Ventura N316 review

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MicheleW
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Second Officer
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Joined: January 2013
Location: Wales

Ventura N316 review

#1

Post by MicheleW »

I was travelling with my mum and godmother on this weekender and thanks to a small windfall my Mum had earlier this year, she had treated us to a suite. My godmother had no idea we had a suite booked and this wasn’t the only surprise for her – more to be revealed later.

We encountered a couple of little snags prior to this weekender – the first being our luggage labels. When the cruise booklet arrived, I eagerly turned to the back page to see our priority labels and noticed that the perforations were all in the wrong places and as I started tearing, the labels were falling apart. I telephoned P&O who said they would send some more, but they never appeared, so armed with scissors and a roll of sellotape, I managed to stick them all together and carefully cut out the holes to affix them to the bags. (All those years of watching Blue Peter weren’t wasted!) Then on Friday after finishing work, I decided to go and fuel the car up ready for the journey to Southampton in the morning. After travelling about 50 yards, I braked for a corner on our little country lane and found that I actually wasn’t slowing down much and I had to use the handbrake to stop! I then noticed a red exclamation mark lit up on the dash, and after very gingerly returning home told my husband who said it must be out of brake fluid! Thank goodness I found out then, rather than on the way in the morning! I hastily tried to ring CPS parking to inform them we would be arriving in a different vehicle, but the office was closed until Monday, so I just had to hope it wouldn’t be too much hassle on arrival.

So, at 7.30am on Saturday Mum picked me up in her little car and we set off to Basingstoke to collect my godmother, where I discretely attached a luggage label to her bag. It was a bit cosy with 3 of us and our bags, but it was only a short journey to the ocean terminal and we arrived at 11.45am. I dropped the pair of them off and went and parked the car (CPS didn’t even want to see the paperwork when I mentioned about the car) and we ascended to the departure lounge to find a huge amount of people already there. Now it was only due to reading various postings on the forum that I was aware of the perks we were entitled to, so I informed the lady handing out the coloured, lettered cards that we were suite passengers. We were directed straight away to a separate desk and were checked-in immediately. We hadn’t even had a chance to fill in our health questionnaires! We proceeded through security and once on board were greeted and informed that the cabins weren’t ready and to proceed to the Waterside self-service cafeteria on deck 15 for lunch. When I asked whether there was a separate lunch for suite passengers the girl had no idea and told me to ask at reception. I did so and was informed it was in the East Restaurant. The others were in a lift by now and godmother had pressed the button for deck 15, but I said no and pressed for deck 7 and we headed off to East where there was very nice buffet laid out - complete with complimentary drinks, so I just had to have my first glass of fizz! My godmother was looking a bit bemused at this point, so we told her that mum had paid for priority embarkation and lunch! Whilst we were dining, a crew member came round to each table individually to inform us that our cabins were ready. We had a couple of pastries each, (well, 3 to be precise, but they were only small) and another glass of fizz and then noticed that the waiters were clearing everything away and it was only 1.30! So the lunch is only available for a limited time, but I presume that all suite passengers are given the embarkation time of 12.00 – fine if you can get there for this time. We headed up to deck 10 and on arrival at the Suite (C749) I threw the door open with a flourish and let my godmother in and then explained the special treatment was all because we had a suite. It was a brilliant moment and then we were like kids in a sweet shop exploring everything, opening all the cupboards and checking out the massive balcony. There was a bottle of champagne and a box of chocolates waiting for us, but our first priority was coffee, not having been offered any in East! We found our coffee machine in the cupboard under the sink and set about working out how it worked! Fortunately our Butler, Roshan, arrived at this point to introduce himself to us and showed us how it worked. He asked if everything was OK, but we did have to point out that we only had 2 champagne glasses, 2 coffee mugs and 2 hand towels, so he said he would get that sorted out for us. He informed us that he would be bringing us canapés and fruit later and that we could take breakfast in the White Room in the mornings. He then explained how to page him if we needed him. Once our room steward Gracie had brought an extra mug, we made coffee and sat on the balcony drinking it all in and awaited the arrival of our luggage, which we had thought might be waiting for us in our cabin. After I while I went for a wander down the corridor and located our bags piled up with a load of others so brought them back to our cabin and announced to the others, that although we had got priority embarkation, our luggage obviously hadn’t! (And amazingly the labels were still attached).

We unpacked and settled down to make the most of this wonderful experience. We put our P&O slippers on and then used the binoculars to try and pick out the car and to see which ships were berthed at the Mayflower. Then there was another knock at the door which heralded the arrival of my godmothers’ daughter Jane and one of her grand-daughters Laura, who had also booked for the weekend totally unbeknownst to my godmother, though mum and I were in on the secret. So of course many lengthy tales of subterfuge were revealed and we had to give them the guided tour of the suite! Eventually it was time for muster and we all headed off to our appointed stations. We were in the Havana and went down with our life-jackets fairly early, so that mum and godmum could get seats for the duration. I went for a quick explore of the prom deck whilst waiting and came across 2 ladies asking a crew member, if they really had to go back to their cabin and get their lifejackets and wouldn’t it be alright if they just sat and watched! After muster it was back up to our Suite to find that our daily canapés had been delivered along with a bowl of fruit. I raced up to deck 15 to grab my complimentary glass of fizz and once the others had rejoined us, we opened our bottle of champagne and enjoyed it with our canapés on the balcony. Once Ventura turned and set off down the Solent we had the sun fully on our balcony and it was fantastic sitting there watching the world go by, until we decided that it was time to get ready for dinner. I made use of the large walk-in shower and towelling robe, and then at about 7.30, the other 2 returned to collect us and we headed straight down to the Cinnamon Restaurant on deck 5. We were on freedom dining and were shown to a table for 5 straight away. After a very pleasant meal, (prawn cocktail, sirloin steak, kiwi fruit pavlova, cheese and coffee), we headed off to the theatre to see the Headliners show Blame it on the Boogie. As there was still about 45 minutes till the start, I decided to go and check the casino out. There were a few playing Blackjack, so I changed £20 into chips and took a seat. Of course, being a weekender the stakes are always set higher and the minimum stake was £5.00. So I placed 1 chip for the game and 1 for the “fun pairs”. My first hand comprised a pair, so I won £50.00! A couple of hands later I got another pair – another £50.00 pounds. Mind you, at £10.00 each game it was going very quickly, and just as I was deciding to cash another £20 into chips, yet another pair came up! At this point I was £10.00 up, so I decided that it was time to get back to the theatre for the show. I don’t recall seeing this one before and it was very enjoyable. We then had a hot chocolate in the Waterside followed by bed.

We all awoke quite early on Sunday morning and whilst Mum and Godmother were playing with the coffee machine, I headed off to do a couple of laps around the prom deck. I found that at the front, I had to go up the steps and back down the other side. Except that when I got to the bottom of the steps the other side there was a chain across with No Entry on it. There was no chain further on along the deck and hadn’t been one at the bottom of the stairs the other side, so after a quick look round, I hopped over the chain and continued on my way. The next lap, I did the same, except that there was a crew member at the bottom of the steps this time. I acted all innocent and said, ‘Oh, can’t I come this way?’ He asked if there was a chain the other side and when I replied ‘No,’ he just unhooked the chain a let me through! I decided to give up then and go back for breakfast! We headed up to the White Room and had a delicious breakfast up there. Smoothie, yoghurt and then toasted bagel with smoked salmon, poached egg and caviar hollandaise sauce. It was so peaceful and civilised and we were joined later by the captain – well, he sat a couple of tables away anyway! So then back to the suite from where we rang the others and invited them to come down and we sat on the balcony watching all the container activity ashore for a while and making the most of the beautiful sun. Once the sun got quite high it went off the balcony so we caught the shuttle bus into Blankenberge for a quick wander round. Once back on board, I had a quick swim in the beachcomber pool and then we had lunch in the waterside – a very healthy salad, followed by a not so healthy tiramisu! The sun hadn’t got back round to the balcony, so we went off to explore some more of the ship before finding a sunny spot on one of the upper decks where we made the most of the glorious weather. At 4.00pm, we decided to indulge in the afternoon tea served in the saffron restaurant, which was a lovely experience. There is a beautiful selection of little pastries on a cake stand set in the middle of the table and when you sit down they offer you tea or coffee and then you are assaulted with offers of a variety of sandwiches, warm crumpets, toasted teacakes and warm scones with cream and jam! Delicious!
We headed back to the suite then to start packing and found our canapés waiting for us, so we sat on the balcony and enjoyed these. Then I was determined to make use of our whirlpool bath, but hadn’t though about the size of it and how long it would take to fill!! Half an hour later I realised it was going to be a very quick bath! Anyway it was full enough in the end, although the first time I pressed the button I hadn’t realised the direction the jets were pointing and water shot all over the walls! After a bit of an adjustment everything was fine and I was able to indulge myself. Then, once ready for the formal night, we went and knocked on Jane & Laura’s door, (an inside cabin on A deck which was very spacious), as we were heading up to Metropolis for a pre-dinner drink. After a couple of Kir Royales we made our way down to the Cinnamon restaurant at about 8.30 to find that there was a 45 minute wait for a table. We didn’t want another drink at this point, so found a table in the Costa coffee bar and sat and indulged in a spot of people watching. It had become a lot rougher by now and sitting in the Coffee bar, you could hear the bows of the ship crashing down onto the waves. There were certainly a variety of outfits on parade, ranging from the absolutely gorgeous and elegant to the rather strange, statement making ones, (extremely short skirts with clompy, heavily studded boots!) There was also a gentleman in a pair of red football shorts and nothing else, accessorised with a drink! He was standing at the bottom of the stairs in the atrium just watching all the people in their finery having their photographs taken at the bottom of the stairs. Eventually, a member of security arrived and asked him to go back to his cabin. And at this point our pager went off and we went through for dinner, so we missed what happened! We had another nice meal, (smoked salmon, sea bass, ice-cream & coffee) followed by a quick mooch around the shops and then it was up to the waterside for our cocoa followed by bed. I was a little disturbed during the night, by the hangers in the wardrobe rattling and knocking together due to the swell, but it was a beautiful morning when I awoke at 6.30am and stepped out onto the balcony to see the Isle of Wight. We enjoyed a last cup of coffee on the balcony and then finished our packing before heading up to the White Room for breakfast. Then it was back to the suite for final time to get our bags and head of to deck 6 for disembarkation. (We had decided to carry our bags of ourselves, so had to be ready to disembark by 8.00am)

We had a fabulous weekend – shame it was for just a short time – but we tried to make the most of everything in the suite! We wore our slippers and towelling robes, ate all the chocolates, drank the champagne and ate most of the fruit. I used the whirlpool bath and we made full use of the coffee machine and read the magazine. We used the binoculars and checked where we were going in the Atlas. We couldn’t find anything for our butler to do – we did wonder if we could send him into Blankenberge to buy some chocolates for us, but decided that he probably wouldn’t be allowed -and we didn’t have any CDs to play in the player. The only one tiny thing that wasn’t perfect was the layout of the wardrobe space. There was plenty of room for all our clothes, including all 7 pairs of my shoes! But because the 2 hanging areas were at right angles to each other, no more than 1 person could get to the space at one time. Probably not a problem when there aren’t 3 ladies all trying to get to their finery at the same time!

We didn’t spend much time exploring the ship, as we spent so much time in the suite, but I did like what I saw and would probably cruise on Ventura again. And now I am already counting down the weeks until the next one on Aurora at the end of August – another short break again, but 3 nights this time.

Michele
PS. Apologies for any typing errors and the length of report.

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Gill W
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
Posts: 4897
Joined: January 2013
Location: Kent

Re: Ventura N316 review

#2

Post by Gill W »

Thank you for posting your report, I enjoyed reading it.

I sounds like a great weekend, and a fun experience having a suite.

The question is, will you be to go back to a 'normal' cabin, after having a suite?
Gill

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MicheleW
Second Officer
Second Officer
Posts: 262
Joined: January 2013
Location: Wales

Re: Ventura N316 review

#3

Post by MicheleW »

Thanks Gill,

Will probably find it a bit difficult to adjust as it was so nice. Would be lovely to able to afford a suite every time, but I'll have to wait for a big lottery win - so it could be a while! I will be coming back down to earth gradually, as we have a balcony cabin on Aurora and then in October we have an outside on Arcadia! But at least I have the good fortune to be able to do all these cruises :D

Michele


Andrea S
Senior Second Officer
Senior Second Officer
Posts: 733
Joined: January 2013
Location: NOTTINGHAM

Re: Ventura N316 review

#4

Post by Andrea S »

Thank you Michelle, a lovely report on what sounds like a wonderful break. It makes a trip so much more exciting when you have surprises up your sleeve.

I know some people love having a suite but it has never appealed to us as a couple. You have shown all the advantages of travelling with a small group and how it can make a short break even more memorable.

7 pairs of shoes.???. Is that a record for you or did you have trouble carrying any more. I loved your blogs on the old forum and the shoe stories.

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Topic author
MicheleW
Second Officer
Second Officer
Posts: 262
Joined: January 2013
Location: Wales

Re: Ventura N316 review

#5

Post by MicheleW »

Thanks for your kind words Andrea. We did have a great time.

7 pairs of shoes wasn't too bad was it? And I wore them all :lol:

Michele

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jay-ell71
Senior Second Officer
Senior Second Officer
Posts: 892
Joined: January 2013
Location: Cotswolds

Re: Ventura N316 review

#6

Post by jay-ell71 »

Just caught up with this. I see you haven't lost your touch....... good report as usual. I was just thinking about asking how many shoes, when I got to the " 7 " pairs bit. Seven pairs in a week end? Glad you are keeping up the tradition!!!
Jay

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