We picked the cruise because we had only been to 1 of the ports of call. Although we had visited Lisbon numerous times before it is a city that we like a lot so that was ok. We also visited Valencia, Alicante, Gibraltar and Cadiz - Alicante was supposed to be Cartegena but P&O seemed somewhat surprised that a marathon was being run there and so most of the town was closed down! We were livid about this, we really wanted to visit Cartegena and they must surely have known up front, if not somebody needs a demotion. We had heard that Ventura is getting abit tired - sure there are signs that she has been at sea for nearly 10 years now but it's nothing to be put off by. They were replacing carpets with nice new fluffy ones on some of the stair ways, it was done with the minimum of disruption. The wetaher was most excellent apart from a nasty storm we hit just south of Bilbao, that made me sea sick and I missed the only night they served lobster on board - most annoying but nobody's fault.

Now we come to the food - it is in this area that you can see cutbacks particularly if you don't like fish. The choice is much less than it used to be, the servings of vegetables are tiny, the always available options of steak and chicken never change - they could offer different sauces but all you get is bearnaise with the steak, the chicken is always cooked exactly the same way and with no choice. There were too many fish dishes and not enough imagination. The dishes sounded good on the menu but were often a bit bland and missing the wow factor they used to have. The food in Waterside was ok but it's such a bun fight that we did not enjoy eating up there. The food in the main dining rooms was variable in quality, one night they served lamb leg steaks, I have brought it home to repair my work boots with, I expect it to last a few years as it is tough stuff :-)

We went for freedom dining, which threw up a strange dislike - every night the conversation was the same and very boring. There seem to be so many people that just can't wait to tell you how many cruises they have been on and how big their houses are. It seemed to happen most nights and every attempt to talk about something else was just brought back to the same old topics by somebody on the table. Surely there are other things to talk about? I think it is some sort of snobbery, I have experienced it before but never to this extent. It's not P&O's fault in any way, just thought I would mention it. We would probably have swapped to fixed dining if we could as tables for 2 are rather scarce and even if you do get a table for 2 there will be someone on the next table that can't wait to tell you that their next cruise is already booked despite Bert's lumbago and the fact it's going to take 12 people 10 days to paint the back wall in their massive kitchen. Read more