Having read previous reports I'm not sure I sailed on the same ship. We both had an excellent holiday on Ventura, the ship's public areas were spotless as were the cabins. The food could not be faulted and neither could the staff in the restaurants. Breakfast buffet was admittedly the same every day but what else can you do with breakfast? The food was hot and buffet kept well stocked with good choice of fruits and cereals. Service at dinner was excellent and the food unsurpassed.Only complaint - the weight I put on during the cruise! The public areas were beautiful, we particularly loved ramblas bar for an after show drink. Not sure where everyone else went in the evening but we seemed to have the bar pretty much to ourselves. The ship was certainly not crowded considering the number of people on board. The theatre company was brilliant as were the shows each evening. Would definately recommend this ship to anyone. Our only criticism, too many children. Maybe P&O might consider an adults only pool as they have onboard Aurora.

I have to say that I was spured on to write this review as I am so dissappointed with some of the reviews so far. I have to say that from the first moment to the last my husband could not have enjoyed ourselves more, in fact we were trying to find out how we could stow away so that we could do it all over again!

We were made to feel like royalty and every querie was dealt with professionally and promptly, and I have to say that I did not see anyone being treated any differently. Most of the grumbles that I heard on board were to say that the ship was too big but as Ventura was clearly advertised as the largest ship in the P&O fleeet I don't feel that those complaints are justified.

The food was fantastic as were the staff, accomodation and entertainment it really was truely a wonderful holiday, one which I would recommend.

The only slight critism I have of the whole week was that the night before we left all passengers were asked to leave their suitcases outside their rooms ready for collection this made it tricky for wheelchairs and scotters to pass. Perhaps a sign on the door advising staff that your suitcases were ready would have been a better idea??

Altogether a five star rating from us!

Fantastic Ship
Great Food
Excellent Service
Overall a great holiday.
Definitely recommend this ship.

We sailed on 2nd-9th may 2008.
This was our first cruise and we had a wonderful time.What a great introdution to cruising! The whole experience was fantastic, the food was lovely, we opted for freedom dining and we would highly recommend it. we could literally turn up at any time and a table would be available even when we requested a table for two. On one night only we had to wait 30 minutes for a table and we were given a pager device which informed us when our table was ready, this enabled us to relax and have a drink in any of the bars. The entertainment was excellant with a good selection of acts to see(apart from a couple of comedians who we found were quite poor)The ship was keep spotless at all times and the staff were excellant. During our cruise we did hear a couple of negative comments from regular cruisers that the ship was too big! As the ship had been advertised as the biggest what were they expecting? We would definatly cruise on the Ventura again!!

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.

As a ship- far too big and definitely far too noisy. Every bar was overcrowded, apart from Ramblas. There were no bars where you could actually have a quite drink unlike Andersons on the Aurora and the Crows Neds on both Aurora and Oriana.

To put a Gym on a ship this size in the best location ie the Crows Nest area was the biggest sin of all. On a ship this size who needs a large gym, the length of the corridors was unbelieveable.

I think P & O have completely lost the plot. They are cutting corners completely, they have encouraged people to take more and more cruises, you reach the Gold Club and slowly perks are eroding, one by one.

The number of children on this cruise was unbelieveable, especially when children with dummies were sitting at the bag up to midnight with their parents. All I can say is shame on the parents.

Days at sea became more and more difficult to find a lounger to sunbathe on and everything is so tightly packed on the decks it is very difficult to move in between beds.

Food: Not as good and up to the usual P & O Standards. Selection was not very good, no mention that it is possible to order a steak if there is anything you do not like - albeit you could order one but no-one told you so.

We visited the White Room and had to send two meals back it was so badly cooked, having said that the staff bent over backwards to put things right but after spending £20 per head plus £20 for a bottle wine, bearing in mind we had already paid for our food on board, we found it very disappointing, - no comparison to Gary Rhodes restaurant on the Oriana. 10/10 for Gary, 0/10 for Marco.

This was the first cruise we have taken in company with a three year old. I was very impressed with the whole ship. The child care facilities are excellent, very clean and full of new and interactive games and toys. There was a wide variety of activities planned, our daughter could not keep out of the club, very motivated staff who appear to enjoy their work. Food was excellent, well done to the staff for catering so well for so many people. Some reviews have mentioned slow service in the restaurants, I had no experience of this and could not fault the quality or friendliness of all of the staff. Cabin space was very good, balconies are not private and can be overlooked, but I have no real problem if someone can see me having a beer in the sun. This is very much a family orinetated ship. I heard a number of, shall we say, older passengers complaining about the number of children on board. Surely, the fact that Noddy features heavily on the promotions for the ship gives a slight hint as to the flavour of the ship. Tender ports were not good, avoid going ashore first thing and don't try and come back across lunch. Embarking the ship was well organised, although the queuse on the dock roads took an hour to get through, once into the check in hall it was a matter of minutes from checking in to getting on the ship, far better than any airport offering. Disembarkation is not a pleasant experience, a vast hall full of luggage and trollies, although again when compared to a standard airport offering probably not a lot worse. On the whole, excellent ship, great food, first class child facilities and looking forward to going on the same ship next year.

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!

first time on a cruise
fantastic
i found out where we going,what we would be doing,
is the ship for families, or old couples before we booked.
anyone who moaned, should have done the same
we have booked again
my son is getting married on ship

We had been lucky enough to get invited on to this ship before it was launched, as a brand new ship it was spotless, staff could be seen putting the final the final coat of paint here and there,staff in the restaurants wore gloves and used gel to keep hands clean.

The food was as you would expect from P&O, first class and most important it was hot and fresh,

I found the staff to be the same as any other Ship I have sailed on, first class and always on hand to help,

As for the entertainment every lounge had some form of music, its just a case of finding a bar that takes your fancy, there was lots for the children to do, so it may be better for couples to avoid the school holidays

The down side, I saw passengers in show lounges with their feet on the chairs, one chap had his feet on a coffee table, it makes you wonder why people pay so much for a cruise then treat it with utter contempt.

For people in wheelchairs the only problem is on top deck, doors are a bit tight, but else where the doors are automatic making getting round the ship a pleasure.

Here endeth the first lesson and I look forward to cruising on this ship in the near future.