Ventura Review

4.0 / 5.0
851 reviews

1ST & PROBABLY LAST CRUISE WITH P&O

Review for the Western Mediterranean Cruise on Ventura
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topjen
6-10 Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: May 2015

We went with our good friends who we have done several cruises with before with Royal Caribbean & Celebrity, and decided to try P&O as we all liked the itinerary for this cruise on Ventura. Enjoyed all ports of call, although both ships tours we did were poor value for money. Lucca - lovely place and the 2 hrs we were given to explore was far too short and they could have easily given us at least another hour. The ship's 'Roma train to Rome' was expensive - £46 each, compared to the cost of taking one of the local trains ourselves (approx 12 euros). We did have a guide with us on this 'vintage' train- probably to make it seem good value!. But our massive disappointment was with the food - bland, repetitive and no where near the choice and quality we have enjoyed with other cruise lines. We tried the Beach House self service restaurant once and never again, worse than canteen food! The Waterside buffet service was only slightly better -when you managed to find a table. The custard can only be described as sweet water it was horrible. Dinner was taken in the Bay Tree and the food here was a slightly better quality but limited menu choice. Fish or steak usually overcooked so very dry as were the frozen chips served with the steak. After 2 weeks we never wanted to see a green bean or carrot for a long time as they were served up with many dishes!! Our waiters were polite but seemed miserable, as did lots of staff throughout ship (apart from our wine waiter who was always cheerful and Elizabeth our cabin steward was lovely and did a great job of looking after our cabin). The best aspect of the cruise was the entertainment- better than RC or Celebrity. Strictly dancers brilliant and Craig Revill-Horwood is not the mr. nasty he portrays - he's very friendly! All in all good and bad, but the bad outweighed the good and we will not be taking another P&O cruise again unless they drastically improve.

Cabin Review

Cabin HF?

Balcony cabin was generally ok, not overly spacious and bathroom very small. good storage wardrobe/cupboard space. Balcony quite small and very little sun due to overhang above. good quality toiletries nice touch.

Port Reviews

Vigo

pleasantly suprised with city

Lisbon

loved city hope to go back again

Gibraltar

too short visit to the port to explore for long. looks a bit scruffy in parts

Monaco (Monte Carlo)

great place, old town lovely and well kept. palace and aquarium worth seeing

Corsica (Ajaccio)

busy port, nothing really outstanding

Seville

enjoyed wandering the many streets of cadiz, its bigger place than I expected. plenty of shops for shopaholics!

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