P&O Cruises Cancels 35-Day Ventura Caribbean Cruise
It takes a lot of planning to get ready for a 35-day cruise vacation, so when that voyage gets cancelled it’s a huge disappointment. That is the case for a few thousand would-be cruisers who were notified by P&O Cruises that their 2027 trip is off.
The cruise line’s 3,200-guest Ventura was due to depart on January 4, 2027 for a Caribbean cruise roundtrip from Southampton, UK, but “operational reasons” caused the line to nix the voyage.
“On occasion, it is necessary to change an itinerary from the one previously published and we are very sorry that Ventura’s 35-night Caribbean itinerary departing January 04 2027, has been cancelled,” the line’s email notice to guests stated.
According to the announcement, Ventura will sail three itineraries during the time she would have operated the longer voyage, all going on sale on June 4, 2025.
The Grand-class ship currently has no scheduled cruises after her December 21, 2026 departure, a 14-night Christmas sailing to the Canary Islands.
The next published cruise, a 4-night Amsterdam getaway, departs on February 8, 2027.
However, P&O Cruises has automatically transferred all bookings to another, very similar alternative voyage — cruise G701 onboard Iona, an Excellence-class ship that entered service in 2020.
The 5,200-guest Iona will sail a 35-night voyage, “Caribbean Winter Warmth,” roundtrip from Southampton on January 3, 2027. The itinerary includes several port calls that Ventura would have visited.
The Iona sailing first calls at Tenerife, Canary Islands, before her transatlantic crossing to St. Kitts. From there, she sails to destinations such as Bridgetown, Barbados; St. Georges, Grenada; Castries, St. Lucia; St. Johns, Antigua; and Tortola, BVI, before the return trip to Europe. The ship’s final call is La Coruna, Spain, before arriving back at Southampton.
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P&O Cruises operates seven ships: Azura, Britannia, Iona, Arvia, Aurora, Ventura, and Arcadia. A sister brand, P&O Cruises Australia, was recently dissolved, with two of its ships absorbed into the Carnival Cruise Line fleet. Its third ship was retired.
Cruise Line Is No Stranger to Cancelled Voyages
P&O Cruises has strengthened its reputation for cancelling cruises in recent months. It nixed two Iona sailings in fall 2024 for an unplanned dry dock, along with a 14-night voyage on the same ship that was due to sail in August 2026.
Perhaps the most egregious of the cancellations was one that provided a single day’s notice to booked guests. The 1,900-guest Aurora was due to depart on an April 21, 2025 sailing from Southampton to Zeebruge, Belgium. On April 20, 2025, guests were informed the cruise would not operate.
Virtually every cruise line cancels sailings from time to time and for various reasons, such as unscheduled maintenance, an operational problem, fleet redeployments, charter opportunities, and port call complications, among others.
One notable cancellation happened in 2023, when Norwegian Cruise Line pulled seven months of scheduled cruises aboard Norwegian Sun. A total of 22 voyages were nixed between March and November 2025.
In that case, the line cited a fleet redeployment as the reason. For booked guests on the cancelled Ventura cruise, they can accept the automatic switch to the Iona voyage, which is the same length, departs from the same port, and calls at many of the same destinations.
P&O Cruises has not announced other details related to the cancelled cruise, such as refund options or compensation. Booked guests can contact the line or their travel agent to find out more.