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Premium upgrade is paying off?


nb125
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http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/articles/298918/premium-upgrade-is-paying-off-says-fred-olsen-owner

 

Fred Olsen Junior seems to be saying the upgrades are worth either reducing the number of cruises taken or booking a lower grade cabin. I can't say that I agree as most of the upgrades were just long overdue updates.

 

Does anyone think these upgrades justify the huge increase in prices?

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Having only cruised with Fred I cannot comment on the value for money on other lines but ever increasing prices will deter some. We have just taken advantage of the three-for-two offer which has saved us some money (and locked us into FOCL for a while!). Too old to go for the RIB Royal Marine experience.

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According to Fred's updated website the size of a superior suit is now 225 square feet where it used to be 300 square feet. If this is the case then I have lost 75 square feet off my cabin for my next cruise. Alternatively it could just be that Fred cannot afford to pay a good proof reader.

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The new higher prices will lose customers IMO. Well Over £100 a night for a small inside cabin in untenable on a ship with very limited facilities (example 5 night cruise inside £749) On many other ships this would buy a decent balcony, better food and choice of entertainment.

 

I use Fred the odd cruise to avoid flying or having to trail down to Southampton but if anyone else offered cruises from Scotland I would not. With these price rises I would be just as well off booking a flight to Southampton and a balcony cabin.

 

Add to that the erratic marketing over the last year which will have annoyed many early bookers who have effectively paid too much for the product they bought compared to those booking 3 months later and probably much more than those who book last minute.

 

The refurbishment appears to have done nothing more than freshen the ships up a bit. It's now worth a substantial price rise but that's just my opinion.

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The new higher prices will lose customers IMO. Well Over £100 a night for a small inside cabin in untenable on a ship with very limited facilities (example 5 night cruise inside £749) On many other ships this would buy a decent balcony, better food and choice of entertainment.

 

I use Fred the odd cruise to avoid flying or having to trail down to Southampton but if anyone else offered cruises from Scotland I would not. With these price rises I would be just as well off booking a flight to Southampton and a balcony cabin.

 

Add to that the erratic marketing over the last year which will have annoyed many early bookers who have effectively paid too much for the product they bought compared to those booking 3 months later and probably much more than those who book last minute.

 

The refurbishment appears to have done nothing more than freshen the ships up a bit. It's now worth a substantial price rise but that's just my opinion.

 

Whatever Fred does to improve his ships he will never be more than a three star cruise line.

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I noticed that and wondered what area would be sacrificed to accommodate them.

 

That was exactly me thoughts when I read about the RIBS. Must take deck space.

 

Also it does not make clear what will be offered with them - will they be used as tenders in certain places, or just a good opportunity for Fred to offer highly expensive port excursions. My thoughts are that Fred ships have too many passengers to be able to offer them as free tenders as it would take an age to get people ashore.

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Given that cruises are becoming cheaper ones with super sized ships that give economies of scale or smaller ships which are either 'luxury' offerings or expedition type cruises, or something tending towards that, like what was offered by All Leisure brands of Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery. There were a lot of ex All Leisure passengers on our Liverpool to Mauritius cruise.

 

Fred could never go big to the extent of competing with the supper sized ships run by the big cruise companies, so smaller, or retaining their original size is probably the only way to go. Quality of ships need to improve - things like vibration for instance. I also believe they need to look very carefully at itineraries and provide somewhere that is not easily found on other holidays. A lot of current Fred itineraries just offer things that could easily be done on a land holiday (e.g. up rivers) and our thoughts are to just do a lot more land hols cf. cruises, which is what we are doing.

 

We have just returned from a land hol to Cuba, but first glance at the newly released cruises are not pulling any heart strings for me either.

 

We would pay more if the right itineraries and better ships were available, but are not interested in paying for so called 'luxury', or inclusive cruises (drinks and all shore excursions) as we do not want to fund drinks for other passengers (we are not heavy drinkers), and want to spend time exploring on our own in some, tough not necessarily all, ports.

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Google it and you will see photos. RNLI use them as inshore lifeboats and HM Royal Marines use them for raiding parties. We were on a cruise round Iceland last year and had to land from a boat to the shore in a RIB type boat. Evidence suggests that they will not be popular with a considerable number of Fred's 'mature' guests.

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