Short Christmas Cruise

We took my Mum & Dad with us on this cruise, they’d never been on a cruise before and to be honest had never been interested in going on one, but we treated them as an early Christmas present so they didn’t have a choice! We paid for valet parking at the port so simply drove up (after a very short wait) and our bags were efficiently whisked away. We waited in the hall to embark and were on the ship within 30 minutes of arriving, which was great as we had actually arrived one hour earlier than P&O had requested. Our luggage was already outside our cabin which was so easy!

We had superior deluxe cabins (deck D) which have the small sitting room, we both thought the rooms were excellent and in very good condition. The bathrooms had a little ‘wear and tear’ but nothing that concerned us. The champagne and chocolates were a nice touch too. We didn’t see our cabin stewart but our room was always prepared, but my Mum & Dad’s cabin stewart (Nambi) went out of his way to make them welcome and they were very impressed!

We had freedom dining (Cinnamon) and went to dinner early (before 7pm) as my Mum was keen not to miss out on any of the entertainment. We never had to wait, and the food and choice was very good. It’s also worth noting that the wine menu is very reasonably priced. We ate breakfast in Saffron, the food and choice was good but at both dinner and breakfast the service was a bit surly at times (though this was very much the exception) but this seemed to be driven by how busy the restaurant was.

We had lunch in the Waterside/Beach House and whilst the quality and choice of food was good, we didn’t like the process/ambience, so if it was open we would choose to eat in the main dining rooms for lunch and breakfast.

My Dad was seriously impressed with the quality of the fittings on the ship and also the upkeep and the cleanliness. As we’ve cruised many times before this passed us by but this was a real ‘eye opener’ for my Mum & Dad.

Whilst on the ship we had a busy schedule trying to keep up with my Mum (she’s 80 in a few months!!), she loved the 8.30pm shows in the Arena (particularly the 4tunes, but enjoyed destination dance too), we also had a wonderfully singer (Portia) in Taramind who we saw at 10.30pm, and then various things in-between. We also enjoyed the Whitney Houston session in Havana but to be honest we preferred the other locations.

We had booked trips for Amsterdam and Brugges which my Mum and Dad thought were easy, well-planned etc, and they really enjoyed these.

We ate in Epicurean one night and I’m so pleased we did as this was a super experience, wonderful food, service and ambience … a real treat!

My Mum and Dad are now keen to book up another trip, and were disappointed that the same trip isn’t available next year, but I definitely think they’ll go again. It’s also made my husband I rethink our plans as we usually travel on smaller ships with Silverseas, and are going to Alaska next year with Regent. However, the fact that we could start our holiday from Southampton, and the quality of the cabin, food and entertainment is encouraging us to go on another trip on Ventura probably to the Canaries in 2017.

I’ve rated this cruise 5, there were small things that could do with improving, but I’m mindful how much we paid (?œ350 per head) and think to rate it any less would simply be wrong, as it was such good value for money.