Yarmouth, Dunkirk, Ijmuiden mystery tour?

[Harry Peterson]

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/21582-balmoral-makes-maiden-call-to-great-yarmouth-on-mystery-cruise.html

 

A lot of negativity about this Balmoral cruise in today's gutter press.

 

You can see why people are hacked off. Is this par for the course with Fred?

[Lottie A]

Well, I would never book a Mystery cruise as I like to know where I’m going!  However this one does seem to be a bit of a disaster for Fred and according to The Daily Wail some passengers have staged a “sit in” onboard Balmoral. Needless to say, the reporting from this rag was over sensationalised.

The ports were Great Yarmouth, Dunkirk and the industrial port of Ijmuiden which is 20 miles from Amsterdam. Some passengers were not happy with these ports at all. I believe Balmoral is now in The Kiel Canal so next Port is possibly Warnemunde?

The recent Mystery cruise on Braemar seems to have been a success though. They visited Aviles in Spain, Bordeaux overnight and Falmouth ...all very nice ports. 

I’m on Balmoral in less than a month for a little jaunt up The Seine to Rouen and Honfleur and I can’t wait. 

[tring]

I have picked up a lot of conversation about this elsewhere.  There is a group of twelve friends who are on the cruise and seem to be complaining about anything they fancy.  Today's complaint is that they are in the Kiel Canal and they have been told it is a sea day.  Hence it seems that as The Kiel Canal is not the sea, then it has been wrongly described as a sea day!!!!  Others have said they are enjoying the cruise a lot, with Dunkirk and especially the third port of Antwerp, (a lovely city were the ships dock right in the centre), both being particularly popular.  It seems there were comments about a migrant camp in (I think) Dunkirk, but other passengers say they saw no such thing and the picture posted also seems to be a stock picture which has been used before (I presume that meant used by the press).

I understand Ijmuiden has a beach with at least one cafe nearby.  Great Yarmouth was apparently not to everyone's taste, but it is only 20 miles, or a 55 minute bus ride to Norwich.  Though I am thinking I would have been very happy to walk along the shore and have a drink or two, perhaps visiting one of the museums as well.  Many Balmoral passengers were happy with it as well it seems. The group of twelve are obviously professional complainers, probably looking for some sort of gain.

 

Overall though I even wonder if Fred's head office had a tad to do with the publicity as, if anything, it is drawing attention to the fact that the 11 night cruise is visiting nine countries with only one sea day.  I am just thinking of people who cruise on some cruise lines which just visit the same old ports all the time and especially on the newer ships which dock quite regularly in container ports.  Sounds like good publicity to me.  I wish we had booked that one now, but I had not picked up the criteria given.  

 

There are five days (ports) left, so, that seems to leave Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and I was thinking probably Scotland.  Then again, given the current location showing for the ship, it may even reach Poland tomorrow instead of Scotland, but I am not sure there would be time to get back to Newcastle if it does.  I really wish we had booked that one.

 

We have been on a mystery cruise before and you do get a cruise book giving vague descriptions of what is in each port (e.g. beach, specific museums, old city etc.) and there are also trips that can be booked with similar sorts of descriptions, so options are there and Fred does run a shuttle bus to the nearest town if docked more than 1 km away, (with a small charge to those on a guarantee fare (usually £5 for the whole day).  We have been on a maiden port mystery cruise which was great and we booked a boat trip to see what were described as 'curious animals'.  After a  bit of searching I learned that seals are often referred to as curious animals as they are 'curious about things' so we did book thinking that was the case and we were right.  That was six ports in four countries with four being near UNESCO sites (trips were run to them).

 

Each to their own, but if people genuinely do want specific ports I do not see why they do not book that.

Edited September 22, 2019 by tring

[AmazedByCruising]

2 minutes ago, tring said:

I understand Ijmuiden has a beach with at least one cafe nearby. 

 

IJmuiden really has nothing. Yes there's a beach, next to Tata Steel, that you don't want to visit and there's probably a bar to be found. It's a port city because it has a harbor and that's it. 

 

I like the idea of a mystery cruise, but I'd be angry about IJmuiden as well, unless they had pre-arranged busses to Amsterdam or another city. 

[tring]

24 minutes ago, AmazedByCruising said:

 

IJmuiden really has nothing. Yes there's a beach, next to Tata Steel, that you don't want to visit and there's probably a bar to be found. It's a port city because it has a harbor and that's it. 

 

I like the idea of a mystery cruise, but I'd be angry about IJmuiden as well, unless they had pre-arranged busses to Amsterdam or another city. 

 

Ok, I had only picked up what was said by someone else.  I Know some of the big ships use it for Amsterdam, but have not been there myself (nor Great Yarmouth for that matter, though It is a well known sea side town).  It was apparently a half day stop, so would not have been time to get to Amsterdam independently, though not sure what trips may have been offered.  Doubt many people would have taken one though, given the uncertainty of where they were going.

 

The cruises Fred has advertised as Amsterdam are still going up the canal to the centre, but sounds like someone got over zealous with that one, thinking they could add another country.  I did see mention of a shuttle bus from Balmoral, but do not know where it dropped off and would have been within 2 or 3 miles or so (probably the city centre), but certainly not as far as Amsterdam for a standard shuttle. 

Edited September 22, 2019 by tring

[Lottie A]

I also think they only had a short few hours in Ijmuiden so there was not enough time to get to Amsterdam anyway. That would be disappointing to me. 

 

Looking at the Fred Olsen Facebook page it seems that many passengers onboard are happy with the itinerary but of course, being a primarily British passenger mix ...there are a few moaners! 😂

 

Balmoral is in a little Polish port called Swinoujscie today. Apparently it has parks, museums and a lighthouse with views over the harbour and the Baltic Sea. 

 

I would never book a Mystery Cruise as I like to know where I am going and enjoy researching the ports but they do seem popular with Fred passengers and generally good value. 

[Lottie A]

Here is a photo of the little port of Swinoujscie in Poland, taken from a balcony on Balmoral this morning, The weather looks glorious and it seems like an unusual and attractive little port. I understand it was a late substitution as the port they intended to go to on the Kiel canal had some damage. 

 

 

[Harry Peterson]

I'd be happy with that. And most of the other places, including Great Yarmouth. But if you'd travelled FROM Yarmouth only to arrive back again you'd probably be a bit miffed!

[Coravel]

Great Yarmouth is a fabulous place to visit if only to see The Rows https://www.great-yarmouth.co.uk/things-to-do/the-rows.aspx  I've only visited the once but I would love to return on a cruise ship to see them again.  Sometimes people have no imagination.  

Edited September 22, 2019 by Coravel