sjr36046326498 Cruise Review on Ventura on Nov 23, 2018

Item: Ventura
Rating: 4
Author: sjr36046326498

Ventura Cruise Review

sjr36046326498

Contributor Level: First Mate

68 Days Till Next Cruise

Reviews: 5

Helpful Votes: 97

Overall rating:

4 out of 5

Sail date: November 23, 2018

Ship: Ventura

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

Just back from a 3 night mini-cruise on Ventura. Enjoyable time, lots of big groups and parties onboard - understandably - but it wasn't at all rowdy that I noticed and was actually a really nice atmosphere. The ship itself surprised me. I haven't sailed on her since 2012 and it almost seemed a different ship. A lot of the venues felt fresh and modern. In particular, the Metropolitan Bar and Havana Bar had really nice modern decors. The cabin, a superior deluxe balcony on deck 9, had slightly dated fixtures and fittings but was perfectly comfortable, well appointed and generally in a good condition. Certainly compared to the basic balcony cabin I'd experienced first time around, I'd say the extra space, including sofa, bigger balcony, full sized bath and little perks like bathrobe, slippers, champagne and chocolates, we're well worth the extra fare. The only downside for me was the buffet. Some of the serving stations, especially at the very aft end of the Waterside Cafe are very cramped and at busy times can be very frustrating. The food was ok and was a fairly typical selection. I personally found the puddings all lacked any real taste and we're bland though. The Beach House is a good value specialty restaurant located at the aft end of the buffet area in the evenings only. There is a small cover charge and some dishes such as the lava stone fillet steak attract another small fee on top, but it is well worth it. Staff were all very friendly and efficient. The entertainment was par for the course including a musicals themed show and a guest comedian. The highlight though was 'Astonishing', a new singing, dancing, illusion theatre show. It was quite spectacular and modern (if you ignore the two cringe inducing old style cruise show songs in it!). On the whole this short break on Ventura was really enjoyable and I'd have no issues booking a longer cruise on Ventura. Despite her age, P&O have done a good job refreshing and modernising her to a point where she compares admirably with the youngest in the fleet, Britannia.

7 Comments

dengage 6 years ago

We've sailed on her 3 times this year and enjoyed every one, also our favourite ship roll on next April.

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tinawebber 6 years ago

We are looking forward to June when we sail on her again.... we tried something different this year which was great and we can return to Ventura afresh...

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Ray1963 6 years ago

I couldn't agree more, they done a good job on the refurbishment.

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onlysail 6 years ago

@countrycurry. Thats because it sails out of the uk not america

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onlysail 6 years ago

This and the sister ship azura are our favourite ships

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RNS247 6 years ago

thx for the review

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countrycurry 6 years ago

Never heard of it.

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