Testing The Water Laura’s Sealife Cruise

A mini cruise is the perfect way to test the water and immerse yourself into life at sea. Recently I boarded P&O Ventura from Southampton to Zeebrugge (for Bruges) with my husband for a two night trip.

I have to admit, I was slightly apprehensive about the trip.  This he booked the year before with Hays Travel due to me experiencing sea sickness every time I set foot on a boat.

Laura got her sea legs after her mini cruise from Southampton to Zeebrugge.

With our bags packed and e-tickets printed, we set off for Southampton on the Friday ready for boarding at 1pm as instructed. We left from gate 4, the Oceania Terminal and upon arrival to Southampton we couldn’t miss the ship as it was the only one in the dock!

We didn’t pre-book our parking so we paid upon arrival which was £37, this was the same price if we had pre-booked but this way we got to park our own car – something my husband was keen on.

Our baggage was hand luggage size so we walked straight up to check-in, had our passports checked and photos taken before heading over to security for screening. At check-in, we were issued with our cruise cards. These were to act as our form of payment when we were on-board and handed to security when entering and departing the ship. On the cruise you get to take unlimited luggage and 1 bottle of alcohol with you.

Cabin on the P&O Ventura mini cruise from Southampton to Zeebrugge.

Once we had got onto Ventura, we headed up to the Lido deck to our room but we were a little confused as to if our room was ready. Everyone seemed to be at the various bars on the ship with their luggage so we joined them and waiting for an announcement about our cabin which didn’t happen. After an hour we decided to go and find our room to see it had been made-up the whole time we were waiting – so that was a little annoying.

Upon arriving to our cabin everything was clean and presentable. We had a quick browse of the daily newspaper which had information about the entertainment and such when we found out about the safety demonstration at the “muster station” taking place at 4.30pm.

Catering on the P&O Ventura mini cruise from Southampton to Zeebrugge.

This has to be carried out by law and was over in about 15 minutes but it was absolute carnage trying to get back to our room as every single person aboard the ship was trying to do the same.

Ventura set sail at 5.30pm, when the gift shops opened on-board. I tried to not pay too much attention to the outside but I actually didn’t need to take the motion sickness tablets at all. It was a smooth crossing and great that it was all done at night.

That evening we headed to The Glass House and enjoyed sliders and tapas. What we didn’t know anything about was the cover charges or that we had on-board credit to spend. We paid £17 for this meal which was really reasonable but the menus didn’t show any pricing so we found this out on the Sunday when we settled our account!

We had a quick scan of the shops which mainly sold duty-free items such as jewellery and perfume before heading over to the bars and nightclubs to check out the entertainment.

Cruising in the Christmas market  in Bruges.

After a couple of cocktails and interesting shows, we headed to our cabin to get ready rest ready for our full day in Bruges the next day.

We arrived into Zeebrugge at 7am and boarded our pre-booked transfer at 9am which took us to Bruges. Our tour guides told us the history of Belgium and the local areas, including Bruges and dropped us off outside of the city after a 20 minute trip.

Hitting the shops and bars on the Southampton to Zeebugge cruise.

My husband and I had been to Bruges before so we vaguely knew our way around. As soon as we got off the coach the person at the front led the way for the rest of the group in completely the wrong direction. We left them and made our own way to the city bypassing familiar sights, strolling along the canals and following the bells of the Tower.

We got into Bruges for about 9.30am after a 10 minute walk from the coach drop off. The Christmas Markets weren’t open so we explored the streets off of the main square, found Hotel Narvarra where we stayed last time and gathered our bearings.

A different cruise in Bruges after the one from Southampton to Zeebrugge.

We decided to head for a hot drink in a local cafe as it was bitterly cold and as it was relatively quiet, we hopped onto a canal boat for a tour – something we didn’t do last time.

Half an hour of river cruising ticked off it was time for another hot drink before discovering “The Beer Wall” where my husband ordered a taster board of Belgium beers. We were soon pretty cold and had been on our feet for 3 hours so we wondered back to the Christmas Markets in the square where it was absolutely rammed.

Beer wall found once on land in Belgium.

We tried to find a cafe or restaurant with space inside but it was really difficult so we ended up perched on a table outside a gluwein stand. This is what I really missed about having a hotel or the like to retreat to. Having a base in the city would mean we could refresh and escape the crowds but 7 1/2 hours of walking around was actually quite difficult.

Warming up on a mini cruise from Southampton to Zeebrugge.

After purchasing as much chocolate as possible we headed back to the coach drop off point, following the river. Once arriving back to port our cruise cards were checked twice along with our bags before embarking the ship to sail back to Southampton.

Saturday night was a relatively rocky crossing back to the UK, but we were so tired from walking and having to dress up for formal night on the ship that again I didn’t need my motion sickness tablets. Result!

We enjoyed a live band and some cocktails before retreating to our room to pack as we were due to arrive at 7am to Southampton, before disembarking at 8am. We settled our balance and only found out at this point we had on-board credit to spend!

It was simple to leave the ship and we made it from our cabin to the car in less than 15 minutes.

Overall, a two day mini-cruise from Southampton to Zeebrugge is a great way to experience life on-board and actually I think it would make for a great family holiday. Our toddler would have loved the kid’s clubs, swimming pools along with the flexibility and freedom cruising provides.

Laura also writes for her own blog: