P&O Cruises Ventura

Really enjoyed doing the transatlantic cruise on the Ventura but something really got my back up. On several of the Formal nights, there were a good number of people who just ignored the rule and turned up wearing casual gear. I mean, dont get me wrong, I dont mind dining informally but part of the trip for me and my wife is going to town and getting our glad rags on! I wish that something could be done to ensure that Formal nights are kept Formal!

VENTURA – our first cruise with the children & grandchildren and we picked the Ventura because it seemed to have something for everyone. The grandchildren really enjoyed the Beachcomber pool while the adults enjoyed the Beachcomber Bar & Waterside.

I travelled on P&O Ventura in July and I would highly recommend it. It is a great ship for families, couples and people of all ages. The service was fantastic and the food was amazing, especially in the Marco Pierre White Restaurant, which has a lovely view of the Ocean while you eat. There was a great range of different entertainment every night. Although the ship is very large it is easily accessible and it never felt over crowded. Even though it is a family friendly ship I never saw a child as they are really well looked after by the childcare team. Definitely a ship worth trying.

I have just got back from my first cruise and I’m hooked! I went with my partner and parents. We went on P&O’s Ventura for 21 nights. I was reluctant at first as we only went on to look after our parents- we thought we would be bored and the ship would look very old- we couldn’t have been more wrong! We met some good people each day that we were there, our room was spacious and clean, the entertainment exceeded our expectations and the food was non-stop! I’m planning a cruise for next year already! Now I just have to decide where to go!

Me and my wife cruised around the Caribbean over Christmas and new year. We have cruised with P&O before so knew what to expect. The ship was beautifully decorated with Christmas decorations and the Christmas activities were great fun. Everyone made a great effort to dress up on formal nights which was lovely. We each received a Christmas present which was very thoughtful. There was a great mix of people on board of all ages which was nice. We enjoyed chatting to different people in the evenings. Can’t fault P&O, we have been cruising with them for years and can’t wait to book our next P&O cruise.

Had a lovely cruise with my family on board P&O Ventura. I wanted a large ship with lots of facilities and Ventura was perfect. The children loved the kids club & I was really happy to see a nursery on board give me & the hubby some quality time together without the kids. We watched some amazing shows in the theatre and I couldn’t believe how all this was included in our price.

The food was lovely & we couldn’t fault a thing. I really enjoyed the afternoon tea cream cakes.

Cabin had everything we needed just felt a little cramped at times I will definitely have a balcony next time to give us that extra space. All in all fantastic cruise holiday & cant wait to go again.

I went on a fantastic P&O Ventura cruise, as I am 54 and my husband is 56 we thought with it being a big ship that it may have been a bit of the top and too much for us to cope with. However Ventura proved me wrong, the staff got to know us by name and always ensured we were happy with the meals and level of service we were receiving. I also loved how they mixed the different evenings up with some being formal evenings and others being either casual or semi formal. I chose the 8:30 dining whilst doing my Baltic cruise which gave me a bit of time to get ready after a long day of touring St Petersburg and other capitals whilst there. There was always plenty to eat and the service from the staff in the main restaurants was excellent, the food was absolutely perfection. Throughout the day when we had our days at sea I enjoyed the spa and other on-board entertainment and the huge cinema, there was never a moment when there was nothing to do and this was what I was worried about with spending a lot of money. I definitely will be doing my world cruise on this ship now after being on over 35 ships and being an experienced cruiser this was by far my favourite.

Travelled on this ship 2 weeks Caribbean with our children and my parents. Flights/transfers all worked really well as it was a special flight for this cruise out of Manchester.

The cabin wasn’t huge but absolutely fine and the Balcony was very large. The kids loved it in the Splashers Club and the Frankie’s Pizza and place got well used!

We found the crew very helpful and great with our children which is important. My parents have cruised loads before so knew what to expect, they had a Junior Suite which was really nice.

Ramblas the Spanish restaurant was great and we all liked Saffron too. Would have liked Marco Pierre’s but we couldn’t all get in together – worth booking ahead!!

Value for money this was a great trip with lovely weather, food and service. It was very full but that’s because it’s a great price!!

WOW!!!! This ship is massive!! As I arrived into Southampton my jaw dropped when I saw what I would be spending the next two weeks on. Her restaurants especially the buffet restaurant are gorgeous and I thought the buffet restaurant was massive. Loads of selection for everybody (even fussy eaters like myself). Our JC Balcony cabin was fantastic and much bigger than I thought it would be. The balcony itself was a decent size as well which was well used. Our cabin steward Jose was extremely helpful and acted immediately with any request we made.

We never saw our children as they were always in the kids clubs and crèche. Our 10 month old had a great time in the crèche as well and I must admit I was extremely impressed with the crèche and childrens facilities. The crèche itself has 8-10 cots and 8-10 cotbeds which were low off the ground so if they did happen to roll off the drop was extremely minimal. There is even a ball pitt in the crèche as well to keep the little ones entertained as well as story time. Next door is Toybox where my son played. Again they had loads of activities from crafts to soft play.

They even had little computers where the kids could play away on. Children are extremely well supervised so hubby and I were completely relaxed about leaving them there while we had our own time to enjoy the ship.

Bars were very clean and staff behind them very attentive. Our waiter in the restaurant was very quick in learning our names and did what they could to entertain our two children.

I really couldn’t imagine a better holiday than Ventura and will definitely be back on board. Have already recommended to our friends and other parents our babys nursery.

Just returned from a lovely holiday on the P&O Cruise, The Ventura. Lots of good positives with a few niggly things which P& O could do better with a bit more attention.

Good flight followed by quick journey to the cruise terminal, then to queue rank and file in shed with no air conditioning to check in, this need’s speeding up, one lady fainted, and then to top it all a photo session at the end. How good can you look after travelling all day, not needed.

Cabin was on deck nine with outside balcony, this is my third cruise and now will take balcony option only. With a drink in hand, and gliding through the calm Caribbean sea with your loved one, what’s not to love.

All Ports of call were good with some great highlights being able to visit Jamaica again, The Antigua Island trip and the wonderful boat trip to view the Pitons on St Lucia.

Entertainment overall very good, especially Freddie Mercury impersonator, and some great port leaving parties, entertainment team did themselves proud.

Real gripes with dining, requested freedom dining but got second sitting, ok nice to eat later but bad way to consume food and then sit in show for an hour no chance to walk off dinner. Food was acceptable but no real wow factor, ate at East where the service was slow, very disappointing when a supplement was charged. Choose not eat at Whites as Menu was made from dishes served from Saffron dining rooms menu.

Staff were ok, but lacking any passion for the job, unlike other cruises.

Plenty of staff but little direction.

Nice holiday with some reservations regarding P&O, whether I would choose to cruise with them again.

We usually love sea days when cruising which is why we decided to book this transatlantic crossing on the Ventura. We were so excited for our 21 night P&O cruise as they never disappoint, Ventura is by far our favourite ship we’ve cruise on so far. We checked in smoothly, our bags were waiting at the cabin for us and we set sail in no time! We had great weather crossing the transatlantic and spent most the time lounging around the pools. There was a newspaper delivered daily with all the ship’s entertainment on, live entertainment was usually around the Laguna pool at lunchtime, this was great to watch while having a snack by the bar. We chose the freedom dining option which was great for us as we could choose what time we wanted to eat, there were so many different dining options on board which were all great. We really enjoyed our transatlantic crossing, days at sea were relaxing but we were never bored! We will defiantly be sailing across the transatlantic again.

We’d only ever been on small ships before and fancied something different, but we won’t go with anyone other than P&O so decided to try Ventura. We liked the fact she sails out of Southampton, and we live not so far away so it was perfect for us. We prefer not to fly as my husband doesn’t really like flying and it’s generally easier for us anyway. And of course it means we’re not restricted to baggage allowance and we can take as much as we like.

Just looking at the ship in port made my knees tremble slightly, I felt like I was going on a rollercoaster, it just wasn’t what we were used to, but the service or cruise was not compromised throughout. We treated ourselves to a suite this time, as we came in to some money and quite frankly we’ve set our own standards now as we wouldn’t ever just settle for a balcony in the future. We even had our own butler and exclusive access to Marco Pierre White’s restaurant, The White Room for breakfast. The little extra touches of staying in the suite made the difference completely. Even just receiving fruit, flowers and champagne in our cabin made us feel special.

We spent the majority of the holiday relaxing as that’s all we really like doing, but we were spoiled for choice for things to do eat such as Spanish Tapas in Ramblas or Oriental cuisine in East. Our favourite part of the food on offer was Afternoon Tea with scones and teacakes. The other great thing as well was the fact that Ventura is such a large, family friendly ship, we were worried there would be lots of children running around but it seemed like they were so well catered for, we didn’t really see much of them anyway.

On Ventura too there is the option of Freedom Dining, which means you can go and eat in the main restaurant whenever you want, rather than sticking to the same time every night and sitting with the same people. Of course you can always opt to go and eat in the buffet restaurant if you don’t want the formality of the main restaurant.

All in all such a great experience, we got lost so many times onboard trying to find our way round, but that was all part of the fun, and now it seems as if the larger ships are better than the smaller ones in our opinions!

This has to be the best holiday I’ve ever had. We flew to Barbados, which was so convenient. We were met at the airport and taken straight to the ship. It was a seamless operation. The sail away parties were the best we’ve ever had, including cocktail of the day and a sing along around the pool. There was so much choice in things to do, both day and night, either a going to the gym, or spa to a quiz or maybe some dancing and much more. There are also many different dining options to choose from…. my favourite has to be the American Diner where we had fillet steak served on lava rock. It has to be the best value holiday I’ve taken in years. With so much is included we are already looking forward to doing it all again next year, maybe? Let’s Hope!

Ventura was great. We had our Caribbean holiday with them last year and their cruise was fantastic. The food was sensational. We were slightly sceptical that the buffet food wouldn’t be that great, but the food at the Waterside and Beach house buffets were amazing! Our kids we were happy and we were happy to let them eat the food they wanted; which almost never happens. The kids discovered they could order ice cream from room service. I must admit we all did slightly over indulge and eating ice cream on our balcony watching the sun set over the Caribbean islands was one of our best family experiences ever. The staff were efficient and faultless.

This was our first cruise on the Ventura. The service was brilliant nothing was too much trouble. The restaurants all 12 of them were fantastic. The Full production West end style shows were marvellous and included in the price …! The cabin we had was wonderful sat on our private balcony whilst sailing in the Caribbean seas with a cocktail it was pure perfection.

I cannot recommend enough.

We have just come back from a fabulous Caribbean cruise with another couple. It was our first cruise and their third, both our first for P&O. WOW! I have to say it was the dream holiday and experience.

The Ventura is such a magnificent ship; it was very clean and good quality decor. We stayed in an Inside cabin B412, we were a bit worried that it was going to feel small and cramped but we were pleasantly surprised! There was loads of storage room for our clothes and all my shoes and dresses, the room was very well laid out and they made the most of the space.

Our cabin steward was so kind, nothing was ever too much trouble, everything was always clean and the towels in cute swan shapes which I want to know how to do that. The food was wonderful, we ate in Bay Tree and The Beach house mainly, there was always plenty of options and never got boring. The buffet breakfast was always plentiful, considering there were over 2,000 passengers on board I never one felt it was over crowded or cramped. I’m not sure where everyone was hiding.

The cakes at tea time were to die for! The entertainment at the arena was excellent as well as Art collection, it was just outstanding. We had 3 days at sea, during these days me and my friend went to the Oasis Spa to have a nice treatment and relax, I was very surprised by the prices they were very good. Our husbands opted for The Exchange English pub so they could have some nice real ales. The tours were really well priced, the Caribbean islands are fantastic and the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I’m so happy we went on a cruise to see them; we will definitely be travelling back to St Lucia and Barbados by far our favourite places.

Our cruise was relaxing, fun and we thoroughly enjoyed all of the excursions we did. I think the next stop is the Mediterranean with P&O they are just brilliant and the value for money is what has surprised us the most. Thank you for everything!!

We had a fantastic time on the Ventura, we were pleasantly surprised at how exciting and enjoyable cruising was and how big the ship was itself. We parked at Southampton which was a doddle, the car park was right on the port. We left our luggage with the porter and made our way onto the ship. We were greeted with a glass of champagne, ready for the sail away from the port. Once we had left the port we went to find our cabin and were surprised at how easy it was to find the cabin on such a huge ship. The cabin was very comfortable and perfect for what we needed, we went for an outside cabin this time to let in some natural light and although it was obstructed it was still fantastic. If you are a foodie like me you will love the Ventura with the Speciality restaurants, one for each night on a weeks cruise. My personal favourite was Ramblas the Tapas bar. The food was exquisite and the wine flowed nicely with your meal but the price did not astonish you at the end of a wonderful evening.

I have always cruised with American cruise lines so was unsure what to expect from P&O, but was very pleasantly surprised by how good this was. We booked it as a family trip for my mum’s 60th and went to the Fjords, which are absolutely amazing with lots to do for younger, active guests – we did kayaking, hiking, glacier trips and cable car rides. The service and food on Ventura were excellent and the drinks were very reasonable compared to many other cruise lines.

We have just came back off a cruise on the ventura 19th july too the 26th. Cruise it self was fab the food was beautiful in all resterants and buffet, bought a costa coffee card for 21.50 for 10 primo coffees which was great as you could also choose a pastrie, slice of cake or aroll for free until 5.00pm although some of the staff i found rude and igronant mostly the women they also never smile, unlike other staff around the ship who always smile and say hello. We stayed on deck 10 room c212 and i must gave a mention to our cabin steward liza who was great nothing was too much for her our room was spotless and she answered all our questions about finding things and laundry etc excellent service from her. Weather goin over from southampton wasnt the best and we missed our first stop in guernsey due to bad weather but stilled had a good time on board. The arena had some great shows fills up quickly though so you need to go early to get a seat . Bingo was a bit boring very slow and rules i never heard if in other places i have played bingo, gallery had some lovely photos aswell all in all lovely ship meet captain aswell and he was lovely even eating his lunch in the buffet area with guests which i thought was great. Beds are very close together and on seas days can get very noisey with some goups of family taking over an area and being very loud and not thinking about others around them you can hear their every word so no chance of relaxing unless you go up very high to adulfs only deck which is also very cramped with beds other than that fab holiday cant wait to come back next year but not in school holidays x

Really enjoyed doing the transatlantic cruise on the Ventura but something really got my back up. On several of the Formal nights, there were a good number of people who just ignored the rule and turned up wearing casual gear. I mean, dont get me wrong, I dont mind dining informally but part of the trip for me and my wife is going to town and getting our glad rags on! I wish that something could be done to ensure that Formal nights are kept Formal!

VENTURA – our first cruise with the children & grandchildren and we picked the Ventura because it seemed to have something for everyone. The grandchildren really enjoyed the Beachcomber pool while the adults enjoyed the Beachcomber Bar & Waterside.

I travelled on P&O Ventura in July and I would highly recommend it. It is a great ship for families, couples and people of all ages. The service was fantastic and the food was amazing, especially in the Marco Pierre White Restaurant, which has a lovely view of the Ocean while you eat. There was a great range of different entertainment every night. Although the ship is very large it is easily accessible and it never felt over crowded. Even though it is a family friendly ship I never saw a child as they are really well looked after by the childcare team. Definitely a ship worth trying.

I have just got back from my first cruise and I’m hooked! I went with my partner and parents. We went on P&O’s Ventura for 21 nights. I was reluctant at first as we only went on to look after our parents- we thought we would be bored and the ship would look very old- we couldn’t have been more wrong! We met some good people each day that we were there, our room was spacious and clean, the entertainment exceeded our expectations and the food was non-stop! I’m planning a cruise for next year already! Now I just have to decide where to go!

Me and my wife cruised around the Caribbean over Christmas and new year. We have cruised with P&O before so knew what to expect. The ship was beautifully decorated with Christmas decorations and the Christmas activities were great fun. Everyone made a great effort to dress up on formal nights which was lovely. We each received a Christmas present which was very thoughtful. There was a great mix of people on board of all ages which was nice. We enjoyed chatting to different people in the evenings. Can’t fault P&O, we have been cruising with them for years and can’t wait to book our next P&O cruise.

Had a lovely cruise with my family on board P&O Ventura. I wanted a large ship with lots of facilities and Ventura was perfect. The children loved the kids club & I was really happy to see a nursery on board give me & the hubby some quality time together without the kids. We watched some amazing shows in the theatre and I couldn’t believe how all this was included in our price.

The food was lovely & we couldn’t fault a thing. I really enjoyed the afternoon tea cream cakes.

Cabin had everything we needed just felt a little cramped at times I will definitely have a balcony next time to give us that extra space. All in all fantastic cruise holiday & cant wait to go again.

I went on a fantastic P&O Ventura cruise, as I am 54 and my husband is 56 we thought with it being a big ship that it may have been a bit of the top and too much for us to cope with. However Ventura proved me wrong, the staff got to know us by name and always ensured we were happy with the meals and level of service we were receiving. I also loved how they mixed the different evenings up with some being formal evenings and others being either casual or semi formal. I chose the 8:30 dining whilst doing my Baltic cruise which gave me a bit of time to get ready after a long day of touring St Petersburg and other capitals whilst there. There was always plenty to eat and the service from the staff in the main restaurants was excellent, the food was absolutely perfection. Throughout the day when we had our days at sea I enjoyed the spa and other on-board entertainment and the huge cinema, there was never a moment when there was nothing to do and this was what I was worried about with spending a lot of money. I definitely will be doing my world cruise on this ship now after being on over 35 ships and being an experienced cruiser this was by far my favourite.

Travelled on this ship 2 weeks Caribbean with our children and my parents. Flights/transfers all worked really well as it was a special flight for this cruise out of Manchester.

The cabin wasn’t huge but absolutely fine and the Balcony was very large. The kids loved it in the Splashers Club and the Frankie’s Pizza and place got well used!

We found the crew very helpful and great with our children which is important. My parents have cruised loads before so knew what to expect, they had a Junior Suite which was really nice.

Ramblas the Spanish restaurant was great and we all liked Saffron too. Would have liked Marco Pierre’s but we couldn’t all get in together – worth booking ahead!!

Value for money this was a great trip with lovely weather, food and service. It was very full but that’s because it’s a great price!!

WOW!!!! This ship is massive!! As I arrived into Southampton my jaw dropped when I saw what I would be spending the next two weeks on. Her restaurants especially the buffet restaurant are gorgeous and I thought the buffet restaurant was massive. Loads of selection for everybody (even fussy eaters like myself). Our JC Balcony cabin was fantastic and much bigger than I thought it would be. The balcony itself was a decent size as well which was well used. Our cabin steward Jose was extremely helpful and acted immediately with any request we made.

We never saw our children as they were always in the kids clubs and crèche. Our 10 month old had a great time in the crèche as well and I must admit I was extremely impressed with the crèche and childrens facilities. The crèche itself has 8-10 cots and 8-10 cotbeds which were low off the ground so if they did happen to roll off the drop was extremely minimal. There is even a ball pitt in the crèche as well to keep the little ones entertained as well as story time. Next door is Toybox where my son played. Again they had loads of activities from crafts to soft play.

They even had little computers where the kids could play away on. Children are extremely well supervised so hubby and I were completely relaxed about leaving them there while we had our own time to enjoy the ship.

Bars were very clean and staff behind them very attentive. Our waiter in the restaurant was very quick in learning our names and did what they could to entertain our two children.

I really couldn’t imagine a better holiday than Ventura and will definitely be back on board. Have already recommended to our friends and other parents our babys nursery.

Just returned from a lovely holiday on the P&O Cruise, The Ventura. Lots of good positives with a few niggly things which P& O could do better with a bit more attention.

Good flight followed by quick journey to the cruise terminal, then to queue rank and file in shed with no air conditioning to check in, this need’s speeding up, one lady fainted, and then to top it all a photo session at the end. How good can you look after travelling all day, not needed.

Cabin was on deck nine with outside balcony, this is my third cruise and now will take balcony option only. With a drink in hand, and gliding through the calm Caribbean sea with your loved one, what’s not to love.

All Ports of call were good with some great highlights being able to visit Jamaica again, The Antigua Island trip and the wonderful boat trip to view the Pitons on St Lucia.

Entertainment overall very good, especially Freddie Mercury impersonator, and some great port leaving parties, entertainment team did themselves proud.

Real gripes with dining, requested freedom dining but got second sitting, ok nice to eat later but bad way to consume food and then sit in show for an hour no chance to walk off dinner. Food was acceptable but no real wow factor, ate at East where the service was slow, very disappointing when a supplement was charged. Choose not eat at Whites as Menu was made from dishes served from Saffron dining rooms menu.

Staff were ok, but lacking any passion for the job, unlike other cruises.

Plenty of staff but little direction.

Nice holiday with some reservations regarding P&O, whether I would choose to cruise with them again.

We usually love sea days when cruising which is why we decided to book this transatlantic crossing on the Ventura. We were so excited for our 21 night P&O cruise as they never disappoint, Ventura is by far our favourite ship we’ve cruise on so far. We checked in smoothly, our bags were waiting at the cabin for us and we set sail in no time! We had great weather crossing the transatlantic and spent most the time lounging around the pools. There was a newspaper delivered daily with all the ship’s entertainment on, live entertainment was usually around the Laguna pool at lunchtime, this was great to watch while having a snack by the bar. We chose the freedom dining option which was great for us as we could choose what time we wanted to eat, there were so many different dining options on board which were all great. We really enjoyed our transatlantic crossing, days at sea were relaxing but we were never bored! We will defiantly be sailing across the transatlantic again.

We’d only ever been on small ships before and fancied something different, but we won’t go with anyone other than P&O so decided to try Ventura. We liked the fact she sails out of Southampton, and we live not so far away so it was perfect for us. We prefer not to fly as my husband doesn’t really like flying and it’s generally easier for us anyway. And of course it means we’re not restricted to baggage allowance and we can take as much as we like.

Just looking at the ship in port made my knees tremble slightly, I felt like I was going on a rollercoaster, it just wasn’t what we were used to, but the service or cruise was not compromised throughout. We treated ourselves to a suite this time, as we came in to some money and quite frankly we’ve set our own standards now as we wouldn’t ever just settle for a balcony in the future. We even had our own butler and exclusive access to Marco Pierre White’s restaurant, The White Room for breakfast. The little extra touches of staying in the suite made the difference completely. Even just receiving fruit, flowers and champagne in our cabin made us feel special.

We spent the majority of the holiday relaxing as that’s all we really like doing, but we were spoiled for choice for things to do eat such as Spanish Tapas in Ramblas or Oriental cuisine in East. Our favourite part of the food on offer was Afternoon Tea with scones and teacakes. The other great thing as well was the fact that Ventura is such a large, family friendly ship, we were worried there would be lots of children running around but it seemed like they were so well catered for, we didn’t really see much of them anyway.

On Ventura too there is the option of Freedom Dining, which means you can go and eat in the main restaurant whenever you want, rather than sticking to the same time every night and sitting with the same people. Of course you can always opt to go and eat in the buffet restaurant if you don’t want the formality of the main restaurant.

All in all such a great experience, we got lost so many times onboard trying to find our way round, but that was all part of the fun, and now it seems as if the larger ships are better than the smaller ones in our opinions!

This has to be the best holiday I’ve ever had. We flew to Barbados, which was so convenient. We were met at the airport and taken straight to the ship. It was a seamless operation. The sail away parties were the best we’ve ever had, including cocktail of the day and a sing along around the pool. There was so much choice in things to do, both day and night, either a going to the gym, or spa to a quiz or maybe some dancing and much more. There are also many different dining options to choose from…. my favourite has to be the American Diner where we had fillet steak served on lava rock. It has to be the best value holiday I’ve taken in years. With so much is included we are already looking forward to doing it all again next year, maybe? Let’s Hope!

Ventura was great. We had our Caribbean holiday with them last year and their cruise was fantastic. The food was sensational. We were slightly sceptical that the buffet food wouldn’t be that great, but the food at the Waterside and Beach house buffets were amazing! Our kids we were happy and we were happy to let them eat the food they wanted; which almost never happens. The kids discovered they could order ice cream from room service. I must admit we all did slightly over indulge and eating ice cream on our balcony watching the sun set over the Caribbean islands was one of our best family experiences ever. The staff were efficient and faultless.

This was our first cruise on the Ventura. The service was brilliant nothing was too much trouble. The restaurants all 12 of them were fantastic. The Full production West end style shows were marvellous and included in the price …! The cabin we had was wonderful sat on our private balcony whilst sailing in the Caribbean seas with a cocktail it was pure perfection.

I cannot recommend enough.

We have just come back from a fabulous Caribbean cruise with another couple. It was our first cruise and their third, both our first for P&O. WOW! I have to say it was the dream holiday and experience.

The Ventura is such a magnificent ship; it was very clean and good quality decor. We stayed in an Inside cabin B412, we were a bit worried that it was going to feel small and cramped but we were pleasantly surprised! There was loads of storage room for our clothes and all my shoes and dresses, the room was very well laid out and they made the most of the space.

Our cabin steward was so kind, nothing was ever too much trouble, everything was always clean and the towels in cute swan shapes which I want to know how to do that. The food was wonderful, we ate in Bay Tree and The Beach house mainly, there was always plenty of options and never got boring. The buffet breakfast was always plentiful, considering there were over 2,000 passengers on board I never one felt it was over crowded or cramped. I’m not sure where everyone was hiding.

The cakes at tea time were to die for! The entertainment at the arena was excellent as well as Art collection, it was just outstanding. We had 3 days at sea, during these days me and my friend went to the Oasis Spa to have a nice treatment and relax, I was very surprised by the prices they were very good. Our husbands opted for The Exchange English pub so they could have some nice real ales. The tours were really well priced, the Caribbean islands are fantastic and the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I’m so happy we went on a cruise to see them; we will definitely be travelling back to St Lucia and Barbados by far our favourite places.

Our cruise was relaxing, fun and we thoroughly enjoyed all of the excursions we did. I think the next stop is the Mediterranean with P&O they are just brilliant and the value for money is what has surprised us the most. Thank you for everything!!

We had a fantastic time on the Ventura, we were pleasantly surprised at how exciting and enjoyable cruising was and how big the ship was itself. We parked at Southampton which was a doddle, the car park was right on the port. We left our luggage with the porter and made our way onto the ship. We were greeted with a glass of champagne, ready for the sail away from the port. Once we had left the port we went to find our cabin and were surprised at how easy it was to find the cabin on such a huge ship. The cabin was very comfortable and perfect for what we needed, we went for an outside cabin this time to let in some natural light and although it was obstructed it was still fantastic. If you are a foodie like me you will love the Ventura with the Speciality restaurants, one for each night on a weeks cruise. My personal favourite was Ramblas the Tapas bar. The food was exquisite and the wine flowed nicely with your meal but the price did not astonish you at the end of a wonderful evening.

We have just came back off a cruise on the ventura 19th july too the 26th. Cruise it self was fab the food was beautiful in all resterants and buffet, bought a costa coffee card for 21.50 for 10 primo coffees which was great as you could also choose a pastrie, slice of cake or aroll for free until 5.00pm although some of the staff i found rude and igronant mostly the women they also never smile, unlike other staff around the ship who always smile and say hello. We stayed on deck 10 room c212 and i must gave a mention to our cabin steward liza who was great nothing was too much for her our room was spotless and she answered all our questions about finding things and laundry etc excellent service from her. Weather goin over from southampton wasnt the best and we missed our first stop in guernsey due to bad weather but stilled had a good time on board. The arena had some great shows fills up quickly though so you need to go early to get a seat . Bingo was a bit boring very slow and rules i never heard if in other places i have played bingo, gallery had some lovely photos aswell all in all lovely ship meet captain aswell and he was lovely even eating his lunch in the buffet area with guests which i thought was great. Beds are very close together and on seas days can get very noisey with some goups of family taking over an area and being very loud and not thinking about others around them you can hear their every word so no chance of relaxing unless you go up very high to adulfs only deck which is also very cramped with beds other than that fab holiday cant wait to come back next year but not in school holidays x

Really enjoyed doing the transatlantic cruise on the Ventura but something really got my back up. On several of the Formal nights, there were a good number of people who just ignored the rule and turned up wearing casual gear. I mean, dont get me wrong, I dont mind dining informally but part of the trip for me and my wife is going to town and getting our glad rags on! I wish that something could be done to ensure that Formal nights are kept Formal!

VENTURA – our first cruise with the children & grandchildren and we picked the Ventura because it seemed to have something for everyone. The grandchildren really enjoyed the Beachcomber pool while the adults enjoyed the Beachcomber Bar & Waterside.

I travelled on P&O Ventura in July and I would highly recommend it. It is a great ship for families, couples and people of all ages. The service was fantastic and the food was amazing, especially in the Marco Pierre White Restaurant, which has a lovely view of the Ocean while you eat. There was a great range of different entertainment every night. Although the ship is very large it is easily accessible and it never felt over crowded. Even though it is a family friendly ship I never saw a child as they are really well looked after by the childcare team. Definitely a ship worth trying.

I have just got back from my first cruise and I’m hooked! I went with my partner and parents. We went on P&O’s Ventura for 21 nights. I was reluctant at first as we only went on to look after our parents- we thought we would be bored and the ship would look very old- we couldn’t have been more wrong! We met some good people each day that we were there, our room was spacious and clean, the entertainment exceeded our expectations and the food was non-stop! I’m planning a cruise for next year already! Now I just have to decide where to go!

Me and my wife cruised around the Caribbean over Christmas and new year. We have cruised with P&O before so knew what to expect. The ship was beautifully decorated with Christmas decorations and the Christmas activities were great fun. Everyone made a great effort to dress up on formal nights which was lovely. We each received a Christmas present which was very thoughtful. There was a great mix of people on board of all ages which was nice. We enjoyed chatting to different people in the evenings. Can’t fault P&O, we have been cruising with them for years and can’t wait to book our next P&O cruise.

Had a lovely cruise with my family on board P&O Ventura. I wanted a large ship with lots of facilities and Ventura was perfect. The children loved the kids club & I was really happy to see a nursery on board give me & the hubby some quality time together without the kids. We watched some amazing shows in the theatre and I couldn’t believe how all this was included in our price.

The food was lovely & we couldn’t fault a thing. I really enjoyed the afternoon tea cream cakes.

Cabin had everything we needed just felt a little cramped at times I will definitely have a balcony next time to give us that extra space. All in all fantastic cruise holiday & cant wait to go again.

I went on a fantastic P&O Ventura cruise, as I am 54 and my husband is 56 we thought with it being a big ship that it may have been a bit of the top and too much for us to cope with. However Ventura proved me wrong, the staff got to know us by name and always ensured we were happy with the meals and level of service we were receiving. I also loved how they mixed the different evenings up with some being formal evenings and others being either casual or semi formal. I chose the 8:30 dining whilst doing my Baltic cruise which gave me a bit of time to get ready after a long day of touring St Petersburg and other capitals whilst there. There was always plenty to eat and the service from the staff in the main restaurants was excellent, the food was absolutely perfection. Throughout the day when we had our days at sea I enjoyed the spa and other on-board entertainment and the huge cinema, there was never a moment when there was nothing to do and this was what I was worried about with spending a lot of money. I definitely will be doing my world cruise on this ship now after being on over 35 ships and being an experienced cruiser this was by far my favourite.

Travelled on this ship 2 weeks Caribbean with our children and my parents. Flights/transfers all worked really well as it was a special flight for this cruise out of Manchester.

The cabin wasn’t huge but absolutely fine and the Balcony was very large. The kids loved it in the Splashers Club and the Frankie’s Pizza and place got well used!

We found the crew very helpful and great with our children which is important. My parents have cruised loads before so knew what to expect, they had a Junior Suite which was really nice.

Ramblas the Spanish restaurant was great and we all liked Saffron too. Would have liked Marco Pierre’s but we couldn’t all get in together – worth booking ahead!!

Value for money this was a great trip with lovely weather, food and service. It was very full but that’s because it’s a great price!!

WOW!!!! This ship is massive!! As I arrived into Southampton my jaw dropped when I saw what I would be spending the next two weeks on. Her restaurants especially the buffet restaurant are gorgeous and I thought the buffet restaurant was massive. Loads of selection for everybody (even fussy eaters like myself). Our JC Balcony cabin was fantastic and much bigger than I thought it would be. The balcony itself was a decent size as well which was well used. Our cabin steward Jose was extremely helpful and acted immediately with any request we made.

We never saw our children as they were always in the kids clubs and crèche. Our 10 month old had a great time in the crèche as well and I must admit I was extremely impressed with the crèche and childrens facilities. The crèche itself has 8-10 cots and 8-10 cotbeds which were low off the ground so if they did happen to roll off the drop was extremely minimal. There is even a ball pitt in the crèche as well to keep the little ones entertained as well as story time. Next door is Toybox where my son played. Again they had loads of activities from crafts to soft play.

They even had little computers where the kids could play away on. Children are extremely well supervised so hubby and I were completely relaxed about leaving them there while we had our own time to enjoy the ship.

Bars were very clean and staff behind them very attentive. Our waiter in the restaurant was very quick in learning our names and did what they could to entertain our two children.

I really couldn’t imagine a better holiday than Ventura and will definitely be back on board. Have already recommended to our friends and other parents our babys nursery.

Just returned from a lovely holiday on the P&O Cruise, The Ventura. Lots of good positives with a few niggly things which P& O could do better with a bit more attention.

Good flight followed by quick journey to the cruise terminal, then to queue rank and file in shed with no air conditioning to check in, this need’s speeding up, one lady fainted, and then to top it all a photo session at the end. How good can you look after travelling all day, not needed.

Cabin was on deck nine with outside balcony, this is my third cruise and now will take balcony option only. With a drink in hand, and gliding through the calm Caribbean sea with your loved one, what’s not to love.

All Ports of call were good with some great highlights being able to visit Jamaica again, The Antigua Island trip and the wonderful boat trip to view the Pitons on St Lucia.

Entertainment overall very good, especially Freddie Mercury impersonator, and some great port leaving parties, entertainment team did themselves proud.

Real gripes with dining, requested freedom dining but got second sitting, ok nice to eat later but bad way to consume food and then sit in show for an hour no chance to walk off dinner. Food was acceptable but no real wow factor, ate at East where the service was slow, very disappointing when a supplement was charged. Choose not eat at Whites as Menu was made from dishes served from Saffron dining rooms menu.

Staff were ok, but lacking any passion for the job, unlike other cruises.

Plenty of staff but little direction.

Nice holiday with some reservations regarding P&O, whether I would choose to cruise with them again.

We usually love sea days when cruising which is why we decided to book this transatlantic crossing on the Ventura. We were so excited for our 21 night P&O cruise as they never disappoint, Ventura is by far our favourite ship we’ve cruise on so far. We checked in smoothly, our bags were waiting at the cabin for us and we set sail in no time! We had great weather crossing the transatlantic and spent most the time lounging around the pools. There was a newspaper delivered daily with all the ship’s entertainment on, live entertainment was usually around the Laguna pool at lunchtime, this was great to watch while having a snack by the bar. We chose the freedom dining option which was great for us as we could choose what time we wanted to eat, there were so many different dining options on board which were all great. We really enjoyed our transatlantic crossing, days at sea were relaxing but we were never bored! We will defiantly be sailing across the transatlantic again.

We’d only ever been on small ships before and fancied something different, but we won’t go with anyone other than P&O so decided to try Ventura. We liked the fact she sails out of Southampton, and we live not so far away so it was perfect for us. We prefer not to fly as my husband doesn’t really like flying and it’s generally easier for us anyway. And of course it means we’re not restricted to baggage allowance and we can take as much as we like.

Just looking at the ship in port made my knees tremble slightly, I felt like I was going on a rollercoaster, it just wasn’t what we were used to, but the service or cruise was not compromised throughout. We treated ourselves to a suite this time, as we came in to some money and quite frankly we’ve set our own standards now as we wouldn’t ever just settle for a balcony in the future. We even had our own butler and exclusive access to Marco Pierre White’s restaurant, The White Room for breakfast. The little extra touches of staying in the suite made the difference completely. Even just receiving fruit, flowers and champagne in our cabin made us feel special.

We spent the majority of the holiday relaxing as that’s all we really like doing, but we were spoiled for choice for things to do eat such as Spanish Tapas in Ramblas or Oriental cuisine in East. Our favourite part of the food on offer was Afternoon Tea with scones and teacakes. The other great thing as well was the fact that Ventura is such a large, family friendly ship, we were worried there would be lots of children running around but it seemed like they were so well catered for, we didn’t really see much of them anyway.

On Ventura too there is the option of Freedom Dining, which means you can go and eat in the main restaurant whenever you want, rather than sticking to the same time every night and sitting with the same people. Of course you can always opt to go and eat in the buffet restaurant if you don’t want the formality of the main restaurant.

All in all such a great experience, we got lost so many times onboard trying to find our way round, but that was all part of the fun, and now it seems as if the larger ships are better than the smaller ones in our opinions!

This has to be the best holiday I’ve ever had. We flew to Barbados, which was so convenient. We were met at the airport and taken straight to the ship. It was a seamless operation. The sail away parties were the best we’ve ever had, including cocktail of the day and a sing along around the pool. There was so much choice in things to do, both day and night, either a going to the gym, or spa to a quiz or maybe some dancing and much more. There are also many different dining options to choose from…. my favourite has to be the American Diner where we had fillet steak served on lava rock. It has to be the best value holiday I’ve taken in years. With so much is included we are already looking forward to doing it all again next year, maybe? Let’s Hope!

Ventura was great. We had our Caribbean holiday with them last year and their cruise was fantastic. The food was sensational. We were slightly sceptical that the buffet food wouldn’t be that great, but the food at the Waterside and Beach house buffets were amazing! Our kids we were happy and we were happy to let them eat the food they wanted; which almost never happens. The kids discovered they could order ice cream from room service. I must admit we all did slightly over indulge and eating ice cream on our balcony watching the sun set over the Caribbean islands was one of our best family experiences ever. The staff were efficient and faultless.

This was our first cruise on the Ventura. The service was brilliant nothing was too much trouble. The restaurants all 12 of them were fantastic. The Full production West end style shows were marvellous and included in the price …! The cabin we had was wonderful sat on our private balcony whilst sailing in the Caribbean seas with a cocktail it was pure perfection.

I cannot recommend enough.

We have just come back from a fabulous Caribbean cruise with another couple. It was our first cruise and their third, both our first for P&O. WOW! I have to say it was the dream holiday and experience.

The Ventura is such a magnificent ship; it was very clean and good quality decor. We stayed in an Inside cabin B412, we were a bit worried that it was going to feel small and cramped but we were pleasantly surprised! There was loads of storage room for our clothes and all my shoes and dresses, the room was very well laid out and they made the most of the space.

Our cabin steward was so kind, nothing was ever too much trouble, everything was always clean and the towels in cute swan shapes which I want to know how to do that. The food was wonderful, we ate in Bay Tree and The Beach house mainly, there was always plenty of options and never got boring. The buffet breakfast was always plentiful, considering there were over 2,000 passengers on board I never one felt it was over crowded or cramped. I’m not sure where everyone was hiding.

The cakes at tea time were to die for! The entertainment at the arena was excellent as well as Art collection, it was just outstanding. We had 3 days at sea, during these days me and my friend went to the Oasis Spa to have a nice treatment and relax, I was very surprised by the prices they were very good. Our husbands opted for The Exchange English pub so they could have some nice real ales. The tours were really well priced, the Caribbean islands are fantastic and the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I’m so happy we went on a cruise to see them; we will definitely be travelling back to St Lucia and Barbados by far our favourite places.

Our cruise was relaxing, fun and we thoroughly enjoyed all of the excursions we did. I think the next stop is the Mediterranean with P&O they are just brilliant and the value for money is what has surprised us the most. Thank you for everything!!

We had a fantastic time on the Ventura, we were pleasantly surprised at how exciting and enjoyable cruising was and how big the ship was itself. We parked at Southampton which was a doddle, the car park was right on the port. We left our luggage with the porter and made our way onto the ship. We were greeted with a glass of champagne, ready for the sail away from the port. Once we had left the port we went to find our cabin and were surprised at how easy it was to find the cabin on such a huge ship. The cabin was very comfortable and perfect for what we needed, we went for an outside cabin this time to let in some natural light and although it was obstructed it was still fantastic. If you are a foodie like me you will love the Ventura with the Speciality restaurants, one for each night on a weeks cruise. My personal favourite was Ramblas the Tapas bar. The food was exquisite and the wine flowed nicely with your meal but the price did not astonish you at the end of a wonderful evening.

We have just came back off a cruise on the ventura 19th july too the 26th. Cruise it self was fab the food was beautiful in all resterants and buffet, bought a costa coffee card for 21.50 for 10 primo coffees which was great as you could also choose a pastrie, slice of cake or aroll for free until 5.00pm although some of the staff i found rude and igronant mostly the women they also never smile, unlike other staff around the ship who always smile and say hello. We stayed on deck 10 room c212 and i must gave a mention to our cabin steward liza who was great nothing was too much for her our room was spotless and she answered all our questions about finding things and laundry etc excellent service from her. Weather goin over from southampton wasnt the best and we missed our first stop in guernsey due to bad weather but stilled had a good time on board. The arena had some great shows fills up quickly though so you need to go early to get a seat . Bingo was a bit boring very slow and rules i never heard if in other places i have played bingo, gallery had some lovely photos aswell all in all lovely ship meet captain aswell and he was lovely even eating his lunch in the buffet area with guests which i thought was great. Beds are very close together and on seas days can get very noisey with some goups of family taking over an area and being very loud and not thinking about others around them you can hear their every word so no chance of relaxing unless you go up very high to adulfs only deck which is also very cramped with beds other than that fab holiday cant wait to come back next year but not in school holidays x

Really enjoyed doing the transatlantic cruise on the Ventura but something really got my back up. On several of the Formal nights, there were a good number of people who just ignored the rule and turned up wearing casual gear. I mean, dont get me wrong, I dont mind dining informally but part of the trip for me and my wife is going to town and getting our glad rags on! I wish that something could be done to ensure that Formal nights are kept Formal!

VENTURA – our first cruise with the children & grandchildren and we picked the Ventura because it seemed to have something for everyone. The grandchildren really enjoyed the Beachcomber pool while the adults enjoyed the Beachcomber Bar & Waterside.

I travelled on P&O Ventura in July and I would highly recommend it. It is a great ship for families, couples and people of all ages. The service was fantastic and the food was amazing, especially in the Marco Pierre White Restaurant, which has a lovely view of the Ocean while you eat. There was a great range of different entertainment every night. Although the ship is very large it is easily accessible and it never felt over crowded. Even though it is a family friendly ship I never saw a child as they are really well looked after by the childcare team. Definitely a ship worth trying.

I have just got back from my first cruise and I’m hooked! I went with my partner and parents. We went on P&O’s Ventura for 21 nights. I was reluctant at first as we only went on to look after our parents- we thought we would be bored and the ship would look very old- we couldn’t have been more wrong! We met some good people each day that we were there, our room was spacious and clean, the entertainment exceeded our expectations and the food was non-stop! I’m planning a cruise for next year already! Now I just have to decide where to go!

Me and my wife cruised around the Caribbean over Christmas and new year. We have cruised with P&O before so knew what to expect. The ship was beautifully decorated with Christmas decorations and the Christmas activities were great fun. Everyone made a great effort to dress up on formal nights which was lovely. We each received a Christmas present which was very thoughtful. There was a great mix of people on board of all ages which was nice. We enjoyed chatting to different people in the evenings. Can’t fault P&O, we have been cruising with them for years and can’t wait to book our next P&O cruise.

Had a lovely cruise with my family on board P&O Ventura. I wanted a large ship with lots of facilities and Ventura was perfect. The children loved the kids club & I was really happy to see a nursery on board give me & the hubby some quality time together without the kids. We watched some amazing shows in the theatre and I couldn’t believe how all this was included in our price.

The food was lovely & we couldn’t fault a thing. I really enjoyed the afternoon tea cream cakes.

Cabin had everything we needed just felt a little cramped at times I will definitely have a balcony next time to give us that extra space. All in all fantastic cruise holiday & cant wait to go again.

I went on a fantastic P&O Ventura cruise, as I am 54 and my husband is 56 we thought with it being a big ship that it may have been a bit of the top and too much for us to cope with. However Ventura proved me wrong, the staff got to know us by name and always ensured we were happy with the meals and level of service we were receiving. I also loved how they mixed the different evenings up with some being formal evenings and others being either casual or semi formal. I chose the 8:30 dining whilst doing my Baltic cruise which gave me a bit of time to get ready after a long day of touring St Petersburg and other capitals whilst there. There was always plenty to eat and the service from the staff in the main restaurants was excellent, the food was absolutely perfection. Throughout the day when we had our days at sea I enjoyed the spa and other on-board entertainment and the huge cinema, there was never a moment when there was nothing to do and this was what I was worried about with spending a lot of money. I definitely will be doing my world cruise on this ship now after being on over 35 ships and being an experienced cruiser this was by far my favourite.

Travelled on this ship 2 weeks Caribbean with our children and my parents. Flights/transfers all worked really well as it was a special flight for this cruise out of Manchester.

The cabin wasn’t huge but absolutely fine and the Balcony was very large. The kids loved it in the Splashers Club and the Frankie’s Pizza and place got well used!

We found the crew very helpful and great with our children which is important. My parents have cruised loads before so knew what to expect, they had a Junior Suite which was really nice.

Ramblas the Spanish restaurant was great and we all liked Saffron too. Would have liked Marco Pierre’s but we couldn’t all get in together – worth booking ahead!!

Value for money this was a great trip with lovely weather, food and service. It was very full but that’s because it’s a great price!!

WOW!!!! This ship is massive!! As I arrived into Southampton my jaw dropped when I saw what I would be spending the next two weeks on. Her restaurants especially the buffet restaurant are gorgeous and I thought the buffet restaurant was massive. Loads of selection for everybody (even fussy eaters like myself). Our JC Balcony cabin was fantastic and much bigger than I thought it would be. The balcony itself was a decent size as well which was well used. Our cabin steward Jose was extremely helpful and acted immediately with any request we made.

We never saw our children as they were always in the kids clubs and crèche. Our 10 month old had a great time in the crèche as well and I must admit I was extremely impressed with the crèche and childrens facilities. The crèche itself has 8-10 cots and 8-10 cotbeds which were low off the ground so if they did happen to roll off the drop was extremely minimal. There is even a ball pitt in the crèche as well to keep the little ones entertained as well as story time. Next door is Toybox where my son played. Again they had loads of activities from crafts to soft play.

They even had little computers where the kids could play away on. Children are extremely well supervised so hubby and I were completely relaxed about leaving them there while we had our own time to enjoy the ship.

Bars were very clean and staff behind them very attentive. Our waiter in the restaurant was very quick in learning our names and did what they could to entertain our two children.

I really couldn’t imagine a better holiday than Ventura and will definitely be back on board. Have already recommended to our friends and other parents our babys nursery.

Just returned from a lovely holiday on the P&O Cruise, The Ventura. Lots of good positives with a few niggly things which P& O could do better with a bit more attention.

Good flight followed by quick journey to the cruise terminal, then to queue rank and file in shed with no air conditioning to check in, this need’s speeding up, one lady fainted, and then to top it all a photo session at the end. How good can you look after travelling all day, not needed.

Cabin was on deck nine with outside balcony, this is my third cruise and now will take balcony option only. With a drink in hand, and gliding through the calm Caribbean sea with your loved one, what’s not to love.

All Ports of call were good with some great highlights being able to visit Jamaica again, The Antigua Island trip and the wonderful boat trip to view the Pitons on St Lucia.

Entertainment overall very good, especially Freddie Mercury impersonator, and some great port leaving parties, entertainment team did themselves proud.

Real gripes with dining, requested freedom dining but got second sitting, ok nice to eat later but bad way to consume food and then sit in show for an hour no chance to walk off dinner. Food was acceptable but no real wow factor, ate at East where the service was slow, very disappointing when a supplement was charged. Choose not eat at Whites as Menu was made from dishes served from Saffron dining rooms menu.

Staff were ok, but lacking any passion for the job, unlike other cruises.

Plenty of staff but little direction.

Nice holiday with some reservations regarding P&O, whether I would choose to cruise with them again.

We usually love sea days when cruising which is why we decided to book this transatlantic crossing on the Ventura. We were so excited for our 21 night P&O cruise as they never disappoint, Ventura is by far our favourite ship we’ve cruise on so far. We checked in smoothly, our bags were waiting at the cabin for us and we set sail in no time! We had great weather crossing the transatlantic and spent most the time lounging around the pools. There was a newspaper delivered daily with all the ship’s entertainment on, live entertainment was usually around the Laguna pool at lunchtime, this was great to watch while having a snack by the bar. We chose the freedom dining option which was great for us as we could choose what time we wanted to eat, there were so many different dining options on board which were all great. We really enjoyed our transatlantic crossing, days at sea were relaxing but we were never bored! We will defiantly be sailing across the transatlantic again.

We’d only ever been on small ships before and fancied something different, but we won’t go with anyone other than P&O so decided to try Ventura. We liked the fact she sails out of Southampton, and we live not so far away so it was perfect for us. We prefer not to fly as my husband doesn’t really like flying and it’s generally easier for us anyway. And of course it means we’re not restricted to baggage allowance and we can take as much as we like.

Just looking at the ship in port made my knees tremble slightly, I felt like I was going on a rollercoaster, it just wasn’t what we were used to, but the service or cruise was not compromised throughout. We treated ourselves to a suite this time, as we came in to some money and quite frankly we’ve set our own standards now as we wouldn’t ever just settle for a balcony in the future. We even had our own butler and exclusive access to Marco Pierre White’s restaurant, The White Room for breakfast. The little extra touches of staying in the suite made the difference completely. Even just receiving fruit, flowers and champagne in our cabin made us feel special.

We spent the majority of the holiday relaxing as that’s all we really like doing, but we were spoiled for choice for things to do eat such as Spanish Tapas in Ramblas or Oriental cuisine in East. Our favourite part of the food on offer was Afternoon Tea with scones and teacakes. The other great thing as well was the fact that Ventura is such a large, family friendly ship, we were worried there would be lots of children running around but it seemed like they were so well catered for, we didn’t really see much of them anyway.

On Ventura too there is the option of Freedom Dining, which means you can go and eat in the main restaurant whenever you want, rather than sticking to the same time every night and sitting with the same people. Of course you can always opt to go and eat in the buffet restaurant if you don’t want the formality of the main restaurant.

All in all such a great experience, we got lost so many times onboard trying to find our way round, but that was all part of the fun, and now it seems as if the larger ships are better than the smaller ones in our opinions!

This has to be the best holiday I’ve ever had. We flew to Barbados, which was so convenient. We were met at the airport and taken straight to the ship. It was a seamless operation. The sail away parties were the best we’ve ever had, including cocktail of the day and a sing along around the pool. There was so much choice in things to do, both day and night, either a going to the gym, or spa to a quiz or maybe some dancing and much more. There are also many different dining options to choose from…. my favourite has to be the American Diner where we had fillet steak served on lava rock. It has to be the best value holiday I’ve taken in years. With so much is included we are already looking forward to doing it all again next year, maybe? Let’s Hope!

Ventura was great. We had our Caribbean holiday with them last year and their cruise was fantastic. The food was sensational. We were slightly sceptical that the buffet food wouldn’t be that great, but the food at the Waterside and Beach house buffets were amazing! Our kids we were happy and we were happy to let them eat the food they wanted; which almost never happens. The kids discovered they could order ice cream from room service. I must admit we all did slightly over indulge and eating ice cream on our balcony watching the sun set over the Caribbean islands was one of our best family experiences ever. The staff were efficient and faultless.

This was our first cruise on the Ventura. The service was brilliant nothing was too much trouble. The restaurants all 12 of them were fantastic. The Full production West end style shows were marvellous and included in the price …! The cabin we had was wonderful sat on our private balcony whilst sailing in the Caribbean seas with a cocktail it was pure perfection.

I cannot recommend enough.

We have just come back from a fabulous Caribbean cruise with another couple. It was our first cruise and their third, both our first for P&O. WOW! I have to say it was the dream holiday and experience.

The Ventura is such a magnificent ship; it was very clean and good quality decor. We stayed in an Inside cabin B412, we were a bit worried that it was going to feel small and cramped but we were pleasantly surprised! There was loads of storage room for our clothes and all my shoes and dresses, the room was very well laid out and they made the most of the space.

Our cabin steward was so kind, nothing was ever too much trouble, everything was always clean and the towels in cute swan shapes which I want to know how to do that. The food was wonderful, we ate in Bay Tree and The Beach house mainly, there was always plenty of options and never got boring. The buffet breakfast was always plentiful, considering there were over 2,000 passengers on board I never one felt it was over crowded or cramped. I’m not sure where everyone was hiding.

The cakes at tea time were to die for! The entertainment at the arena was excellent as well as Art collection, it was just outstanding. We had 3 days at sea, during these days me and my friend went to the Oasis Spa to have a nice treatment and relax, I was very surprised by the prices they were very good. Our husbands opted for The Exchange English pub so they could have some nice real ales. The tours were really well priced, the Caribbean islands are fantastic and the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I’m so happy we went on a cruise to see them; we will definitely be travelling back to St Lucia and Barbados by far our favourite places.

Our cruise was relaxing, fun and we thoroughly enjoyed all of the excursions we did. I think the next stop is the Mediterranean with P&O they are just brilliant and the value for money is what has surprised us the most. Thank you for everything!!

We had a fantastic time on the Ventura, we were pleasantly surprised at how exciting and enjoyable cruising was and how big the ship was itself. We parked at Southampton which was a doddle, the car park was right on the port. We left our luggage with the porter and made our way onto the ship. We were greeted with a glass of champagne, ready for the sail away from the port. Once we had left the port we went to find our cabin and were surprised at how easy it was to find the cabin on such a huge ship. The cabin was very comfortable and perfect for what we needed, we went for an outside cabin this time to let in some natural light and although it was obstructed it was still fantastic. If you are a foodie like me you will love the Ventura with the Speciality restaurants, one for each night on a weeks cruise. My personal favourite was Ramblas the Tapas bar. The food was exquisite and the wine flowed nicely with your meal but the price did not astonish you at the end of a wonderful evening.

We have just came back off a cruise on the ventura 19th july too the 26th. Cruise it self was fab the food was beautiful in all resterants and buffet, bought a costa coffee card for 21.50 for 10 primo coffees which was great as you could also choose a pastrie, slice of cake or aroll for free until 5.00pm although some of the staff i found rude and igronant mostly the women they also never smile, unlike other staff around the ship who always smile and say hello. We stayed on deck 10 room c212 and i must gave a mention to our cabin steward liza who was great nothing was too much for her our room was spotless and she answered all our questions about finding things and laundry etc excellent service from her. Weather goin over from southampton wasnt the best and we missed our first stop in guernsey due to bad weather but stilled had a good time on board. The arena had some great shows fills up quickly though so you need to go early to get a seat . Bingo was a bit boring very slow and rules i never heard if in other places i have played bingo, gallery had some lovely photos aswell all in all lovely ship meet captain aswell and he was lovely even eating his lunch in the buffet area with guests which i thought was great. Beds are very close together and on seas days can get very noisey with some goups of family taking over an area and being very loud and not thinking about others around them you can hear their every word so no chance of relaxing unless you go up very high to adulfs only deck which is also very cramped with beds other than that fab holiday cant wait to come back next year but not in school holidays x