Her thread says P&O Ventura.

Thankyou for the replies so far. I appreciate that each cruise has different rules....as stated in the title of my question it is with P&O on the Ventura that we travel.

Thankyou Kath for an informative answer. Does you answer apply to P&O?

Best wishes.

Yes, it was the Oceana. We had a wonderful time and am sure you will too.

I travel on the Ventura in six weeks time and wonder how she will compare.

What itinerary are you doing ?

Kath x

Kath.....We are travelling in November (Tropical Delights). My daughter, husband and two small grandchildren went to the Norwegian Fjords a couple of months ago on the Ventura. They had a fantastic time.... they thought the ship was magnificent...however, like us, they have nothing to compare it to.

Should have added as well that if you cruise for two weeks, you are more than likely to have 4 formal and 10 smart casual with P&O.

Usually one of the deck nights will be a tropical night and is really good fun. There is usually a competition for the man in the loudest shirt. Guests can either take their own or purchase a colourful at one of the ports. They will confirm this when your tickets are released, which I find is short notice lol.

Also one of your formal nights will probably be a black and white night. Men obviously wear their dinner suits (or some men wear the white dinner jackets) and ladies ususally wear something black or white and accessorise with the opposite colour, or some even wear black and white together.

Im glad your family enjoyed Ventura, because she has had very mixed reviews. Fingers crossed I will like her.

I will check out your itinerary.

Kath x

I am going to the Carribean on the Ventura in November and I am rather concerned after reading some very bad reports regarding the behaviour of children, as this is my first cruise has anyone done a cruise on any ship to this destination this time of the year and were there many children on board?

I was on Ventura end of September, and have to say had no problems with children.

I was told by a member of staff there were about 200 children on board. Most of them were toddlers, although there were a few teenagers.

I envy you. I loved the ship and thought she was fabulous. I thought you were on Oceana ?

Kath x

Well spotted Kath I am writing on behalf of a friend who doesnt have the internet so I thought I would be her, cant get away with anything on here, she says thanks for answering anyway, and I am on the Oceana in 5wks 2days and counting.
Thanks again
Rita

I hope you both have a lovely time.

kath x

Today returned from 14 night cruise on Ventura. There were about 350 children on board, according to the ship statistics. No problem with children in our experience, although we did notice problems with adults!! Some are a far greater danger than any child would ever be.

In Novemebr it is unlikely that large numbers of children will be on board, especially as it is very much a British ship and no school holidays at that time of year. We enjoyed the Ventura, and would encourage you to go with an open mind, determined to enjoy yourselves.

Glad you enjoyed Ventura Hamrag, I did too.
Kath x

Still cant decide on what to do this summer and have been considering going on the Ventura on a Med cruise. I know this particular ship has had quite a lot of bad press and have been on a few cruise forums where it seems to get slated by a lot of 'old school' P&O style cruise goers.

Really want something suitable for a family including a 16 and 14 year old. Was about to book Florida but been 3 times and thought it might be an idea to try something different. I guess the other alternative might be Ocean Village 1 (bit tired apparently) or Ocean Village 11, or possibly a cruise and stay with OV just in case a 14 night cruise is a bit to claustrophobic for us.

Has anybody got any views ? or has a family of a similar composition to us who has cruised either the Ventura or OV 1 or 2. Seems to be one other option on our dates, a med cruise on Oceana, but I think it is much older than the Ventura. I haven't a clue really.

Doe

My advice would be to ignore the "old school" P&O'ers. Believe it or not we had our 25 & 22 year old sons and also 17 year old daughter on Ventura. They enjoyed it very much. Personally would not use OV, remember that the Ventura is only a year old...OV is an old bird and young folks especially enjoy up-to-date facilities.

The best cruiseline we have been on for teenagers and young adults is Royal Caribbean. Their Independence of the Seas is a new ship, and goes out of Southampton. We have also cruised on Norwegian Jade, which is more relaxed in evening dress style and this may suit the family more. Would recommend any of these, as well as Ventura. To be honest if you have not cruised before I would suggest you avoid going into the Med from Southampton (or any other British port) as the seas between the English Channel, and down into the Med can be rough at any time, especially in the Bay of Biscay.

If you are not sure about the 14 night thing, another option is to take a 5 or 7 night cruise from Barcelona with either Royal Caribbean or Norwegian, and get down the coast to the Costa Dorada for the remaining time. It is easy to self book that type of thing. The only way you can normally do this as a "package" is to use either Thomson (who by mid-year will have absorbed Island cruises) or Ocean Village, but neither will match the quality or newness of Ventura or a Royal caribbean or Norwegian ship, nor will the cost be any less!!

If we go on the Ventura in the summer, but on one of their other routes (havent checked the details yet) like the Norway, denmark (balkans?) cruise would that be better in terms of sea conditions?

This will probably be a one off and quite fancy the Ventura.

I am a bit worried about the tickets being sold off dirt cheap in the last 4 weeks like they did for the xmas cruise and thus causing problems. I kind of assumed the people that caused problems on the Xmas one would be more attracted to the med and give the Norway, Denmark cruises a miss. Probably making crass generalisations but am assuming a different kind of clientel, so that's possibly another plus point for this second option. Also been to lots of the Ports of Call on the Med cruises over the years on normal holidays.

Tried reading a few of the cruise boards, but they are doing my head in if you will pardon the expression.
Been to Costa Dorada a couple of times, staying for a week each time at one of Port Aventuras hotel's so don't really fancy that in the height of the summer. Plus a third time might be pushing it, also not too keen on Salou itself.

Norway takes in the North Sea which, potentially, would be worse. Also, it is not an attractive area for teenagers as much of the attraction is in the scenery and tranquility of the area. To put the Bay of Biscay etc. into perspective, the summer is absolutely the most likely time to have a good sailing, but the risk is always there. We have gone across it (down and back again)both early June and mid-October and it has been OK. The worst we had was a force 8/9 gale in October, on Ventura, and we were fine!

Incidentally, take little notice of all the alleged Christmas cruise stuff! When you read the reports closely you see that the weather was uncharacteristically bad, and when it is many people whinge at the least little problem and blow things out of proportion. we have found on our 11 cruises (on 8 different cruiselines) that 5% of passengers are snobs, 5% are "unsavoury" and the huge majority 90% are normal folks. P&O do not sell cruises at "dirt cheap" prices, despite what some may claim to have paid!

My advice is go for it, but be prepared with Stugeron tablets etc.

What are sturgeon tablets. I thought it was a posh fish.

Presumably crossing the Bay of Biscay is only a 24 hour part of the journey ???

What I wrote was stugeron, not sturgeon. They are anti-diziness tablets, and remove any feeling of nausea. Yes Biscay is probably a 24 hour job....no big deal really.

I wouldn't even say the Bay was 24 hours, more like 12-14 hours.

luci

Thanks Luci. I think that is quite manageable then especially as it would be during the height of summer.

Sorry hamrag I misread it.