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Hi Fi, yes if you go to the Carribian ports of call, and look at others my posts are there.

I think the cruise is sold out, as I recall Fred Olsen adding further cruises after ours. We have cruised on the Breamar before and enjoy it.

We cruise with Friends and are keen dancers so we are not hard to find.....:-)

It's not a very big ship so after two weeks most people at least get to recognise each other.

Take it easy.

Paul and Colleen

Hi everybody, thanks for your replies...... London Tower, I did indeed post on the Ports of Call site within CC, asking about Santiago de Cuba.

I received around 10 replies that were very useful.

We are really looking forward to Santiago, from the replies on the POC forum it appears quite safe as long as you take usual care.

They say the show in the evening at the Tropicana is good, so we will be doing that.

Will not be long now will it flea b.

Thanks Tring for your usual comprehensive post. We are still boring people with our photos of a Greenland.....:)

Your right there allanann, when we are on AI it does take a couple of days to get used to the whisky...:-) the only wine we drink on the AI is the sparkling , at dinner we usually go with a decent red for half price.

The Stella and cider are ok on the AI.

Would seem sensible to put the whole ship on AI for a trial wouldn't it.

Even at £29 per day, we would take that. It all depends how much and what you drink. When we are not on AI we budget for £60 per day for the two of us. That covers any type of drink from lunch time through to midnight. We have never been "drunk" on a cruise ship and to be fair on any Fred cruise we have not seen anybody "worse for wear" due to drink.

A bottle of wine shared between two at lunch and dinner and you have spent £40 already. So £29 per person does not seem bad, £10 is better and on the Breamar next January we have paid £7.

That's the spirit........:-)

Forgot to say, I would stay on the ship at Santo Tomas. We went on the Trolley. Total waste of time the place has nothing. Why they call there is a puzzle.

If you like the ships that are massive floating shopping areas with climbing walls, belly flop competitions, outdoor film screens, 4 to 5 k other passengers, then you will not like Ryndam.

If you like traditional cruising with a ship with wooden handrails, one that you stroll around the promenade deck, lovely furnishings, sedate feel then the ryndam is for you.

It was too sedate for us but if the choice was between the two options then Ryndam for us.

Our experience of St P, albeit 2003, and we were there for 4 days, was that in certain parts it was almost like the old Wild West.

We were on a fully organised tour out of the UK with Travelsphere and on one tour, a walking tour in the centre, the local Tour Guide almost abandoned us in the face of Drunken Sailors, fortunately our UK Tour Guide rallied us, we we scared I can tell you.

Ok times may have changed and we are cruising there next September, but we will be using the ships tours, for the reason that the Ship will wait for a Ships Tour but not a local tour.

We use local tours when we feel they are safe and or in an emergancy a taxi back to the ship I available.

Not trying to scare anybody it was more of an "experience" post.

Bump......

I'm with the OP on this one. Any loyalty we had for Fred was lost years ago, when their penny pinching really started to bite. We have been on all of their ships, and used to enjoy being on them, but they steadily became less enjoyable - wine stewards were done away with, and waiters more to do with less time to do it. Cabin stewards were given more cabins to service, and when "tips" were automatically added to the onboard account we detected a completely different attitude towards the servicing of our cabin, and a substantial drop in standards.

Looking at the list of what you do not get if you book the (w)anchor fare, it's downright criminal. It's not just the petty £2 per night for being able to choose when you want to dine.

There are the cruises themselves, with fewer calls, and more places stayed at overnight.

Oh, there's so much....

I'm cruising elsewhere now. It's costing more up front (though by the time you've added up all of Fred's hidden and non hidden extras there's probably not too much difference) but I'm finding it much more of a pleasure.

Happy cruising, whatever you choose.

Hi there....we have cruised with around 5 lines. Fred included, anchor fares and early fares . On the anchor fare cruise I can not for the life in me remember what we had to pay extra for, except to choose dining. We didn't choose we took what was given. But I still can not recall what we had to pay for that would have been included in a normal fare.

Would be interested to hear what you think there is.

Not disagreeing with you just that I must have missed something.

Anyway glad your having a good time on your cruise line of choice.

Hi everybody. We cruised in the Ryndam last year. A friend of ours has just returned from a Ryndam cruise to Norway out of the UK.

On the Formal nights he was surprised to see shorts and casual shirts worn on Formal night in MDR.

So he asked the Cruise Director why they let them into the MDR, the answer was that there was a court case, as we say in the UK, going through court from a passenger claiming that enforcing formal attire was infringing his liberties.

I asked my friend if the CD was joking but he said not.

Anybody else heard of this or is it just another fob off by HAL to dumb down formal nights.

I suppose actually seeking advise from a qualified immigration lawyer rather than than uninformed though well intentioned opinions of anonymous internet forum users is out of the question?

My thoughts entirely, just imagine saying at immigration, "the people on cruise critic forum said it would be ok".

Take official guidance would be my advice for what it's worth.

Hi Jo.....thanks again. That sounds encouraging. The Tropicana Nightclub is the trip from the ship in the evening, so I think we will be going on that.

It sounds really different.

Cheers and happy cruising .

Paul

If it says three hours then I would abide by that. I know some people who arrive as late as possible then moan a bucketful that they can not sit together.

What's an hour to ensure you have plenty of time with no worries.

Just my way.

Have a great cruise.

Thanks for that, appreciate your reply.

Hi Jo,

Thanks for the reply.

We only call in at Santiago de Cuba on our Caribbean cruise no other port of call in Cuba, but we overnight there.

We will probably take the ships tour one day and the evening trip to a night club/ show.

The other day we thought we would explore the historic centre by ourselves.

How safe is it ? We read that you are hassled very badly by the locals.

We are looking forward to Cuba, it is one of the reasons we decided on this particular cruise.

Take it easy .

Best wishes Paul

Hi katrus....sorry I didn't recall your post about the Balmoral. Did you enjoy it. Also I see you were on the Ryndam what did you think of HAL ?

We didn't like HAL at all, too sedate for us.

Take it easy.

Not quite a true take in my opinion.

Although if the "Peasants" don't like the price or the product nobody forces them to go.

The only hint of revolution I have ever noticed on a Fred cruise was when the Dolphin Racing was cancelled.

My experience of an anchor fare was a saving of over £200 each, but obviously the OP has a different experience.

I think the poster you are replying to was talking about P&O. (This thread is on the P&O board.) And on P&O, you don't have to attend lifeboat drill twice if you're on back to back cruises.

 

I've never quite understood why people think lifeboat drill is going to make such a difference. The first time I travelled by P&O was in 1993, and I've been with them many times since. The lifeboat drill has never changed - it involves going to your muster station and being told the following essentiasl facts:

 

1. The emergency bell is 7 short and 1 long.

2. When it rings, go to your muster station.

3. Take your lifejacket if you can, but if you don't take it, it doesn't matter.

4. Do as you're told by the crew.

 

Now, obviously it's vital to attend every time , just in case the system has changed (eg. the new recommendation might be to run to the ship's rail and be ready to leap off - who knows?) But I can't really see how missing this vital information is going to endanger anyone else, in the unlikely event of me missing it.

 

(PS - I do learn other stuff, such as that it's not a good idea to sit on the rails, and that I haven't to throw cigarettes, any other live flames, or anything else over the side. But as I wasn't going to anyway, it's not really vital information. I also learned that if you're charging a tablet or any other electrical device, you must sit there and watch it while it charges. No charging it up and going away. Charging it at night and sleeping through it isn't allowed either. I ignored that one.)

Sorry i stand corrected about the back to back drill.

I have to agree with you about the drills.

I think in an emergancy it is all down to luck.

At any point in time if you asked me where my muster point was in relation to where I was on the ship I would struggle. I wonder how I would react at midnight, in darkness, a rolling ship, panic stricken passengers, a couple of bottles of wine dulling my senses. Just hope it never happens.

Why?

I think she was meaning if people can not be bothered to listen to the safety briefing why the hell should people risk their lives trying to save them.

These people who talk all the way thro safety briefings will be the first wanting to know where their equipment is in an emergency and probably first in line for claiming damages afterwards....

The only time you will ever be exempt from the emergency drill is if you just happen to purchase a back to back cruise then on your second voyage you are not required to attend.

 

It is compulsory by law. It is not the cruise lines policy to force you to attend they only do it because the law demands it.

 

It is the same with airlines and their emergency announcement.

Sorry to say that it's not correct to say on a back to back you do not have to attend the second drill.

Recently on a HAL cruise a couple were disembarked by the Captain after refusing to attend the second drill of a back to back.

We have cruised on back to backs and you had to attend both drills.

Love to hear these type of reviews.

You can just tell that Tony had a great time.

Thanks for the review.

Not sure what the fuss is. If you do not want to eat in there don't. We were on the Boudicca to Greenland and never noticed or considered the restaurant. The Spa is extra but nobody grumbles about that, the bingo is extra cost, wine tasting is extra.

So there is a restaurant with so called "better food" than the MDR at extra cost, so what.

Happy cruising.

Hello, we are visiting Santiago de Cuba in January 2015 on a Fred Olsen cruise.

Has anybody any experience of visiting there on a cruise.

Appreciate any comments.

Thanks

Make sure you have the AI package........:-)