Ventura Caribbean Cruise December 1st -January 5th

Prior to this cruise, we were very concerned as we had read so many negative reviews. Ventura does look tired but is due a refit in February.
On arrival at Southampton we were met by a queue outside stretching the length of the building and luggage stacked on the pavement, believe this was due to staff shortage of the port authority. Once inside the terminal, we joined a long snaking queue for the covid vaccination check then through priority, check in and straight on to the ship to be registered at our muster station.
Our cabin was a deluxe cabin on D deck. The cabin was clean and tidy which was kept that way by our steward for the whole cruise he worked very hard and was always smiling.
The ship was very clean with the crew constantly wiping all services, handrails ect with anti-bacterial cleaner and there was plenty of hand gel around the ship. Mask wearing was voluntary for passengers and crew.
FOOD: we were club dining in the Bay Tree Restaurant dining at 1830, waiters were very attentive and nothing was too much for them. The quality of the meals varied, we found that the steaks and roasts were cooked well but fish and chicken dishes we found to be very tough also not much variety on the menu. The portions were small this apparently due to environmental concerns raised with P&O on food wastage but if you wanted more the waiters always obliged. With regards to the buffet if you didn’t want a cooked meal the cold meals salad bar ect was very repetitive lack of choice always the same cold meats and fish very boring.
ENTERTAINMENT: The entertainment crew were very pro active in all aspects be it deck games, quizzes ect. With regard to the shows in the Arena theatre there was too many female singers and not much variety. The Headliners were the worst we have seen, the female singers screeched a lot and there seemed to be a competition between the Ventura orchestra and the female singers who could be the loudest. Film selection on the cabin tv or in the theatre and bars was very poor.
Re covid some passengers did contract covid but we were not told how many. Some passengers that were isolated were treated well some had bad experiences.
I almost forgot to mention that we got married on board Ventura during the cruise and the events manager and crew could not do enough for us, we were looked after very well.
All in all we had a very enjoyable cruise and would cruise on Ventura again.