Every cruise I had made over the years were with P&O, going back to the old Oriana onwards. This was the first time my husband cruised and although the ship is lovely and the food fantastic, the entertainment let it down so badly.
Our cabin was great, very clean, fantastic balcony, where we spent most of the time sunbathing and getting a bit of peace from the noise as the decks were busy when it was very sunny.
The ship is big and I think in an effort to fill all the rooms, the entertainment, in my opinion was spread rather thinly. I had showed him the dvd that arrived with a brochure and he was really looking forward to the activities, particularly the west end shows, which apart from one or two, were non existent. We enjoy quizzes and tried to go to as many as possible, but on occasion, they were either placed opposite each other (syndicate & James Bond Special) or with the non stop chatter of some of the female entertainment officers through the microphone, you either had to leave one early to get to the other, or give up and stay till the first one finished and forgoe the 2nd. I do feel the female ents officers were either bored (yawning constantly) or having girly chats when there were two, which was of no interest to anyone other than themselves. The 'bands' on board were what Simon Cowell would say were 'worse than cruise ship singers' and we had 4 tribute shows (Freddie Mercury / Phil collins / Amy Winehouse and Tom Jones), we stayed and listened to Mercury but left after 10 mins in to the others. Considering the price we are paying for the 2 weeks and from past experience, this is not the type of entertainment that should be put on a cruise ship, for the money, we expect a lot better. We had 4 comedians, one of which had just worked abroad with Jim Davidson and we were warned about the language etc, which was unacceptable and some parents who wanted to see this show, brought in their young children!!! None of the comedians told jokes, they were more interested in picking on people in the audience and taking the mick, easy money for not a lot of work. Where are all the entertainers we have enjoyed over the years? (Tom O' Connor / Roy Walker / Gerard Kenny / Allan Stewart, who were worth their pay packet).
3 pools on board and all 3 were filled with children from morning to night, no dedicated adults pool. Fiasco at Gibraltar when the ship used tenders for passangers, we waited for over 2 hours after we got our 'ticket' to get off and gave up in the end and handed it back, half an hour later, our disembarkation number was called but we had decided to have lunch instead. P&O apologised for not forseeing this problem. considering that nearly all the 3,500 passangers decided to get off as it was the last port (and only there for a few hours), I thought they could have come up with another more believable excuse.
There were so many ways for P&O to cash in to get more money, the photographs taken were extortionate, even lessons on computers cost money, they had 'talks' on health care: acupuncture etc, which were free to listen to, but cynical as I am, I know it wasnt for the health of passangers, it was to get more money in the tills. On the last 2 days the entertainment was awful and we decided to stay in the cabin during the day and watch movies, which range from £3.95 - £5.95 but in desperation to do something, we paid. The movies shown on board have been in the cinemas here for months and as it doesnt have its own cinema, the viewings ranged from the theatre to walk through rooms on the main shopping area.
It hasnt put me off cruising, but has put me off P&O. We will try another cruise line next time. If anyone reading this will be arriving and leaving by taxi, order the return trip in advance as we had to wait with about 100 other people over an hour before we left the port as another 2 cruise ships were in that day and the taxis chose the other 2 companies as it was easier to get to their passangers than it was for the Ventura. In fact the taxi driver we eventually got said most taxi drivers avoid Ventura and the traffic causes bottle necks in the town. You have been warned.

This was our first cruise but unfortunately it will be our last as the Ventura and P&O have left such a bad memory.
Our room was always left spotless by the cabin steward and fresh towels were readily available. Our hygene concern comes from such public areas as the swimming pool. We witnessed some foreign object looking like sick floating in the pool and all that the staff did was scoop it out. The pool was not shut for any period of time for cleaning and to our knowledge no further chlorine was added.
The pools themselves were not child friendly as the steps went straight into the deep end, approx 2 metres. Later in the day the pool would then fill up with teenagers, throwing themselves around under no supervision so my 7 year old daughter could no longer enjoy the pool. This cruise was advertised as a family cruise.
All staff were very friendly and helpful except those manning the reception who seemed uninterested, abrupt and quite arrogant and this was the impression gained by not only ourselved but other passengers too.
The food was of a very high standard and for the 14 days onboard this level was maintained constantly, along with the staff serving.
The entertainment had varying standards but to be honest came across as average with nothing really to get excited about.
What really surprised us were the amount of unsupervised teenagers running around the ship at all hours of the night, making enough noise to disturb us in the cabin. The security onboard did nothing to stop this but also seemed quite happy to allow large gathering on the stairways which now comes into Health and Safety regulations.
This holiday did not come cheap for us and we spent 2 years saving up for it, to then overhear other passengers laughing how they only paid a fraction of the price for their cabin made me feel like a fool for paying £6000. This cruise was supposed to be a luxury treat for us and some parts were but the overall experience was one of a floating Butlins.
On a final note, the day after our return myself and my oldest daughter came down with high temperatures and she was admitted to hospital with pneumonia and myself put on a 5 day course of antibiotics. Just today our friends, who we travelled with, have informed us his wife is currently in bed with the same symptoms.
I would be interested to see if anybody else has had the same symptoms after their Ventura experience.

The overall cleanliness of the ship was acceptable although public washrooms needed a little more attention.

The food was very average, upstair in Watersid buffet was actually better than the dining room food. Although I must give an A++ for the dining experience in The White Room (a cover charge of £25 per person)but worth every penny.

The Ventura crew need to smarten up a little, their "whites" weren't very white and they generally looked a real scruffy bunch, the waiters were actually smarter than the ships crew.In fact vry few of the staff in general actually looked like they were enjoying their job.

During a one week cruise the entertainment as not repeated twice but THREE times, as good s Freddie Mercury and Annie Lennox were we did not want to see them 3 times. The "comedians" as they called themselves were in no way funny and a few of them had quite bad language in their "acts".
The ship itself has no heart, usually when a cruise coms to an end I am sad to leave, today I wasn't. We have sailed with several companies i.e. Celebrity, NCL and a few more........we will never sail P and O again.

arrived on board 1st thing you are told is go to the food court on deck 15 there is a buffet on until your cabin is ready,i found the staff there very surly ,on 1 occasion i heard 1 member of staff to another(rositta) somebody wants serving and her response was let them wait(dont think she realised anyone could hear her).as for the ship it is fantastic just to big it took a week to find your way round ,the entertainment on board was ok if you liked quizzes,the arena theatre was a good night out especially the ventura theatre company they put on some excellent shows,as 1 of the other reviews said the pools on board were ok but adults could hardly get in them because they were full of unsupervised teenagers who took them all over ,the only pool for adults was the smallest pool on the ship which soon filled up,as much as i liked the ship to me certain members of staff(they even started being friendly on the last 2 days at sea mmmmm wonder if tips time had anything to do with that) and day time on deck entertainment let the ship down,so i think it is back to the smaller thomson,island cruise ships in future

myself and my family became ill on returning home on 14 august 2010 after being on ventura, symtoms started mildly 2 days before this, i posted a review earlier, but it doesnt seem to have registered.
anyone else who has became unwell please could you let me know, i was taken by ambulkance to hospital, was told id picked up a holiday virus..

We have since received a reply to the letter we sent to P&O regarding the comments we had listed here earlier. We had told them the negative (and some positive) details of our cruise. More or less they have blamed the parents for not supervising the children properly when they took over the pools, the schools for having holidays and also the Port Authority at Gibraltar for the fiasco on disembarkation saying they had taken on too many ships on that day and it was their fault.(they have had the cheek to tell me how they managed to get so many people off the ship and onto Gibraltar in a very quick turnaround.....I dont think so as everyone we spoke to that day complained). Even after all that, and saying we wouldnt travel with P&O again, they said they would welcome us onboard anytime (!!!). Future passengers beware, if you dont mind not getting in the pool, dont mind children and certainly dont mind hanging about for ages waiting to get ashore....book with P&O. (there was no reply to our complaints about the terrible entertainment). I do think that obviously their Passenger Relations people at some time have been well trained to divert complaints to 'others', but I am sure that P&O will always be busy, even if only from new customers.

Our first cruise and we loved it. The ship was great and the staff/crew were so charming and efficient we were amazed. the food was very good. I can't comment on the shows as we didn't see any but the entertainment in the bars was quite good. My only real complaint was that the 'English Pub' with it's brick walls was like an 'Estate' pub and lacked any atmosphere. We had a really good time and are cruising again in November.

We set sail from Southampton to Norway on the Ventura. The ship looked great and the sail away was a good experience. Our cabin was changed (which we were not told about) and took me ages to find my luggage. One bag turned up in the cabin but I found the other on another floor later in the evening. The cabin was very nice, very clean but quite noisy. After 2 nights found out that we were below a service area which after midnight you could hear the moving of furniture and cleaning into the early hours.
The person responsible for noise control gave me earplugs to overcome this!! Not the best solution but we were on holiday and you make the best things. Found some of the public/toilet areas not to the normal standard and a little more attention could have been paid to them. We opted for buffet service and have to say was not to the standard of other ships we have sailed on. We went to try the Cinnamon restuarant one evening but were told there was a minimum wait of 45 minutes, as it was already quite late we did not bother and have to say have never experienced this on any other ship. I found some of the staff quite miserable, and unhelpful, getting served in some bars took ages. We went to the Metropolis bar one evening I wore a long dress and my husband in smart casual shirt and trousers. We ordered a drink and were refused and were told we could not stay in the bar as we were not in 'formal' dress. The waitress was quite polite but said she would speak to her manager. After a while he came to see us and his attitude was extremely poor and quite condescending. We left the bar feeling very extremely embaressed. I can understand formal dress in the dining room but not in a bar, and could also see their reason if we were dressed in jeans. On the last night of the holiday we left an envelope in our room with the usual tip for our cabin steward. The following morning we spoke to him, his response was a grunt and turned away, ignoring both myself and my husband. Very disappointed in this and felt we had done something wrong!! Not sure what happended to gratitude!. Again have never experienced this on any ship I have travelled on. On the positive side the destination of Norway was stunning and highly recommended. Would also say the shows/entertainment on board ship were very good. However, regretably there is nothing from our holiday on the Ventura that would inspire us to travel again on this ship or indeed with P & O.

We found the daytime entertainment quite slack on the Ventura, the odd quiz here and there, Unless you liked listening to a talk on politics, computers, no actual live singing or interactive audiance participation going on any were,would of been nice to have some live music band on in the day on the deck. We met up with a friend who had a 9 year old child who did not want to participate with the childrens club, both he and his mum found it very hard to find activities they could do together. The Cirque Ventura was only open a meagre amount of time and was always busy.
The food was excellent we cannot fault that the service top notch, our room was lovely and the cabin stewards cannot do enough for you. The boat was lovely the pools were quite full which i would expect in July. Bay of Biscay a bit rough doubt i will go that way again first time i succumbed to sea sickness.

Well, I am 16 year old going on a cruise with my parents.
My first thoughts of arriving onto the ship were that it is much bigger than I originally thought.
Upon arriving you board and arent allowed into your cabin until 14.00. Well, we arrived expecting our luggage to be there, however it took about an hour until the luggage arrived. The cabin was small, the balcony had good views and it was very clean.
The cabin steward obviously did a fantastic job cleaning it.
On the first night we ate in Waterside, the main food court. We expected not to be up to standard but we were wrong, th food was incredible, we never expected the buffet to be this good.
On the second day, i decided to go to Decibels the club for 13-17 year olds. I have never really been one to go to these clubs, but I decided to and i am glad i did. Yes, you have to speak to people and make friends but it is worth it in the end. I now miss them loads. There are a variety of activities throughout the day, which would appeal to anyone.
The other restaurants on the ship are exquisite. Cinnamon is very very good. The fact that it is waitered service makes it much better than Waterside. The food is amazing and you have the choice to either eat with your family, or on a large table where you speak to ther holiday makers.

The staff on board are all very friendly, the cabin steward always asked how were were, and how our day was, this just made it better. The bar staff, i have to say are not as friendly, perhaps as they are constantly rushed off their feet, making drinks.

I never went to any on board entertainment as i was pre occupied in the club. However, according to my parents it is very good, offering things such as talks, cabaret shows, singers etc.

Overall it is a very good ship and cruise line, I would highly recommend it to anyone. Especially to kids my age.