Superb 14 Night Caribbean Cruise on P&O Ventura

I have cruised before on 3 other P&O ships and and each has its own individual ambiance, Ventura is the largest and most family friendly of the ships i’ve been although i still prefer Oceana. The last cruise i went on was again Ventura only 8 cabins away and last time our children were with us. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves and i learned a lot about the ship as a ‘family friendly’ vessel, this time without the kids we had time to sample the other aspects of the ship and discover attractions we didn’t touch on the year before. For me itƒ??s the attitude of the staff that sells the product, ever since my first cruise over 10 years ago its still as good as ever. This time i went on far more excursions and this added to the holiday, i wouldn’t want to spend every day on the ship and neither did my wife so we did as much exploring as possible. The excursions are highly organised and customer friendly, there’s something to do and see on every island and its nice to get back to the ship and have drinks before your dinner later on in the evening.

As the holiday went on we both were very impressed with what was on offer, its lovely to break up the holiday with days at sea and we sampled the various restaurants and food thatƒ??s on offer, we both like sunbathing and always ventured in the spa pool later on in the day, during the first week there was a slight outbreak of norovirus which was handled by the staff most efficiently, for me the main dining room cuisine is perhaps not as good as it was when i first cruised but there is always the specialty restaurants to sample, Marco Pierre White being a particular favourite. The buffet food is very good and there is always loads of choice, we also enjoyed the pizza and the BBQ food that is on offer.

I cannot fault the staff or the ship itself. We were looked after really well throughout the cruise and had a great time. The ship was excellent and the facilities as good as ever. We enjoyed the dining throughout and the entertainment was great. Excursions were organised extremely well and we thoroughly enjoyed our time in the Caribbean.

I have recently travelled with Royal Caribbean aboard Splendour of the Seas and have to say I enjoyed this cruise more. The Ventura is larger with a greater amount of facilities and entertainment which we enjoyed having available to us. The dining arrangements seemed to flow better on board Ventura and we loved the Caribbean where as Splendour was in the Mediterranean which we still enjoyed but I do love the Caribbean sunshine. I would never hesitate to go back to Royal Caribbean as we had a great time and I thought they were excellent but enjoyed this experience with P&O a little more thanks to the amazing ship.

I would say that having experienced both sides of it, with children and without I can definitely say that the Ventura is more than capable of giving a great holiday to numerous target audiences. I think a lot of people consider her just for a family holiday where as we had a brilliant time as a couple, just as good as when we travelled with the kids. I wouldnƒ??t hesitate to recommend the ship to anyone I spoke to.

Well done P&O Cruises for providing a great cruising experience and thank you Bolsover Cruise Club for your excellent service again!!

The Waring Family