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Tom, out of interest, why were you attracted to a P&O 'grand class' when you could have picked a Princess one for a number of years now.

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A good question, which I decided to answer in this new thread rather than hijack Galaxy's excellent 'Cruise Ships in Norwegian Fjords 2007' thread.

Yes, I could have picked a Princess Grand-class ship for several years. One reason would be that I hadn't looked; I wasn't aware where they cruised (do they have one cruising ex-UK?)

But the main reason was that earlier this year we decided that after three successive summer fly-cruises in the Med, we fancied a change and wanted to do an ex-UK cruise. We had also been to a P&O evening about 18 months ago, and had visited Oceana in Southampton just over a year ago, so I was actually looking at 7 night cruises with P&O, probably on Oceana, from Southampton. And I was quite close to booking one, and had ignored Ventura completely, when i decided to look at her details. In the event I was attracted by two things: a) the preponderance & therefore cheapness of balcony cabins - we've had inside cabins & oceanview cabins, but not a balcony cabin; and b) the itinerary - I quite fancy visiting the Canaries, plus the Iberian ports on the return journey (Lisbon especially). So that was it, basically - cruise type (ex-UK); cabin type (balcony at a reasonable price - similar cabins on Oriana & Aurora seems to attract a much higher premium); c) the fact that it's P&O and not an american line (we're quite looking forward to fish at breakfast & curry at lunchtime); and d) the itinerary. Also the date was right - we're going in the autumn which will give us time to save up for it.

I'm not a died-in-the-wool fan of traditional ships; for me itinerary and cost of a cruise are as important as the vessel. I think we'll enjoy Ventura: reports from those who cruised in the Grand Mk II ships seems to be positive, and Ventura seems to have 'added Brit!' ingredients, e.g. the casino is smaller than on the Princess ships; the space will be filled-in with that british staple, somewhere (else) to drink.

In an ideal world, it would be interesting to take both an ex-UK Princess cruise and ‘Ventura’ and compare the two products. I’m not sure how the Princess prices compare with P&O, but I did see so surprisingly good deals on ‘Ventura’. (The UK Carnival products do not tend to compete with each other price wise, when I’ve looked they seem to be a similar level).

It is certainly a pleasure to board a ship at a UK port – then the cruise starts the minute you walk up that gangway, no airports, no hassle.

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This year and next it's Grand Princess.

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So it is. But I'm not so sure about the itineraries.

In fact I've just had a look at the 2008 'British Isles RoundTrip' itinerary. They've obviously been taking lessons from Ryanair when it comes to defining their destinations: There's:

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:

In an ideal world, it would be interesting to take both an ex-UK Princess cruise and ‘Ventura’ and compare the two products.

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Supposely there will be suttle changes and gimmicks on the VENTURA that will be first on these class of ships. I am a bit optimistic about the Metropolis Lounge and its electronic film wall - curious to see how it turns out.

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By the way, there is a gallery on P&O's website with updated pictures of the VENTURA taking shape.

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Originally posted by Tom Burke:

There is, but they don't seem to be keeping it up to date - there's nothing about the float out which happened over a month ago.

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Yes there is.

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Originally posted by Budgie:
In the past I have also sailed on Grand and Star Princess, both Caribbean cruises so I have already had experience of the Grand Class ship design.

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Great Dave! You are the chosen one to report back to us when you return, comparing P&O and Princess 'Grand Class'

It contains a virtual tour (artists renderings) of many of the public rooms.

[ 07-22-2007: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]