Black Watch Refit

[tring]

Thank you for that clarification Fred., it is appreciated.

[comcox]

And thank you for keeping an informal buffet for the evenings. I was worried I was going to have to "abandon ship."

[tartanexile81]

There will be lots happening in Edinburgh, but some of it will need to be booked in advance. This is the official website:

 

http://www.edinburghschristmas.com

[jgw321]

We hope this helps.

 

Regards, F.OCL.

 

 

Yes, many thanks. You have set our minds at rest. Good luck with the refit.

[sjpo]

That is good to hear regarding the Brigadoon, but I am still wondering about the Braemar Lounge. I understand it will now be The Morning Light Pub. Is the ship to be left without the quiet, almost Drawing Room type lounge which the Braemar was?

[sjpo]

Black Watch arrived Hamburg last Saturday night. Lets hope they can do it all on the 26 days which are planned for the drydock

[jgw321]

Fingers crossed! We just booked our Hambourg excursions.

 

I should really post this on http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2417187 but there is no one else there.

[sjpo]

Fred Olsen also confirmed that the Braemar Lounge is going to disappear and not be moved somewhere else. I think it is a pity for the ship to loose it as there are not many ships out there now which still have a 'pure' lounge room, almost like a Drawing Room. Curious to see the new deck plans

[sjpo]

When the then Royal Viking Star was lengthened in 1981, it took three months. The extended dining room could then sit all passengers in one sitting. It seems that was one of the reason for the extension of the vessel, but other owners decided to return to the two sittings model, converting half of the Dining Room into other areas. Now a bit more of that area (untill recently the Braemar Garden, The Courtyard, etc) is becoming more like a restaurant, almost going back to the 1981 idea.

 

Extending those vessels then was costly and was not as popular with Royal Viking passengers as expected. Some say that it would become one of the reasons for the company's end. Probably the ships felt 'too big' then to pax used to more intimate surroundings. 35 years on and now the same ship is considered small and what a delight that is so. Not so long ago, 'small' vessels were the likes of Epirotiki's Jason, Sun Lines' 'Stella Maris', etc ad those were really small

[sjpo]

Found an article on German newspaper BILD which mentions some work to be done also on the rudder and the stern area:

 

http://www.bild.de/regional/hamburg/kreuzfahrtschiff/black-watch-eingedockt-48863380.bild.html

 

Interesting comparison with QM2. When the ship was launched in 1972 it was mentioned that she had similarities in design with the QE2, then a relatively new ship (funnel, lounges positioning, etc)

 

Unfortunately there has been also a fatal accident at the dock as some scafolding was been built around the hull: https://www.schiffe-und-kreuzfahrten.de/werft-news/toedlicher-unfall-bei-blohm-und-voss-bei-arbeiten-an-der-black-watch/113837/

[sjpo]

Refit seems to be going according to plan. New deck plans are now on their web site (and, as expected, the lounge deck has lost its pure lounge... option now will be to sit on the bars...)

 

Also there has been a slight change to the itinerary of the Christmas and NYE cruise (one sea day less...) http://www.fredolsencruises.com/places-we-visit/cruise-holiday/tinsel-and-hogmanay-w1625

[sjpo]

Sorry for the late reply - just back from a cruise. :)

 

We are booked on the Tinsel & Hogmanay Black Watch Christmas cruise. The first change we were notified of was an early departure from Falmouth, due to the time of the tide that day! [Don't they check this when planning the cruise?] Then the original itinerary was Dublin, 26 December & Liverpool, 27 December. Then Fred said that they had been informed by their agents that nothing would open in Dublin on Boxing Day so not a good day to visit. As a result Fred cancelled Liverpool and switched Dublin to the 27th. On the 26th we are now visiting Cobh which, according to Fred, will have many tourist opportunities available! [Not according to the tourist office in Cobh when we visited a couple of weeks ago on our Azamara cruise. They said that there would be no trains or any form of public transport that day and that, in any case, Cork itself would be just as dead as Dublin. As far as they knew the only attraction that might be open would be the Titanic exhibition which many will have seen before. They thought that even the Tourist Information office would be closed that day!]

 

Fred then cancelled the day in Kirkwall on the 30th December replacing it with a further half day in Leith. We are now in Leith from early afternoon on the Friday to early Sunday morning. The entire cruise is now Falmouth, Cobh, Dublin, Belfast and Leith. We have booked the cruise as a bb with the Christmas markets cruise to Denmark and Germany, which fortunately hasn't changed.

 

When we found out about the changes to the itinerary it was too late to change our own plans so will have to live with it. However, we are not booking any Fred cruises in 2017 as a result. If Fred want people to book early at the full price they shouldn't subsequently chop and change the cruises to suit their own requirements.

 

Today there is a lisght change to the itinerary on the web site: http://www.fredolsencruises.com/places-we-visit/cruise-holiday/tinsel-and-hogmanay-w1625

 

But what is confusing was that a video was posted, by the FO channel, on Youtube last Thursday, but mentioning the initial itinerary: https://youtu.be/cm99J_bHpXY

 

But I feel that the Portsmouth/Plymouth version might be the official one

[jgw321]

option now will be to sit on the bars...)

 

Part of the plan? They don't make anything on free coffee but may now sell a few more drinks.

 

Cruising is still good value for money, I don't know how they make it pay. The Saudi's attempt at putting the US frackers out of business must have helped, but there is talk of oil getting expensive again.

[sjpo]

I would agree on that. A quiet lounge makes less money than a bar, but still I miss the time when most ships had a 'day lounge', more like a living room.

 

I always felt that the Saudis were also helping to cut down Russian and Venezuelan revenue...

[jgw321]

I always felt that the Saudis were also helping to cut down Russian and Venezuelan revenue...

 

Not keen on Iran getting back into the business and taking some of their share either. Still we musn't get sidetracked. :)

 

Agree about the lounge. It can be nice to sit in the crows nest on the Prinsendam and read a book or look out for whales but that can be spoilt when they have a function in there. We found the observation lounge on the Black Watch a bit noisy with the bar and functions.

[sjpo]

Thanks. I heard that before that the observation lounge on the Black Watch was not necessarily quiet. The Braemar Lounge seemed ideal but more and more is all about revenue... At least the older ships, like Black Watch, still have a good deal of open air space (I think it was a Carnival executive who once said that fresh air generates no revenue...)

[Mayflower1306]

I am due to sail on Black Watch in June. Worried to hear that lounge area is to go - I do not always want to be 'entertained' and hope that there will still be quiet areas to sit, relax and read. Very first cruise experience due on Braemar in March - hoping that there will be quiet areas available.

[sjpo]

The ship is right now on his way from Hamburg to Tilbury so refurbishment seemed to have been completed on schedule. I would think that the Morning Light Pub will probably not open as a bar very early so early mornings that area would still be like the old lounge. It seems the library is now part of another lounge but still may be a quiet area (ironic that Black Watch has the library on the space where used to be a night club/disco on Royal Viking Star :-))

[berkshireboy]

The ship is right now on his way from Hamburg to Tilbury so refurbishment seemed to have been completed on schedule. I would think that the Morning Light Pub will probably not open as a bar very early so early mornings that area would still be like the old lounge. It seems the library is now part of another lounge but still may be a quiet area (ironic that Black Watch has the library on the space where used to be a night club/disco on Royal Viking Star :-))

 

 

Yes

 

The Black Watch is now well into the North Sea en route to Tilbury, so there should be no problems with the the departure of the Christmas markets cruise on Thursday. :)

 

The Morning Light bar usually opens at 10:00.

[jgw321]

Refit seems to be going according to plan.

 

Seems to have been finished on time as she is well down the Belgian coast now. We were worried by yesterdays pictures, although some places were almost finished and just a bit of polishing needed, some places looked as though they had only just started and there was still a lot to do. Of course tidying up and cleaning can be done en route, and there is all day tomorrow at Tilbury if there are any last minute jobs. Probably fill up with provisions and have crew briefings, all ready for our cruise on Thursday. If anyone else is also on this one, see you aboard.

[sjpo]

Work seemed to have been quite extensive indeed: http://oceanliner-pictures.com/different-pics/black-watch-multi-million-pound-refurbishment-interior-views-from-aboard-december-2016.html

[jgw321]

We are back from the first cruise after the refit. Never again. We hadn't noticed that it wasn't adult only. The ship yard may have thought they had finished but the crew have been working all week to try and put things right. To be honest, superficially it was no different to any other cruise where maintenance seems to be a perpetual ongoing activity. The speciality restaurant wasn't open for the first few days and still doesn't have all its pictures hung. They were patching up the carpet in places at first. The one job that has being going on all week, and was still being done, was stuffing coax in to the ceiling void. The TV didn't work until Tuesday, and even now the channels are blank. They hope to have it working by the time they sail tonight.

 

Basically, the Black Watch is still the Black Watch with the same friendly staff. The changes are mostly cosmetic and if you liked the Black Watch you should still like her. What was the Braemar is still a comfortable area to sit in. They have moved the piano out of the area between the Braemar and the Cafe into the new Light Morning Pub. But since it is open screening between the two it makes no difference to the sound. You can still hear it in both places. They only play relaxing music anyway. There are more seats in the new bar and although it loses a bit of space for the bar itself it has gained the coffee station area (now outside the Neptune Lounge port side). Because it is now impractical to have a four deep queue for dining in the evenings, they are using the doors at both ends of the Glentenar and the old cafe, now the Brigadoon, has its own entrance from the lift area. I think this has made a big improvement to the dining arrangements and overall the refit has been an improvement.

 

I have completed mu blog for the cruise c.f. http://sturnidae.com/cruises/201612%20Xmas%20Markets/index.htm

[jgw321]

She managed the Danish and German markets more or less OK, the TV was nearly working when we left, so we expected the current cruise (Tinsel and Hogmaney round Britain) would be fine. It was a shock yesterday to see her coming back up the English Channel displaying Newcastle as her destination. Does anyone know if this was just due to bad weather or she is needing repairs?

Edited December 26, 2016 by jgw321

[Jakanne1]

Well, Black Watch tried to get into Newcastle at lunch time today, 26th December, but for some reason didn't manage it. Details on Marine Traffic.

[showingdiva]

The revised plan for Black Watch - which was due to the appalling weather forecast for the North / North West of Scotland over the coming days is that she is going to Newcastle (has just docked there 8pm 26/12) until 5pm on the 27th.

 

Then going to Dundee on the 28th / 29th (possibly into the 30th), then on to us at Leith (as scheduled) hopefully for around 3pm on the 30th until the early hours of the 1st January.

 

These are the plans we (in Leith) have received at present for her whereabouts. Obviously, there is no exact science with the weather and cruise ships in the UK at this time of year.

 

If I hear anything to the contrary, will advise further when known.