Ventura

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MariaG
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Ventura

#1

Post by MariaG »

Hi There can anyone give me any tips regarding the Ventura please/

Many thanks
Maria

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Re: Ventura

#2

Post by Holiday Planner »

What sort of tips do you need? Is it advice on what cabin to book, or is it tips for on board? Are you a first time cruiser?
Welcome to the forum by the way (and if you're a first time cruiser, prepare to get hooked!)
Angela


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MariaG
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Re: Ventura

#3

Post by MariaG »

Hi Angela,

Thanks for your reply! We have cruised before three times once on the Artemis and twice on the Oceana. And your so right we are hooked! We have already booked our cabin for this cruise on a getaway fare which was quite reasonable (never done this before but it was a good price so we thought we would give it a go).
It was for tips on board ie which restaurant do the Freedom diners eat in, where's the best pool on board, bars etc. Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks for your welcome to the forum.

Kind regards
Maria

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Re: Ventura

#4

Post by Holiday Planner »

Hi Maria

I've cruised just twice before, on Azura and Ventura, and we've recently booked a getaway on Ventura for September.
Freedom diners eat in the Cinnamon dining room on deck 5 in the evening, and can eat in Saffron for breakfast and/or lunch if you wish.

Ventura have a nice adults only endless pool. We prefered to sit in the shaded area foreward of this on the sports deck, but we're quite disappointed to know that this has now been converted into a chargable retreat (although I understand the pool is still accessible to all adults).

If you like the shows, we found it best to see them before dinner as the theatre gets very crowded, and it can be a bit of a rush going after dinner (which most seem to prefer).

The beach house part of the buffet turns into a sit down restaurant in the evening, which has a very relaxed style with smaller tables and sea views! It gets very popular towards the end of the cruise as people discover it, so try it out early on. (only some items on the menu carry an additional charge).

It's a big ship, so don't expect to learn your way around in an afternoon - but that's part of the fun.

Sun loungers around the central pools get bagged very quickly, but you can find plenty of quiet corners if you explore a bit further away.

If you have any further questions, don't hesitate to ask ... and if I have any other thoughts, I'll let you know. I'm sure others might chip in too.
Angela


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MariaG
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Re: Ventura

#5

Post by MariaG »

Hi Angela,

Thanks so much for the info, it's just nice to get the heads up on a few things before you go! The Beach House Restaurant sounds good we'll defininately give this one a try earlier on in the holiday as you suggested, did you try any of the speciality restaurants that you pay for and are they worth the extra cover charge?, if you have which one would you recommend. We haven't used any of the speciality restaurants before as we have been with friends and it was just easier to go the normal one's but we thought we might try them this time. Is the other buffet restaurant open in the evening I think it's called the Waterside Restaurant? Or is there a late night restaurant open for hot drinks and snacks as there is on the Oceana?

We are also going in September on N324, can't wait!

Thanks for your help
Best regards
Maria

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Re: Ventura

#6

Post by Holiday Planner »

Hi Maria
We're on N322, so sadly not the same one.
I can't advise on speciality restaurants as we haven't been to any of them. Can't quite bring ourselves to pay extra, when such lovely food is included anyway! We have eaten in the buffet (waterside) in the evenings a couple of time, but prefer not to, as we like to dress up and have our meal as 'an occasion', so choose the main dining room (MDR) or Beach House. We like the buffet at lunch time, as we find we don't want to have to spend the best part of an hour in the middle of the day in the MDR. We have a preference for breakfast in the MDR as it's a nice civilised start to the day, but our 'young adult' son & daughter preferred the quick 'grab and go' of the breakfast buffet. Afternoon tea in the MDR is lovely. (Much nicer than the buffet afternoon tea). We didn't manage it on our first cruise, but made up for it last time. Ideal if you come back off shore mid afternoon, and then eat dinner late in the evening. There is a late night buffet, but we've never used it.

After all that food, we salve our consciences by using the gym every day. You get a wonderful view from the treadmills over the bow of the ship as you sail out of port, so we tend to head for the gym at sail out times, and it's fairly quiet then.
Angela


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Re: Ventura

#7

Post by BrianI »

The Beach House diner opens at 6:30pm and operates on a first come first served basis. If full they will give you a pager. The menu is an American style diner menu. Most items have no charge but around 10% have a charge, such as fillet steak on hot lava rocks, which was £6 last year.

There is a themed self service buffet in the waterside each evening, such as Italian, Chinese, Indian etc.

Late night snacks are available in Waterside.

Brian


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MariaG
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Re: Ventura

#8

Post by MariaG »

Hi Angela,


Thanks once again for your advice! Yes I do agree when you say that the food in the normal restaurants are excellent, I just thought that we might go on a special night as it's my husbands birthday whilst onboard. I also agree that it's nice to make our evening meal as special as possible and dress for the occation and be waited on, but if we are out all day and late back from our trip I thought it might be easier to go to the waterside buffet restaurant, but if the Main Dining Room & Beach House Restaurants are open fairly late I agree that is probably is a better option. Shame we're not on the same cruise as I own you a drink, but you never know we may be on the same one in the future. It's just handy to know that I can get a late night snack if necessary as I'm type 1 diabetic and sometimes I need just a little snack before bedtime and it's so much nicer to have it in a restaurant rather than in your cabin. (I try not to make a habit of it!)

Will definately try the breakfast and afternoon tea in the MDR or Beach House instead of the Buffet Restaurant. I know what you mean about our consciencies I tend to try and do at least a 100 lenghts in the pool and have a brisk walk around the deck a few times in the evening after our evening meal!

Many thanks once again & Kind regards

Maria


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MariaG
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Re: Ventura

#9

Post by MariaG »

Hi Brian,

Thank you for your info, it sounds like the Waterside is definitely the late night hot drink / snack place to go to! Do you know what time it's open until?

Kindest regards

Maria


BrianI
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Re: Ventura

#10

Post by BrianI »

Waterside is open all night. The Beach House Diner is only open during the evening. During the day it is part of the self service restaurant with Waterside.
The main restaurant (Saffron) is open for breakfast , lunch and afternoon tea.
The Freedom dining restaurant (Cinnamon) is open from 6pm to 9:30pm and you can go in anytime within those times.
Brian


Lincoln18
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Re: Ventura

#11

Post by Lincoln18 »

Beach House Restaurant when there is a port departure that involves a journey to reach the sea. e.g. Fjords.

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Re: Ventura

#12

Post by The Monocled Mutineer »

If your cruise has a tender port of call do not plan to get off quickly.

Ventura (& Azura) being P&O's largest ships are a nightmare when it comes to tendering. Essentially they have the same number of deck officers/ratings (and therefore qualified to pilot tenders) as the fleet's smaller ships.

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TMM

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david63
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Re: Ventura

#13

Post by david63 »

The Monocled Mutineer wrote:
If your cruise has a tender port of call do not plan to get off quickly
That has not been my experience admittedly with Azura which may operate slightly differently.

A lot will depend on how far out the ship is from land - I have known instances where the tender journey has been half an hour and others where it is 10 minutes - all of this will have an affect on the overall tender operation, as will the number of tenders in use.

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Re: Ventura

#14

Post by Holiday Planner »

I'm with Derek on this one - although that's probably because we have experience of the same cruise last summer when tendering at Split. We had a 15 minute queue which snaked from the Atrium into the Tamarind Club just to pick up our tickets for tender allocation, then we had to wait in Tamarind for our number to be called. In all it took about an hour and a half.
(on Azura we were fortunate enough not to have to tender first thing, but in Olden we had tenders to get back on board, which took about 45 mins).
I have to admit to being glad that there are no tenders envisaged for our Canaries cruise in September.
Angela


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MariaG
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Re: Ventura

#15

Post by MariaG »

Hi Brian,

Once again thanks for all of the info, it's handy to know that the Waterside Buffet Restaurant is open all night and we can get a hot drink and a snack if necessary. I have found both your's and Angels's tips a great help.

I think I owe you a drink as well as Angela! You never know we may do the same cruise one day.

In the mean time Happy Cruising!

Best regards


Maria

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