To Whom It May Concern:
We received this information/press release from the trades/P&O Cruises/Times
Online and thought it may be of interest to this newsgroup as well.
Happy sailing...
John Sisker - SHIP-TO-SHORE CRUISE AGENCY (sm)
(714) 536-3850 or toll-free at (800) 724-6644 & (Agency ID: 714.536.3850)
www.shiptoshorecruise.com
Playing hide and seek with a Great White is probably not the kind of
experience to be expected when taking a family friendly cruise. Thankfully,
however, in this case the 'White' in question was the self-proclaimed
godfather of British cooking, Marco Pierre, and the game my two children
were indulging in was 'find the celebrity chef'.
Elusive as Marco may be, even he discovered that there's no hiding place on
board Ventura, the biggest and newest ship in the P&O Cruises' fleet. My son
and daughter adored tracking down their prey up and down the 18 decks, in
and out of the restaurants, shops and cafe areas.
I'm not entirely convinced that Marco saw the funny side of his celebrity
appeal to under-sevens, but he manfully played the game, much to the
constant amusement of Tilly (six) and Hal (three). And we were comfortable
that they would be safe as, unlike a resort on land, there's nowhere for
little ones to wander off to.
The star chef happened to be on board with his two teenage sons for our two
week voyage as part of his commitment to the cruise line, which involves
overseeing a fine dining restaurant on Ventura as well as developing others
on two more ships.
Packed to the gunwales with more than 3,200 passengers - including 800
children - Ventura was finding its sea legs in its first summer operating
from Southampton to the Mediterranean.
We were on our first cruise as a family, wanting to see whether the concept
worked for adults and young children alike and if taking a holiday at sea is
a good value option at a time when disposable income is under pressure from
the credit crunch.
First impressions were good. Ventura, although massive, is pretty easy to
navigate once you get your bearings from your cabin. The design of the 290
metre-long ship is such that it is broken down into separate areas, so as to
give the impression of sailing on a more intimate vessel.
Confused faces of passengers on day one soon disappeared by day two as they
became acclimatized to their surroundings and started looking forward to
ports of call which included Alicante, three locations in Italy, Cannes and
Barcelona.
Sailing from Southampton has the bonus of enabling us to pack everyone and
everything in the car to drive to the port and avoid peak school summer
holiday airport chaos and the fear of lost bags.
The downside is that it takes two days at sea, including crossing the Bay of
Biscay, before Ventura actually made its first port of call, in this case
Gibraltar. The return leg to Southampton involved three sea days from
Barcelona.
Have your say
The height of the railing looks safe enough for children. BUT the space
between the bars below it is NOT. a toddler can easily slip through. Why not
vertical (close enough together so that children cannot squeeze through)
bars instead of horizontal that children can CLIMB to fall into the sea?
Sources:
* P&O Cruises
* Times Online
* By Phil Davies
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/holiday_type/cruises/article4733257.ece
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