NOT SO GOOD IN REAL LIFE
Review of P&O Cruises Ventura by Bobbybass (10 May 08)
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Overall Rating
We have just returned from a proper operational 'paid for' cruise that covered 7 nights (ie not travel promotional ) .It was my 74th cruise since 1979 and I must say it was by far the worse. As soon as we arrived on board it was obvious that the ship was hugely overcrowded and none of the departments could cope. This was contrary to the experience of the 'trial cruisers' and travel agents reports that appear here before the ship 'did it for real'. A possible reason for this was outlined by two seperate couples we met, who had been on the Maiden voyage the week before and were also shocked that this second week had descended into mayhem. They had made enquiries from staff and had been told that; despite being told that the ship was sold out ( I was told this) there were actually a huge number of cabins left empty and 1000 passengers less. If you were on the maiden or the 'tasters' try and imagine another 1000 people !. This was obviously something that P&O had realised some time back because on our first visit to the Cinamon Freedom dining (early) , we were given a pager and told that no tables were left. The two large banks of pagers did not just turn up over night, and must have been ready for this expected problem. Having spent an hour waiting in a bar, the pager bleeped and we got a table, but other who had been waiting were told they would not get in that night. This was a bit sad because by this time, there was nowhere else to go !. We therefore had to book every freedom dining event to save going hungry. Things carried on like this all week. Breakfast the next morning we opted for the buffet style, but seats were impossible to find and we often ended up outside on the deck. The theatre involved being there 30 minutes before performance, or you would end up standing as many did. I think I read that it holds 750..?..but if you do the maths with 3500 passengers, they will not fit into three performances. At the ports of call we would arrive and only have a single file gangway for the first couple of hours. Add to this scanning each persons card and you will soon realise how long 3000+ people will take to get off. I can tell you...its about 1.5 hours !!. The in-house theatre shows were as laughable as they get. The lead singers...couldn't. ... There was a very muscley guy on board with a tall muscley woman. During the show they would lift each other and support at wild angles, which initially was interesting...HOWEVER....doing it in almost every show became very tedious !. You just thought 'here's Mr Muscley lifting old sinuey again '. The concept of it being a good family holiday seemed sound, but didn't apear to be working well. A family with a 2 year old said that 1 Noddy theme room did not a 'cruise make' and they would not come again. Older kids did better with computers , bungey etc...but the adults would leave them to do their own thing. As such they would run about bars even at 11pm...congregate in the stair wells and disrupt shows. Several passengers complained to a senior bar type person who said that he was not happy either, but was told that this was policy and that kids could run about and be served in the bars (soft drinks of course !!). As such many adults packed out the Metropolis bar as they said the others were unusable due to noise etc. There were 300 kids on board and I'm told that the summer holiday target months are to be 900/week. The cabin was a nice balconey on the stern and was immaculately maintained as you would expect. The loo was working intermitently from day one, as did many other passengers. The corridor between the photo gallery and the Tamarind smelt seriously of raw sewerage for the whole week. Over the week my wife and I must have spoken to over 100 people, not one of whom said they would ever come back. They all had their own upsets in different ways. Disabled people were made to abandon wheelchairs and walk up the gangway with staff looking on. I queried an officer if he thought this was good and he said its 'bridge policy'. A bride married on board and her family occupied 2 tables in the Saffron. On her wedding day she was not allowed to sit next to her mother as it would 'confuse the system'. A man had booked a three day taster cruise for a friend, only to discover its being promoted for stag nights. The list went on. My wife and I just stopped worrying and took things as they came along, but huge numbers were really upset. If you have kids age 8+ ish...and maybe want to take Granny/Grandad it may work for you. As long as you are patient in queues...very patient !. Cruise 74 for me and it will be my one and only P&O.
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