Both Outward & Return crossings were very good. Weather overall was good. Captain James Brown gave us regular updates keeping us informed throughout the cruise.
As usual the staff and crew have been excellant. Carrying out there duties with enthusiasm and a smile. Unfortunately from day 2 we had the Gastro intestinal virus onboard, which ultimately ended up causing a lot more work for the crew. I find it incredible that adults have to be told to wash there hands when it should be part of there onging hygiene regime.
Even after the Captains annoucement we still saw many individuals not washing or gelling hands when entering the Waterside restaurant. If it means having someone instructing them to do so, then it should be done for the health of all onboard. Not only will it give children a lesson in hygiene but it might even educate a lot of the adults.
We again enjoyed the places we visited even though we have done them many times before. It’s lovely to enjoy the different cuisines on offer with a glass of local wine.
The food offered onboard was generally very good. However, in the Waterside restaurant food is often almost cold before plateing it up. The chips especially were always cold at lunchtime. Dishes in the Baytree Restaurant still contain a lot of pointless breads and crutons which do nothing for the meal, other than fill the plate out. The soups imparticularly were good throughout. On the last Black Tie night the lamb rump was inedible. Both myself and my wife were unable to cut / chew the lamb and had to swap it for the turbot.
As reported everytime in the past, meat dishes are still being plated up in bowls. It is very difficult trying to cut the meat in a bowl and absolutely makes a right mess of the mash & gravy etc. Please, please, stop dishing meat up in bowls, especially beef and lamb..
As for the pizzaria and burger bars. There is a lot less choice these days and what there is isn’t worth talking about.
We always used to go to Sindhu anything up to 4 times per cruise. However, the price of going to the Sindu has increased to £25 per head from £21. Plus if you want any side dishes they are an additional £5 each. This means at least £60 per couple if you only have one side dish each. We can get an Asian meal in our local restaurant for much less than this and its more authentic. We will NOT be going to the Sindu ever again whilst the prices remain this high. When walking past Sindhu in the evenings it appeared to be poorly attended. So hopefully people are voting with there feet.
We did however eat in the Beach House and the Glass House. Found the food to be very good and much better value for money.
We note they had still not rectified the Black Tie Menu’s written in a gold print on a white background that is extremely difficult to read, especially with the subdued lighting in the Baytree Restaurant.
The entertainment was pretty poor overall. As I keep saying and will do until something is done.They are still utilising buskers onboard. This has to be some of the lowest form and most boring “so called” entertainment provided by P&O over the years.
Ventura had recently come back from a refit. Generally the new carpets and improvements have gone down well. Although the refit did not include upgrades to the antiquated televisions in the cabins. The latest navigation channel now shows very little information. What is did show was not always correct. A backward step in my view.
For those of you on Select Price bookings, please note shuttle buses seem to be very few and far between. Shuttle buses were only laid on in Madeira. They did lay on a Shuttle Minibus in Lisbon but only for wheelchairs users on Select bookings.
Overall we had a very enjoyable cruise. I would like to point out that I always try to give a true and honest opinion as to the good and bad. It really would be nice if P&O actually took notice of our reviews, as I find I am repeating a lot of the same bad things time and time again.
One final comment. The prices have gone up considerably in the new 2028 brochure. We booked exactly the same for 2028 and its cost us £1000 more. P&O have reduced many, many, cruises to 7 / 14 nights, especially on Ventura. We would love more 28 / 35 night cruises on Arcadia, Aurora and Ventura. We do not like Iona or Arvia and will never cruise on these ships again. We also will not do fly cruises due to the hassle and delays at airports. For information, they have also taken away the 10% back to back discount and reduced it to 5% on Canary and Norwegian cruises. As long term regular cruisers, even though they tell us we are VIP customers, we don’t particularly feel we are being treated as such.
