We've just got back from our fourteen night cruise onboard Ventura. Having read some of the previous reviews on here and elsewhere we weren't really sure what to expect. What follows is an account of what we experienced. Hopefully it will be fairly logical and reasonably free from waffle although I make no guarantees!

BOOKING

We booked through P&O direct, last September. We booked early so that we could choose our cabin and make sure that it was in the right location (midships, low down). However, as the date of our departure came nearer it was clear that P&O were having trouble selling the remaining cabins as they were reducing the cost of our cabin grade, quite substantially. Obviously, P&O can charge what they like for their cruises and I fully accept that if they had suddenly increased the cost of our cabin grade, I'd have been pretty miffed if they came to us asking us to pay more. However, in the spirit of it costing nothing to ask I rang them to see if they'd be willing to offer us some OBC in recognition that we had paid more than someone who was booking that day. They flatly refused and even refused to offer us a free meal in Sindhu or The Epicurean. Like I have already said, I didn't really expect much and accept that they are free to charge what they want. However, it would be hard to deny that this did not leave a nasty taste in my mouth and did not give me, as a first-time P&O customer, the best of first impressions. Read more