richard_london

The Q3 Bonheur report is out and it doesn't seem to paint a positive picture. It says Q3 occupancy was 73% (https://www.bonheur.no/quarterly-reports2). In Q1 occupancy was 47%, in Q2 was 73%. So, no improvement in what should have been their peak quarter (I imagine) for cruises given it covered the summer? The report also says "Furthermore, some cruises during the quarter experienced lower than expected occupancy due to last minute cancellations and transfers because of guest concerns with rising cases of COVID in the UK" The worrying thing is that all the financial figures except operating revenues are worse numbers and it says there is large impairment included, due "to the asset value of the two older cruise ships". So it doesn't seem to be an improving position, and no news on a replacement for Fred Jr.

If you go to Fred.'s home page and scroll to the bottom, you can sign up for emails. Just be mindful they can be quite frequent! If you read some of the other threads you'll learn that Fred. aren't achieving high occupancy rates with their new ships so there are always offers around. But usually around extra on board credit. The is also the offers page, which is linked to in the top menu on the homepage.

I attempted to use it on my QM2 cruise in September but it wasn't very reliable. You need to make sure you are in reasonable proximity to one of the wifi routers around the ship. I found in certain places on the ship, that whilst it said I was connected to the wifi I couldn't get into the app. I had problems on the cabin balcony, for example. Unfortunately, when I was able to use it, I didn't find it particularly intuative. It does give the impression of something hastily put together in the age of Covid, but not properly thought out or planned. I've not tried Princess Cruises, but am aware of the Princess MedallionClass and that has very poor reviews on Google Play and the Apple App store. So it seems this is not something that Carnival Corp excels at. I'm not sure of the wisdom of launching something that seems a half-hearted effort and one that customers struggle to use. It will only discourage guests from using now and in the future.

I'm glad your experience was better than mine because it has discouraged me from booking one of those cabins again. I guess it just depends on who your fellow passengers are and how considerate they are when moving between the G32 and their cabins. I will still avoid as I am a light sleeper and will try one of the cabins on 2 deck.

On my cruise earlier in September on the Queen Mary 2 I was given 15:30 arrival. I turned up at 15:00 and there must have been less than ten other passengers boarding at the Mayflower terminal. It was incredibly quiet. No one quibbled my early arrival, I've always arrived a little early (say half an hour) so would be very surprised if they did. It was the best boarding experience as it was so quick, but the disadvantage is missing lunch.

Here are a couple of photos of the Balmoral leaving on her first voyage following her shipyard visit on the Tyne. I think she was off on a round-Britain cruise. These photos were taken from the Observation Deck on the Queen Mary 2.

Their "new" webite has gone live: https://www.cfc-croisieres.fr/ I say new in inverted commas because it is just the old CMV website with a different logo. The content might be slightly different but the entire website layout and look and feel is a carbon copy of the old CMV site. https://web.archive.org/web/20191115053717/http://cruiseandmaritime.com/

Far from it. We were doing 10/11 knots on the sea day On the previous day the captain said we would get as far as Devon before turning back to Southampton but we crawled along only as far as Portland, so definitely going for fuel saving. My point was more about her physical condition inside and out, and the fact that damaged/broken things hadn't been fixed. If she is spending more time at sea there is not the time to fix things. Unfortunately, it is starting to show.

I was on this cruise as well, so having read everyone's comments above, here are my observations/thoughts. This was my eighth cruise with Cunard and probably my most disappointing (sadly). I like others had to use a FCC, so this wasn’t my first choice. Zeebrugge isn’t a good port, as everything is a reasonable bus ride away. I like Rotterdam, but it is an itinerary I have done before and won’t be repeating. For reasons I explain below I felt the whole voyage atmosphere rather flat. The inclement weather on the last sea day didn’t help as everyone was forced to stay indoors for most of the day. I was relieved to get off in the end, which is not how I expected or wanted to feel. The experience was underwhelming. I arrived for check-in at 15:00 and the Mayflower Terminal was pretty empty. So I was able to go straight through to check-in. There the lady said that they'd had computer system trouble earlier, so was having to check people in twice. I was straight through security and on to the ship. There was a book of condolence on Deck 3 by the Queen's portrait (by the Champagne bar) and one in the library. Whenever I was passing either, there was usually someone signing in. On deck two, the video display boards near the purser’s desk was displaying a memorial message. Televisions in public spaces were carrying the broadcasts of the news. I’m not sure how much the mood on board was affected by the news of the Queen passing away, but it may have played a part. Sail away was fairly muted, no sounding of the whistles at any of the ports. Later we were told this was out of respect for the Queen. (MSC sounded their whistle departing the previous day and Anthem of the Seas on the same day did, however). In fact, generally things were more muted – the daily programme - and sailaways were quite unspectacular. When leaving Rotterdam, as it was after first sitting for dinner had started, there were very few on deck, and it was all rather underwhelming. As has been said by those above, there was a small, but noticeable contingent wearing masks (me included). I ate in the Kings Court in the evening and Britannia for lunch during port days, and room service for breakfast. It worked okay except for lunch in Rotterdam. For some reason the maître d' decided to seat everyone really close together on one side of the restaurant when the restaurant was empty. I have no idea why. Even if Covid wasn't an issue on ships, why seat strangers right next to each other on tables for eight, when you have a restaurant that is 135ft wide, with so many empty tables? It just doesn't make sense. This is meant to be a luxury cruise ship, not Wagamama (where everyone sits together on benches). It felt like eating in a barracks rather than on a luxury cruise ship. I did make my feelings felt politely, but it was like I was communicating with a brick wall. I checked on Deck 5 during the cruise, and all the starboard side cabins from 5009 aft to 5097 were blocked off, so 5 deck starboard side wasn't accessible from either A or B stairways. So, by my reckoning that is 45 cabins, so space for less than 100? I checked down on 4 deck and elsewhere on the ship and couldn’t find any more closed off spaces. The fire doors were shut for the closed off area with large signs saying not to enter unless in an emergency, but on one occasion I did see a guest leave the cordoned off area and he wasn’t wearing as mask. So not sure if the protocols on board are working. I heard plenty of people coughing and spluttering. I thought more people were wearing masks by the end of the voyage, but perhaps I had just seen more people over the course of the four days. The food was okay, nothing exceptional. In the Kings Court, especially at dinner time the choice seemed very reduced and there was a lot of repetition. It wasn’t self-service like on the QV in the summer, you were served by the King’s Court staff. The Daily Programme is in a different physical format that on the QV when I was on her in August. Is this something specific to the QM2 or do all the Queens now have this format? On the QV it was a folded A3 double sided programme, with lots of space for text about each activity in the programme. The QM2 version was much more condensed and just a list with very little detail. I didn't like it. Are they trying to wean us of the printed programme in favour of the online version? It's disappointing as this new printed version is not as good. The one thing that surprised me was the physical condition of the ship. She will be twenty next year so I wonder if she is starting to show her age? The crew were very active painting areas of the ship, but the upperworks and vertical (inaccessible) surfaces of the ship were looking very weathered and rust-streaked. I know she regularly crosses the Atlantic but she was looking noticeably tired. The hull, especially at the bow was covered in rust, and looking at the balconies, particularly the underside of the balconies above were bad, with lots of rust on the pipework. The lifeboats, on their orange topsides were faded by weathering and the sun. When on the observation deck under the bridge I could see the boards on the ceiling/underside of the bridge broken and sagging, and the (I presume escape) hatches from the bridge were rotten and had been poorly repaired. But it wasn’t just the outside, in my cabin the inside of the door to the balcony was rusty, with peeling paint. The area around the door handle on the outside was uneven with thick, multiple layers of repaint. Handles (on the desk drawer and one of the wardrobe doors) were broken/hanging off. The sofa was clearly dirty and worn. The bathroom smelt of the shower curtain (I never understand how a “luxury” cruise line can have shower curtains). In the library there were broken black-out blinds at the front overlooking the front of the ship. In one of the corridors there were missing lamp shades. During the last night, the steam generation system was shut down for seven hours (actually eight as we put the clocks back) for “essential maintenance”, so there was no hot water during that time. In the Kings Court, drinks and ice machines were broken and inoperative for the entire four days. Three of the “Commodore’s cufflinks” – her spare propeller blades – were missing from the fo’c’sle deck, so had been used to replace her existing propeller blades. She is a lovely ship but everywhere I looked I could see that she is getting old and Cunard are working her hard. She really needs a refit soon. The crew were working hard, but there were always trolleys in the corridor long into the afternoon so perhaps the ship is understaffed as on one day my room wasn’t tidied until the afternoon. I have no other criticisms of the crew as they were all working very hard, apart from the maître d. I hope people don’t think I am being picky or overly critical, as I had a lovely voyage on the Queen Victoria in the summer, but just found this one very disappointing. I am not quite sure what to put for my Feefo review.

She cast off this morning at around 9am, according to MarineTraffic, and is currently chugging along at an economical 10 knots on the way to Southampton.

Well the Balmoral left the shipyard on Wednesday morning (7th Sept) and is currently tied up alongside the International Passenger Terminal. Marinetraffic has her down as arriving into Southampton (very) early on 11th September.

But are they willing to "throw good money after bad?" (i'm not saying Fred's product is bad). Cruise for Bonheur is not a core product and is a bit anomalous in a wind energy and renewables business, so my fear is that with Fred gone, as the biggest proponent for cruise within Bonheur, what appetite is there for a cruise business that isn't making any money? As other cruise lines are cutting Covid restrictions and reporting big surges in bookings Fred are cancelling cruises and will be operating just one ship for a period. According to the latest financial report, it is costs 8 million NOK a quarter to have Braemar laid up. As I look it the MarineTraffic app, I can still see the Balmoral still in the A&P yard on the Tyne. These drags on the bottom line aren't going away and it is all rather worriesome. The company needs a good dose of luck right now.

I think this is the crux of the matter. The pandemic has "broken" something for Fred. Either their loyal cruisers aren't cruising at all or they don't want to cruise with the "new" Fred Olsen product. I'm not sure which one it is, I imagine a bit of both, but I assume more of the latter. When I spoke with long-term Fred cruisers they spoke very affectionately about the Bouddica and Black Watch. I'm sure they are very much missed. The new offering isn't appealing to current non-Fred cruisers in sufficient numbers and the high prices are going to deter new-to-cruising people, when you can get a much better offering elsewhere. New cruisers to Fred would have to adjust to the product, and perhaps they wouldn't find it offered what they had come to expect from their preferred cruise line. Fred is very tradtional. I like that, but the cruise market is saturated with so many different companies all vying for the same people. But if Fred is to attract new cruisers by altering its offering, then it risks alienating its loyal cruisers. So I think the company is stuck in a bit of a bind. Trying to be delicate, Fred's loyal passengers ageing demographic and that isn't not going to provide any certainty going forwards, as people will beable to cruise less and less. So where are Fred going to find people to cruise with them? I have no idea what the future for Fred will look like.

It hasn't always been like this. But since they decided to milk their loyal passengers by offering the same product at my higher prices (and adding a few fripperies), the magic has gone. The management seem totally disconnected to how many of their previous guests feel about their prices and their product. Also, Fred like to portray themselves as a friendly, family company but as twotravellersLondon points out they are part of a massive conglomerate. Customer service can be appalling - back in 2012 days before the Balmoral did the Titanic Memorial Cruise Fred slapped a large number of guests with a big fuel surcharge fee. One cruise I did with them was struck with norovirus and the cruise curtailed. It was a terrible experience and customer experience and compensation was rubbish (I got the money back for the shortened cruise but all they offered was a reduction on a number of largely similar itineraries in a short timeframe, so I said no). Then, after the cruise, strangely no-one on the cruise got their email from Feefo asking for feedback on the cruise. Apparently there was an IT glitch! So despite liking their ships I've not always had the best customer experience. Which is why when they stick their prices up, for a couple of tired old HAL ships that Carnival couldn't wait to jettison, I'm going to look elsewhere. It's sad really, because I had two cruises booked with Fred before the pandemic, but I've just had no compulsion to re-book. I wish someone from Fred was reading this thread and more widely on the forum as I'm sure some small changes could improve their offering and attractiveness to previous guests.

Looking at her track on Marine Traffic, after leaving Copenhagen she was at one point doing 13 knots and for a while was doing mid-12 knots. So she's had to slow down even more now. According to a book I have the White Star Line Homeric, once converted to run on oil in 1923 was able to achieve 1.5 knots higher in speed, and that reduced her time to cross the north Atlantic by 24 hours! Although not the same distance, this reduced speed must be costing so much extra time to get back to Rosyth.

With Fred's bad news at the moment I thought I should try and book a cruise to show some solidarity with them. I looked at a number of itineraries and was staggered by the pricing for solo cabins. I've done a comparison based on the 8 day European River Cities on the Braemar (https://www.fredolsencruises.com/cruise/european-river-cities-m2410) Looking at advertised prices and clicking to book online first as a couple and then as a solo, which is my requirement 2 PAX Superior suite (SS) = £2,799 per person Suite (BS) = £2,499 per person Deluxe balcony (DC) = £2,299 per person Balcony (BA) = £2,199 per person Superior ocean view (A) = £1,749 per person Ocean view porthole (D) = £1,399 per person 1 PAX Superior suite (SS) = No comparable grade Suite (JB) = £3,399 per person Deluxe balcony (DC) = No comparable grade Superior Ocean view (advertised as ocean view but has balcony) (J) = £2,999 per person Single ocean view (K) = £2,599 per person Ocean view porthole (L) = £2,299 per person So some grades aren't comparable because there aren't as many single cabins, but the difference is astonishing. Suite is + £900 Balcony is + £800 Ocean view window is + £850 Porthole window is + £900 They are basically charging 150 per cent of the per passenger rate but that cabins can't accomdoate two people, all the photos show single beds. I can understand if I booked a two pax cabin for one person, that I would need to pay the 2 pax rate. So for the "privilege" of travelling as a solo pasenger with Fred, who like to say they cater for solo travellers, I am paying between £800 and £900 for a solo cabin more than my fellow passengers travelling as couples. I know Fred aren't alone in this, I do hate the single occupancy supplement. It should be banned. But in the meantime, as much as I'd like to show my solidarity with Fred I won't be.

Apparently, according to this article, the MS Victoria (the first ship chartered the Scottish government) is being chartered in a deal worth £6.7 million. The company behind the charter would get a cut of that, so not all would go to the MS Victoria's owners. https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/20581599.scottish-cruise-ship-deal-ukrainians-completed-bradford-travel-firm/ As the Ambition is a larger vessel we can assume the charter is higher than that figure. So I imagine that has something to do with it and it isn't an entirely benevolent gesture by Ambassador.

With the news breaking yesterday of the cancelled Bolette cruises and the Balmoral's propeller issue, all following on from Fred Jr's departure it's looking like a difficult patch for FO. It is worrying that they can't fill their cruises, we've discussed at length for a while the low occupancy rates on the three ships in service and it just seems to confirm the premature retirement of the Bouddica and Black Watch in the favour of the two larger HAL ships was a mistake. I do worry, I'm waiting for the Braemar to be back in service. There needs to be something demonstrable from Bonheur's leadership to get things in order, and show confidence in the company, because the cruise industry without Fred with be a lesser place.

Thinking back to before the pandemic started, the USP of smaller being best and bespoke itinerarites worked better with the smaller four ships Fred. had then. To me, this was exemplified by the Braemar's Cornith Canal transit. I think you'd have to look back to the Titanic Memorial Cruise back in 2012 to find an equivalent time when a Fred.Olsen ship was in the news and on social media. That transit was such good publicity for the company. Sadly it was beyond my budget, but I would have loved to have done that. Strange then, that the Braemar is still laid up in Rosyth when she is the only ship of the "new" fleet that could do such an itinerary. People get very attached to ships, and feel great affection towards them. Unceremoniously dumping the Bouddica and Black Watch during the pandemic and not even giving previous guests the possibility of taking part in a farewell season for both ships was a bad move. Bringing in two new ships and claiming they were like-for-like small ships that are so unfamilar and different from the Fred.Olsen offering has likely alienated some previous guests (I know it has for me). The pre-pandemic fleet had been with Fred for a while, so through the various refits their styles on board had become aligned, so there was a family feel that just doesn't exist on the HAL pair. A light refresh, just adding Fred style carpet and soft-furnishing is not going to make them feel familar. And given their age, I don't think they bring anything extra that the other ships didn't have, not when you compare to the Viking and Saga new-builds. Fred. have to have the Borealis and Bolette in service to try and earn the money needed to pay Carnival but it isn't working. The Q1 report says both ships were out of service for two weeks due to "a significant number of crew members having to quarantine" because of Covid. Then the latest Q2 report on Bonheur's website says an average 73% occupany across the three ships compared to 79% in the samer quarter in 2019. So it's not going Fred.'s way, partly bad luck but mainly because they just can't get their former cruises back onboard, either people are cruising less or just not at all. Clearly Fred Jr saw a good deal with the HAL ships, but it was only going to work if he could fill them with cruisers. Seemingly he has failed. So maybe that is why he has stepped aside. He's had a year with them in service, but his gamble seems to have gone wrong. As you pointed out, his own comment about loyal customers taking less cruises, that does seem rather self-defeating. If your ships are (on average) over a quarter empty that can't be good for business. Previous loyal cruisers such as ourselves are, I would say, "content" with the Fred. product, knowing the fleet is not the most modern or efficient. So the product is not a barrier for entry, it is their pricing policy that is. And with the cost of living and inflation issues we are having, people are going to choose the essentials over a cruise holiday. If you are new to Fred. and say you have cruised with P&O, Saga or Cunard, you would look at your previous cruises and compare to Fred.'s and would most likely baulk at the higher prices. Would you risk you hard earned money on a product you are uncertain of or feel is deficient compared to what you have experienced elsewhere? If Fred.'s prices were lower, then perhaps new cruisers would feel it was a less of a risk to try. However many sales emails you send out, they aren't going to entice me, £100 onboard credit isn't going to cut it. Please be sensible with your prices. This current management philsophy of the Olsen Way and pricing strategy just aren't working. The average occupancy rate proves it. Oh, and bring back the Braemar immediately. Unless this happens I don't see a bright future for the company. Unfortunately, none of us are getting younger, so some of Fred's current customers won't be their customers in ten year's time, so they will need to bring in new-to-Fred cruisers. If Fred. are serious about cruising, then they are really going to need a new build to compete with Viking, Saga and all the new expedition type cruise companies encroaching on Fred's traditional market.

It could be water quality? I know she has scrubbers, but I understand to operate in the fjords they need to be closed loop. But what about other discharges? When on a previous QM2, whilst docked in Stavanger (the last stop on the cruise, previous ones included Olden, Flamm and Bergen), a rather unpleasant smelling, oily discharge was released from the ship for a considerable period. It was right under the two shell doors just aft of the rear stabiliser on the port side of the ship. Does anyone know the source? See photos. It made me heave on first smelling it. I then went ashore and it was still "fizzing" to the surface, and still smelling awful. I was quite surprised about how blatantly it was being discharged.

Having cruised with Fred. before the pandemic, and having two cruises booked during the initial phase of the pandemic cancelled I've not rebooked and sadly I don't feel I will at any point soon. I've cruised with P&O and Cunard and Fred. Service on P&O is poor, but I've found Cunard and Fred. comparable, can be slightly better or worse depending on the cruise is just down to luck. But Fred. have always offered more interesting intineraries than the Carnival brands, who tend to repeat the same cruises each year. Fred. has much greater diversity and more interesting cruises. Fred.'s ships also had a greater mix of solo cabins. Those two things were the differentiators for me. But it is the fleet that is the problem. I love the Balmoral but I can't fathom why Fred. bought the two HAL ships, they just didn't sit right with the rest of the fleet. Being larger than the Bouddica and Black Watch Fred. immediately limited where they could go (Kiel Canal transit for example). Borealis is already 25 years old (but has just done one year of crusing with Fred.) and sadly it can't compete with Saga and Viking ships which are modern, efficient and better appointed inside. It feels a dated product when compared to other cruise lines and isn't distinctive enough to stand out anymore. And trying to step up with larger ships that than Bouddica and Black Watch in a market recovering from the worst of the pandemic and fill them to a high occupancy rate was always going to be a challenge. I was trying to think what Fred. stood for in my mind but I couldn't think what they are and what they are positioned as. I was looking on the Fred. website about the "Olsen Way" https://www.fredolsencruises.com/the-olsen-way but it is all quite meaningless. With cruise lines desparate to make profits after years of losses due to Covid, the market is ultra competitive and I sadly think Fred. are being crowded out. I'm mainy a solo traveller and I won't justify the expense of a Fred. cruise for a dated product, despite the nice itineraries. Solo prices for high-grade cabins are overpriced for what they are, so extra perks aren't going to encourage me to cruise again with Fred.

The Britannia Club on the QV is beautiful. As it was retrofitted in the 2017 refit it is a different style to the rest of the ship and compared to the QE. I much prefer the QV's BC over the QE but that is down to personal taste. The first two photos (the decor is blacks/golds/mirrors) is the QV, the other two are the QE.

Having got of the QV at the weekend, I spent a bit of time onboard comparing deck plans of the two ships. For the deck plans it seems she can carry 935 more passengers, but there seems a much higher ratio of Grills and Britannia Club suites/cabins on the QA vs the QV. The Britannia Club restaurant is much bigger than on the QV and while on the QV, the Queens and Princess Grill restaurants are the same size, they are both bigger on the QA, but the Princess is noticeable larger than the QG. There are more ocean view cabins on 1 deck, compared to the QV, so there are some additional Britannia cabins, but it seems much more in the higher grades. Although the plans aren't strictly to scale, the Britannia restaurants look a similar size on both. Looking at the top suites, the QV has two Master suites midships, and four Grand suites aft. On the QV the Master suites occupy the space of approx 4 standard cabins, and the Grand suites the equivalent of 5. There are now 4 Master suites on the QA, but occupying the space of only 3 standard cabins, and only 2 Grand Suites occupying the equivalent of 5 standard cabins. To me it seems the best suites are smaller, and there are less of them. Seems strange to downsize these, but is it possible these suites don't sell on some voyages and it is more profitable to have more Queens and Princess Grill suites at the expense of the top suites?

I think I was on the same cruise (V220)? We were Queens Grill so got there just before noon. The first part (immediately inside the Mayflower Terminal) was quick, they checked our passport, vaccination certificate and Boarding Pass and asked for verbal confirmation we had taken a Covid test and completed the health declaration. We were then directed to the check in but there was another screening step before, and we kind of had to repeat the same steps again, with them scanning the boarding pass. The final check-in steps was pretty much like the other two, not sure why there are so many steps. If you didn't do the online check-in they did your photo then. You don't get your key card, they are in your cabin. When we came to sit down, we were told embarkation would not be until 1pm. There was just one girl on the coffee counter serving so it was incredibly slow to get anything so I gave up. I am not quite sure of the time we got onboard, but going through the X-ray machine was slow. It was getting quite crowded at that point (we were wearing masks, as were about half-a-dozen others). Sounds like it speeded up, but once onboard we were told departure would be delayed as there was a traffic incident (the A34 I think) and a number of guests were stuck and had been on the phone to Cunard, so they decided to delay departure, which I think was the right thing to do. It wasn't the best check-in experience, but not the worst, and in the age of Covid I think it went okay.

Back from the Queen Victoria's V220 cruise and when we checked in at the Mayflower Terminal we just had to verbally confirm we had taken a test (we had). They didn't want to see evidence, even though we had it with us. So the system is easy to abuse, I think.