[catherinesian]

So we just spent a week on Ventura in a balcony cabin. We visited Stavanger, Olden, Alesund and Bergen.

In terms of the ship, Ventura and Azura are sister ships so everything is identical aside from the names of the bars/restaurants as far as I am aware.

Food – food was decent enough, not the best we have had on a cruise but plenty of options and lots of it! We were on Freedom dining which means you can go to either of the freedom dining restaurants between 6-9pm and they will seat you (you might have a wait if you want a specific table). You can have Club dining which is two sittings 6:30 and 8:30 I think if you prefer. You just need to request whichever one you want before you go. One word of warning about Freedom dining is we assumed both restaurants would be different and have different menu’s, but they were identical (and so we are not sure why there was 2 of them!). One night we had a 45 minute for a table for 2 when we went at 7, they give you a buzzer and we went off to a bar and had a drink. The other days we had no wait, couple of days we were there at 6 on the dot and another day we sauntered down at 8ish, expecting a wait but got seated straightaway.

In terms of breakfast buffet and lunch options, there’s the main buffet but also a burger bar and pizza bar just by the pool on Lido deck.

Room – our room was nice, we only had a standard balcony room and it was on the small side but I know the deluxe balcony rooms are much bigger. Had really good storage which was lacking on the other boats we have been on. We were on Barbados deck (11) in B255 which was just by the lifts.

Entertainment – just OK. There was comedians on 3 nights (neither hugely funny), a Bert Bacharach (sp?) tribute (didn’t go to), a soul tribute (didn’t go to), a Rock of Ages style show called Paradise City (OK – slightly dodgy singing! ), and the magic show that Stephen Mulhern designed for them (just OK, but I’m not a magic fan).
There were quite a few pub quizzes in the Exchange (English pub – deck 6 or 7 front) and there was even a Harry Potter quiz! Despite our best efforts we did not win that, especially embarrassing as I wore my HP top specially, so we looked like superfans. If you win the quizzes you get gold stickers which you collect up and exchange for prizes at the end. We had two gold stickers and got a trolley coin and a USB car charger for those.

We never actually made it to the pool, but they seemed a decent size!

Went to the gym and did a couple of classes, a fitness one and a stretch class (pilates). The gym was right at the front of the boat and the views were stunning which I am sure helps with distracting from the exercise …!

Ports – Stavanger. We wandered around the old town just opposite where the ship docks, then went to the canning museum (actually really interesting and worth going to). There was a guided tour here and you got entry into another two museums in Stavanger too. We then wandered around the new part and went to the Maritime museum which was OK but not half as good as the canning one.

Olden – wow what a beautiful place. We had a busy day with 2 excursions booked – Kayaking AM and Briskal Glacier PM. The kayaking was incredible, such a stunning place and a wonderful way to explore it. The Glacier was also incredible, although even if you get the coach to the visitor centre it’s still a 45 min uphill hike to get to the glacier and we are 2 fit people in our late 20’s (although our legs were killing us as we had done a fitness class the day before, big mistake! ). When we got back down there was tea and cakes waiting in the visitor centre FOC if you were on the excursion, then we got the coach back to the boat. Really recommend both these excursions.

Alesund – here we had a wander around the town and went up the 418 steps to the lookout point which is worth doing. You can get the hop off tourbus or the blue land train which will take you up without having to walk up the steps. We sort of wished we had done this as after the fitness class, and the glacier hike, our legs were in agony going up the steps!

Bergen – had a wander here too and got the funicular up to the top of the mountain. Book your tickets in advance – we did and there wasn’t much of a queue when we were there but when we came back down the queue was enormous! There’s some very friendly mountain goats up the top and we both had a little stroke. There’s a beautiful old town near the port which has some very cutesy shops in and we went to a local supermarket to get some baked goodies to bring back for work and family (much cheaper here then in tourist shops).

Norway as a whole is very expensive, so try and eat on the ship wherever you can!

I hope that summary helps and if you have any questions, ask away!