P&O Ventura
As our charter flight was due to leave quite early from London for our cruise we took the opportunity to fly to London the day before and had a great day exploring London with a visit to the Tower of London, lunch at St Katherine's Dock followed by some retail therapy in Oxford Street & Covent Garden. A great way to start our holiday.
One of the big advantages of using the P&O chartered flights is that you check your luggage in at the airport and you next see it when it is delivered to your cabin on board the Ventura. We had a smooth flight all the way to Venice, followed by a straightforward coach transfer to the Ventura. Our balcony cabin was more spacious than I expected and overlooked the rear of the ship. Once our luggage was delivered we had time to unpack and then enjoy the Venice sail-away which was spectacular, especially at that time of the evening when the sun began to get low in the sky. Venice really is a magical city and each time I visit I want to return. Then it was time for dinner, we had chosen the anytime dining, so we could have dinner whenever we wanted. As long as we were happy to share at table (and we were, it's a great way to meet people) then we never had any waiting time throughout the cruise. Meals were of a high standard and the entertainment was superb throughout our entire week.
After a wonderful day at sea and our Captain's Gala Evening, our first port of call was the beautiful little town of Kotor at the very end of the huge fjord which cuts right into Montenegro. As Kotor can only be reached by tender there are queues to leave and re-board the ship. We had arranged an excursion here which took us into the heart of this small country and brought back many memories of when I last visited nearly 30 years ago when it was part of Yugoslavia.
Our next stop was Corfu, which is super for exploring Corfu town or taking an excursion to explore the island. This evening we had reserved a table at the Marco Pierre White restaurant - The White Room, and although expensive the experience was amazing. We had an outside table and one of the most amazing meals that I have ever experienced complimented by impeccable service. Our next day was at sea and the highlight of which was passing through the straights of Messina between the 'toe' of Italy and Sicily. Amazing views, especially of the brooding volcano Mount Etna on Sicily.
Our next port of call was Rome where we took the train from Civitavecchia directly into Rome to explore the Eternal City on our own. It was great revisiting some of the many sites that we had been previously and reacquainting ourselves with this amazing city by visiting some of our favourites such as the Vatican and the Pantheon.
Our final port of call was Ajaccio on Corsica, almost everywhere you see reminders of its most famous son - Napoleon Bonaparte. We joined the small sightseeing 'train' here for a great trip round the sights of Ajaccio. After our sightseeing we joined the sail away party on the lido deck which was great fun with a huge sing-along all orchestrated by the Cruise Director and his team.
On the return flight we again experienced one of the benefits on the P&O Cruise charter flight, our luggage which we had left outside our cabin door was next seen by us coming of the luggage conveyer at Gatwick. We had also been given our boarding cards on the ship so on arrival at Genoa airport it was straight to security and on to the flight, with very little waiting time.
I enjoyed my first P&O cruise - it is a product that is specially tailored to a British market, bar and shop prices are all in pound sterling and you will see many familiar brands everywhere. The entertainment too is specifically tailored to the UK market and is of a very high quality. It is not a product for everyone, but a great way of experiencing a cruise for the very first time.