MV Ventura
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MV ''Ventura'' is a
cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours k ...
of the
P&O Cruises P&O Cruises is a British cruise line based at Carnival House in Southampton, England, operated by Carnival Corporation & plc#Carnival UK, Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. It was originally a subsidiary of the freight transp ...
fleet. The 116,017 GT ship was built by
Fincantieri Fincantieri S.p.A. () is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world (2014 ...
at their shipyard in
Monfalcone Monfalcone (; Venetian language#Regional variants, Bisiacco: ; ; ; archaic ) is a town and (municipality) in the Province of Gorizia, Regional decentralization entity of Gorizia in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, northern Italy, located on the Gulf of Tr ...
,
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
and is long. She officially entered service with the company in April 2008 and was named by Dame
Helen Mirren Dame Helen Mirren (; born Ilyena Lydia Vasilievna Mironov; 26 July 1945) is an English actor. With a career spanning over six decades of Helen Mirren on screen and stage, screen and stage, List of awards and nominations received by Helen Mirre ...
. ''Ventura'' underwent a refit at the
Blohm & Voss Blohm+Voss (B+V), also written historically as Blohm & Voss, Blohm und Voß etc., is a German shipbuilding and engineering company. Founded in Hamburg in 1877 to specialise in steel-hulled ships, its most famous product was the World War II battle ...
shipyard in
Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, during March and April 2013, and re-entered service on 7 April 2013 with a voyage to Spain and Portugal. In February 2023 she underwent a minor refit again at the Hamburg shipyard, re-entering service four weeks later.


Overview

MV ''Ventura'' is owned by Carnival UK and operated by
P&O Cruises P&O Cruises is a British cruise line based at Carnival House in Southampton, England, operated by Carnival Corporation & plc#Carnival UK, Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. It was originally a subsidiary of the freight transp ...
. When the ship entered service in April 2008 she was one of the largest cruise ships built for the British market. ''Ventura'' can accommodate 3,192 passengers, and has 1,550 cabins, of which about 60% possess private balconies. It has fourteen public decks, eight restaurants, six boutiques, five pools and three show lounges, including a theatre. After being handed over on 29 March, ''Ventura'' arrived in
Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...
in the morning of 6 April 2008, ahead of its first mini cruise to
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
on 11 April, and her first full cruise on 18 April. British actress Dame
Helen Mirren Dame Helen Mirren (; born Ilyena Lydia Vasilievna Mironov; 26 July 1945) is an English actor. With a career spanning over six decades of Helen Mirren on screen and stage, screen and stage, List of awards and nominations received by Helen Mirre ...
officially christened ''Ventura'' and became the ship's "Godmother", prior to its maiden cruise to the Mediterranean Sea. In a break with tradition, Dame Helen commanded a team of
Royal Marine Commando The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a company strength sub-unit to the Special Forces Support Group (SFSG), landing craft cr ...
s to assist her in naming ''Ventura'' in a dramatic abseil.


Accidents and incidents


Passenger "rebellion"

During the Christmas 2008/New Year 2009 period in the Caribbean, there were reports of loutish behaviour on board, culminating in a rift between passengers who had paid the full fare and those who had not, described by the media as a passenger "rebellion". As a result of the problems, two passengers were ejected from the ship and three scheduled ports of call were omitted from the itinerary.


Bay of Biscay damage

After experiencing bad weather on 18 October 2012 in the
Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay ( ) is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Point Penmarc'h to the Spanish border, and along the northern coast of Spain, extending westward ...
, ''Ventura'' suffered slight damage to the aluminium superstructure deck high up on the ship. ''Ventura'' underwent repairs in Southampton on 19 October 2012. P&O stated that this had no structural strength or safety implications. Some passengers were ordered not to use their balconies.


Power failure

Shortly after leaving the southern tip of Tenerife, on 25 October 2014 at around 6.15pm, ''Ventura'' experienced a fault with two of its six engines. As a result, power was lost. Once generators were working again and providing power to the ship, the engines restarted, around 40 minutes later. It then proceeded onwards, completing its further itinerary with no further issues. It was, however, reported by passengers that the same thing had happened on departure from Genoa, a week earlier.


Jetski rescue

On 5 September 2018, ''Ventura'' was involved in a rescue mission off the coast of
Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...
. Three men were rescued, when their
jet ski A personal watercraft (PWC), also called Jet Ski or water scooter, is a primarily recreational watercraft that is designed to hold only a small number of occupants, who sit or stand on top of the craft, not within the craft as in a boat. P ...
had run out of petrol and drifted into the
Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...
. All three men were rescued safely and stayed on ''Ventura'' until the Spanish Coast Guard arrived to collect them.


Propulsion system failure (2019)

On 8 December 2019, ''Ventura'' suffered technical problems with her propulsion system.
Tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...
assistance was called for and overnight ''Ventura'' was assisted back to the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The ship had lost all four of her propulsion convertors following a major steam leak in the technical spaces where these systems were housed. The convertors were completely shut down and a number of major components identified as needing replacing as these had failed due to ingress of steam into the systems. An 'Emergency Response Team' were sent to meet the vessel in Tenerife arriving on Dec 9th. Repair work, using spares brought by the team, was completed on one propulsion system on 10 December and a short sea trial, using the Port propulsion motor, conducted overnight with Lloyds Surveyors and Carnivals Electrical SME overseeing the tests. On 12 December all four propulsion systems were repaired and fully tested with a short sea trial, using both of the 20MWA propulsion motors, being conducted in waters off Tenerife with tugs available in case of any problems. Lloyds and the ship's team were satisfied the ship was safe to operate without further restrictions and ''Ventura'' returned to Southampton missing out on the scheduled stops of
Lanzarote Lanzarote (, , ) is a Spanish island, the easternmost of the Canary Islands, off the north coast of Africa and from the Iberian Peninsula. Covering , Lanzarote is the fourth-largest of the islands in the archipelago. With 163,230 inhabi ...
and
Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
. An engineering team remained onboard the ship to monitor the systems and disembarked in Southampton on 17 December. A reduction of 50% of the fares was promised to all passengers. A total of 600 passengers elected to be flown back to the UK by charter aircraft on 12 December. During a presentation to passengers in the Arena Theatre on 16 December 2019, Captain Andy Willard gave more details of the technical problems. On a scale of 1-10 he ranked this problem as '9'. He further explained that five tugs attended on 8 December two of which were 'pirate' tugs hoping for salvage rights. Specialist parts to repair the propulsion problem were flown in from Los Angeles, a sister ship in the Caribbean and the manufacturers in Germany together with a team of technical specialists. ''Ventura'' returned to Southampton on 17 December 2019, three days later than scheduled. No injuries were sustained with damage limited to the propulsion convertors and the steam system. On the voyage following this incident further incidents occurred aboard involving a muster call and a fire in the onboard restaurant resulting in a crewmember being airlifted from the ship by the Portuguese coastguard on the morning following.


Propulsion system failure (2022)

On 6 February 2022 at approximately 18.30 Ventura suffered a power and propulsion failure about south of Plymouth in the English Channel. This failure was at the end of a 35 day cruise to the Caribbean. After 10 minutes lighting was restored and the main engines were restarted after a further 20 minutes. The ship then continued to Southampton docking around 0600 on 7 February at Ocean Terminal without incident. During the 30 minute failure the vessel drifted beam on to the prevailing westerlies at around .


Luggage Incident

On 4 June 2022 a forklift, operated by the Port of Southampton, dropped a luggage cart into
the Solent The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and mainland Great Britain; the major historic ports of Southampton and Portsmouth lie inland of its shores. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit whic ...
while attempting to lift it from the vessel. Two ship's tenders were launched to retrieve the luggage, unfortunately a small number of bags could not be recovered.


Norovirus outbreak

In May 2024, while on a cruise to the Canary Islands, several hundred people were taken ill on board as a result of an outbreak of norovirus.


2020 pandemic

During the 2020 coronavirus layoff, the vessel spent some time moored off
Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...
and
Teignmouth Teignmouth ( ) is a seaside town, fishing port and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is on the north bank of the estuary mouth of the River Teign, about south of Exeter. The town had a population of 14 ...
.


References


External links


''Ventura'' P&O website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ventura 2007 ships Ships of P&O Cruises Passenger ships of Bermuda Ships built by Fincantieri Maritime incidents in 2012 Maritime incidents in 2019 Maritime incidents in 2022