Just returned home after the Ventura "Party Weekend" from Friday 110408......... she is a lovely ship and the check in approach is tried and tested and is slick. We had the cabin steward of SHARON in our balcony stateroom but unlike other times when we have cruised with Princess... she did not come and introduce herself and we only saw her when leaving the room from the penultimate time and said hello in the passage. She kept the room nice but but as we never saw her we nver could ask for the dressing gown that was really needed on the chilly balcolny. Also I wanted to ask for non-whole milk and lemon slices would have been good- like I have at home and none were available in any of the refreshment corners on the 15th deck either......... another down side from the level of service on Princess. Sharon kep the room clean and tidy but we couldnt hang anything on the pull out line in the shower as it had been fitted wrongly and didnt reach the other side to hang anything on............. so no quality control done. Saturday night there was not any hot water in the hand basin but always available in thw shower so just snagging problems.......... the decor of the cabin was great but the TV didnt have any channels except the view from the camera on the bridge and once some details about trips to Belguim. We had booked ~"Taste of Bruges" tour from the UK but ourself and others were not given tickets and therefore we all had to wait until duplicates we produced.... another snagging problem but as the port permission was late in being granted we didnt get into the coach until 45 mins after the stated time but came back the same time so had less free time on the tour. The guide Lieve was very good. The canal boat was lovely. The whole purpose of this trip was to celebrate my husband`s Birthday on 11th April and we rang a couple of times to book the White Room for that day but were told you could only book onboard. On board when we and others complained that it was fully booked we were curtly told we should have booked ashore............... we will be writing to P & O to discuss this problem so watch this space................ We tried to book a table at the EAST Asian fusion supplement venue and we could not get through on the phone and visiting there before the tour on Saturday morning was a waste of time as the girl was not interested and kept saying come back at 10am and locked the door behind me to stop others bothering her I suppose. This made me queue at the reception desk to enquire about a table and were told it was fully booked. When i explained about our disappointment with the White room and the woman at EAST she rung them and passed the phone to me and the man at EAST offered me 1830 or nothing! His words and not mine....... I took it and worried about them giving away the table we arrived at 1825 and the venue was EMPTY and during the whole meal until after 2015 only 2 other tables were occupied and later when we passed by it only had 6 occupied tables. Dont get me wrong it was a fantastic venue and the food wonderful and the service was attentive to say the least as they had no one else to serve 96% of the time but why say its fully booked.

The comedians were not our sense of humour and 4 other people we met agreed but maybe it was for others. The Exchange bar with the train was fun but TOO smokey and smoking allowed all around the non smoking bit so didnt go back. The Metropolis bar was great fun if drafty as the doors need to auto close as they dont and people leave them open and I got up 3 times and next time we sat elsewhere. The anytime eating venue was lovely and they produced a well done fillet steak which Princess never could and they produced lovely food but didnt top up the water and the rolls were soft and 2 people at our table didnt get rolls until they asked again and unlike Princess they dont leave them on the table. A lovely meal though? The Waterside helpyourself eating venue was okay but between afternoon tea on Saturday afternoon and evening service both sides were shut so its not 24 hour food; is it? We left our room at 1820 on the Saturday night to get to EAST and on return to our room at about2215 there was a note to ask for luggage outside by 6pm that night or take it ashore yourself which was fine but the notice was not there in time. The layout of the daily newsletter called Horizon is less reader friendly than the Princess Patter equivalent.................. perhaps I am asking for too much? I had been on the Golden Princess pre-maiden trip in May 2001 and that was from Southampton and they had tickertape from the funnels and a band playing and lights but nothing on the Ventura and an hour late due to problems beyond their control they said............. Overall it would take alot to travel with P & O again........................ I hope all the snagging is sorted for Queen Helen and no mention was made of this at the time of booking................ and I havent even mentioned the long wait for service in any bars............. i could go on................. The bright note was the LEGENDS tribute band in the Havana bar that was 1st class....................