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Was on Azura a couple of months ago and I thought the food was pretty good. The Hatlets who are a bit fussy enjoyed it.

 

I would add, generally, that I think a lot of the reviews are a load of bull. I've read reviews of cruises I've been on that at best are nitpicking and at worst are fantasies (I do wonder if they are written by other cruise lines PR departments). Some reviews are so appalling that if they were accurate you wonder why anyone would travel on the ship twice.

 

People are unrealistic about what they should get. Just looking at P&O, you can get 7 nights cruising on Azura to Norway in June for about £600pp outside cabin, e.g. about £80-£90 a day. Have a look and see how much a hotel room is in your typical concrete block hotel, without breakfast lunch and dinner, entertainment, and travel, people at your beck and call, room service.

 

If people want exclusive cruising it's still there with the likes of Regent, Seabourn, Oceania etc. I have looked at these, but I think, heck , I can get a month on P&O for what a week would cost me on those.

One of the most sensible posts I have ever read on CC.

Wish I had said it.......😄

So the point is ?

Don't go to the Ships Doctor ?

If your on the ship and collapse there ain't much choice is there.

Next cruise and the OP is ill, what are you going to do.

You pays your money and takes your chance.

Sorry of it sounds insensitive, but that is the the way of world.

Glad your fine when you got home.

Hi there, Honeymoon and your worrying about the food.....😄

We were on the Azura 12 months ago and thought the food fine.

Every cruise we have been on, the food was fine. But we have read reviews to the contrary. Either we are easily pleased or some folk are just picky.

Every cruise you can find some negatives but don't look for them.

The food will be good, if there are some dishes not to your taste, well ha ho... Have another bottle of wine as we do.

Have a great cruise and congratulations ...

Both, but we would say cocktail dresses.

Find ladies can carry anything nowadays.

Hi lanky,

I can assure you, that you will not look out of place.

I wear a lightweight suit or jacket and tie every night on Fred. As I do on every cruise line.

On the theme nights I wear what ever to match the theme.

On formal, black tie.

Ok since they went to only two codes, more men on Fred can be seen in just smart shirts and trousers.

But you can never be out of place in the evening dressed in great clothes. I can wear shirt and trouses at home, on holiday I want to feel and look different than at home.

Got to keep up standards don't you know.....only a joke to the shorts, tee shirts and baseball cap fraternity. 😄

A question about P and O v Fred gets dragged into another dress code issue.

For what it's worth with 25kg each, on a 14 day cruise, my wife has a different dress each night and I wear a jacket and tie every night, not the same one each night by the way.

And yes I am a strong advocate of the dress codes, and no I don't look down on anybody who isn't.

So back to topic......Here for what's it's worth are my thoughts on the difference.

We have cruised in the last three years with both lines.

Food better on Fred.

Service and staff better on Fred, but that's because the ships are smaller I think.

Entertainment similar.

P and O ships larger with more entertainment options.

P and O ships decor and style are more sophisticated.

More children generally on P and O.

Can always get a sun bed on Sea days on Fred.

Age group on Fred, 50 plus, wider on P and O.

AI drink option on Fred.

No 24 hour dining option on Fred unless you count room service.

Formal Night attire adhered to strictly on Fred.

No hard sell of photos, speciality dining, wine packages, jewellery etc on Fred.

Mostly British passengers on both.

British style entertainment on both.

More opportunities for Formal type of dancing on Fred.

Dance Hosts on Fred.

Fred often described as an English Country house atmosphere.

Library's often packed out on Fred, on P and O you struggle to find them sometimes.

All in all if identical cruises were there the AI at £10 per day often swings it Freds way.

We are probably a 50-50 couple. We are booked on an 8 night Balmoral to the Fjords in May and we have left the AI on for that. With prices in Norway we will be looking to drink onboard as much as possible and there is a lot of scenic cruising when it is nice to sit with a drink in the observation bar or on deck - being served small drinks will not be a problem then.

 

We are also off to Canada on 22nd May for 28 nights and have not booked AI for that. All new ports to us and relatives to meet up with in 2 ports, so will not have much time to drink on the ship at that time. There are a lot of sea days for the crossing, but we would need to drink quite a bit on those days and the temptation to drink too much alcohol (by our standards) will be too much I think. It does not mean we will not hit the bar if there is a chance of a disco at some stage, but that can be sadly lacking on Fred's ships. We do have habit of trying to alter that situation by being first up, but there was a definate objection to us trying to use the dance floor in the Coral for disco dancing prior to 10.30pm in Dec. The resident singer even spoke to us over the tannoy on one occasion and said she had tried to stop us getting on the dancefloor 'with her eyes' whatever that meant, and then said they were doing a slow one next to reinforce her point. When I mentioned that to the CD he said it was a time thing - it was about 10.15pm!! The other entertainment lounge is advertised as ballroom and the dance hosts are there, so we do not see why Fred cannot allow an alternative. Given the conversations we had with 'new to Fred' people, I know we are not alone in that thought.

 

I have heard about the big American ships and we have never been tempted to find experience them for ourselves!!! It is the unusual ports and proximity to the towns etc. that keep us on Fred - oh, and the multibuy offers that they have had in the last year. We must stop booking a load of cruises though as some places are much better seen on a land holiday.

 

Cheers,

 

Barbara

Hi Barbara ,

It's very odd sometimes on Fred ships regarding dancing.

We are formal dancers and dance in the Neptune to the formal music, then shoot off after the Show to the Coral for Jive, Cha Cha and Disco etc.

Well we often find the bands in the Coral almost resent you dancing, it seems they like to show off their musical skills and dancing takes away the spotlight from them. Our last cruise two weeks ago was a prime example.

We have danced formal in the Coral when there is nobody else dancing but we don't hog the floor.

We realise formal dancers can intimidate the non formal dancers, so that's why we like the Coral later as its a bit lively, or it should be.

We are thinking of a Norway cruise in May ourselves.

Happy cruising.

Hi cave cheers for that.

On our first cruise with HAL we took the Automatic "Tips" off and gave what we thought was the norm.

Of course UK norm is much different to your USA norm.

For example a cruise to the Carribean two weeks ago on a UK line we paid £4 each per night automatically.

On another discussion about 6 months ago on here I was lectured that HAL $12 wasn't tips but Service Charge.

Fine ....when in Rome ..... And I will leave the $12 next time on HAL.

I suggest many UK cruisers are put off the USA lines because of the perceived high automatic tips or service charge.

Even on this discussion people are still talking about Automtaic Tips .

Anyway happy cruising on what ever line.

Hi everybody.

We are from the UK and i got taken to task by you all on the HAL site for talking about Tips on HAL.

I was told in no uncertain terms that it was a Service Charge, not tips.

Am confused now....😄 there again doesn't take much.

As ever Tring your spot on. Although I have never seen anybody worse for wear on Fred, a touch loud maybe, there again that might have been us.....😄

We were docked against an American ship in the Carribean a few weeks ago and the behaviour and soberierty of some of the passengers was behind belief. If I had to cruise on those ships I would stop cruising.

Fred and P and O may not be perfect but we feel comfortable on them.

As for the AI We always think based on us, how can Fred offer such a deal, but as you say probably many people take the AI and don't maxamise it.

Many thanks for that, do you have any more info on it. From your previous post it doesn't seem like we'll have a lot of trouble making a reservation.

Tring gives a real good description of The Grill, I never saw anybody in it, and as Tring says its a bit odd, which I agree upon.

It's not really Premium in my mind. Not like on other lines that have the Premium dining totally separate. But I suppose the food may be better or more premium choice.

Never ever used Premium on any line as we always think the normal dining is very good.

On Fred we always pick the larger Main Dining room as we like the hustle and bustle of these. They also have more tables for 8 which we like.

Other people like the smaller Dining Rooms..

It's all what you like isn't it.

At least on Fred's forum you can disagree without getting a real earful from those that don't agree with you.

Happy cruising everybody.

Hi yes it does.

We are from near Huddersfield.

Please do not allow 4 1/2 hours to Southampton.

We always stay overnight in Premier Inn a few miles from the Docks.

Ok you can get there in 4 1/2 hours but, having cruised from there a few times plus spent many a working hour driving on the M1 etc, I can assure you that is not a realistic time. If I was driving down on the same day I would allow 8 to 10 hours. 2 hour delays are the norm nowadays, took 8 hours to get back from our last cruise from Southampton.

Have a great cruise.

Hi lanky,

There is self service, but you can also order from a Waiter in the MDR. In Palms I think it's self service

Same at lunch, which has a nice menu in the Thistle.

Hi there. Your fixed dining allocation in the evening has no referance to breakfast or lunch.

Just go where you want to at breakfast or lunch.

We found not much difference between the two restaurants, except in the Palms

You served yourself with coffee sometimes. Also the beans were better in Thistle. No joking.

We never saw anybody eating in the premium restaurent, but it's a good option for a celebration I think.

The Breamar is great have a great cruise.

Fred must be doing something right then.😄

All you need now is a cruise on Breamar and you will have a full house.

When you know all the names of the Dolphins then you are a "proper" Fred cruiser, only a joke. I know some longstanding Fred cruisers who have never gone to the Dolphin Racing.

Never cruised on Black Watch but understand it's very similar to Boudica.

Hope you have a great time.

Hi guys, from our point of view AI is fantastic. It all depends on how much alcohol drinks you partake of doesn't it. We calculate that we are drinking for free by Dinner on Sea Days. On Port days by the finish of Dinner.

On other cruises where we have to pay for the drinks we budget at least £50 plus per day for drinks. So you can see AI for us is great.

I generally agree with the "if its too good to be true ..." But there is always the exception.

On our Breamar cruise a couple of weeks ago, I think we got the AI for £6.50 which was even more attractive.

We were on the Greenland cruise Tring and with lots of sea days we were well in pocket.

Happy cruising everybody.

Hi Pauly, we did Dubai to Hong Kong on Arcadia two years ago. Fantastic cruise, you will enjoy it I am sure. Take it easy and maybe see you sometime on Fred 😄

Hi Coraval, think your right there. We have never used room service so I kind of forget about that.

I have just checked.

The information about formal and theme nights was on our Cruise Tickets as Coravel says.

We got those by e mail on 31 Dec and we sailed on 12th Jan.

Hope this helps, gave a good cruise.

Hi Pauly,

Difficult one this.

Bit like asking which is best Malt Whisky or Bubbly, I love em both.

We cruise with Fred and P and O.

We have cruised on all Fred's ships except Black Watch, and on P and O on Arcadia, Azura and Ventura.

Arcadia is our favourite out of the three.

So here goes, we are both 63 and on some Fred Cruises feel like youngsters. On other Fred cruises that has been the average age.

Last Cruise a couple of weeks ago we were the younger end.

Fred's service and staff I think are more friendly, but that could be because the ships are smaller.

We think the food is better on Fred.

Fred doesn't have 24 hour food availability.

Entertainment is roughly the same style but on P and O there are more options and the venues are more sophisticated.

Fred has the AI drinks package, which for drinkers like us, is a big plus.

We are formal dancers and there are more options for this on Fred.

P and O ships are more lively all round the ship, whilst if you like peace and quite then Fred is better.

What else, never tried the gyms so can't comment.

Always can get a sun bed on Fred on P and O on sea days it's a real scramble.

No high pressure selling on Fred of photos, speciality dinning, wine packages etc. we found on P and O there was.

Passengers mostly British on both, but probably wider Age group on P and O.

More children on P and O generally.

Cabins probably edged on P and O, but we have insides on both and never had any grumbles.

Wifi charges reasonable on Fred not sure about P and O.

Every cruise on both lines we have met great people on our table.

So we love em both.

Hope this helps, we enjoyed our cruise to Cuba this year on the Breamar.

Hi we had three on Carribean 14 day cruise a couple of weeks ago.

On other Fred cruises I am sure we have had two on a 7 day and sometimes 4 on 14 day. Usually they seem to get the formal nights on a sea day, but sometimes that's not possible.

I am sure that they put the info in the booklet they send you with all the tour details etc.

Have a good cruise.

Hi just back from a cruise. Bought three hours Internet. Used it over the last seven days. So time rolled over. One tip tho, you have to log off, do not just switch your I pad's wi fi off.

As for AI, I can not remember how much soft drinks are, but if you have say one glass of wine with dinner and one alcoholic drink at night that's £8, so if you have say four soft drinks thro the day then the AI is best.

We always get AI but we are drinkers.

Have a good cruise.

Have a great cruise Carolyn.

Like I said we did notice differences from our last cruise on the Breamar, but you had to look for them.

So we choose to ignore em and concentrate on having a good time.

If you like Fred cruises then you will be fine.

We had the AI, as we always do, and this time we drank some premium drinks at half price, mostly Cocktails.

Baltic in September then Amazon next year so Fred must be doing something ok.

Hi Pugwash.

There was two, a red and white night which was published then a Tropical Night that was sprung on us.

Same as always with the Tropical, Garlands and bright attire with Dancing on Deck.

Great night as was the Red white and blue.

Have a good cruise, wish I was coming.

Say hello to Neeta, wears big glasses, in the Coral Lounge from Paul and Col, the best Waitress with Fred.