Disappointment on the Balmoral

[Newcomertocruising]

Although first impressions are good I was very disapointed overall in my experience as a first time cruiser on the Balmoral. My cabin, a superior single on the Lido deck, may be described as 'tired'. Surfaces worn, a drawer chipped and the bathroom poorly patched up (when I entered the cabin there was a rust hole at the bottom of the metal bath panel which was dealt with at some time during the voyage). I was particularly concerned about the position of the television and its tangle of wiring in relation to the only possible place to use the electric kettle.

I may also say that the position of the bedside light in relation to the way the bed was laid out (pillows at the far end of the bed adjacent to the outside door) meant that the bed was fine during the day for lounging or watching television but in order to read in bed I had to set the bedding out the other way round at night.

The door to the balcony wouldn't remain completely closed since, even though locked, the catch would slip and there was considerable wind noise, which was rather disturbing.

I had expected excellent food in the Spey restarant, this surely is one of the high spots of any cruise. I have to say that in some cases it was hardly better than superior school dinners! Neither pork nor the chicken tasted of anything. I did have some acceptable meals there but the quality was very uneven. The Palms Cafe was better, at least one could see in advance what was on offer and choose accordingly. In addition the service at times was rushed. On the penultimate night plates were being removed from our table and the next course brought while some of us were still eating. The waiters also clearly forgot to ask for our orders for pudding. The restaurant was also very noisy. I have good hearing but at times it was difficult to have a conversation because of the noise from other tables. My elderly father who is rather deaf (I was travelling with my parents) found it impossible.

I also have to say that the whole dressing up in DJs for men on four evenings was completely unnecessary and pretentious.

I just looked in on the entertainment since nothing appealed. The ports' lecturer was terrible. I could have done better with a quick look at Wikipedia and other internet sites. He was really just advertising the excursions. The guest lecturer, a retired MEP was a bit better. Excursions were generally ok but highly priced and most satisfactory were the trips out I made on my own in Tallin and elsewhere. It was a waste of money to do both the coach panorama trip around St Petersburg and the Waterways tour but the trip to the Palaces of the Romanovs with the opportunity to see the suburbs and countryside around St Petersburg was good and the restoration work after the destyruction by the Germans, extremely impressive.

I was surprised by just how elderly and infirm many passengers were and at 65 I was one of the younger ones. It is clear that this ship or this cruise line appeals to the Daily Mail reader. That was the daily internet produced newspaper paper available and the paper that headed the list in the survey of passengers. I left the comedian's performance when he started telling jokes about immigrant benefit scroungers.

 

This trip was my first experience of cruising. There were many things that I enjoyed about the experience but most of those are not related to the ship or its facilities. In all this cruise cost me getting on for £4,500 including the fuel surcharge. I don't regard that as good value for money and I will certainly not be recommending Fred Olsen cruise lines to friends.

[KenQE2]

I am interested and concerned by your report, it certainly seems like corners are being cut and standards are slipping (not that I have been on FO... yet).

 

My experience is one trip on the QE2, the antipenultimate voyage, and I can tell you the fit & finish was certainly "tired"! Unfortunately if you want Cunard service it looks like you need to pay a bit more and sail Cunard.

 

As for your comments re formal wear, can I take it you are not a fan? One person in a dinner suit amongst 300 in casual is pretentious, one person in casual amongst 300 in DJs is under-dressed. It's all part of the occasion, and if a significant minority dissent it spoils things for the rest.

[Popsey Wopsey]

Another satisfied customer ,Oh well, having traveled on both Cunard and FOCL,although the choice of food is less on FO ,the quality is the same.I have a friend on QM2 at the moment, who is a Cunard Diamond member and a gold member on Olsen and he tells me at present the food is better on Olsen.

 

Doesn,t seem to have been much to please you on the cruise.Unless you go with the expensive cruiselines and I don,t mean Cunard or P&O,you are going to get mass market cruising on mass market ships.

 

:)

[romola10]

So sorry you had a disappointing time on your first cruise.

 

We don't find the presence of elderly fellow-passengers spoils it for us. If you find a cruise that would be suitable for your father (who I imagine must be in his 80s) then there will be other oldies who choose it too - so no surprise there.

 

Balmoral has quite a high proportion of disabled accomodation compared with many ships - and again, I don't find the presence of the disabled spoils my fun.

 

The Spey restaurant is used to train new staff and to ease them in - so perhaps you were unlucky and got newbies serving you. They usually explain to you if they are training. Another time, you should have a word with the maitre D - it is his job to ensure that you are served properly.

 

There is a separate kitchen for the two upstairs restaurants on Balmoral - and I have to confess to having noticed that the standards are higher in the main restaurant - although most passengers (wrongly) assume that the smaller restaurants are more upmarket.

 

We have always found that problems with our cabin (rare) are sorted out very quickly by maintenance staff.

 

I envy you your school dinners if you felt the food wasn't much better. You clearly attended a much more luxurious establishment than my grammar school, and husband's pblic school.

[KenQE2]

(continuing from my previous post) My first impression of shore excursions was the same as yours though - expensive for what they were. However, as a first timer I took the attitude "gotta try it", and next time I will be more selective.

 

That was the summary conclusion. The detail is more gory (QE2 remember): We were due to call at La Rochelle (France), Bilbao (Spain), and St Peter Port (Guernsey). I had excursions booked for a tour in and around La Rochelle and an island tour of Guernsey, and do our own thing from the shuttle at Bilbao.

 

The La Rochelle call (which I am sure would have been excellent) was switched to the dull Le Verdon due to some local difficulty, and the tour became a coach ride around the Medoc gazing at wine chateaux and a tour of a vineyard followed by a tasting of some evil plonk they seemed to be proud of. I'm sure the shuttle to Soulac-sur-Mer and own-steam would have been more rewarding.

 

Bilbao (free shuttle and own steam) was super.

 

St Peter Port was a wash-out, because the weather had brewed up and they were not prepared to drop anchor and tender the passengers ashore (apart from the difficulties with tenders, the ships stabilisers don't work unless the ship is making headway).

 

So, as you see, I had done my homework and it was turned upside down by events. The Guernsey tour would have been the only reasonable way to see the island in the day (refunded due to cancellation). The La Rochelle tour would have provided a look at the best bits and some kind of commentary (cancelled due to itinerary change). When I researched Le Verdon at the last minute and realised it was likely to be dull I thought we might as well have a coach ride (mistake).

 

It is with that experience of what to expect (and who would know, first time?) that I chose the Balmoral cruise to the Canaries as ticking all the right boxes - but even then I would not have anticipated expecting to dock at Liverpool and finding myself in Dublin!

 

My mum is currently celebrating her second silver wedding anniversary aboard Independence - they seem to like that, but the ship is "outside in" and too big for my preference. As for Oasis - wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.

[Newcomertocruising]

I am interested and concerned by your report, it certainly seems like corners are being cut and standards are slipping (not that I have been on FO... yet).

 

My experience is one trip on the QE2, the antipenultimate voyage, and I can tell you the fit & finish was certainly "tired"! Unfortunately if you want Cunard service it looks like you need to pay a bit more and sail Cunard.

 

As for your comments re formal wear, can I take it you are not a fan? One person in a dinner suit amongst 300 in casual is pretentious, one person in casual amongst 300 in DJs is under-dressed. It's all part of the occasion, and if a significant minority dissent it spoils things for the rest.[/quot

[Newcomertocruising]

Most men wore DJs on the formal nights, othewise we wore smart casual which seemed to me to be prefectly fitting for the sort of clientelle, cruise and ship. These are after all holidays, we are not the upper classes going out to the colonies (POSH) neither are they formal dinners. That's why I say that dressing up in this way is pretentious. It's something we were not.

[KenQE2]

OK, well there are plenty of cruise lines where dress is optional, or at the very least have the option of informal dining, eg Royal Caribbean.

 

Cunard wouldn't suit you: strict dress code after 6pm.

 

Simply a case of choosing the right cruise for you.

[Dartmoordan]

Sorry to hear you were dissappointed with Balmoral, we are sailing on her next year to Norway, dressing up on formal nights is all part of a Fred cruise and Freds ships are known to have a higher percentage of senior citazens,we are in our 50's and found no problems with the age range on Fred, in fact it was a good to have decent conversation with dinner companions. perhaps you would be better suited to something like Ventura where I understand you can wear anything to dinner. As for the food no it wasn't 5 star but then it's not a 5 star ship. Hope you enjoy your next cruise more:)

[andy mac]

sorry to hear you were dissappointed with balmoral, we are sailing on her next year to norway, dressing up on formal nights is all part of a fred cruise and freds ships are known to have a higher percentage of senior citazens,we are in our 50's and found no problems with the age range on fred, in fact it was a good to have decent conversation with dinner companions. Perhaps you would be better suited to something like ventura where i understand you can wear anything to dinner. As for the food no it wasn't 5 star but then it's not a 5 star ship. Hope you enjoy your next cruise more:)

 

we were on boudicca last year we are at 61 (wife)and myself 64 were only young things.the oldest passenger(i know of)was 91. Average age would be around 78(not 250 as some people were saying)and most were having a ball .

Like you we have no issue about age.we love fomal nights as its only time we get dressed up now.we have not been on balmoral as yet, only been on black prince and boudicca.

Yes there are not five star ,but more intimate than bigger ships.

As for food, always found selection good as was quality

if it's five star required then stick to cunard.;)

:) happy cruising.:)

[Griller]

if it's five star required then stick to cunard.;)

:) happy cruising.:)

 

I think you might be disappointed in Cunard these days, maybe Seabourn would be a better choice for a real quality cruise experience.

[romola10]

I would choose Fred every time - if only for the smoked salmon for brekkers : )

[Parsman]

I was sorry to read of the disappointing cruise on the "Balmoral". I have cruised many times with FOCL and several times on this ship. I like the style of cruising on the "Balmoral". Prior to booking a cruise it is much better to carry out some research. If this had been done it would have been obvious that many of the passengers are elderly and "formal nights" were part of the Fred. Olsen style of cruising. There are many more casual cruise lines which cater very well for younger passengers. It's all a matter choosing the right one after some careful research.

I am booked on this ship for two sectors ot its 2012 South America cruise an am looking forward to another great trip.

[EJNutz]

I am very sorry to hear of your disappointment with Balmoral. I was on her last year on a cruise to Spitzbergen. I was aged 46 at the time. I wasn't the youngest on board but was in the minority. Age does not matter to me as I chose the cruise for the itinerary.

 

I also had problems with the balcony door and the wind noise. But apart from that I was totally satisfied with the ship. In fact we are looking at booking another cruise on her next year.

[Popsey Wopsey]

I think you might be disappointed in Cunard these days, maybe Seabourn would be a better choice for a real quality cruise experience.

 

Agree with that.The days when Cunard was something to crow about have gone.:)

[Newcomertocruising]

Interestingly there is a review of the Balmoral mini cruise which went out immerdiately after we came in to Southampton on the Cruise Review page of this website. It make almost all the same points as I do. So it's jot just me!

[jokskot]

Although first impressions are good I was very disapointed overall in my experience as a first time cruiser on the Balmoral. My cabin, a superior single on the Lido deck, may be described as 'tired'. Surfaces worn, a drawer chipped and the bathroom poorly patched up (when I entered the cabin there was a rust hole at the bottom of the metal bath panel which was dealt with at some time during the voyage). I was particularly concerned about the position of the television and its tangle of wiring in relation to the only possible place to use the electric kettle.

 

I may also say that the position of the bedside light in relation to the way the bed was laid out (pillows at the far end of the bed adjacent to the outside door) meant that the bed was fine during the day for lounging or watching television but in order to read in bed I had to set the bedding out the other way round at night.

 

The door to the balcony wouldn't remain completely closed since, even though locked, the catch would slip and there was considerable wind noise, which was rather disturbing.

 

I had expected excellent food in the Spey restarant, this surely is one of the high spots of any cruise. I have to say that in some cases it was hardly better than superior school dinners! Neither pork nor the chicken tasted of anything. I did have some acceptable meals there but the quality was very uneven. The Palms Cafe was better, at least one could see in advance what was on offer and choose accordingly. In addition the service at times was rushed. On the penultimate night plates were being removed from our table and the next course brought while some of us were still eating. The waiters also clearly forgot to ask for our orders for pudding. The restaurant was also very noisy. I have good hearing but at times it was difficult to have a conversation because of the noise from other tables. My elderly father who is rather deaf (I was travelling with my parents) found it impossible.

 

I also have to say that the whole dressing up in DJs for men on four evenings was completely unnecessary and pretentious.

 

I just looked in on the entertainment since nothing appealed. The ports' lecturer was terrible. I could have done better with a quick look at Wikipedia and other internet sites. He was really just advertising the excursions. The guest lecturer, a retired MEP was a bit better. Excursions were generally ok but highly priced and most satisfactory were the trips out I made on my own in Tallin and elsewhere. It was a waste of money to do both the coach panorama trip around St Petersburg and the Waterways tour but the trip to the Palaces of the Romanovs with the opportunity to see the suburbs and countryside around St Petersburg was good and the restoration work after the destyruction by the Germans, extremely impressive.

 

I was surprised by just how elderly and infirm many passengers were and at 65 I was one of the younger ones. It is clear that this ship or this cruise line appeals to the Daily Mail reader. That was the daily internet produced newspaper paper available and the paper that headed the list in the survey of passengers. I left the comedian's performance when he started telling jokes about immigrant benefit scroungers.

 

This trip was my first experience of cruising. There were many things that I enjoyed about the experience but most of those are not related to the ship or its facilities. In all this cruise cost me getting on for £4,500 including the fuel surcharge. I don't regard that as good value for money and I will certainly not be recommending Fred Olsen cruise lines to friends.

 

As a fellow cruiser on Balmoral Baltics cruise 13 to 27 May 2011, I would like to add some balance to Newcomertocruisings review. I agree with him on some points but disagree quite strongly on others. I didn't view simonpjd's review of the minicruise, that followed ours, as being suportive of Newcomertocruisings points; I thought it much more positive.

 

My wife and I had a twin internal cabin on deck 5 for which we together paid scarcely more than half the amount Newcomertocruising quotes as the total cost of his cruise. We had booked in January and the fuel surcharge was either already factored in or was absorbed by the agent - ROL. There was a small chip in the enamel of the basin, but otherwise the cabin decor was fine. There also was a jumble of wire behind the TV but the kettle could be plugged in at the other end of the dressing table.

We found one of the single beds to have the bedside light at the foot, but after reporting this to our cabin stewardess after the first night, the ship's carpenters moved the bed about 10cm and it was subsequently laid in the appropriate orientation.

Being an inside cabin we had no problems with wind or any other noise.

 

We ate in the Ballindalloch restaurant and generally found the standard of food to be good, sometimes excellent. I felt that seafood presented during the first few days had the taste and texture of food which had been defrosted too quickly but this improved during the cruise.

We sent back the belly pork offering as having poor texture and little taste, but other than this the food was good if a little over described on the menu. Particularly noteworthy were the soups, beef and crabs legs which we had one lunchtime. We had the curry meal in the Palms cafe one night which was excellent. We ate at the second sitting and didn't feel any pressure and the service was excellent; by the second day our steward knew that I did not require biscuits with my cheese course! We were seated next to a window and were not disturbed by noise but heard that others in the centre of the restaurant found it noisy.

 

There were 3 occasions (not 4) when formal dress was suggested and two "novelty" evenings - a cowboy night and a British night, other days were either informal (jacket or tie suggested) or casual (no bare feet, legs or vests). To my knowledge nobody was turned away if they failed to comply with the dress code guidelines. The formal nights were all after full days at sea and I feel that people enjoyed dressing up after not doing very much during the day. I estimate compliance with the suggested dress-code to be greater than 95%.

 

So far as the entertainment was concerned, I found the shows put on by the resident singing and dancing group to be of a high standard; we really enjoyed the Tale of Three Cities show and I had good reports of the Buddy Holly show. I don't recall the comedian starting his act with a tale about immigrant benefit scroungers and although it was a very dated style there were some good jokes and it was refreshing to not have to endure the four letter words which seem to be the mainstay of so many of today's current crop of comedians.

I was impressed by the playing of the diva with the violin on her first show and even amused by her Jo Brand style jokes, but on the two subsequent times she appeared, her tone was poor and her jokes unfunny - I wondered if she'd spent the intervening period in her cabin alone with her duty free purchases.

I was less impressed by the singer and her "little girl lost" voice fillers between the songs.

The Russian dance troup invited to perform on the first night in St.Petersburg was excellent.

The show given by the crew on the penultimate night was perhaps the highlight of the provided entertainment, but that on the final night where all the entertainers "strutted their stuff" was also very good, with the comedian hilariously reading rhymes from the log he had kept, perhaps the highlight.

I agree with Newcomertocruising's assessment of the ports lecturer and having done some research myself on Saaremaa, I wondered if he had ever been there as he included places which were inaccesible to us during such a short stay. His slides appeared to be scans from books he had found and were of a very poor quality. I found the screen in the Neptune lounge, even sitting on the front row, out of focus and far too small to read both in this talk and in that given by the guest lecturer.

Fred. Olsen should consider a bigger screen and more powerful projector or having TV monitors distributed throughout the room. I found the talks from the former MP (not MEP!) to be moderately interesting, but was appalled by the quality of his delivery which involved reading (and often stumbling over the words) from what, I assume, were the books he had written. Newcomertocruising does not mention the three talks on antique jewellery given by Ian Harris which were interesting, humorous and well delivered and where, when he was just talking about an object, the image on screen was adequate.

The 3 talks given by the fellow selling amber and Russian artefacts on the boat were also well-deivered and interesting.

I cannot comment on the excursions provided by Fred.Olsen as we organised independent tours (see later) but they did appear to be expensive and as most were for only half a day, would involve a lot of shuttling from the ship to the city and with changing guides there would inevitably be a lot of repetition.

I think Newcomertocruising overstates the age demographic of the passengers. Imho there were ca. 50 less that 55 and 100 under 60; out of a complement of 1300 passengers there were possibly 20 wheelchairs and 100 persons using sticks which doesn't seem to be too "elderly and infirm". It's also worth noting that passengers boarding for the next mini-cruise to France were much younger that those on "our" cruise, so the age of cruisers is probably more reflective of the destination, itinerary and duration than the cruiseline.

I too was disappointed with the Internet version of the Daily Mail, but Sky News and BBC 24 were available on the in-cabin TVs. I would classify the passengers as group as Telegraph readers rather than Daily Mail readers.

 

I think it worth stating that drinks were reasonably priced with house wine at £15 a bottle and beer and spirits at £3 a pint or measure. Coffee at around £1.50 was also well priced if you didn't want to drink that available without charge. I thought the "white gloves" afternoon tea at a "nominal £5.95?" overpriced and didn't indulge.

 

So having reacted to Newcomertocruising, I should review my highs and lows for the trip:

 

Departure

Long (>40 minute) queues to check in. We were subjected to quite strict searches including X ray examination of our pocket contents while we passed through the magnetometer. I understand that persons more than about 30 minutes behind us in the queue joined the boat with no security search whatsoever!!

Our third bag did not reach our cabin until quite late.

 

Brunsbuttel to Holtenau (Kiel canal transit)

We were at anchor in the Elbe for 10 hours before starting the transit. There were various announcements during the wait which were updated as our entry time got later and later. It was said that maintenance of the canal was reponsible for the delay, but shouldn't Fred. Olsen have had this information and found an alternate means of passing our time, eg a visit to Hamburg? This resulted in our arriving later than planned at.....

 

Saaremaa Island (Estonia)

Trips were available from Fred. Olsen but 10 of us (who met through Cruise Critic) had arranged a 20 seater minibus from Arensburg Travel Kuressaare [abr@tt.ee] and a guide from a social networking website for a limited tour round the central section of the island.

In the event, as the boat arrived 1h30 later than expected and left 1h00 earlier than originally advised, we had to curtail the trip somewhat. We did get to see "the pretty fishing village of Tagaranna" (yawn), the castle at Kuresaare, the Kaali crater, the windmills and St Catherines church at Karja and the Panga cliffs. We had to forego a planned meal in Kuresaare, but did manage to sample some superb locally brewed beer at a tavern near the crater. Our guide got them to open early for us! The trip cost us €30 each... I think we saw more and it cost considerably less than the ship organised tours.

Verdict: Saaremaa was moderately interesting but no more than that. I would suggest that Riga in Latvia would have been a far better place to visit without adding much distance.

 

Tallinn

We had previously been to Tallinn and knew that it was only a short distance from the cruise ships to the town. Fred. Olsen had put on a shuttle bus at £6 per person for multiple journeys but this only ran until early evening. They also advised that a taxi would cost ca.£11 to the town centre. We walked and had great day wandering round, taking lunch in the town centre and visiting the St Nicholas museum, In the evening we had pre-booked tickets for Die Fledermaus (ca. €16 each) in the Opera House (an excellent well staged witty production) and got a taxi back to the boat which cost €3.50 for four of us...so much for Fred. Olsen's prices!!

 

Helsinki

We moored some distance from the town centre and a free shuttle bus was provided to take us to the centre. The weather was poor. We took a boat trip (€4 return) to Suomenlinna a WHO listed former fortress in the middle of Helsinki harbour (quite interesting and nice to be traffic free) and then took a Frommer's walking tour ( http://www.frommers.com/destinations/helsinki/0053010008.html) round the main sites of the city. An enjoyable if wet day, but we were staggered by the prices (eg French Brie €60/kg!!! vey ordinary Australian Chardonnet €20/750ml).

 

St Petersburg

We had three days of unbroken sunshine.

The same ten people referred to above took a 3 day private tour with Alla Tours (US$365 plus 10% tip). This was really excellent. Our guide had studied at UCL and what's more had visited a friend teaching Russian at, our local University in Durham. She was totally familiiar with all the museums and the short cuts to avoid such crowds as there were. Our days were tiring but inluded all the main sites, gardens, churches museums etc. . ...and with the same guide we avoided repetition of both information and sites. I can thoroughly recommend Alla Tours. Our guide was also informative about social issues as well as Czarist history.

Two of us saw Tosca at the Mikhailovsky Theatre on the first evening (800 rubles - £18 each (bought online in UK) plus US$100 extra for an Alla Tours minder and transport.)

I don't feel our visit to St Petersburg could have been better. And how clean - no litter and wonderful parks

 

Copenhagen

We had been to and enjoyed Copenhagen in the early 70s and were rather disppointed with this visit. OK, the copper spires and the Little mermaid are still there but the upmarket shops on Stroget - Illums, Georg Jenson, Royal Copenhagen Porcelain and Magasin du Nord seem to have been upstaged by fast food establishments and places selling tat and the stylish young people of the 70s had been replaced persons looking exactly the same as you see everywhere in the world.

There are lots of tacky factory outlet shops at the cruise terminal but these were very expensive and a General Stores there was selling 50g jars of Vaseline for €8! There is a tasteless near-pornographic stone sculpture of a mermaid (big breasts erect nipples) in the parade of shops. I hope no-one mistook this for the real Little Mermaid!

 

Aalborg

It's a mystery why we included Aalborg as it involved a 30 km beat up a river to visit a very pleasant town but with llittle intrinsic tourist interest follwed by a 1.5 hour journey back to the open sea. We downloaded a map of a guided tour from the Aalborg web-site together with an mp3 commentary (http://www.visitaalborg.com/international/en-gb/menu/tourist/tourist-information/historical-city-walk-on-mp3/historical-city-walk-on-mp3.htm). We enjoyed the walk which covered everything and more included in the waling tour available from the ship at £20.

We were told that we we visiting Aaborg during the carnival which is the largest in Northern Europe and were greeted at 08h30 by around a dozen persons in fancy dress banging drums. This was the extent of the carnival we witnessed...perhaps not suprising as the town's web site indicates it didn't start until 29 May!!

After sailing sound the Kategat/Skagerak we faced a head wind all the way to Southampton where we arrived about 6 hours later than anticipated.

 

Disembarkation

This was chaotic with people arriving for the next cruise and lots of cars having been delivered for collection. We took the shuttle bus to Southampton Central station. We had a wait of around 20 minutes for the bus, but there was a long queue as we left and I suspect people in it would have waited much longer than we did. The provision of only one bus doing a round trip through late Friday afternoon traffic seemed totally inadequate.

 

Summary

An excellent and reasonably priced holiday. St.Petersburg with Alla Tours was undoubtedly the highspot. Recommended.

 

 

J

[Newcomertocruising]

I have read all the responses here with interest yet would largely stick by what I orriginally posted. I should also add that my parents, who have done something over 25 cruises over the years and so have some experience, would have been even more critical than me, I had nothing with which to compare my experience. Another of my table companions was also an experienced cruiser and made many of the same points during the voyage and all would have echoed my comments about the food.

 

Obvioulsy I have no problems with older people generally, I am getting there myself. I did wonder at times where everyone went, sometimes the ship seemed empty and very quiet. Great. Quality of the cabin? Well a superior single suite on Lido deck 8 ought to be just that though having a balcony was worth paying for.

 

Best days? Sailing across the Baltic under clear skies in bright sunshine or sitting in the Lido lounge in the evening watching the suset.

 

Will I do it again? The jury is still out.

[Ft Lauderdale]

Does anyone know the names of the officers on board, looking for Hans van Welzen!! Thanks for info in advance!

[Host Sharon]

I was also on this cruise and have posted a separate review here

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/member...ID=83515&sr=us

 

 

Of course disembarkation was chaotic as the ship was delayed into Southampton by some 6 hours due to strong headwinds and currents. I also have mixed feelings about FO - this was my first cruise with them having previously cruised with Cunard and P&O. I found the food excellent, although the choice somewhat limited in comparison. My main complaint there is about the opening times of the restaurants though. I don't need 24/7 food, but for example the buffet didn't open till 6.30 with tours leaving at 7am! I thought they could have opened at 6am with continental breakfasts?

 

I couldn't fault the service, but found the decor somewhat depressing. The production shows were very good considering the size of ship, but the port presenter was very poor IMO. As I said - mixed.

[balf]

You only need to look at the last minute price reductions to understand where the problems lie in regard to corner (cost) cutting.

 

Along with many other cruise lines Fred struggles to fill his ships and hives off all the unsold cabins at give away prices - £50 ish per night pp!! Those who choose, or have to book ahead (the idea of booking a cruise with FO as far ahead as 2013 is not an attractive one for me) susidise these cheapo deals. So the overall take is reduced and in these hard times there is also likely to be reduced revenue from bar sales and trips.

 

So what can they do short of parking their ships and hoping for better times? They cut back on food, entertainment, free shuttle busses, cabin and ship mainenance and possibly staffing levels. And they bump up the price of the trips.

 

Of course if you have only paid £50 a night you don't really have much to grumble about, many people spend more than that living at home.

 

David.

[dthompsond1]

One small point, there may be many elderly passengers on the Balmoral but the maximum number of wheelchairs allowed for use on board is only12. Any one else who needs one can only use it ashore.

[leonardofan]

1) Obviously prices are lower and standards higher on the US based lines-- Competition does wonders!(Even sister brands -- A British friend was astonished how much better Princess was than P&O!) Try Celebrity or Holland--America next time.

 

2) Even by the standards of UK based lines Fred. seems to have problems-- write--ups by (British) experienced cruisers in the (British)

magazine Ships Monthly have compared FO unfavorably to Thomson

lately.

[Host Sharon]

With regard to formal nights too - I was disappointed that so few seemed to bother with formal wear. I particularly enjoy dressing up as for me it makes the holiday that bit different from being at home, but after the first formal night, I abandoned my formal dresses and wore what I would normally call semi-formal as I felt so over-dressed. Perhaps this wasn't a typical FO cruise, but it would take a lot to tempt me back and I wasn't by any means paying knock-down prices !!

[tiggertom]

With regard to formal nights too - I was disappointed that so few seemed to bother with formal wear. I particularly enjoy dressing up as for me it makes the holiday that bit different from being at home, but after the first formal night, I abandoned my formal dresses and wore what I would normally call semi-formal as I felt so over-dressed. Perhaps this wasn't a typical FO cruise, but it would take a lot to tempt me back and I wasn't by any means paying knock-down prices !!

 

Fred Olsen has a high take up on formal evenings -about 90%....don't know what cruiseship you are talking about:confused: