LandC

Our flight times are

18 January Depart LGW 09.40 Arrive Barbados 14.45

1 February Depart Barbados 19.20 Arrive 2 February LGW 07.40.

I understand that we will be able to stay on the ship until we depart for the airport in the afternoon. When we were on a South American cruise with Fred a couple of years ago we were offered a shore excursion in Lima on the morning of departure. I hope this will also be the case in Barbados, but others may be able to advise.

Thanks for the advice LondonTowner! :cool:

Hi - agree re cost of FO's tours. eg we have booked an up to 5. hours highlights plus beach tour on Grenada with Stan at JNJ tours - ex US military with excellent reviews on cruise critic. Is 50USD (ie£37) compared with FO's £75 but no beach. Stan will reply very quickly to any emails. Be good to fill his tour vehicle for the Braemar.:)

Thanks for the advice RKGHM. We are on the 18 January cruise, but JNJ tours looks interesting - have you used Stan before?

Thank you marylizcat. His tours certainly get some excellent reviews. It’s cold and wet today - I can’t wait for some sunshine!

Hi FionaMaria. The tours certainly are expensive! We would like to go on the scenic railway in St Kitts. We haven’t made up our mind yet about the other tours, although Jamaica with Phil Lafayette sounds interesting.

I’ve been looking at the Whatsinport website, and there are 4 ships in port when we are in Antigua. We would like to see Nelson’s Dockyard, and are wondering if a taxi tour would be a better option for that, to try to avoid the coaches!

I would be interested to know how much a half day taxi tour costs, if you can remember!

Great tips FionaMaria, many thanks. Is it possible to pay for local tours and taxis on the islands in US dollars?

By the way, our tours booklet arrived this morning - plenty to choose from but rather expensive! :rolleyes:

Hi FionaMaria, thanks, we’ll have a look at the website.

Do you have any tips for places to see on Grenada, Aruba, Jamaica, Tortola and Martinique?

As it’s our first time in the Caribbean, we would like to

visit the top attractions if possible - can’t wait, and hope to see you on board! :cool:

Thanks for the advice Marylizcat. ;)

We are also on the 18th January cruise. Shore tours are now available to book on-line, and It appears that the itinerary is unchanged.

It will be our first time in the Caribbean, so we would welcome any advice on what to see and do on the islands. :cool:

We have just received charter flight details for our cruise due to depart next January. There is a message on Fred's website regarding Hurricane Irma. Final decision on whether itineraries will be affected will be taken late September/early October. Clearly it may not be possible to visit all of the ports. :rolleyes:

Has anyone else booked one of these Caribbean cruises departing January/February 2018?

I agree. The same thing happened to us last year when we booked one of Fred's no fly cruises 9 months in advance. A few weeks later it was advertised with free drinks and gratuities. However, we were offered a complementary cabin upgrade after we had paid the balance, which made us feel a bit better!

Which cruise have you booked?

Hello Wendy. We have been on several Fred. Olsen cruises. I used to take evening dresses (plus matching shoes etc). I now take a pair of black trousers and a few nice tops. This outfit doesn't look out of place on formal nights. Some ladies still wear evening dresses, but they are in the minority. I am sure you will enjoy your cruise. ;)

I have just enquired about Premium Economy seats for Fred's charter flight to the Caribbean in January 2018, but unfortunately they are already sold out! I will know to ask well in advance if we book another fly cruise. :rolleyes:

Excellent news Wacktle! :D We have friends who have recently pre-registered, and are waiting for a call. I wonder if the discount reduces as cabins are filled?

You can have as long as you want to peruse the itineraries. They will offfer to phone back, or you can phone them when you have decided. We have booked the 7 night Fjords cruise departing 5 September 2019 from Dover. We have opted for a standard cabin and got a 35%discount. The price includes the usual door to door transfers, wine, beer and soft drinks with lunch and dinner, gratuities and free wifi. We didn't need the optional travel insurance. One thing we forgot to ask was whether any of the cabins will have views restricted by lifeboats etc. None are shown on the deck plans. We're not too worried though, as it's a long way off and we may decide to upgrade! I hope you manage to get the cruise you want at a good price. ;)

On our last cruise with Fred. Olsen, we heard a rumour that they tried to buy Seven Seas Navigator from Regent, but were outbid.

Thanks for this Wacktle. We have gone ahead and booked for September 2019! Seems a long way off, but it will be interesting to follow build progress on the new ship. By the way, when you get the call they will email a PDF of the brochure (which has the itineraries from July 2019 to February 2020), and deck plan. There are no prices in the brochure, but when you have decided which cruise you are interested in, they will give you a quote for your preferred cabin.. I must say we were impressed with the price quoted, given what is included. :)

I had a call this morning from Saga, as we pre-registered (paid £90 each), for their new ship Spirit of Discovery, due to be launched July 2019. The itineraries have now been published and are available to book for people who have pre-registered. They are all no-fly cruises. We have never sailed with Saga before, but have sailed several times with Fred. Olsen. We are wondering whether to go ahead and book a short cruise to try out the ship. We are in our mid-sixties. Has anyone else taken the plunge?! :confused:

Hi Annie U.K. We have always used a debit card to pay for cabin spend on Fred's ships, and never had to pre-authorise a specific amount when boarding. I hope this helps. :)

That's really helpful callyuk, thank you. :D

Thanks very much for this information. We were waiting for flight details in order to decide if we needed to book a hotel for the night before departure, but we don't want to leave it too late, so I think we will go ahead and book. :)

We have booked a Carribbean cruise for January 2018 and our TA has not been able to get any flight details from Fred Olsen yet.

Cruisemom42 and Alphabravo, thank you both so much for your replies. We enjoyed cruising with Swan Hellenic and VtoA sounds similar. We really appreciate interesting itineraries and top quality lecturers, and so few cruise lines offer this combination. We will definitely give VtoA a try. :D

Hello cruisemom42. Our main area of concern is the cabins. There are comments about smelly cabins caused by mould in shower and on walls, frayed towels and dirty curtains, occasional brown water from shower, carpets stained and worn.

We prefer small ships, and cruised with Swan Hellenic, so are certainly not expecting luxurious accommodation! However we want a clean and comfortable cabin , good food, excellent lecturers and interesting and well paced shore tours. We are in our mid sixties and fairly fit. Do you think this ship would suit us? :)

We are thinking of booking a cruise with this company but reviews of their ship, the Aegean Odyssey, are mixed and there are none since it was refurbished at the end of last year. Has anyone sailed on her recently?