Reviews

generally excellent all round, kristiansand we were only in port for four and a half hours.

We had a very smooth embarkation as usual. Bags outside the door by 2pm after a very agreeable lunch in the Beach House. We set out to look at all the changes from our last cruise. I admit to being disappointed We had been led to believe that various places had been updated for example the new glass house was not as cosmopolitan as we had expected. Overall the staff were as friendly and helpful as ever. A cheery voice met us for breakfast one morning he had been our waiter Bonni on our last cruise September 2012 and he remembered us which made us feel special. There were a few downsides but these were passengers and not crew. Rowdy at night and a drunk too, I have never seen a drunk on a P&O ship. Many new to cruising seemed not to be the type to do it again and the dress code was frequently breached. Take not please P&O some of us are traditionalists

My Ventura review was on cruise May 4 to May 18 2013

The refurbished Ventura has lost half of its library, the Exchange Bar is smaller and is a thoroughfare for people using the Casino which has been halved to make room for new single cabins. These cabins are adjacent to the Karaoke which causes noise problems for sleeping passengers. The new Retreat on Deck 16 costs £25 on sea days and £12 on port days, and you get a comfortable lounger and fluffy towel, with a dedicated steward. But the 100+ ordinary loungers from that area are now on the other sun decks, and the result is no space between beds and overcrowding. Las Ramblas has become the Glasshouse, but the only difference is a slight change in the menu, while the White Room has increased its cover charge to £30. My super deluxe balcony cabin had a tired carpet, holes in the balcony sun loungers, and stains running down the partition - no sign of refurbishment there. Still good value for money, but P&O's standards continue to decline.

We booked the cruise through P&O and their after sales service was very good, the few questions we had were answered promptly, booking the shore excursions on line was easy and we did this in early December to make sure we got the ones we wanted. For car parking we used CPS at Southampton and then got the train to Gatwick to fly out, this was easier for us on returning to the UK and the service we got from CPS was very good and we would recommend them. For money changing we used Travelex on line a few weeks before going, the rates onboard are not that good. There seemed some confusion onboard as to what currency was used where. The port guidance P&O issued for some ports said that it was the US Dollar whereas it was the Eastern Caribbean Dollar, though to be fair USD are accepted in most places but this confusion didn’t help as we had lots of ECD. The flight out was a Thompsons charter flight and we couldn’t fault the service, the crew were helpful, the food not bad for in flight catering and the drinks and snacks not too badly priced. Steer clear of the movies unless you take your own headphones, we couldn’t hear a thing. Also we book seats towards the back of the plane and the overhead lockers here are used by the crew. Embarkation was not good. We landed at about quarter to three in Barbados and didn’t get onboard until after 6. Perhaps the prior experience with NCL had soiled us but the process was very very slow with P&O seeming unable to cope with the number of passengers that were embarking, they must have know how many were coming? We were also only given one map of the ship between two with ‘not enough’ for one each, I presume we were supposed to get lost together or only the person with the map could get lost. We knew what to expect onboard as we had visited the ship on one of the open days that P&O hold. The bags made it from the Gatwick to the cabin without us seeing them, full marks to P&O for this service, the bags probably got onboard quicker than we did. After the two weeks onboard we still couldn’t fault how clean and well kept the ship was, the public areas are very busy on sea days but were spotless the next morning. For excursions we went to Grand Anse Beach which was a fantastic way to spend the first morning, the rainforest tour in St Lucia, this was interesting but you wont see much wildlife, swimming with Stingrays in Antigua which was very good, and a boat and coach tour in Tortola, well worth doing. Shopping was ok, duty free alcohol prices are good and if you want a drink in your cabin do not buy at Gatwick, wait until you get too the Caribbean, its much cheaper! Would we go back, well we’ve already booked for next year on the Azura as the Ventura isn’t coming back to Southampton and we liked the fact that we didn’t have to worry about shopping and weight restrictions when we were on holiday! Overall it was a great experience, a few gripes about the entertainment as are set out below but P&O work very hard to make your holiday complete.

Lots to do and see during sea days. Immaculate ship and staff

first time on oceana, really lovely ship.

Spoilt by buckets on most levels catching drips from ceilings and unpleasant smell of damp carpets

Loved the holiday, best one we had been on. Deputy captain would always give us a wave from the bridge in the morning etc. Only down side for me where the stupid sales they do full of old stock, it was like a second hand shop or carboot sale at times. Not what you would expect from a luxury cruise.

I’m sure that l am not the first customer to write to you with concerns about the ‘Getaway’ discount pricing of cruises against the ‘Vantage’ fares. Last year l made a booking (7M6WMN) on the Oriana, sailing on the 19th August 2013. However, before the balance was even due the ‘Getaway’ prices were released with a potential saving of around £800. I accept that for this price you do not get to book a specific cabin and in my case would also not benefit from the on-board spend of £140, but as l could not see any other advantages decided that l would cancel the holiday. Of course the £500 deposit that l’ve lost probably represents around the same profit you would have made and you will now be able to re-sell the cabin on which you will make further margin. However, this policy seems to be very short-sighted as you have now an upset customer who will probably not be inclined to book another cruise with P&O and l will certainly not book again in advance. There was another reason for cancelling, having recently taken a ‘Getaway’ cruise (7GWPVG) on the Oriana and realised that there really was no benefit to those customers who had perhaps paid the ‘Vantage’ fare. It was a thoroughly enjoyable holiday, the standard of service as always was excellent, but the entertainment was pretty mediocre and l’m afraid that we’ve probably thrown away bedding in better condition. Overall we probably got what we paid for, but were left with the impression that the standard is somewhat down-market to the sort of ‘luxury’ that we had previously associated with a cruise and that’s not what we are looking for.