Ventura - July 2022 - Full Review

Photo 1.1: @cruisewithjamieandrobert

Ventura July 2022 - Western Europe - P&O Cruises

This was our first time sailing aboard Ventura, after sailing aboard Britannia and Iona on similar itineraries. Ventura is the smallest ship we have been on to date, find out if we liked her size later on in the review.

As always, we booked the cheapest inside cabin available (PF) (we like to cruise on a budget so that we can spend more onboard e.g. speciality dining, spa, etc), but P&O very kindly upgraded us to the best grade of inside cabin (PA) complimentary. Thanks P&O.

Our Cabin

Our inside (PA) cabin was smaller than the inside cabins we have been in onboard Britannia and Iona although this is expected due to Ventura being a smaller ship. The smaller size didn't bother us and we didn't really notice it after the first day. 

There was a cooler like we have had in all our other cabins, the bed was comfortable (although I find the pillows to not be very supportive), the tea and coffee making facilities were adequate although we didn't use them once during the cruise mainly because we had a drinks package so went to the coffee shop for speciality drinks. 

The bathroom was a good size, a powerful shower and lots of storage space for toiletries. A few observations regarding the bathroom were that we noticed there wasn't a foot stool in the shower like there has been on both Britannia and Iona, and there was a shower curtain rather than glass door enclosure for the shower. I thought that this may bother us, but it didn't and we quickly got use to it. 

We didn't really spend much time in the cabin other than to sleep as we enjoy being out and about around the ship. But we would definitely book an inside cabin on Ventura again, hopefully in the near future. 

The Food

Ventura and Britannia have similar food choices onboard. We enjoyed all of the food that we ate during the cruise. 

The Main Dining Rooms (MDRs) were of good quality and the menu choice we found to be quite large. We enjoyed many meals in the MDRs during the cruise including our best ever celebration night meal. The MDR's are also a great place for both breakfast and lunch serving a great menu with plenty of choice. We also found the P&O table booking app to work well, our longest wait for a table was around 30 minutes.

Here are some photos of the food that we enjoyed in the MDRs while onboard:

The Poolside Grill and Pizzeria were also fantastic, great for getting a quick bite to eat when returning back to the ship from a busy day in port. The Pizzeria was better than Iona in our opinion, as Ventura had a daily changing special (similar to Britannia) in which Iona did not when we were onboard. 

Java (the coffee shop) was also a great place to stop by for a coffee and cake/sandwich, especially as the food is included here unlike the coffee shop branded as Eric Landlord where food is an extra charge. We enjoyed maybe slices of cakes here, and all were fantastic especially considering they were included when purchasing a drink (which was free for us because of our drinks package). 

The buffet also has a vast range of food available at all times of the day. We didn't go to the buffet very often as we enjoy sitting down for a meal, but the times we did go we throughly enjoyed what was on offer. 

Sindhu

We booked Sindhu to celebrate Robert's birthday onboard. Sindhu was actually the only speciality restaurant open during our cruise with both the Epicurean and Glass House closed due to a staff shortage.  

We have been to Sindhu once before (while onboard Britannia, our first ever night on a cruise). We enjoyed the meal onboard Ventura more. The food was fantastic, the crew were fantastic and we think Sindhu is very good value for money spending around £25 per person, for a 3 course meal and a bottle of wine. The restaurant manager also got Robert a happy birthday plate, which was much appreciated (see photo).

Photo 1.2: @cruisewithrobertandjamie

The Ports

During our cruise we visited:

• Lisbon: We had visited Lisbon before on Iona in February, we we caught the shuttle bus (about a 10 minute transfer) to the main square and spent around an hour looking around the little shops before heading back to the ship. The temperature was around 40 degrees, way too hot to fully explore everywhere we could have. 
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• Guernsey: This was our first time visiting Guernsey. The temperature was around 35 degrees. We had to get a tender from Ventura to the St Peter Port. During our call to Guernsey we visited a local market, selling many different things from cars to bath bombs. We also walked up the hill around St Peter Port, so that we could see Ventura from a distance. We really enjoyed our visit to Guernsey and would definitely visit again.
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• Porto: This was our first time visiting Porto. We caught the shuttle bus from Lexioes to Porto, which is around a 40 minute transfer. The temperature in Porto was around 40 degrees, similar to Lisbon. As we hadn't visited Porto before we wanted to look around more than we did in Lisbon. To help with the temperature we decided to catch the cable car which takes you from the river up the hill. This was really helpful as we don't think it would have been possible to have climbed the hill in the temperature. Porto is a lovely place, the scenery is beautiful and we would definitely visit again.
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• Vigo: We had visited Vigo before onboard Iona in February. It was a little cooler at around 38 degrees. We decided to get off Ventura and just walked around the town and see where it took us. We ended up going up the hills, using the outside escalators, and found a nice park where we sat for a while taking in the view. Then we went around some of the little shops before returning to Ventura. 
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The Crew

As on every other cruise we have been on the crew were fantastic! They really can't do enough for you and they make you feel so special. A cruise really wouldn't be the same without them. 

The Drinks Package

This was the first cruise that we decided to try out a drinks package. We got the non-alcoholic drinks package which costs £19.95 per person, per day. The cost for the cruise was £279.30 but with our Peninsular Club discount came to £264. With this package you can have unlimited soft drinks every day of your cruise which includes, soft drinks, mocktails, coffees, hot chocolate, bottled water and selected juices.

Was it worth it for us? 

We thought that the drinks package was incredibly good value. Without the drinks package we would have been spending around £60 per person, per day, which is insane! We have decided that on all future cruise we will be getting the non-alcoholic drinks package as its great to not have to worry about drink prices and just be able to relax and drinks as much as you want, when you want.  

The Entertainment

During our cruise we had lots of entertainment to enjoy onboard. 

The theatre entertainment by the Headliners Theatre Company was fantastic, we enjoyed shows such as Paradise City, On the Horizon, Astonishing and Magic Moments.

We also enjoyed music and late-night comedy in Havana. We've never really spent so much time in the late-night venues on any other cruise as we didn't think it would be something we would enjoy. However, we really enjoyed our time at Havana and will definitely be spending more time in the late-night venues on our future cruises. 

There was so much more entertainment going on around the ship, so much so that we were unable to enjoy all of it. There was daily entertainment in the atrium, that ranged from vocalists to dance classes. Pianists were also popular, performing in the Red Bar and Manhattan Bar. We do enjoy listening the the piano while enjoy a drink in the evening.