All on board

[barney]

We’re all on board Ventura for our ten nighter.
Easy journey last evening.
Stayed over.
Parking 4 cruises at 12.30
On Ventura at 13.00
Much quicker than usual.
Ventura seems in good shape and first bottle of many Crabbies Ginger Beer consumed.
The rumours about the Epicurean are true.
It’s closed which is a bugger because I’d booked for tomorrow for Mrs B’s 60th.
Might try for Sindhu and if not that then it’s the MDR.
They left a bottle of wine in the cabin as compensation.

I’ll do a bit of a review on our return but now the phone is going in the safe.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Shame about Epicurean but otherwise sounds great. Have a fabulous cruise.

[screwy]

Why is it closed.?

[Manoverboard]

A big ' Bon Voyage ' to the Barney's +

[Stephen]

We’re all on board Ventura for our ten nighter.
Easy journey last evening.
Stayed over.
Parking 4 cruises at 12.30
On Ventura at 13.00
Much quicker than usual.
Ventura seems in good shape and first bottle of many Crabbies Ginger Beer consumed.
The rumours about the Epicurean are true.
It’s closed which is a bug*er because I’d booked for tomorrow for Mrs B’s 60th.
Might try for Sindhu and if not that then it’s the MDR.
They left a bottle of wine in the cabin as compensation.

I’ll do a bit of a review on our return but now the phone is going in the safe.

Have a great time barney

[Jan Rosser]

Have a great time - don’t wreck Ventura I’ll be sailing on her in August Be interesting to hear your thoughts on cruise - think it’s the same itinerary as my cruise on her.

[Whynd1]

Have a lovely cruise Barney.

What a shame your well laid plan for your wife's birthday have had to be altered.

Take care
Lindsey

[barney]

As promised, a short review on our Ventura cruise which arrived back yesterday.
As stated previously, the boarding procedure was the best we've ever had.
30 mins from arriving at the Terminal to being onboard.
Faultless.

It did become apparent that Ventura was sailing well under capacity even though the website was showing sold out in all categories.
I'd guess that it was significantly less than capacity because no venue ever seemed crowded.

A bit of a disappointment with Epicurean closed and Glasshouse not doing food, but it is what it is.
It's better to give good service in fewer venues than bad service in all of them.
It did narrow our eating options and we used the MDR much more than we normally would have and to be fair, the food and service was very good.
We did Sindhu twice, both menus and both were excellent.
Again, faultless service.

Entertainment.
Like many, we've long given up on the Headliner shows.
All a bit frantic and screechy for us but some of the 'guest' shows were very good.
Top of the class was an Eric Clapton looky likey call Paul Ruck.
He was top knotch.
He did two shows as Clapton in Arena and a third in Havanna as himself with just an acoustic guitar.
In the theatre, he was supported by Pulse, who were also pretty good when playing themselves.

There was a lady singer called Liss Jones who was also good and a comedian who went by the name of Ignacio Lopez (from Rhyll)
A jazz singer often appeared in Tamarind and she was ok as well.

Ports
First stop was Santander.
It was a bit nippy at first, when we got off so we just walked along the waterfront then the sun came out, so we went for a mooch in town.
Mrs B bought a few bits in Zara.
She owns a clothes shop for goodness sake
It was pleasant enough but it wouldn't bother me if we never went back.
Nothing wrong with it though.

Next stop was Vigo.
We've been there before but always did trips so this was our first time just mooching around.
The sun was shining and we found it very nice.
We had a nice tapas lunch while sitting n the sun then went back on board about three.

Next was Lisbon overnight
Like most, we've been to Lisbon more times than you can shake a stick at, but still like it.
We walked down the the Time Out market down opposite the train station only to find that they were a cash free zone and yep, I only had cash.
So, we walked back to the main bit and had a coffee and pastel de nata (two actually) then back on board after topping up with Tonic Water for the balcony drinks.
We didn't go out in the evening.
Next day, back to Time Out with card in pocket !
The food in there was very, very good and we had some type of local tapas which were brilliant but pretty expensive.
If you haven't been there, I'd recommend for the experience.
By the way, it was very hot. 31C

Next was our favourite Oporto
Bus ride in but worth it.
It was Saturday and the town was busy and jumping with a great atmosphere.
We really enjoyed it.
Salt Cod fish cakes washed down with a white Port.
Excellent !
Again, very sunny and we'd be very happy to return to Oporto.
Loved it.

Last was Guernsey.
We'd never been to Guernsey and to be honest, it was a bit like where we live in North Devon.
It was a tender obviously but all was well and on our tender return it was on a port two deck leisure boat, so we felt we got a bit of a free trip.
Again, the weather was kind with sunny and cloud.
We had a bite to eat in a sea front pub before returning, feeling we'd put something into the local economy given the wonderful greeting that we got on the quayside form Guernsey volunteers.
I've never seen so many in high vis greeting people as we landed.
What a lovely gesture.

So, to summarise.

This trip was a long time coming and I'd booked specifically to be away for Mrs B's 60th.
We had a whale of a time.
Our cabin steward was chatty but discreet.
The poor staff have to wear masks at all times which was very hard on the deck waiters in blistering heat, but they were brilliant.
The food and service was good.
The entertainment that we saw was good.
The ports were good.
We chatted to some lovely people.

We are away again on Azura in January (again C deck) and we're hoping for a similar experience.

PS

I did book a 1st September 2024 on Arvia while onboard.
The couple in the next cabin were waxing lyrical about the long balcony cabins so I succumbed and booked it.
14 night Med with many ports we haven't been to before.
La Coruna
Mallorca
Marseille
La Spezia
Will all be new to us and it's also got Cadiz which we love.

[Stephen]

Sounds very much like the cruise we have booked for June 2024 barney on Ventura.

As an aside, has anyone else noticed that P&O have significantly upped the OBC. I was just browsing this morning and noticed one for next year that caught my eye on Ventura to the Canaries from Southampton (14 nights).

£780 OBC per cabin they were offering on a standard balcony cabin No doubt just a temporary offer, but now's the time to book if you're thinking about it.

[david63]

There seems to be a lot of OBC around at the moment - last week they were giving it away on cruises already booked

[Ranchi]

We got off as you got on. We’d not be on Ventura before. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip and would go on her again. I haven’t got over the lack of sea day curry lunch in MDR, but that’s just me being grumpy! As you said, Oporto is lovely. We missed Guernsey ( for the third time!) We did La Spezia a couple of years ago & booked the Cinque Terre ship’s tour. It sells out fast but I believe you can probably do your own trip either by boat or even rail. Worth a visit.

[Stephen]

A shame about the Glass House not offering food barney. Hopefully it's not across the fleet as we are hoping to go there for a celebratory meal for our Aurora cruise in just over a couple of weeks.

[david63]

The Glass House was serving food last month on Britannia but the service was so bad (and the food not much better!) that we only went once.

[screwy]

Glad you enjoyed Ventura Barney,we’ve been on her many times and always enjoy her. We always book C deck,C612 this last time. Why was Epicurean closed.? We had our anniversary meal there on the 16th June.
It sounds like your Arvia cruise is the same as the one we booked for June.
Entertainment wise I fully agree about Paul Ruck,superb. He was part of the ‘Trawlermen ‘ show.

[david63]

Why was Epicurean closed.?

Allegedly it is because of staffing shortages and supply chain issues. I believe Epicurean is closed across the fleet.

[Stephen]

The Glass House was serving food last month on Britannia but the service was so bad (and the food not much better!) that we only went once.

Doesn’t sound good David.

[barney]

Yep.
We were told it was because of shortage of qualified crew although we did notice many more coming on at Southampton yesterday.
While disappointing, it certainly didn’t spoil our holiday.
There’s always next time

[towny44]

The Glass House was serving food last month on Britannia but the service was so bad (and the food not much better!) that we only went once.

Doesn’t sound good David.

We thought the service in the GH was very good on our Britannia cruise last month, and the food was equal to the standard we experienced pre covid.

[barney]

Just as an aside, my sister in law and partner got off from MSC Virtuosa as we boarded Ventura.
Unfortunately they were not overly impressed.
Beautiful ship but that was about it.
Oh, and he caught Covid to boot.
They’ve tried a few different companies but still prefer good old P&O

[david63]

We thought the service in the GH was very good on our Britannia cruise last month, and the food was equal to the standard we experienced pre covid.

Maybe they had sorted the problems out by the time you boarded, but it was certainly disappointing on the cruise prior to yours, and not to the standard that we have experienced in the past.

[barney]

Sounds very much like the cruise we have booked for June 2024 barney on Ventura.

As an aside, has anyone else noticed that P&O have significantly upped the OBC. I was just browsing this morning and noticed one for next year that caught my eye on Ventura to the Canaries from Southampton (14 nights).

£780 OBC per cabin they were offering on a standard balcony cabin No doubt just a temporary offer, but now's the time to book if you're thinking about it.

Thanks for the heads up Stephen.
I've just called the agent and cancelled and rebooked our January cruise on Azura and gone from £80 OBC to £390 OBC
Same cabin !
C deck.
Also saved £100 because of no regional airport surcharge.
I lost the original £80 deposit but worth it.
With the shareholder benefit, it will give a total of £450 for the week.
We'll comfortably spend that .
Cheers

[screwy]

If we were to book Azura Canaries,a two week cruise would give us over 1k obc.
£780 + shareholder + military benefits.
£400+ for a week.

[towny44]

If we were to book Azura Canaries,a two week cruise would give us over 1k obc.
£780 + shareholder + military benefits.
£400+ for a week.

Does a 2 week fly cruise count as a B2B, and do you get 2 lots of shareholder OBC, ie would there be 2 cruise codes and 2 bookings?

[david63]

Does a 2 week fly cruise count as a B2B

I have a feeling that fly cruises do not qualify for being b2b, but I don't know where I have seen it.

and do you get 2 lots of shareholder OBC

On b2b you get the relevant shareholder OBC for each cruise

would there be 2 cruise codes and 2 bookings?

Yes

[Stephen]

Sounds very much like the cruise we have booked for June 2024 barney on Ventura.

As an aside, has anyone else noticed that P&O have significantly upped the OBC. I was just browsing this morning and noticed one for next year that caught my eye on Ventura to the Canaries from Southampton (14 nights).

£780 OBC per cabin they were offering on a standard balcony cabin No doubt just a temporary offer, but now's the time to book if you're thinking about it.

Thanks for the heads up Stephen.
I've just called the agent and cancelled and rebooked our January cruise on Azura and gone from £80 OBC to £390 OBC
Same cabin !
C deck.
Also saved £100 because of no regional airport surcharge.
I lost the original £80 deposit but worth it.
With the shareholder benefit, it will give a total of £450 for the week.
We'll comfortably spend that .
Cheers

I'm rather partial to single malt