O's night crew didnt know how to handle the situation and it ended up with a passenger steping in to break it up!! The young guys involved were then locked up for the night and deported off the ship the next morning! This also counted for the arguement that happened a few nights before involving a man & wife, the man was thrown off and expected to make his own way home!!! This is the problem you get when you open up the market to a wider range of people . . . . some of them have no respect. Now i wouldnt class myself as a snob, stuck up or anything like that! but when your sunbathing, clubbing, eating next to a buch of 'skutters' ( the only word i could use to explain them) who have got the latest bargin your bound to come across problems!!! NO RESPECT for anything!!!! P & O need to rethink their market, if not their prices!!!

Catalina Island was amazing they take supplies off the ship on an island where no body lives ( people just work there) and set up a big BBQ for the passengers!!! The organisation and time that must have took was outstanding!!! Every thing ran smoothly!!!

One of the things i noticed was the HANDGEL!!! Now this is a problem all over the ship this is in place to stop the spread of the NURO VIRUS. There is a reason why its meant to be used!!! The reason people gave when i questioned them was 1)that they werent getting food they were just going to have a look at what was available 2) they had already done it once, they were now going up for pudding 3) there was no one on the doors handing it to them!!! I mean come on . . . . . theres signs, we even received a letter in our welcome package telling us about the importance of using it . . . .

One thing that did bug me was the fact our flight home was delayed first by an hour so instead of boarding our thomspon fly plane back at 4 we were told it was delayed until 5 and we could board then. So at 5.05 we boarded our plane and were told it was being refuelled still so would have to wait til they had finished!!! And hour later, were still sat there and the pilot makes an announcement the signal man over trinidad was letting the planes fly out one at a time with an interval of 20mins between each take off and we were 8th a line of planes waiting to depart bridgetown for the UK!!! Then told there was no other way around and we would have to wait!!! after another 20 os so minutes the inflight entertainment systems were turned on (this is when we figured we were gonna be here a while!!!!) seeing as no of us had eaten since before we had left the ship (11.45) and it was now pushing 7 we were VERY hungry but due to H & S regulations they were unable to bring out the food trolleys! So we had some watered down orange juice instead!!! Finally at 8.10 FOUR HOURS after we were due to fly we took off!!! And the after 7 hours (due to tail wind) we landed in East midlands!

We are booked back on in May 09 were off to the Fjords and i am really looking forward to it!

okay well i think ive gone on for long enough!!! i would like to know if the people on the next cruise after ours are able to dock in all the ports of call listed, would appriciate it if you could let me know!!! many thanks :)

As this was a xmas and new year cruise, you would expect P@O to have made a real effort but that was not the case.
In a nutshell Ventura does not measure up to any of the advertisement hype.
The restaurant food is average ,freedom dining works well and the waiting staff were good.
We think the idea of this is to encourage passengers to increase their on board spend and dine in Ramblers or the White Room which we did and thoroughly enjoyed despite the extra cost.
Waterside buffet dining exsperience at night was excellent the atmostphere is transformed by lighting and table linen but was spoilt by the hordes of childeren running loose on the deck above.
Bars are many, to suit all tastes and they sell premium beers such as Stella at a reasonable cost but ruin them by the serving them extremely cold thus killing the taste and rendering them flat. Upon making a suggestion to improve the matter my comments were not even considered.
Dress codes are adhered too but some passengers appeared to enjoy bucking the system mainly in the public rooms.
Entertainment was very poor with faded, unheard of performers from years gone by, their only talent appeared to be refering back to whom they either new or had worked in the past (most of whom incidently, were dead and buried)!
Sailaway parties are usually ok but as the ship missed 30% of its destinations due to high winds these were a none event.
Disappointed passengers were everywhere and their complaints were dealt with by very young officers who dutifully made notes trying to calm down the atmostphere.
Basically this ship is a new concept - a holiday camp on water.
If you want a sunbed or swim in the pool book a beach holiday instead.

WE GOT MARRIED IN ST LUCIA WHILE ON THE CHRISTMAS CRUISE WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS WE HAVE TRAVELLED WITH ROYAL CARIBBEAN 8 TIMES BEFORE FIRSTLY WE PAYED 2,500 FOR EACH CHILD AND TOLD WOULD BE MINDED NO THIS WAS NOT THE CASE.SO AFTER LONG FLIGHT WE WERE REALLY TIRED WE FELL A SLEEP CABINS HAD NO LOCKS ON DOORS TO STOP CHILDREN GETTING OUT ONLY TO STOP PEOPLE ENTERING WE THEN COULD NOT FIND CHILDREN AGED 3 AND 18MONTHS WHO HAD GONE LOOKING FOR NAN FINALLY SECURITY LOCATED 4AM IN MORNING IN A DIFFERENT PART OF SHIP WE THEN ASKED FOR SOMETHING TO BE DONE FOR WE NOW COULD NOT SLEEP THEY HAD MEETING AND SAID COULD NOT DO NOTHING I THEN ASKED FOR SAFETY GATE WE WERE TOLD FIRE HAZARD SUBSEQUENTLY CHILDREN WHEN WALK ABOUT AGAIN VERY SCARY WE ALSO MISSED THREE PORTS NOTHING FOR BABIES ON WHERE FOR THEM TO RUN ABOUT POOL WAS 6 FEET DEEP, UP FLIGHT OF STEEPS WITH PRAM 2 KIDS FOOD WAS VERY REPETITIVE EVERY RESTAURANT WAS THE SAME YOUNG GANGS OF YOUTHS SHOUTING P AND O VERY BAD FIGHT MUCH TO SAY IT WAS NO MORE THAN A BOOZE CRUISE. WHEN REPORTING IT TO THE RECEPTION DESK ASKED FOR SUPERVISOR JONATHON CAME AND TOOK US ONE SIDE OF THE RECEPTION SO NOBODY COULD HEAR THE COMPLAINTS WE WERE MAKING HE PULLED OUT HIS LITTLE BLUE BOOK TOOK SOME NOTE AND SAID HE WILL GET BACK TO US THIS GUY DID NOT EVEN BOTHER TO ASK OUR NAME AND CABIN NUMBER.

I have been on three cruises now, Oceana in november 2006, Ocean village in january 2008 and the christmas 2008 cruise on Ventura.

Like almost every reviewer I dont have anything negative to say about Oceana. Ocean Village was old and noisy with average food but i think that was probably what we expected.

This review is about Ventura so to get to the point.

We arrived at the airport in plenty of time and had a breakfast once we had checked in. unfortunately our flight was delayed by one and a half hours but that soon passes.

The thompson flight was pleasent enough with suprisingly good leg room, at six foot two this is always a worry especially on long haul.
Nice food too.

We arrived at Barbados and as with previous transfers from airport to ship it went without any real hassle.
Check-in at the port was very efficient.

Ventura sailed some time around midnight by which time we were tucked up in bed.

The first day was at sea so we tried to get our bearings around the ship and get started on the tan, this is when you start to see just how vast the ship is and how many people it has on it.
Evening came and the first formal night and the captains party, at least I think It was the captains party as he dissapeared after his five minute speach, never saw him again throughout the holiday,but then again why should I.

The food started off well in all the restaurants and except for the choice of desserts in all of them, it stayed that way.

First port of call was Antigua having been there before we knew what it was like so we booked an excursion that we hadn't done before.
Kayak and snorkel turned out to be a little dissapointing as it all seemed a bit rushed and poorly managed possibly as the group was too large(30ish).

Back on board for another sea day on route to Grand turk.
The wind was getting up a bit now so something of a struggle at times on the upper decks, far too much debris blowing around the ship and sun beds packed in far too close to each other.

Not been to Grand Turk so it came as a big dissapoinment when the captain anounced that we couldn't make the call due to the high winds, now keep count of these missed islands because they start to add up a bit and bear in mind we were meant to visit Cayo Levantado but this call was taken off the itnarary before we left!

So an extra day at sea(christmas eve) but we are on this big new ship so all should be fine,well how wrong could we be!

Now i am not adverse to a few christmas songs but when they play them on a loop all over the ship all day and night it starts to grate a bit.
On Oceana the poolside entertainment was excellent with displays almost every day e.g. ice sculptures,coctail making and flower arranging to name just a few but on Ventura they did none of this.
Most days there would be a limp effort at presenting a quiz, never much commitment in this from the staff.

Christmas day was also at sea with rain to start and christmas songs on a loop AGAIN, these went on till around 12noon in the afternoon, my wife asked one of the entertainment staff if he could put some music on to which he replied in the affirmative, HE would so he PUT THE CHRISTMAS SONGS ON LOUDER! That was it plus another quiz. We travelled without children, but the best entertainment around the Laguna pool was christmas afternoon with DJ Kev and the kids singing and dancing the the kids team.

Evening came and the food was very nice for the formal night, the waiters were very good and tried really hard to keep up with the task of serving over 500 people in the freedom dining cinammon restaraunt,nice company and chat.

Next call will be at Catalina island in place off Cayo Levantado.
Sea was still choppy but the ship managed to tie off on the bouy and we were tendered to the island.
The ship broke loose from the mooring when a rope snapped and it started to drift. Once brought under control tendering continued and we all had a pleasent day although it did rain a fair bit.
Heading back to the ship we got on a tender but the wind picked up and we had to wait 45 minutes before we could go back to the ship.

Next stop Tortola, or it should have been but the captain came on the pa system to say that the winds were too strong again to make the call, a patern developing we think.
Never mind we can look forward to some pool side entertainment, not a bit off it! 2pm another quiz and thats it.
Have to make the best of it, after all we are on holiday but then some people have the ability to make things even worse.
I had been on a sun bed from 8.30 that morning leaving only to use the gents or to go to the bar, my wife lay next to me all day, my brother and his wife did very much the same until mid afternoon when he needed to apply some ear drops to a very sore ear.
he had been gone about 10 minutes when a family came over asking for his sun bed, when we refused they began moaning none stop for about 20 minutes saying we should be ashamed of ourselves for saving sun beds, at this point other people got annoyed at his attitude and he was eventually told to be quiet before the situation got out of hand.
I must say that I understand his frustration as there really wasn't enough beds for the amount of people on board and you had to be up early to get one.

Next stop St Kitts, yeah we wish! The wind was too strong again to make the call and the captain made his announcement accordingly so another day at sea and a dash to St Lucia to make the birth for early evening.

From there on the ports were all made, thankfully and apart from St Vincent were you really need to book an excursion they were all very enjoyable.
St Maarten was probably the highlight of the trip, we visited the local beach then went to Maho beach(look it up on google video)great fun!

Overall the ship seems to be poorly built lots of snags in the public areas and some really obvious design floors, you wonder what they must have been thinking(do full size mock ups).
partitions in the Havana bar way too high and I hurt my back when i tripped on a light strip running through the carpet were it was sticking up.
The atrium is too small for a ship this size and has no wow factor.
We stayed in an inside stateroom and found this met our expectations although the shower was small.

The day time entertainment was shockingly bad,the staff seem quite lazy unless they are doing a sail away, in which they pulled out all the stops to impress the other ships in port, shame they did not have this enthusiasm for us.

New Years day morning none of the entertainment team were to be found, it was a port day in St Vincent, quite a few passengers stayed on the boat, with no music until about 2pm, some of us were on the pool area by 8.30am.
Evening entertainment was just ok most of the time, Paul Baker and Jane Curry stood head and shoulders above everyone, there was also a couple of good comediens, Sludge should have gone overboard.

The winds we suffered in the first week were un- seasonal according to the captain but having looked in to this since coming home I have found that they are quite common and are called the christmas winds.

The cruise was quite rowdy including people being taken off the ship for fighting.
Lots of under age drinking going on and youths trying to start a fire in one of the bars.
P&O should seriously consider beefing up security on future cruises that include christmas and new year and as they are marketing this ship to a younger audience then maybe the security should be permenant.

P&O should reconsider some of the ports to be visited by this ship as even in moderate seas it rolls about a lot.

PULL YOUR FINGER OUT P&O OR YOU WILL LOOSE LOYAL COSTOMERS.
Starting with my family as we had already booked our next cruise on Ventura for the end of May 2009, we will be considering changing to another ship or beach holiday.

my friends and i booked the best christmas ever, so we thought, oh no, it was the worst cruise i have ever had, and i have been on at least 12 cruises in the past 7yrs. I have wrote a letter to p+o personaly they have not taken me to the places i paid for other ships like the destiny were able to go into the ports with high wind so why not us, were we to big? if so why were these destinations in the holiday we planned? from start to finish it was the holiday from hell,it took 4hrs for our luggage to be put outside our cabin doors we were unable to change our cloths for our first evening meal on board ventura and then it was all wet.i have read the reviews from other people and what can i say every word that has been wrote is true,my husband and myself will never board that ship again. guess what? a storm in bridgetown left my luggage wet yet again,i wonder what weight my suitcases were then?so i wait with patience to hear from p+o and what they have to offer.if they did not pay a fee to birth at three planned places. do we get something back to? lots of questions need to be answered by p+o.also try sorting out the airconditioning my friends and i are still suffering from a cough and dry throat. well i am now looking forward to my next cruise in may, and its the good old celebration,

This Christmas cruise on Ventura (N822) was probably the most disapointing cruise/holiday I have ever been on - and I'll never go back on Ventura with this captain or with the current ship's policies in place.
After 6 years of P&O cruising I found this ship substandard in almost every respect.

The food was very variable, being excellent in the Beach house in the evening and the same food dried out and rubbery in the Baytree restaurant the next day. Our waiter told us they have a long way to bring the food to the Baytree restaurant) Breakfast and lunch at the Waterside was very ordinary except that it appears they ran out of simple things like grapefruit and bananas about half way round. Really nothing special - unlike other P&O ships - but not a real big turnoff either. I believe some this is that P&O are trying to force the freedom dining on us all.

The self service areas at the Waterside and Beach House were extremely scruffy and the tatty carpets were months beyond their replacement time. (and only 8 months old!) Not just poor quality but also the bad ship design. The corridors to the cabins were scruffy and dirty and always full of overladen trollys and dirty linen bags. The whole place just looked shabby. Returning to the cabin at night I would always come across a pint glass in the lift or food on the stairs.
For a ship just 8 months old it has worn like 8 years.


The boat itself does not handle the weather well and with any wind or swell at all there were loud thumps and a lot of wallowing. I was very disappointed that we did not get into 3 ports (Grand turk, Tortola and St Kitts) but when the captain did finally tie up the stern after dropping the anchor at Catalina I was surprised that all 4 stern ropes broke. (absence of simple seamanship to me) This was the first time I have heard an emergency call on any P&O ship. And by the way the first time I have missed ANY ports of call in 6 years. So obviously this brand new boat is not up to the P&O cruising standard - it does not sail at all well and you are likely to miss lots of ports. The boast that this is the first 'big boat designed for the british public' is going to work against P&O as its got a lot of useless glitz (Nick Munro teasets in the cabins) and lots of large bar areas that will appeal to the the sort of folks who inhabit the UK city centres on a Saturday night. (ie drunk, rowdy, noisy, bad language inconsiderate and open fighting). In fact it its got lots of cheap bits too like plastic wood decking - which just about sums up the concept. This should be a turnoff to prospective cruisers...

The captain was not the only crew member never to be seen, we hardly ever saw any crew member walking around. Certainly no one in the evening. (Actually we did see the captain once at the gala party). The youth crew however were brilliant - but with everything else going on on this boat, bad language, open drunkenness and fights, I would not take children. So much for P&Os ship design to appeal to families !


P&Os reduction of dress code to just 4 nights of formal wear meant that we were sitting in the restaurant in dinner suites watching a procession of folks in t shirts drinking beer walk through on New Years eve. As soon as you leave the restaurant after 2nd sitting you see less and less folks in the dress code - some incredibly scruffy at the exchange and Casino areas. P&O should drop the formal wear dress code if they are going to drop the informal wear dress nights as it really does not make sense. I would have been far happier in a suit and tie than in a dinner suit you use for special occasions. The number of scruffy folks standing around drinking in the public areas soon took the edge off any sense of a special occasion. Seems the P&O crew on Ventura just did not know how to control crowds or rowdy behaviour. That was new to me and a big turnoff for everyone in my group. But then if they drop the dress code why use P&O at all and not go to Ocean village ?.

Then P&O boast how big this ship is, but there are never enough sunbeds to go round and the areas where there are beds are extremely crowded beyond any reasonable desire to get any sun. Getting round the ship is difficult due to the sheer number of beds around so they cannot add any more. Probably the worst aspect of the ship is there are no quiet areas or nooks and crannies like on other P&O ships - all the areas are large and noisy in the evening as one area merges into another. Big as this boat may be its not big enough for the 3000 odd passengers that it's cabins can accommodate as it seems congested and crowded everywhere.

My grandsons told me of domestic fights in their corridor, brawling in one of the bars and people being very drunk and getting hurt. They have also have been cruising before and it was a new experience to them also. I heard some bad language but saw no fights. P&O have got to get control of this now and issue a statement to give future travellers more confidence.
Or maybe this is the 'British public ' P&O are targetting ?

A couple of good points, they had a very well equipped kids zone and good youth crew. (My grandchildren knew some of them from other P&O ships). The flights out on Thomson were excellent with reasonable food and seat room and the same efficient P&O check in service. No complaints there.

So if you must cruise P&O you have some other boat choices but if the concept of the 'biggest boat built for the british public' still appeals look to Ocean village as its cheaper, less pretentious and probably going to give you everything that you want in cruise.
Forget Ventura for a few years until it gets a few good solid reviews.

My family have cancelled next years Ventura Christmas trip.

Luckily we had a large balcony wich served as a quiet retreat away from the mayhem on the upper decks.If you like the sight and smell of acres of roasting flesh crammed sardine like on the sundeck and the all day smell of Frankies pizza bar and its sister Burger bar,plus non stop party music,quizes,bingo and talent contests....you will like this ship.
Food deserves a special mention as it started out quiet good,we had fresh cod in the Bayroom restaurant and halibut steak in the White room .Unfortunately because All food is loaded in Barbados, the quality dropped significantly after the first week and was pretty dire by the end..mostly deep fried,curried or oriental dishes.Ditto fresh fruit,by the end we were down to tined fruit salad,black bananas and unripe melon that had been salvaged from the ships cold store. Fresh fish and fruit could have been acquired from any of the islands that we visited as has been the case on other caribbean cruises we have taken.
Lastly,a word about our fellow travellers!
Like all package holidays this can be hit and miss and one look around the departure lounge at the airport told us we should have given this one a miss.
It is a fact of life that a minority will spoil things for the majority and if the daily onboard news letter suggests a certain standard of etiquette or behaviour,these people will do the opposite.
So who are these people? Well folks they are the future of cruising,the new generation of cruisers.