Photo essay - Cruise ships in Southampton; cruise ship size and crowding

Southampton in southern England is a great place for cruise ship enthusiasts. Not only do quite a few ships call there during the warmer months but there are several places around the harbor from which you can get a good view or photograph the ships. There always seem to be a few people around taking photos as the time for the ships to sail draws near.

This week, we have a series of pictorials of ships that were in Southampton when I visited there in May. The ships covered include: Oriana and Oceana of P&O Cruises; three sister ships - - Ventura, Azura and Crown Princess; and Queen Mary 2, Celebrity Eclipse and MSC Opera. I have also tried to give bits of information about each of the ships. The pictorials begin at http://www.beyondships2.com/seen-in-soton-oceana.html

We also have a new FAQ. I often find that people are under the impression that the larger the ship is, the more people it will have onboard and thus there will be more lines and crowding. However, the fact is that there is no absolute correlation between size and number of passengers. There are very large ships that have much fewer passengers than smaller ships. In addition, the fact that one ships has more people than another does not necessarily mean more lines and more crowding. This topic is discussed at http://www.beyondships2.com/faq-ship-size-and-crowding.html

Cruise ship Ventura photos and update

This week the focus is on P&O Cruises' Ventura as we update Beyondships' section on Ventura with new pages devoted to menus and daily programs. In addition, there are two new photo essays: one showing Ventura sailing from St. Kitts and one showing her with Emerald Princess.

Ventura is very much targeted to the UK market. Thus, the cruise experience is tailored toward British tastes. It is not British in the way that foreigners think of Britain but rather a lifestyle that people in modern day Britain enjoy.

Within that framework, Ventura is somewhat less traditional compared to her sister ship, P&O's Azura. She is somewhat more relaxed and more activity minded but still more formal than most North American-oriented lines.

Outwardly, Ventura looks very much like the Grand class ships operated by Princess Cruises. This surprised many passengers on a cruise that I was on recently when Emerald Princess docked along side of Ventura. Here, we were next to a ship that looked identical to our Princess ship but which was not a Princess ship. Many speculated - - incorectly - - that Ventura must have at one time been a Princess ship.

Ventura was in fact the fulfillment of P&O's long held ambition to operate a Grand class ship for the British market. Prior to its merger into Carnival Corporation, P&O owned Princess Cruises. The Grand class design was developed in those days. For business reasons, P&O allocated all of its Grand class ships to its highly successful Princess subsidiary. At one point, it ordered a Grand class ship for itself but then upon further consideration decided to allocate that ship to Princess as well. In 2008, with the financial resources of Carnival behind it, P&O's ambition was fulfilled with the entry of Ventura into service - - the largest Grand class ship yet built (by a thousand or so gross tons),

Our photo essay of Ventura together with Emerald Princess in St. Kitts shows just how similar the two ships are on the outside. http://www.beyondships2.com/ventura-emerald-princess.html

Later that day, just as the sun was setting, Ventura sailed from St. Kitts. This was a beautiful sail away as the sky was a mixture of blue sky and heavy tropical clouds. There were rainbows and the light gave the ship a golden tint. Our photo essay (including a video) is at http://www.beyondships2.com/ventura-sails-from-st-kitts.html

As mentioned above, we also have a new dedicated menus page http://www.beyondships2.com/ventura-menus.html and a new daily programs (programmes) page. http://www.beyondships2.com/ventura-daily-programs.html These should be helpful if you are thinking of a cruise on Ventura or if you just want to see what is happening on Ventura.