OldJerseycruiser

Thank you all for your replies. Very useful information as I have sailed with many cruise lines, but don't have any experience of Fred Olsen.

These are Fred Olsen chartered flights to Barbados for this Christmas 2017. So do I have to phone and book a seat as the timings aren't showing yet?

Hopefully, someone can help with a couple of questions I have as I am trying to help my mother sort out her Christmas cruise. I had emailed fredolsencruises, but they didn't answer questions, just sent Atol certificate. 😟

My mother booked through an online travel agent who state that they do not book particular seats on the flights. No flight times have been given yet, so how long before cruise is one able to book a seat?

Also, she will require wheelchair assistance at airports as she cannot walk too far. Who do I contact to arrange this?

Many thanks.

Cabin Number: 710 outside +

Cruise Ship: Majesty

Date of Cruise: 27th June 2014

Bed Formation: Double ( two beds together).

Bath/Shower?: shower

Adjoining Cabin?: no

Balcony?: no

Comment on the Size of the Cabin: Good size cabin

Comment on any Noise Issues:No noise issues

Comment on Storage Space: plenty

Comment on the Bathroom: small but a good shower

Any Other Comments?: Great cabin, perfect position.

Would You Recommend this Cabin?: Yes, definitely.

Link to any Images:

Score out of 10: 9

I think you have to go with an open mind and think about why you want to do your holiday. We went for our first cruise with Thomson over Christmas after many P & O, Princess, Celebrity, RCL, NCL & Voyage of Discovery cruises as it was the only one that fitted my holiday dates. I have to say that it wouldn't 't be my first choice for other cruises, food is not a plus point, but saying that we are are going for another one in June, because of a great itinerary. The best thing about the cruise line is their staff who are second to none. Give it a go, especially at such a great price.

After reading this, I checked on ports.cruisett.com to see if Majesty is showing up for our cruise stop on 30/06/14 and it was. It is also showing for 28th July and 8th August. Am I reading it correctly? Fantastic news if it's true though.

We rented a 3 seater cycle and toured with Trikes Aruba, it was an absolutely fantastic and unusual adventure for us: http://trikes-aruba.com/

I would second this recommendation. This is an unique way to see the island and great fun. Will definitely do it again next time as one of the best trips we have ever been on! See the reviews on Tripadvisor.

So pleased that the food has improved, as at Christmas, on Celebration, it was like school dinners. We are giving Thomson another chance and are hoping that it will be better on Thomson Majesty in June as we are so looking forward to the itinerary.

You echo my fears. I would love to do more DIY but just not brave enough when faced with the masses of map waving drivers. In January we did wander round the area near the ship on 2 or 3 islands instead of doing a tour, but even sitting in the botanical gardens a mini bus driver came over trying to get his bus filled up.

You will find that if you do your research on here before you go, you will get excursions/ firms that are very reliant on reviews so are very aware of the time restraints of cruise passengers. The vast majority of those recommended on here are brilliant and much cheaper and more personal than any cruise line tours.

Yes, we have also used Bernard's Tours, very professional for the Caribbean and very aware at getting you back to the ship on time as their business is only as good as their reviews. Lovely time at beach and in Marigot ( You have to try the French Bakery there). They also go a beach bar at Maho Beach which gives an amazing experience watching the planes landing just over the heads of the sunbathers.

We have been on Adventure Antigua's Eco tour and Extreme Tour, both brilliant ways to see Antigua, my favourite was the Eco Tour. They meet you at the docks, where you dock,with their catamaran. They are also very time conscious.

If you wanted to do a local tour look at Bernard's Tours, St Maarten, he has various options and we thoroughly enjoyed our trip including Maho Beach. He now also does just a Maho Beach tour.

Many thanks for that ... the site went down before I had chance to do anything and then when it came back it had disappeared. Have you by any chance visited Curacao, Aruba, Bonaire and if so did you do any trips / or beach. These islands are new to us!

One of the best tours we have been on off a cruise is on Aruba with a company called Trikes Aruba ( it was so much fun) and as long as you can drive a manual car, whatever your age, you will have the best time and see all the places to see in Aruba. See TripAdvisor for reviews. We were given a place to meet them close to the terminal and then each driver was given a lesson on how to drive them. Can't say how great this tour is and if we have a cruise stop there again wouldn't hesitate to do it again

Totally agree about Dolly Parton; I'll start screaming if I hear " Islands in the Stream" for many months to come! When I originally got through, the recorded message stated that my call should be answered within 6 minutes which I thought was acceptable, so stayed on the line. Whilst, I can quite understand that one can't know exactly how long a call can take, I got to the stage where I thought that I would carry on till I got through (had tried before, but gave up after hearing how long the waiting time was) and was finally talking to someone after 21 minutes. Can anyone beat that discrepancy in time?

Thank you for that as we shall be needing visas for India next year.

Is it possible for you to have the Classic drinks package and your wife to have either the on board credit or the gratuities paid? If so this may solve your problem.

We're going on our 1st Thomson cruise on the Celebration this October to the Black Sea. We booked it because of the itinerary and the great reviews at the time. Now thinking we should have stayed with Princess or Celebrity. Just hoping they can pick things up by October, or it will probably be our one and only Thomson cruise........:(:(

Dave, you will notice a big difference particularly in the food in the MDR if it stays the same standard as on our Christmas cruise on Celebration (also our first Thomson experience). However, as you say, you booked for the itinerary, so will probably enjoy it anyway. There are lots of positives, particularly the staff. Don't compare it with Princess and Celebrity (our last cruise was on Princess, before that Celebrity) just enjoy a different experience.

Look nice ,do you know if P and O are going to bring in a no smoking policy on their balconies ,I dont want to be sat on a balcony and being killed by someone elses second hand smoke.?:)

Smoking on balconies will be banned on P & O from March 2014.

Hi Joe,

It's funny how we all think differently as we have been on many cruises, several on P & O. We went on our first ever cruise on Thomson (Celebration) this Christmas and found that our Christmas cruises on P & O and Princess were far more "Christmassy" than Thomson. We were also very disappointed in the food served in the MDR, however, the food in Mistrals was wonderful (the buffet was good too). Have to say that the crew on Thomson were absolutely outstanding, nothing was too much trouble and they always have a smile on their faces, unlike the P & O staff. This has not put us off trying another Thomson cruises though and have booked again for June.

Hi, would like to hear your views on the Antarctica cruise, i presume it was onboard Infinity? We are booked to go next year but a little bit concerned about anti-british feeling in Buenos Airies.

Yes, it was on Infinity and we had a fabulous time. We also had concerns about anti-British feeling as there had been several violent incidents before we went, but we didn't experience any of that, even though we had three days in B.A. before joining the cruise.

We were also very lucky in that we had the best weather experienced on our cruise for possibly the last ten years (we were told this by the Antarctica expert on board). The Drakes Passage was like a mill pond and, for the first time, the Captain allowed passengers to go up to the helicopter deck to view the scenery in Antarctica as the weather was so calm. He even let a tender off the ship to get a mini iceberg to show us all the striations from rainfall on the ice from thousands of years ago. It was a very special cruise.

If you want any further info, let me know.

P.S. Did a great tour in the Falklands with Patrick Watts with fellow Cruisecritic people and they let us off first with a special tender.

We are Elite on Princess and, I think, Mediterranean on P & O. In February, we went on our first cruise on Celebrity to Antarctica and have to say, had the best food of any of our cruises. We tend to go for the itineraries, so would go with any of these cruise lines, but I wish that P & O were a bit more adventurous.

Not wanting to put a spanner in the works, we had an aft cabin last year and were plagued with soot from the funnel the whole trip. Rail, chairs and table were always dirty. Additionally you could never 'see' the port properly without going out on deck. Wouldn't go with an aft cabin again. Maybe worth asking about? Sorry to mention it.

Don't let that worry you, as we have had aft cabins on Ventura and Oceana and haven't ever had those problems. We loved them, especially Oceana, but it's horses for courses. Have a great cruise!

O yes IT IS about time, so stuffy and pompous! Wouldn't it be enough for the men to wear a jacket, shirt and tie instead of the old tuxedo thing. With regards to Sunseeker's post, I get the washing of daytime clothes as an obvious -its having to pack a tux, shoes etc in the first place as EXTRA. Makes you wonder if they're doing it on purpose so you spend more money with them by hiring the stuff in the first place. Us girls can wear same pair of trousers with different tops or even a lovely cocktail dress - the issue is if P&O are going to determine the 'out-of-date' so called POSH nights then they should allow the baggage allowance to reflect this. I too will never either cruise with P&O again or fly with whichever airline it is we end up with. Never had this problem with Princess or RCI or NCL had a 30kg no bother.

I just knew Denarius's post was going to bring out, yet again, the "Get rid of formal nights" brigade.

It can be done. We all managed at Christmas / New Year on Azura, even my daughter who likes to wear a different dress every night. We also managed on a two week New Zealand / Australia Princess cruise with a 5 night land tour afterwards, but obviously utilising the self-service laundry. As above, I would recommend buying your toiletries after security as they weigh a ton.

Hopefully your email alerting him to the negative comments will produce a far more positive experience for you and everyone else using the golf carts from now on. (We weren't one of those asking for our money back)

Have a lovely time in March!

Ok! From our experience and we were early off the ship, when we reached the truck where we had to assume was involved in golf cart rentals, there are 2 carts and one jeep. There is not a fleet from which to choose. Our cart looked the best; the guy told DH to start in in gear and off we went. Personally, I could not have driven the thing as it was a challenge to keep it from stalling out. We own our own golf cart. It has a windshield; a horn and rear view mirrors. None of this was on the cart we rented. You drive on the left side, so I was the spotter who kept DH aware of what was coming behind us.

Roads have dust; passing island drivers blew by us and there were times I wanted to return to the ship. We kept going to the lighthouse. We did get lost once but there are better maps at the port.

I would not rent with Nathan again; need to watch my credit statements as he charged my card in advance in October and then I needed to sign again for more money on the island. We did spend$5 as his gas tank indicator is not accurate.

On return, we had to find some guy sleeping in his truck to verify the return.

Helllo?? This guy is making money through CC and I for one will not ever rent his crap vehicles.

Just our experience for gettig swiped for +$90 for a 2-3 hour tour in a junk yard gof cart.

Have to agree with Loucat. We booked with Nathan because of CC recommendations, but this is the first time that the experience didn't live up to what we were led to expect. Possibly in the past it was worth the money and the vehicles were sound, but obviously money isn't being ploughed back into the business and of course, like us, other cruisers are still booking due to those old recommendations and keeping them ticking over.