Need info/pictures/considering Fred Olsen cruises

[treasure4two]

We have never cruised on Fred Olsen Cruises but they have some very attractively priced cruises going to great places. We are considering some long cruises starting in 2016 when we retire, including a 76 day cruise around Africa. We have read the ships are older(so are we:))

and I know we do not stay much in our cabins, but they are important to us. We just got off Oceania and the shower was so small, neither of us could barely move in the shower, and it was very restrictive. We would book an inside cabin and want a queen/king bed and a TV. We can tell that many people on these threads are British and we love that and look forward to meeting people from all the different countries in Europe and around the world plus our fellow Americans, but really need constructive and honest answers about what you think these two (62 and 70 year old)

Americans would like and not like about cruising on Fred Olsen. We look forward to your responses. Many thanks.

[treasure4two]

If the reason for no comments is because you do not know what you think an American would like or not like, please tell me what you like and/or do not like on Fred Olsen and why. That will help me plus pictures of an inside cabin would be great. Thank you.

[tring]

Some of the inside and cheaper outside cabins are in L shaped configuration and some cannot be put together as a double bed.

 

You can use the website to look up individual cabin types - there are pics of cabins there, but cabins will vary within a grade - click on 'our ships' or something similar.

 

I am not a great expert on Americans on cruises, but virtually all passengers are English when sailing from the UK amd the ships have a quietish, yet friendly feel about them. Conversation tends to be laid back and casual. I cannot comment on the world/long cruises which are away for about 3 months.

 

The advantage we see with Fred is the itineraries and the fact that they get into smaller ports and you will find the onboard costs, (tip, drinks etc.), a lot less than the American lines. Doing places like the Norweigian Fjords they do a lot of scenic cruising, whereas the P&O ships and other bigger ships spend sea days out at sea - there again not sure how that works in other parts of the world.

 

The main disadvantage from our perspective is that they have fixed dining times and set tables for the duration of a cruise and we have found they often ask people to go into lunch on a first or second sitting basis on sea days. They do have self service restaurants though, but the opening times are fairly limited for each meal. Hence you cannot go into a port and come back mid afternoon and expect a good feed, unless you catch the time of afternoon tea (sandwiches and cakes). There is a cabin service though, which serves soup, cold plates etc. or breakfast if ordered the night before. They do late night snacks about 11.30 pm for half an hour or so.

 

Fred has a reputation for having older passengers, but on the more unusual itineraries that we have sailed on (e.g. Spitzbergen), or minicruises, the avergae age is not that old and we have found many older people to be very young in mind. We are in our early sixties.

 

The ships are older than many so are not always in as good a condition as the big cruise lines with newbuilds, but they are clean and presentable - just not 'posh'

 

I am no expert and may be corrected by others, but do not expect a lot of replies as this is a very quiet board that is not used be a lot of people.

Edited June 5, 2014 by tring

[1160451]

Hi Treasure, really can not add much to what Tring posted. But here goes.....

If you have cruised with the large American lines ships then a FO ship is nothing like those. No malls, no climbing walls, no coffee shops, no pizza huts.

Fred's Sea day have Quizes, dance lessons, bridge, whist, port lectures, guest lectures.

We have cruised with a few lines all different so we pick and choose what we want to do that cruise, also itinerary.

An English Country house feel is how I describe Fred.

Saying that on our last cruise with them we were Rock and Rolling past midnight with our table companions so there is as much life as you want.

Every shower on every cruise has been tiny so I don't think Fred is any different. We always have an inside cabin they are not as big as HAL or P and O but are adequate for us. Double bed and a telly.

We like fixed dining on large tables but the buffet is the worst we have come across for choice and opening times.

Service is always good. Entertainment is good if you like show group singers and dancers, a comedienne, a singer etc. very British.

The Balmoral and Breamar are our favourite Fred ships.

To be honest if we were cruising for that long I would not choose Fred, would go P and O. Larger ship been the reason.

Yes older cruisers than many lines but never found anybody a problem. We are both 63.

If you like cruising you will like Fred. Take it easy and hope you have a great cruise what ever you choose.

[treasure4two]

I really appreciate your comments. Honest answers is what I wanted and I think I got it from you all. We are not big party people, so do not mind more quiet and as a former air hostess with TWA, flying a lot to London and loving the British, is a big selling point to Fred. Not too sure about a double bed-my husband is 6'3" and 240 pounds. I think we might try Fred first for a shorter cruise on Balmoral and Breamar . Thanks again.

[Parsman]

A cruise critic once wrote of Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines as the epitome of traditional British cruising. This is very close to the truth. I have been on many cruises with this line including a "Round Africa" cruise. The passenger mix on the longer cruises tends to differ from the shorter ones. Although the British passengers are in the majority there is usually a good mix of Europeans (Dutch, German, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and Spanish) as well as a few Americans, Autralians, Japanese and Indian. The officers are mainly Scandinavian and Croatian. The domestic staff are mainly Philipino, Thai. Indonesian and Indian. On a recent long cruise that I took there were 17 different nationalities of passengers and 18 of crew and staff. One of the big plus points of Fred. Olsen cruises is the friendliness of the staff.

The meal times on these cruise are fairly fixed and "24 hour" eating is not available. Breakfast and lunch is open sitting but for dinner there are two sittings and table places are allocated. The food tends to be British with a fair amount of Asiatic dishes. Drinks are cheaper than on most American ships.

The entertainment eg cabaret shows tend to be for a British audience and some may not suit American tastes. Daytime activities follow a traditional pattern but there are usually some excellent lecturers and enjoyable classical concerts.

As far as accomodation is concerned the cabins are on the smallish side but are more than adequate. It is a personal point of view but for a long cruise I would strongly recommend booking an outside cabin.

As a former resident in the USA I know that you might find the formality on this line a trifle strange at first. However, I have made friends from the US who cruise regularly on Fred. Olsen and love every minute of it.

I hope this helps. You will be made most welcome. Bon voyage. :)

[tring]

I used the term 'double' bed as a means of explaining two beds put together to make one bed for two people, rather than the classification of double, queen, or king to depict size. I am not sure what size the beds are, but basically what I called 'double' would be two beds put together and made up as one bed and it is possible the other poster did the same. I have always found the Fred Olsen company very good at dealing with phone enquiries so you may get details of bed size from them, (obviously email would be better for you and an online 'chat' system has popped up in the last couple of days which may be able to help). Or another poster may be able to help.

 

We have been in many inside cabins and found them fine for cruises up to a month long, (the longest we have done), and are often more stable in rough seas. We have often been uppgraded on Fred to an outside and that is pleasant. Being in a warm climate would help as the outside areas increase the amount of public space of course.

 

I note it is Boudicca scheduled for around Africa. Her self service restaurant is not very big and has no direct outside windows, but is kitted out with tablecloths etc so has a classy feel compared to the canteen like areas we have encountered on P&O and Costa. Not many people use it in the evening so you should be OK as long as you are not keen to get in at a busy time. Breakfast and lunch in the main restaurants is a mix of a comprehensive buffet and a limited menu for some items - e.g.soup, which can be difficult to carry on ship's. They used to do a lovely selection of tasty smoked, (or otherwise preserved), Scandinavian fish - hope they still do as we are onboard in July.

 

Happy cruising

[1160451]

Forgot to mention on Formal Attire Days, you can have Champagne or some form of bubbly at Breakfast.....not that I am obsessed with drink.......:-)

[treasure4two]

You all are wonderful and detailed. I think we willtake a Fred Olsen cruise in 2015, to see if we would like it fo a longer cruise in 2016. Many thanks for all the detailed and friendly responses!

[1160451]

We are on the Balmoral up to to the Baltic in Septemeber 2015. But that's a 14 day. Maybe a 7 day to the Fjords would be good, leave it late to book and you can pick up a real good deal. Happy cruising what ever you decide.

[BalkanCruiser]

We have never cruised on Fred Olsen Cruises but they have some very attractively priced cruises going to great places. We are considering some long cruises starting in 2016 when we retire, including a 76 day cruise around Africa. We have read the ships are older(so are we:))

and I know we do not stay much in our cabins, but they are important to us. We just got off Oceania and the shower was so small, neither of us could barely move in the shower, and it was very restrictive. We would book an inside cabin and want a queen/king bed and a TV. We can tell that many people on these threads are British and we love that and look forward to meeting people from all the different countries in Europe and around the world plus our fellow Americans, but really need constructive and honest answers about what you think these two (62 and 70 year old)

Americans would like and not like about cruising on Fred Olsen. We look forward to your responses. Many thanks.

 

We have been looking at this exact cruise as well. Never having cruised with Fred Olsen before we have been studying the ship, and the available cabins, and have to say we are disappointed. The Oceanview Cabins seem tired and old fashioned with not much space. This and the two small portholes put my wife off completely and she had been the keenest to do the cruise. Unfortunately we have now crossed Fred off our list of cruise companies.

[Parsman]

If you sail on the "Balmoral" most of the outside cabins have big picture windows, even in the single cabins.

[jeanlyon]

We have sailed on Balmoral, Black Watch and the Braemar. The Braemar was the only one where the cheaper cabins had queen configuration for the beds.

[Deeliteful]

Just my two pennorth but having sailed on a number of lines the only one I would never sail again is Fred Olsen.

I am 63 and felt that FO was catering to 80s and older in their choices of entertainment etc., Food was 3 star not 4 or 5 star. It's far too British for me (and I am a Brit!!) in that it seems stuck between the wars (WW1 and WW2) - singalongs and operettas - not for me.

IMO avoid - there are much better choices (there is usually a reason when something is much cheaper) .

Edited June 9, 2014 by Deeliteful

[tring]

Just my two pennorth but having sailed on a number of lines the only one I would never sail again is Fred Olsen.

I am 63 and felt that FO was catering to 80s and older in their choices of entertainment etc., Food was 3 star not 4 or 5 star. It's far too British for me (and I am a Brit!!) in that it seems stuck between the wars (WW1 and WW2) - singalongs and operettas - not for me.

IMO avoid - there are much better choices (there is usually a reason when something is much cheaper) .

 

We have travelled on a few Fred Olsen cruises since 2006 and have never encoutered anything like you describe. We have also travelled on Swann Hellenic, P&O and Costa. Swan is quite a different experience and could not be compared with any of the other three, which are run of the mill lines. Regarding the others the food on Fred has been far better than P&O and Costa.

 

Admittedly Fred do 'shows' which can sometimes be based in the fifties, but they are provided by 'Headliners' who are the company used by P&O and we have often been aware of the same shows on both lines. We have had some good disos on Fred's ships, but often we need to get up first and request our choice of music and other's will then join in.

 

They also do theme nights and ballroom dancing, which is not our preference, but some people like that and those sort of things are common on other lines. I have a friend who, when recently divorced, paid a lot of money for the very upmarket Crystal Cruise Line because they do ballroom dancing and have dance hosts, (she was 51 at the time). She has since discoverd Fred's dance hosts and speaks well of them.

 

I suppose individual cruises can vary, but if your only experience was in 2002 on a basic med cruise (as noted on your post), things could have changed greatly since then on all lines.

 

I think all lines have their advantages and disadvantages and our choice of cruise depends on what we want on any particular occasion. In fact the ports of call tend to depict our choice of cruise. But each to their own. I think the OP was looking for up to date info though.

 

We are a similar age to you.

Edited June 9, 2014 by tring

[Deeliteful]

Point taken Tring, my cruise was some time ago. However there was a recent documentary about the line on TV this year which was made on a Fred Olsen ship and nothing that I saw would make me change my mind and sail with them again.

[Hawks11]

We have never cruised on Fred Olsen Cruises but they have some very attractively priced cruises going to great places. We are considering some long cruises starting in 2016 when we retire, including a 76 day cruise around Africa. We have read the ships are older(so are we:))

We have sailed on a variety of lines and have recently sailed several times with Fred Olsen and we like it. The smaller ships can nearly always get into port and you can find out before you go if that is the case or not. The entertinment is not always the best but often superb and sometimes quirky - which is entertaining. I would say the food is better than most ships I have sailed with and nearly always available. Every day they have a late night supper, if you are keen on eating around the clock and these are theme events. The drinks are very reasonable and their drinks package I found to be excellent value.

There is the usual ships entertainment and they always have a keen Bridge following as well as a choir formed from passengers. Last year there was a very well attended Ukulele class followed by a concert.

Passengers are well looked after by the staff and I have been impressed by this several times which gives people more confidence to get out and about.

See above for beds as they will not be as good as many others but I have always slept well.

[Parsman]

Point taken Tring, my cruise was some time ago. Howe

ver there was a recent documentary about the line on TV this year which was made on a Fred Olsen ship and nothing that I saw would make me change my mind and sail with them again.

 

That documentary was, of course, part of the Country Parish series and focused on the ship's chaplain and bore no resemblance to life on board Fred Olsen ships on their world cruises.

[Deeliteful]

That documentary was, of course, part of the Country Parish series and focused on the ship's chaplain and bore no resemblance to life on board Fred Olsen ships on their world cruises.

Not the one I saw - nothing to do with a chaplain.:rolleyes:

[terry2]

Not the one I saw - nothing to do with a chaplain.:rolleyes:

 

 

Hmmm, if that was the series with six episodes on BBC2 recorded on a world cruise, then sorry but it was made by the BBC religous unit and did not look at cruise life in general. That was the only one about Fred that I've seen recently.

If you saw a different program can you remember where it was shown.

[chelseababy]

Hi, just got back from Braemar cruise. Had outside cabin with two portholes. Two singles together to make large double bed but with two separate duvets. Cabin 140 square feet. Only just room to get in either side of bed. Very little storage space but OK for us as six night cruise. I measured the shower and it was 65 x 85 cm but roomy enough for my oh who is 19 stone. Desk with chair, tub chair, TV and tea and coffee making facilities!

Having recently had 3 HAL cruises we were disappointed with food on Fred. It didn't have the wow factor, but drinks prices, tips (£4 pppn) excellent. Some activities eg yoga are charged £5 for. Staff lovely.