Ventura Review
Rating by category
Additional details
We chose this cruise as an 'initial' taster for our friends (2 couples) who had not cruised since us three 'boys' had served in the Royal Navy together in the late 70's. My wife and I have previously cruised three times, Island (Star/Escape) and Cunard (Queen Elizabeth). We were unsure what to expect on this occasion as all the reading/research we had carried out was 'on how big the ship was'. Yes, Venturer is big and yes, there are a lot of people and yes, there were 722 children onboard for our trip to the Iberian coast, but the ships timings (shows, meals, all round entertainment) was so well managed we soon found our way aroun, we never really became aware of large crowds and we were never aware of the large amount number of children.
So to start, our embarkation went so smoothly, within twenty minutes from dropping off our bags, walking into the hall, presenting our passports, filling in the health sheet, having our photographs taken for the on board I.D. And proceeding through security we were on board Venturer. Plenty of staff directing us to our cabins, so within thirty minutes we were in our cabin (R748) a very well appointed cabin with a window to the rear of the ship, great view.
Departing Southampton happened so quickly, thinking back we actually don't remember leaving port and we were all sat down, suited and booted for our evening meal
Cabin Review
Outside Twin with Shower
Lovely space, bed made as a double, two bottles of free water in the fridge, an offer from Chris (Steward) to purchase six litre bottles for a tenner? Chris was useful and helpful, the aft part of the shift suffered from loss of pressure to the toilets, yes a negative but there are other toilets nearby. Chocolates and biscuits available daily. One other cabin next door then out of the door to the family pool, yes it's noisy but only stood next to it, the cabin R748 suffers from no noise from neighbours or passers by, there was slight noise from the props and some juddering however once you are aware of the noise it can be ignored. Being at the end of the ship, the window gives a great view of where the ship has travelled from. It's a very short walk up to breakfast, usual fare, full breakfast, or fruit or yoghurt etc.
Port Reviews
Southampton
Southampton is a wonderful departure point, the staff are so friendly and helpful, within no more than thirty minutes we had dropped off our car and were in our cabin, the cases were at our cabin before we got there
Vigo
We got outside the dockyard gates and picked a bus tour with a company called tours4cruisers, brilliant tour for €15 per head, three stops during this trip. The commentary was very informative. Plans were created for our Oporto trip.
Lisbon
Lisbon will, when the roads and building work are finished, become a very attractive city, however the open topped red bus tour was awful, the audio set did not work on English. Most of the tour was spent in a traffic jam. The bars around the main square were busy, not too expensive.
Porto (Leixoes)
Our favourite stop on this cruise, picked up the coach after an hours wait which gave us chance to take a look around the nearby beach, very clean. We got onto the pre arranged (in Vigo) our tours4cruisers bus, again a brilliant commentary, smooth ride around tight roads. A very interesting city seen during three stops. €15 a head, we saw enough to convince us that a return visit would be worthwhile
St. Peter Port (Guernsey)
Our visit to Guernsey was a Sunday, strangely a lot of stores and shops were shut, however the sea front came to life with a market selling local food and goods. We visited the underground German site, at a cost of £6 per person, yes there was lots of medals, uniforms and equipment available to see, but we considered the cos to be excessive. We walked to this site and arrived not long after the ships coach.