P&O Ventura Amsterdam Cruise
4 nights onboard P&O Ventura, sailing to Amsterdam
Last Spring, we were considering taking the kids on a city break and started to research. We found that everything we looked at started to get quite complicated for just a few days. If flying was involved, we’d not only need conversations with the airline to make sure assistance would be in place but sort out specialist seating onboard the flight and ensure the airline would accept that too! Even with all that sorted, there were still the anxieties around how comfortable Miss S would be on the flight, the toilet situation AND if Miss S's chair would arrive at our destination in one piece. We also then needed to think about a wheelchair accessible way to get from an airport in to a city centre! Once again, we were a little bamboozled by the amount of planning involved. Perhaps we may be brave to try it out for a longer holiday some time, but suddenly a relaxed few days away, was not feeling that relaxed!!! We also looked at getting the Eurostar somewhere but again, there's a fair amount of logistics involved with that. Neither of those options are out of the question for the future, we just need to be prepared to be a little bit brave and try it some time. For the sake of a few days away for a city break, both options were getting rather expensive too!! So...how did we end up finding our cruise and going for that instead?
We spotted the short 4 night cruise on P&O's website and gauging a rough price for a balcony cabin (P&O don't allow you to book wheelchair accessible cabins on their website), we thought it looked a reasonable deal for our transport, accommodation and all our food thrown in, with the huge added bonus that we live only around 30 minutes away from Southampton Cruise Terminal! First step was a call to P&O - if you have ever tried, you'll know it takes FOREVER to get through. When we finally did speak to someone, they actually weren't particularly helpful and told us there was no availability for any short cruises. Suddenly, one option was available but then we were swiftly told we couldn't have it, even though it was wheelchair accessible, as they had already allocated all their evacuation chairs!!!! (For reference, evacuation chairs are now supposedly a requirement under UK Maritime Law, although I have heard conflicting information as far as this is involved!). Feeling a bit deflated but still pretty determined, Mr S came across the Southampton Cruise Centre, actually located up in Blackpool (!) and spoke to a lovely lady called Becky. Becky was able to quickly find availability for us in a wheelchair accessible cabin, something even the P&O call centre couldn't do (or would let us anyway!). She also could help with any follow up questions etc. so has been an absolute god send! So we were finally all set to sail, off on our city break! 👏
 |
| Embarkation time! |
Embarkation
After our previous experience (we couldn't get parking through P&O without paying a huge increase in fare) we were prepared this time, we booked the correct fare and got our car parking booked in as soon as we were able. Being only 30 minutes or so from the cruise terminal, we had quite a leisurely start to our cruise. It was super easy when we arrived at the terminal. As we have a blue badge for Miss S, we pulled up to get her out and all of our luggage, Mr S then drove over to the drop off point with CPS (parking service) just opposite the terminal and was back with us, within a few minutes. Luggage is left within a designated area for the deck you will be staying on, so once dropped off, we were ready for checking in. For disabled passengers, there is a separate check in area which was empty, so we were very quickly onboard!
 |
| Cabin daytime set up Cabin We stayed in cabin C301 which is a wheelchair accessible balcony cabin. The cabin consists of two single beds during the day and two extra pull down, pullman beds for the evening. At 164 square foot of cabin along with a balcony of 46 square feet, the cabin was smaller than our cabin on Iona but the balcony was actually bigger! The wet room was a good size also. Our position on the ship was good, generally quiet but quite close to lifts also. The size of the cabin was absolutely fine for a few days |
 |
| Cabin night time set up |
Restaurants
There are two main dining restaurants for Freedom dining*, Saffron and Cinnamon, and Bay Tree for Club dining**. We booked a table at Sindhu prior to our cruise as we had eaten in Sindhu on Iona and LOVED it. We also plan to book for our next cruise as it is a firm favourite with us all. We did use the buffet restaurant Waterside for lunch a couple of times. The buffets aren't our favourite however, as although there is lots of choice, they are busy and it can be hard to find a table. Being able to book a table and be waited on is definitely our preference!! There is always lots of choice at the main dining restaurants and at the restaurants that charge a supplement like Sindhu and the food is really good. You also have the very relaxed option of grabbing a pizza or burger by the pool. I was impressed as during our cruise I had a gluten free burger and pizza cooked to order for me. Bearing in mind it was a 'grab and go' set up, I was really pleased to see I was still catered for. I couldn't remember seeing this on offer on Iona, but may well have missed it, so will definitely check on our Arvia cruise this summer. Other restaurants we didn't try out are the Epicurean, the Beach House and the Glass House.
* Freedom dining - you can eat when you want you just may need to join a queue at busy times.
**Club dining - a more traditional form of dining where you will be seated with others at the same time each evening.
 |
| Saffron Restaurant |
Bars
There are 19 bars and two cafes onboard so we couldn’t try them ALL out with only a few days onboard!
We loved the Tamarind bar and had lots of fun at the family quiz. The Metropolis had amazing views right at the top of the ship and we had our final drinks in there on our last night! We also tried out one of the Bingo sessions at the Havana bar which was fun…sadly didn’t win anything though!
 |
| Ready to quiz in Tamarind! |
Family activities
The family activities were great onboard. There are kids clubs for all ages. Master S wasn’t interested this time, partly I think as he didn’t want his younger sister cramping his style as they just scraped into the same age group! Miss S enjoyed a visit (with me in tow as she needs 1:1 support) but we weren’t onboard long enough to visit more than once.
We were onboard over the Easter weekend and they went all out on Easter activities. We loved the Easter fair in the main atrium with face painting, pin the tail on the bunny, as well as, other games and activities! There were various crafts available over the few days and an Easter scavenger hunt all over the ship, Miss S was pretty chuffed with her Easter egg at the end! Shaun the Sheep and Wallace and Gromit even made appearances too!
 |
| Face painting at the Easter fair! |
Leisure facilities / entertainment
As well as 4 pools (one of which is adults only), Ventura has a gym and spa. Exercise classes are available in the gym and some are free but most are chargeable at £15 a class! There is so much onboard for all interests; a casino, art gallery, entertainment - shows in the theatre as well as movies, singers on stage at the theatre too and also in bars around the ship. Clothes shops, jewellery shop, a general shop to grab a few essentials or souvenirs. There were all sorts of talks on art, health related topics, watches too.
Amsterdam
We were due to spend most of Thursday and Friday in Amsterdam but we arrived in to port at a later time of around 6pm on the Thursday and we didn't feel Amsterdam was the kind of city we wanted to take the kids out in for the first time, in the evening! So instead, we set off after breakfast on the Friday to have a little explore. We started off well, soaking up the sights as we walked from the cruise terminal into the city. We took a leisurely stroll and stopped along the way so arrived at Dam Square around 40 minutes later. Our visit was very much a ‘see how we get on’ kind of trip as we had heard that disabled toilet facilities are pretty non-existent apart from at the Rijks museum which was a way out of the city. We hadn’t booked anything in particular for that reason, as well as, being aware that the itinerary can change, which of course it did timing wise!Amsterdam was a funny one and not for reasons that may spring to mind…although we did have to avert the kids eyes on a few occasions 😬😬 It was a mixed bag really, as getting around the city, the paths were smooth, nice and accessible for wheelchair users and drop kerbs were generally ok to find but as soon as we wanted to go in most places, shops, cafes etc. we came up against a step or steps to get in, or where the access was level, no lift to where we wanted to go!! Miss S was getting quite upset and in turn, we got quite frustrated! The final straw was the Tony Chocoloney store as we had no idea the only access in was going to be down steep steps and this was something we were all looking forward to, the kids especially. Thank goodness we hadn’t joined the humungous queue before realising we weren't getting in! To Tony Chocoloney’s credit, when I complained to the staff member on the door that it appears they do not have wheelchair users in Holland at all (!!!) as nowhere seems to cater for wheelchair users, she went away to see if she could find a solution. There wasn’t one, they had no other way to access the building. She did however, give us chocolate bars as compensation! This was not the same as being able to go in the store ourselves, but acknowledgement at least that it was pretty rubbish that there was no wheelchair access! After a few hours, we decided to return to the ship and I have to say, it was a relief to get back onboard, it felt like arriving home with the comfort of having everything we needed onboard. We had the bonus too, of it being quiet onboard as most were off exploring still. Overall, we got out, explored a bit, had a nice stop at a cafe, Master S managed to get the Ajax football shirt that he’d had his sights set on finding and we learnt a few lessons I suppose about what to consider in future for city breaks…
Some takeaways for us to think about for future trips...
Had we travelled to Amsterdam by other means and been staying in a city hotel, we would have had somewhere to go back to for a rest, stretch, toileting etc BUT if we were staying for a few nights, it would have been frustrating not being able to access what we wanted and could have been difficult eating out. One solution is for Miss S to be in her manual chair rather than her powerchair, it just takes away her independence relying on us to push her.
For cruising, Miss S uses her powerchair as the majority of our holiday she can zip around the ship in her chair and everywhere is accessible to her. She would find being in her manual chair really frustrating for more than a day or so. This can restrict what we can do when off the ship, if where we are visiting is not great with access, has steps or is particularly cobbly - it was a bumpy ride in Stavanger for instance on our Iona Fjords cruise! BUT with a cruise, when we venture of the ship, we have the security of getting back to the ship and being able to get back to our cabin and do everything onboard again! If one port has not worked so well for wheelchair access, we know we have more ports coming up to try out. If we had endless space to take everything with us we would take her manual base along with her travelling in her powerchair and her shower chair! In an ideal world, everywhere would consider the needs and include wheelchair users in all planning!
 |
| Still smiling despite frustrations! |
In conclusion...
Would we go on Ventura again?
Yes, as far as the ship and facilities go, but no, not with the cabin configuration we had. Unless perhaps a suite was an option for a more comfortable night time set up for the four of us! We really enjoyed our time on Ventura, it is however 18/19 years old and you can see that in places where perhaps some refurbishment could be done. Our cabin on Iona and the whole ship for that matter, was very shiny and new in comparison!
Would we visit Amsterdam again?
Probably not! Not if wheelchair access there does not improve. We are pleased we tried it but it was a relief to get back to the ship and know that everything was accessible and comfortable! It can be quite a good way to try out a city - preferably it works and we get to enjoy our port visit like everyone else but if the worst that happens is we attempt it, it doesn't work then we can always head back to a quiet ship and try again at the next port. We didn't see any big attractions so cannot comment on those but the city was frustrating in terms of wheelchair access.
Thanks for making it to the end! Remember, you can follow us on Facebook / Instagram (@4sandaw) and TikTok (@4sandaw8)
Comments
Post a Comment