VENTURA ORDEAL
Review of P&O Cruises Ventura by Jim3 (21 Jul 08)
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Overall Rating
Ventura! Why did we do it. This ship can only be described as 'Butlins at Sea'. The Kids ruled. Not the little ones, On the whole, the parents did their best and you can understand the occasional noisy outburst. Our problem was the 9-16 age group. They run everywhere. they monopolise every pool and spa tub. Their clubs seem to encourage them to play up. The 'Family' entertainment seeme to start at totally un-family friendly times. Family disco at 11pm putting on of the largest bars off limits to those who wanted to use it. However, the adults bars seemed to shut at about 1 am. In fact, we were sitting in one bar at 0130 and the lights went out. No explanation, no comment, just darkness.
In the cabin, requests for small items like the card to indicate 'Do not disturb' went unfilled. The request for a new bar of soap had to be referred to a supervisor for permission.
The ship rolled almost constantly regardless of sea condition and the inability to dock at Lanzarote was explained once and briefly by the Captain over the PA system and not mentioned again. Additional activities for the day stuck at sea amounted to additional kids football training. P&O are unable to manage the greedy indivduals hogging the sunbeds for hours on end with towels,books etc. Their answer was to say that the passengers should remove items. What a recipe for confrontation, and I witnessed 1 or 2 ugly incidents only being avoided by 1 side backing down to avoid a fight.
On the whole, P&O should seriously look at their market and decide whether they want their new ship to be a creche at sea or a serious holiday venue for people who have worked all year to afford their break.
Next time, I'm going either Cunard or Royal Carribean. they, at least appear to know how to treat their clients.
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