New Ships = New Itineraries?

[Britboys]

2 hours ago, London-Calling said:

 

I'm mature now, but when I took my first Olsen cruise I was in my late 30's but still looked young-ish.

 

The lady at the check-in said to my wife and I, "are we crew"

 

Many of the passengers, at the time, were twice our age, although I do not have a problem with this. many of them had more get up and go than many youngsters.

 

I always enjoyed the CMV crowd.

 

have you ever tried Thomson cruises. They were similar to CMV.

Thomson may have been similar to CMV but imho, Marella are not. I sailed with both Marella and CMV in 2018. Would have happily sailed CMV again but no real desire to go back on Marella.

[Rotterdam]

On 8/8/2020 at 10:19 AM, DM6045 said:

Cant see why they would TBH they have a good customer base this side of the Atlantic and with us loosing CMV they will probably be getting alot more if they price the new ships right. Also I’ve come across a few Americans on Fred and with the odd exception they have all said they found the experience to be a bit to staid and quiet for their tastes, not being judgemental just basing it on my experience of meeting people onboard. And Having travelled on HAL a couple of times (Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Veendam) HAL is positively active and lively in comparison.

Good morning...I chuckled when I read about HAL being positively active & lively.. I'm an American that was born, raised & lived my entire adult life in New York City. The first time i was on HAL was 1976/77....I preferred the italian lines but HAL sailed out of NYC & the entertainment was live bands & wed dance all nite til the sun came up. We were in our 20's...the longer the cruise the older the crowd.

I'm hoping to sail on Boudicca or Black Watch for the ships. I'm now in my sixties, have travelled a great deal over the years & now want an interesting sea voyage.  

If you want quiet & staid try Florida...after 3 years of snowbirding I called it quits..

FLORIDA IS GODS WAITING ROOM..A PLACE TO GO TO DIE. I rented 6 months each in Ft Lauderale, Boca Raton &  Palm Beach.. I named them...DEATH VALLEY  A SUBDIVISION OF HELL.

I'll pick A long winter or world FRED OLSEN CRUISE over returning to Florida ..aka MALL WORLD.

 

Edited August 10, 2020 by Rotterdam

[comcox]

Frustrated that I keep getting emails about new ship sales starting 9 am tomorrow, Sept 7th, but there is not information on the website yet to even consider what to book.

[Britboys]

41 minutes ago, comcox said:

Frustrated that I keep getting emails about new ship sales starting 9 am tomorrow, Sept 7th, but there is not information on the website yet to even consider what to book.

Don't forget that it is only Bolette that goes on sale tomorrow and that the majority of the itineraries are likely to be those already published for Boudicca. I do agree however that they could have dealt with things better than they have with the introduction of the new ships.

[July morning]

Have I missed something? as I thought the advice was still not to cruise and if you do your insurance won't be valid.  Even if that advice is lifted if you booked while it was in place you're still not covered😕  I shall certainly be looking at what's on offer but not booking until the FO change their advice. 

I double checked with our insurance and that is what I was told perhaps others have different advice.

[tring]

1 hour ago, July morning said:

Have I missed something? as I thought the advice was still not to cruise and if you do your insurance won't be valid.  Even if that advice is lifted if you booked while it was in place you're still not covered😕  I shall certainly be looking at what's on offer but not booking until the FO change their advice. 

I double checked with our insurance and that is what I was told perhaps others have different advice.

Indeed that is how our insurance company work as well.  Ours is an AXA policy run by one of the big banks.  However comcox is in the USA so probably different and I suppose people could always get new insurance at a later date, or poss some insurance companies have a different criteria.

[tring]

5 hours ago, comcox said:

Frustrated that I keep getting emails about new ship sales starting 9 am tomorrow, Sept 7th, but there is not information on the website yet to even consider what to book.

 

As mentioned by Britboys, the cruises will just be a revamp of what was released previously  i.e. changed ports the new ships cannot get into as they are too big, and probably replacing or changing the longer cruises to distant places, (which may still be iffy in the winter of 2021/22), possibly with shorter ones.  It has been complete chaos with no information given over here either.  Fred told me on their FB page yesterday that they are still working on the deck plans and their intention is to have them ready for tomorrow.  Other information on the Bolette cruises will not be released until 9am tomorrow morning.

 

Fred has been re-allocating cabins from Boudicca cruises without even publishing a deck plan, so people are seeking out the Amsterdam deck plans which give an indication of where their new cabins are placed and some have been quite badly located on Bolette.  The Borealis cruises still have to have the majority of the bookings re-allocated from Black Watch, before going on sale on the 15th.  There are suspicions the prices will be very high and at least one agent seems to have indicated that - but we will see.

Edited September 6, 2020 by tring

[ighten]

7 hours ago, comcox said:

Frustrated that I keep getting emails about new ship sales starting 9 am tomorrow, Sept 7th, but there is not information on the website yet to even consider what to book.

Not to state the obvious but thats because the itins are not released till tomorrow

 

I suspect they will be the same (ish) with changes made to reflect change of ship size (I suspect less tenders) and peraps a cpl of early suprises (short Blue only sailings - though that would rely on our govts methodology having any rhyme or reason)

Edited September 6, 2020 by ighten

[Roger88]

I have no idea what you are guys are talking about. I havent been receiving any news, or emails or anything lately. I mean it seems like there is nothing really happening. Maybe they will inform us closer to the date of the first cruise or smth. I doubt they will say anything that soon 

[ovccruiser]

26 minutes ago, Roger88 said:

I have no idea what you are guys are talking about. I havent been receiving any news, or emails or anything lately. I mean it seems like there is nothing really happening. Maybe they will inform us closer to the date of the first cruise or smth. I doubt they will say anything that soon 

Cruises for Bolette go on sale tomorrow 7th September and for Borealis on 15th. As said, I think they are replacing cruises that were originally Black Watch and Boudicca, but the cruises I believe, are April/May time next year.

[Britboys]

3 hours ago, Roger88 said:

I have no idea what you are guys are talking about. I havent been receiving any news, or emails or anything lately. I mean it seems like there is nothing really happening. Maybe they will inform us closer to the date of the first cruise or smth. I doubt they will say anything that soon 

Thanks for dropping in to yet another board and thread with yet another random comment Roger. This may sound harsh but do you actually have any genuine interest in Fred Olsen cruises? Have you ever actually been signed up for emails from them?

[tring]

10 hours ago, Britboys said:

Thanks for dropping in to yet another board and thread with yet another random comment Roger. This may sound harsh but do you actually have any genuine interest in Fred Olsen cruises? Have you ever actually been signed up for emails from them?

Doubt he has any idea what Fred Olsen is.  As you say found yet another board - I wonder if he ever takes the time to read the name of the cruise line to which the board refers?

 

Interesting start on Fred's website, stuff turned up late, but more showing now - even those elusive deck plans! I see Bolette is due in Liverpool for dh's birthday, though if all goes well we will be in Lanzarote.

Edited September 7, 2020 by tring

[Britboys]

23 minutes ago, tring said:

Doubt he has any idea what Fred Olsen is.  As you say found yet another board - I wonder if he ever takes the time to read the name of the cruise line to which the board refers?

 

Interesting start on Fred's website, stuff turned up late, but more showing now - even those elusive deck plans! I see Bolette is due in Liverpool for dh's birthday, though if all goes well we will be in Lanzarote.

I went in just after 0900 and no deck plans were there then but I see they are now - albeit only showing cabins, not public rooms.

[comcox]

Yahoo!  Found a great new itinerary this morning on Bolette, T2108, to the Faroe, Orkney and Shetland islands.  Called and booked right away.  Pricey, but I think that is going to be true of many cruises next year as the companies desperately try to make up for their losses this year.

As someone mentioned above in the U.S. travel insurance works differently.  We have to purchased a policy for each trip and as long as we do so within 14 or 21 days of initial deposit and are physically able to travel at the time of purchase any pre-existing conditions are covered.  Easier to buy than in U.K. but also much more expensive as rates are based on age.

[ovccruiser]

Deck Plans

Email .pdf

[comcox]

For those unfamiliar with the "new" ships, there is a great website left over from Holland America: https://halfacts.com/r-class/

 

It has all kinds of photos including some of individual cabins on each deck which is handy for making your booking.  Note the Amsterdam is now the Bollete and the Rotterdam is now the Borealis.  Dophin Deck is the lowest deck, # 1,  Main Deck is #2, etc.

[Britboys]

49 minutes ago, comcox said:

For those unfamiliar with the "new" ships, there is a great website left over from Holland America: https://halfacts.com/r-class/

 

It has all kinds of photos including some of individual cabins on each deck which is handy for making your booking.  Note the Amsterdam is now the Bollete and the Rotterdam is now the Borealis.  Dophin Deck is the lowest deck, # 1,  Main Deck is #2, etc.

Many thanks for that. One of the cabin photos of Amsterdam is two doors down from the one I have next year!

[tring]

I found out by chance that Fred is now offering open dining as an alternative to set sittings of early and late on the new ships.  We have been able to change our booking to that just now.  I was told the time range to be offered has not been decided, but they are thinking of between 5.45pm to 8.45pm, though whatever it is will be better from our point of view as we always found the set sittings one of the main drawbacks with Fred.

 

Will be interesting to see how it goes though, as can be problems with it at times on other cruise lines, so useful to try that on the short cruise we have booked.

Edited September 18, 2020 by tring

[ScottishMaid]

When the ships were with Holland America the upper level dining had fixed seating at about 5:45 and 8 pm and the lower level had open dining 5:30 till 9 pm.


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