Went on the Ventura on the Baltic Splendour cruise. The ship itself was outstanding, being my first cruise I had nothing else to compere it to. It was very clean but not surprising because it is still very new.

The food was excellent in the Saffron Restaurant in the evening and the Breakfast was great too, the choice was excellent.It was virtually impossible to get a table in the Waterside Restaurant at lunchtime, normally having to sit outside in the cold to eat our lunch.

The staff were very friendly, the stewards and waiters were very helpful and couldn't do enough for us.

The entertainment was great, only thanks to the Ventura Theatre Company. They put on a first class show.There were various productions that they entertained us with. There were many complaints about the lack of seats. The 8.45 show was a popular choice as diners from the first sitting went straight to see the show but there were so many passengers who wanted to watch the show that people had to either stand or come back at 10.45 for the last show.

The comedians in the Tamarind Club were diabolical. The worst being some Australian guy who was the worst i've ever seen.

Now for the biggest downfall of the Ventura. I know it's classed as a family ship and was aware that there may be some kids on board, but having chosen the Baltic Splendour cruise I was not expecting 700 kids to be on board.We had 2 kids next door to us who were banging the cabin door everytime they were in and out and this was at 1.00am in the morning. They'd met other kids on board and they had no respect for other passengers. I had to call reception numerous times who sent security to have a word. But it made no difference. We pay good money to have a relaxing time and don't expect this kind of behaviour, many familys took advantage of the kids go free offer.

I will definitely not be returning to the Ventura for the above reason, which is a shame.

9th May 2008 just left ship. excellent food, and cleanliness, staff excellent too.Entertainment from theatre company excellent, but comedy acts very low grade with one female comedian we wondered how she had managed to sneak aboard. P&O Get Rid!!.Staff in bars very busy. The white room was fully booked from day one. Scant information being given to passengers by tannoy system which did not operate in cabins so you had to constantly bob into the corridors. Visit to Brest France 3000 passengers decended by coach on the town in rain to find it was all closed as it was their Armictice day celebrating Liberation (Bank Holiday) with then passengers clammering back onto shuttle buses overcroaded, all due to lack of information and insensitivity by P&O. Captain out of touch as he gave a tannoy message at 5pm hoping that all passengers had enjoyed Brest when 2500 were back on ship by 11am?.If you go into Havana Club beware of trip hazards on raised seating areas we saw well over 50 people trip and stumble. Plenty of sun beds and lounge areas aboard.We also found that delays of getting to shore due to challenges in getting the gangways down, but this was at ports the ship had not docked before so it has to be expected. Considering it is its maiden season enjoyed the cruise but P&O listen and get better quality entertainers not HiHiHi.

We traveled on the ventura from the 23rd may to 30th. (iberian interlude) We found embarkation ran smoothly with no problems, boarding the ship around 12:30pm. We was greeted by some of the crew at the ships doors and welcomed onboard, i found the ship was spotless and gleaming as its only a couple of months old. The decor was amazing and different throughout the ship. We were disapointed when we found out there was no 3D cinima ? Also we was disapointed to find out that we couldn't get off the ship in La rochelle, due to industrial action in port.
The food in the buffets wasn't as good as some ships and you could never get a seat, the main restuarant food was far better.
Although we didn't really see any of the shows, we did see the comedian which was very funny and entertaining.
The ships crew were not as friendly as some other ships. (could have been better)
At disembarkation we got some 'self disembarkation tickets' and took our own suitcases off, we were the first off at 8:00am and it took us no longer than 10 minutes.
Overall, we probably would sail with P&O again due to a fantastic holiday on a fantastic ship.

Just got back from the second cruise of Ventura - P & Os new - and much hyped - cruise ship.

This was our ninth cruise - tried different ships and different lines and - what a shame - this was our least enjoyable.

We weren't expecting miracles from the Itinerary "Iberia" - done most of it before and knew it was nothing special - we came for the ship, but they might have told us Brest (in the rain) was closed for a Bank Holiday - we were lucky and heard it from early returnees. NB all transport was free - a plus point.

It's actually a little difficult to nail down the reasons for our reaction - because nothing was terrible - or even poor - but then most of it was only "fair" , with a little "good" thrown in.

Cabin (balcony) was a fair/good thing - reasonable size, fair layout - as good as most and better than one or two.

Service was fair without being exceptional.

Freedom dining was bit half-hearted - you could turn up and wait - or pre-book - which was a limited sort of freedom. Food in the restaurants was fair to good - but never outstanding - with oddly limited choice(3 starters?)We had pre-booked the White Room - (NB it booked out for the week the first night)that was good but not outstanding compared to other speciality restaurants on other ships)We didn't try the speciality Oriental, East, which seemed over-priced at an extra £20 or the Spanish (OK at extra £5)They messed up my pre-booking and confirmation at the White Room something rotten - took 5 attempts to get it right.

The buffet restaurant was over-crowded and also severely limited in choice.

Entertainment during the day, except for that for children, was almost non-existent - at least for our sort of thng - talks etc. Saw very little of any entertainments staff generally.

Evening entertainment was mixed but on the whole a plus. The headline act of Brian Conley was excellent, and the dance and gymnastic troupe we thought outstanding. There was a show and another act each night and each gave three shows (a first for us). Some of the comedians in the Comedy Club were awful,and a special talk by Mark Williams really very poor - was he nervous or just terrible without a script?

The public rooms and the Atrium and theatre were - OK again - never something special.

If you saw the advertisement for the "special Scalextric" you were expecting something special - no, it was a track set up in one of the show -rooms - a bit pathetic really. I'm sure I saw a "puff" for a 3-D cinema - must check - there were films run in one of the show rooms but no actaul cinema and no 3D.

TV was a bit lazy - the channel for the Cruise Director never had anything on it for the whole cruise - other channels had "interactive" choices but all the good films were an extra charge,- quite a lot for children.
The pools - there were several - two outdoor. My wife likes it warm so only ever uses indoor. The indoor pool was small and usually held lots of children. The Spa one ws smaller and the current machine was broken throughout - she enjoyed the steam rooms though.

I feel a bit mean and a bit picky - but Aurora and Golden Princess were better than this in just about every way. Most people were repeat cruisers and felt the same first timers and those with children were happier on the whole.

Well, I've been looking at the previous reviews of the Ventura and admit that some of the complaints are justified but, on the whole, we enjoyed our cruise. It's our second cruise (first one was on SAGA Pearl a couple of years ago) and considered it very good. For the people who complained about the children, it WAS stated that they would be onboard. I wasn't really interested in how many were there but I did notice that there quite a lot of them and children, when they have the freedom to do what they want, WILL do it. On the opposite side is the fact that most couples can't afford a cruise, let alone take their children along, too, so I surmise that these families were well-off and their children spoilt and home from their boarding schools! We did try to get a game of table-tennis but, owing to the fact there were only about 3 or 4 tables available and hundreds of children, we didn't really have a chance. The same was said about the jacuzzis - too many children in them. The only thing I can say is this - if you want to go on the Ventura again, avoid school holidays at all costs. Although there may still be quite a lot of children on board, there won't be as many as there would be when school is out for 6 weeks! That's why we chose the Iberian Interlude in May.

For the rooms, we found them very comfortable (we were on the 12th deck and my brother on the 8th) but agree that our balcony was overlooked by others and we overlooked several decks below us, which was not conducive to privacy, and the plastic chairs weren't very comfortable for sunbathing.

Apart from the initial chaos on our first evening at the dining room (we were on the 2nd sitting and the 1st sitting were taking too long finishing their meal) we found the food very good, albeit there was not much choice for vegetarians (the menus were repeated several times during the week, whereas the meat and fish menus were not). However, the Maitre d' Hotel was very accommodating and came around to the vegetarians and diabetics, etc. every evening with the following day's menu. If we didn't like anything on any of the menus we only had to ask for something different and he would check with the kitchen to see if it would be possible. My husband and brother were pleased with the meat and fish menus. The only problem was that we were supposed to have had freedom dining but found that we could only have our evening meal at the Bay Tree Restaurant, whereas we had more than one choice for our lunch and breakfast - we chose the Waterside for this as there was always a very varied menu and the food always hot. Our regular waiters at the Bay Tree were Christopher and Alhuaddin, and were very helpful and courteous. I don't remember waiting a long time in between courses, as was stated on some of the other reviews, so maybe we were just lucky.

As we don't care for Italian food or Oriental food we didn't bother to try and book any meals at East or The White Room. Indeed, I heard that Marco Pierre White wasn't even on board! As that was just a rumour I couldn't verify it, although I did read that he hadn't been on the Maiden Voyage!

Our room was always well attended, too, although our attendant practically told us off the first morning for not putting the card on the door handle to let him know when the room was free for him to go in! We had gone back to our room quite soon after breakfast and were still there when he came to do the room!

As for the entertainment, my husband and brother both agree that the evening shows were excellent. As I am partially-deaf and unable to follow anything without sub-titles it was a disappointment to me, but not any more than if I was at home at a cinema or theatre, so no complaints about that. They did say that the comedians weren't very good but they enjoyed listening to one girl singer who was at the Havana a few evenings we were there. This would also apply to any noise by children, as it didn't affect me at all. So disadvantages to the hearing but advantage to the deaf! You can't win 'em all!

I read that someone complained about the Metropolis - it would not be expected that the background scenes would be on show during the day, especially with the sun shining on them, but they were marvellous during the evening and night-time, as we went up there several times. We were served mostly by one of the waitresses - her name was Girlie, and she was very helpful.

The lifts took a long time to arrive, albeit there were several on each deck, but it's what we should expect where there are large volumes of people waiting for them. It was quicker in some ways to walk down the stairs - plenty of exercise along the corridors, too, after meal-times - than waiting for the lift, although we did wait for the life quite often ourselves, owing to the fact that my brother had broken his foot a fortnight before the holiday and had to embark by wheelchair, then hobble about on a walking stick during the holiday.

Talking about disembarking after the cruise with chaos involving lots of cars and bad weather, we booked our cruise with Traveland, who have their own personal pick-up service from your own home at the start of your journey which takes you to the main coach at the joining point. They even provide you with a free lunch at a local hotel - we had a 3-course meal. If people tried this, instead of driving in their own transport, it would also save a lot of traffic en route!

All in all, I think we would go on another cruise with Ventura. In comparison with my cousins, who had a terrible cruise on the newest Queen Victoria a few weeks after ours, it was excellent. I agree that there are some points which need to be ironed out, but I think the same applies to every cruise ship - none of them are perfect and, for all those passengers who think their cruise is perfect, there will always be some who had a rotten time!

well where do i start . . . to start off with i guess i felt the need to add a decent review for ventura. i admit to reading MV Ventura's reviews before i boarded on 23rd may 08 and was slightly disappointed by the amount of people who were disappointed with the service that P & O offered. the cruise i was on departed on 23rd may 08 - 30th may 08 'iberian interlude'

there are a few comments that have been made that i do agree with EG the buffett (beachhouse) was a very bland english menu, but for the passengers who were unhappy with the food served there was always the option to go and eat else where, EG, frankies grill, pizza place, east, the white room, room service, the main restaurants, the list goes on, so to be fair i really didnt feel this was a problem at all!

the only problem i guess we did have was that before boarding Ventura i remember reading that one of the pools was for adults only (oasis pool - front of ship) during the week that pool was constantly full of children messing with the wave machine, hanging off it and jumping and diving in. now i noticed that this 'child free' pool was slightly shallower than any of the other pools which would in theory make it safer for children to be in. if p & o which to make rules about certain pools for different 'age groups' i feel they should stand by their rules because if not there will be problems later!

i remember reading that someone said the staff onboard where hardly ever around, making some people feel they dont wish to socialize with the passengers. whilst onboard Ventura i saw the captain eating with his family many times in the passenger restaurant (beach house) and he always engaged in conversation if people wished to talk. he was happy to discuss how he was finding the ship compared to others he had been captain of.

the Ventura theatre company were amazing their shows were fantastic, from the dancing, singing and even the choreography. the only let down was seeing that ventura is now being aimed at the slightly younger generations i felt for a couple of the shows they should have picked classic songs which everyone would hasve known not just the older ones. the best show by far was 'Chronicles' i highly recommend seeing this one.
after the shows and on their days off the performers where seen relaxing in the nightclub onboard 'Havana' until the early hours of the morning, talking to people about how they got involved with it, how there finding it, anything really.

for tea we were in the Saffron restaurant and i do admit we had a very fussy eater on our table who insisted on having mint sauce with every meal he ate, the waiters were always happy to go that extra mile for him, he also thought the portions of the meals were too small for him, but when he asked for a little more, he received it, all you have to do is ask!!!

considering im a vegetarian and dont eat meat, im not a big fan of the vegetarian meals at all, so used to order the meat dishes without the meat i think at first they thought this was a bit strange but when i explaned i received more potatoes and veg . . . simple!!

ive been on 3 cruises with p & o my first two on Oceana and the standard and service i receieved were fantastic and i can honestly say the same for Ventura, shes a great ship!!

now the question i guess i should be answering is would i sail on Ventura again??

the answer is YES, course i would - seeing as i have two more cruises booked onboard 20th dec 08 i am off to the carribean and 22nd may 09 im off to the norweigen fjords

We traveled on the ventura from the 23rd may to the 30th may. (iberian interlude) We found that embarkation ran smoothly, boarding the ship at around 12:30pm. We were greeted at the ships doors by members of the crew. The ship was very clean and tidy as its only a few months old.
The ships crew weren't as helpful as some other ships and could have been more helpful and cheerful.
We can't really judge the entertainment because we didn't really see much but we did see a comedian onboard, he was very funny and entertaining. we weren't very happy to hear there was no 3D cinima ?
The ships two buffets were bad as you could never get a seat, and when you were lucky enough to get a seat.. the food wasn't very good, In the main restuarants the food was fantastic, the waiters would do anything for you to ensure your meal was perfect.
At disembarkation we got some 'self disembarkation tickets' which allows you to disembark the ship on your own, with your suitcases. This was better because there was no waiting around to get off. we were the first off the ship at around 8:00am, it took us no longer than 10 minutes.
Overall i think we would sail on this ship again because it gave us a fantastic holiday and the ship was fabulous.

We sailed on the Ventura Riviera Romance (the one with the Novovirus outbreak).

Although we arrived before the advertised check in time there was a queue of cars. We soon got to the head of the queue and boarding thereafter was swift.

Our cabin was well appointed and roomy and, being on C deck, had an extra large balcony though it was overlooked by balconies above and I could look directly down on balconies below. TV in the room was hopeless to watch as it was stuck up against the ceiling.

The ship had a bright new look and I love the beautiful decor especially the superb Atrium. The public rooms, except for Havana with its hideous partitions breaking up the space and ruining sight lines, were also very good with a good variety of seating and plenty of places to settle down.

During the day and evening the video wall in Metropolis was a joke as it was washed out by light from the wrap round windows opposite. There was no 3-D and the Tamarind Cub was unsuitable as a cinema.
The theatre was superb and we never had an difficulty finding room but we attended only two shows as the amplification was deafeningly loud. (It was generally far too loud everywhere). We kept getting disturbed by waiters either obscuring the view or wanting us to stand up so they could pass. The Chronicles show was good but other shows were just raucous.

Why the assumption we all like raucous pop music everywhere? Whatever happened to 'light music'?

The restaurants were superb and service excellent but choice was much reduced when compared with previous P&O cruises and quality quite variable. Some meats were tough and unpalatable whilst some were OK. The fish courses were a disaster as the fish had clearly been kept hot far too long and was dried out, overcooked, and quite frankly inedible. They served a lot of new potatoes which were not very nice. I would like to have seen more mash and roast. I had a delicious Lobster Thermidor one night so it did get quite good as well.

Having already paid for food I was not prepared to pay cover charges of £20-25 for select dining so did not try them. I notice that we now have to pay for things we used to get as part of the package on other P&O Cruises.

For those who have commented on lack of announcements in cabins the TV channel that shows the ships webcam carries all announcements. The downside: yes raucous pop music in-between.

On-board entertainment during the day was a bit sparse. Most music tended to occur during lunchtime when I was going to eat!

Whilst most staff were very good and helpful some of the staff in the shops were rude. I hate this constant patronising, "There you go" followed by an unconvincing "Have a nice day" by staff who clearly could not care less.

This ship should not be used in ports where tenders are required. You have to get a ticket to disembark and whilst in Cannes they were still calling people as late as 11.30. Sat on my cabin balcony (suspected Novovirus), I saw full tenders departing as late as 12.

I went ashore the following day on an excursion and was swiftly tended out but there was a very long queue to get back on board.

Novovirus control was poor until the outbreak occurred, using the gel dispensers seemed to have been voluntary at first as I saw people walking unchallenged into food areas not having gelled. Once the horse had bolted staff were posted to insist people gelled.

Disembarkation at cruise end is clearly inadequate. I went ashore in the first tranche (9.00-9.30). Crowds for the doorway off the ship (no attempt at an ordered quue) and chaos in the baggage Hall. Jammed with cases and narrow aisles between we were all getting in everbodies way trying to find our luggage.
They were laid out on a deck basis and that is a lot of luggage to search through.

Yes I would definitely sail on this ship again as I loved it but food quality needs to be improved and tender ports avoided.

Just got back on 23rd may. We have to say that for our first trip with p&o on this extremely hyped up ship, we were disappointed. This was our 10th cruise and the food was very ordinary. The whiteroom was the reason we chose this cruise, and were bitterly disappointed.
Much of the food compared to the American cruise lines was very very average. Every meal was served with Either a white or brown roll !! Steak & chips in the a la carte restaurant consisting of a 3oz steak 11 fries 2 mushrooms and half a tomatoe, was great for weightwatchers but not what I'm looking for on a cruise! We ended up spending £200 on food as extras, plus our dining whilst ashore.THe best meal we had was in East restaurant. Fantastic food and staff, pity we had to pay extra.
In all fairness the ship is lovely, and the staff & entertainment exceptional. On the whole I really feel p&o need to have a rethink if the want Ventura to be their flagship !!

This is my first cruise, and I found the Ship incredibly clean and well organised. The food was excellent in my opinion, a huge variety and always spotlessly presented, plenty for the children too. East was particularly good. The cabin staff were incredibly attentive and eager to please, other members of staff were not so helpful, but the waiters also were eager to make sure everything was perfect and spotlessly clean. The kids club (Jumpin' Jacks) for me has to get a special mention - the Director Mark did an incredible job along with the rest of the staff, and for my daughter who would not set foot inside for the first week, he made her trip! The club is again spotlessly clean and incredibly well run, plenty for the kids to do and they keep kids entertained ALL day. I saw only one show, this was by the dance company and the standard of dancing was incredible - there were many more shows on offer but I just never made it! I have very few negative comments about this Ship apart from East, although the food was excellent, booking always seemed a problem even though it appeared empty! All in all a great trip (despite questionable weather at times). This ship is for young families who want to enjoy the pleasures of a cruise with the added bonuses of excellent childcare facilites. Many of the older generation find this ship too big (I asked many!), so if you don't like walking then try a different ship!