Ups and Downs on Ventura.

Boarding was chaotic, ship did not dock until 11am and there were IT problems at check-in. We were lucky as we made it inside before they closed the doors and made people queue outside in the freezing weather. We were also lucky that we were on-board very quickly and our amazing cabin steward asked what luggage we had and set off to find it for us. Many passengers didn’t get theirs until very late. When we went to bed at 11pm there was still luggage waiting to be loaded on the quayside. Ventura is not good in high winds and rough seas, this was our 11th Atlantic crossing and the worst by a long way. Our cabin deck 10 by front staircase felt like a cocktail shaker and it was so bad they closed the theatre totally for a few days for safety. At times the bow waves reached deck 14 and we were looking out at a wall of water. It took 9 days to cross from La Corunna so missed overnight stop in Bermuda. The waiters, barmen, wine waiter, cabin steward were all excellent. Reception desk was helpful and the entertainments team under Leon were the most hardworking, visible and fun we have had in our past 8 P&O cruises. With cocktail parties and sailaways it almost felt like we were back to normal. The entertainment was not really to our taste jugglers, several magicians and comedians along with Wallace and Gromit. I know it is a family ship but it seemed to be aimed more at the 8 children on the ship than the 2,000 + adults. There were however a (very) few excellent singers/musicians performing in Arena Theatre and Havana during the holiday. Shore excursions were for the most part poorly organised, didn’t follow the descriptions/itineraries and excursions staff were not interested or helpful. Kennedy space centre excursion was brilliant ,very well organised and driver/guides were excellent (possibly because this was all the Kennedy space centre and P&O had nothing to do with it except sell the ticket)s. There were lots of medical emergencies as is normal for a longer cruise plus rescue of the crew of a small yacht in bad weather in the Caribbean. USA immigration managed to cut some peoples 2 day stay in New Orleans down to 24 hours. Again we were ‘lucky’ because we had booked a morning tour but still had to stand in a queue for over 2 and a half hours. We were told to go through immigration then get back on-board for breakfast don’t think anyone had time before their tour to do this. A few niggles, water and juice machines in buffet were often ALL empty when people were trying to get breakfast on port days. There were often no cups or glasses in the buffet. Food in MDR was a bit more variety than we had on Arcadia in September and MDR on Iona in Nov/Dec. Still lots of green beans but also peas and broccoli so at least not every night. They are still not coping well with pre-diabetic diets, often only low sugar option was fruit and with no wholemeal bread or any wholegrains on-board if you are trying to avoid becoming diabetic be prepared to have very little to eat. We enjoyed our cruise but don’t think we would book this one again. The ports were for the most part disappointing and only 10 ports over the 35 nights. Not sure we would book a balcony again either, it worked out at around £400 extra for every day we could use it. There were a lot of people complaining, but it was our 9th cruise since Covid and although by no means perfect it really did feel a lot more ‘normal’.