Cancelled / rearranged Braemar and Balmoral cruises

[Colin_Cameron]

Has anyone that had one of this summer's cruises cancelled heard from Fred yet? I'm interested in what the FCC terms are. I've searched the T&Cs and can't find any mention.

 

Our 1st July Braemar cruise was cancelled and we are waiting to hear from them. This was a replacement for one cancelled last year, from which we got 110% credit. 

 

Our 9th July Braemar cruise was transferred to Balmoral and today we heard that it is now on the 8th and is a day longer (at no extra cost👍). The port order has been rearranged and an extra one added, so that answers my question a while ago about whether the Balmoral cruises would be direct replacements for the Braemar ones.

 

We had a 50/50 choice of which cruise to apply the credit to and chose the one that ended up being cancelled. If they are no longer offering 110% credit when they cancel, what happens to that credit we received last year? 

[twotravellersLondon]

 

17 hours ago, Colin_Cameron said:

Has anyone that had one of this summer's cruises cancelled heard from Fred yet? I'm interested in what the FCC terms are. I've searched the T&Cs and can't find any mention.

 

Our 1st July Braemar cruise was cancelled and we are waiting to hear from them. This was a replacement for one cancelled last year, from which we got 110% credit. 

 

Our 9th July Braemar cruise was transferred to Balmoral and today we heard that it is now on the 8th and is a day longer (at no extra cost👍). The port order has been rearranged and an extra one added, so that answers my question a while ago about whether the Balmoral cruises would be direct replacements for the Braemar ones.

 

We had a 50/50 choice of which cruise to apply the credit to and chose the one that ended up being cancelled. If they are no longer offering 110% credit when they cancel, what happens to that credit we received last year? 

 

I  saw a bit on Fred's Website yesterday morning... it was one of his optional pop-ups linked to a message about all "advisors" being busy. It listed lots of cancelled cruises and the options available. There were details of 110% credits as well. I can't find it this morning. Perhaps it may reappear or it's hidden away somewhere else on the site.

[comcox]

I had two July Balmoral and one October/November Braemar cruise cancelled.  Other than the cancellation notices, I've received no follow-up information.  I have found no replacement cruises in all of the 2022 listings for the two longer cancelled cruises; the short one was just an add-on to one of the others when I needed to do something with a deposit from a cancelled 2021 cruise.  So FO has all my money and I now have no bookings with them for this year.  I had also already booked two of my needed flights over to U.K. (I'm an American) and paid travel insurance policies that I have to try and cancel without penalty or move to other times.  Feeling rather let down by Fred and frustrated at losing so much.

[Jellifer]

I’ve not heard yet but have been checking this link to see which voyages they are currently re-arranging. 

 

https://www.fredolsencruises.com/amendments

[Coravel]

I'm booked on Balmoral cruise L2222 which departs on September 27th.  Balmoral cruises before and after appear to be affected by the amendments but not that one.  The cruise is rolled over from 2020 and they have actually had my deposits since May 2019. I haven't yet received any communication about it so all I can do is speculate as to what may happen.  

[twotravellersLondon]

You seem to be absolutely correct. I can still book this cruise online. Seems to be lots of cabins available. Good luck. Hope all goes well.

[Coravel]

What I've since discovered is that the numbers allocated to the cruises are not necessarily in sequential order which means that cruises L2223 to L2228 actually sail before L2222.  But that would mean they would start a 28 night cruise with a ship that has been laid up for a considerable period of time and a possible large contingent of new staff.  

[tring]

3 hours ago, Coravel said:

What I've since discovered is that the numbers allocated to the cruises are not necessarily in sequential order which means that cruises L2223 to L2228 actually sail before L2222.  But that would mean they would start a 28 night cruise with a ship that has been laid up for a considerable period of time and a possible large contingent of new staff.  

 

Not sure where you get a 28 nighter from as a start up?  If you search for Balmoral cruises in date order on Fred's website, the cruises start at the begining of May with cruise lengths of 16, 14, 5, 9, 7, 15.......  

 

Later on there is at least one cruise which appears to be embarking at more than one port, probably because some itineraries have been changed to the ones which were planned for Braemar, or have presumably been combined.  That re-shuffle is probably why some cruise numbers have got out of order - quite a mess in a way, I must admit, but I suppose it is understandable Fred will want to retain as many bookings as possible.

 

 

[Coravel]

Good point Barbara but it still seems that the ship will be out of action for two months before the Black Sea sailing.  On the other hand, are we reading too much into what is meant by "amendment"?  Until we begin hearing from those affected we won't be able to make a proper judgement.  

[tring]

3 hours ago, Coravel said:

Good point Barbara but it still seems that the ship will be out of action for two months before the Black Sea sailing.  On the other hand, are we reading too much into what is meant by "amendment"?  Until we begin hearing from those affected we won't be able to make a proper judgement.  

 

Ah, I did not realise that.  Perhaps the cruises for that time are just not on sale at present because they have not finished the re booking process.  Once staffed and stocked Fred will not want to leave the ship unoccupied, unless he has to do so.

 

About the city break cruise you needed to cancel, I have done a bit of digging and seems the ship is now booked into Amsterdam for the first two days instead of later, so looks like Hamburg will be axed, which is not surprising as it has gone from a P&O itinerary as well.  Fred still saying no change, but will not tell us before the announcement made, so expected that.  Will have to wait and see where we go, though I think they are all mystery cruises these days......

 

 

[Coravel]

That's very interesting Barbara.  I do wish they would be open about goings on but I don't think I've been on many cruises where the itinerary has kept to the advertised schedule.  Often it's because of weather conditions but the 2019 Balmoral cruise to California was messed up because a fishing net caught around one of the propellers.  From Mexico we could only sail at half speed to San Diego where repairs were carried out in their deep water harbour.  The itinerary was changed almost on a daily basis and lots of ports cancelled or curtailed.  There was near mutiny on the ship with passengers demanding that the captain should be sacked for incompetence.  He was certainly replaced at San Francisco after which the atmosphere on board vastly improved.  Fred Olsen has an affinity discount for BP employees and there were a number of retired BP tanker captains or officers kicking up fuss about how the Balmoral captain didn't know what he was doing. They were all offered 

free flights home although they all stuck it out until we were back in Southampton.  It was still a rewarding cruise despite having to be bussed from San Diego to Los Angeles at 5.30 in the morning and returning in the late evening.  I think we have to accept that cruise itineraries are liable to change.  We visited Hamburg on the Braemar some years ago and didn't find it that interesting.  But it was the dead of winter and freezing cold so that may have influenced our enjoyment level.  I'm pretty sure it was a Christmas Market cruise and I was walking around with my wife on one arm and her identical twin sister on the other!   

[Jellifer]

I had the call today and am all re-booked 

[twotravellersLondon]

On 2/5/2022 at 9:16 PM, Jellifer said:

I’ve not heard yet but have been checking this link to see which voyages they are currently re-arranging.

 

I notice that FOCL's statement on their website is that options for guests on the cancelled Braemar cruises of the Corinth Canal are that, "Our Journey Planners are developing a new cruise itinerary for you in our 2023/24 season aboard  Braemar. This will match, as closely as possible, the cruise you had previously booked... we will automatically transfer your booking over to this new cruise." There is no mention that this "new itinerary" will include the Corinth Canal.

 

I wonder why FOCL have used the phrase "as closely as possible?"

 

The Corinth Canal was closed between 13 & 19 November 2020 after the cargo ship "Nemesis" was grounded after part of the canal wall collapsed.

 

The Corinth Canal was again closed by a landslide in January 2021. Work was started to reopen the canal but more landslides in July 2021 stopped work all together and the canal has now been closed for well over a year.

 

Work was again due to start in January 2022. That was also postponed and another announcement was made on 10 February 2022 that work would begin "next week." but that's not happened. On Monday a plan to reopen the canal was laid before the Greek Parliament... with and estimated bill that had soared from € 9 million to € 30 million.

 

There seems to be no great doubt that the canal can be cleared but there is no certainty that further landslides won't close it again or that geotechnical studies will determine the canal sides are too unstable for the route to be reopened. (What makes matters so uncertain is that Greece has a couple of serious earthquakes every year.)

 

Obviously, it's all out of FOCL's control so that may be the reason why, "Journey Planners are developing a new cruise itinerary for you ...this will match, as closely as possible, the cruise you had previously booked..."

 

So does FOCL's phrase " as closely as possible" mean that FOCL is hedging its bets and will still charge a considerable premium for this cruise even if, at the end of the day, the Braemar doesn’t make a transit of the canal?

 

We took the photo below on the Braemar's Corinth Canal transit in 2019... an amazing atmosphere on board... great deck party afterwards... Captain Jozo Glavic later given a wholehearted standing ovation in the Neptune Lounge by the passengers.... something to remember for a lifetime. So, we're sure that lots of people would really be disappointed if the canal transit wasn't possible in 2023 and there was no exciting alternative available at the time.

 

 

 

 

 

[tring]

3 hours ago, twotravellersLondon said:

 

 

I notice that FOCL's statement on their website is that options for guests on the cancelled Braemar cruises of the Corinth Canal are that, "Our Journey Planners are developing a new cruise itinerary for you in our 2023/24 season aboard  Braemar. This will match, as closely as possible, the cruise you had previously booked... we will automatically transfer your booking over to this new cruise." There is no mention that this "new itinerary" will include the Corinth Canal.

 

I wonder why FOCL have used the phrase "as closely as possible?"

 

The Corinth Canal was closed between 13 & 19 November 2020 after the cargo ship "Nemesis" was grounded after part of the canal wall collapsed.

 

The Corinth Canal was again closed by a landslide in January 2021. Work was started to reopen the canal but more landslides in July 2021 stopped work all together and the canal has now been closed for well over a year.

 

Work was again due to start in January 2022. That was also postponed and another announcement was made on 10 February 2022 that work would begin "next week." but that's not happened. On Monday a plan to reopen the canal was laid before the Greek Parliament... with and estimated bill that had soared from € 9 million to € 30 million.

 

There seems to be no great doubt that the canal can be cleared but there is no certainty that further landslides won't close it again or that geotechnical studies will determine the canal sides are too unstable for the route to be reopened. (What makes matters so uncertain is that Greece has a couple of serious earthquakes every year.)

 

Obviously, it's all out of FOCL's control so that may be the reason why, "Journey Planners are developing a new cruise itinerary for you ...this will match, as closely as possible, the cruise you had previously booked..."

 

So does FOCL's phrase " as closely as possible" mean that FOCL is hedging its bets and will still charge a considerable premium for this cruise even if, at the end of the day, the Braemar doesn’t make a transit of the canal?

 

We took the photo below on the Braemar's Corinth Canal transit in 2019... an amazing atmosphere on board... great deck party afterwards... Captain Jozo Glavic later given a wholehearted standing ovation in the Neptune Lounge by the passengers.... something to remember for a lifetime. So, we're sure that lots of people would really be disappointed if the canal transit wasn't possible in 2023 and there was no exciting alternative available at the time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The new cruises which are still to be published will be for the spring 2023 to spring 2024 (so basically the end of the Caribbean season for Braemar) and a Corinth itinerary has already been released for that 2023 summer season.  The cruises have usually been going on sale early March in recent years and looks like that will happen again, from what I have read and heard from on board sales staff.  Some longer, more unusual, itineraries are put on sale earlier than the general brochure release on a one off sales release and that Corinth cruise was one of them.  There has been a lot of talk about the recent Corinth release of course on another thread.  Yes, what happens remains to be seen for that as well as all cruises, though must admit I do not see the appeal personally for such a cruise - I am sure a trip to Greece will offer many possible trips through there on a variety of vessels and the smaller ones will IMO have a better view - but that sort of view will vary for some people.  

 

We remember having a Black Prince mini cruise cancelled, because the ship had suffered a damaged propeller in the Corinth Canal the previous week, so Braemar is not the first Fred ship to enter the canal. 

 

https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Fred-Olsen-s-Black-Prince-to-undergo-repairs-on-propeller

 

 

Edited February 16, 2022 by tring

[twotravellersLondon]

2 hours ago, tring said:

I am sure a trip to Greece will offer many possible trips through there on a variety of vessels and the smaller ones will IMO have a better view

 

Even before the canal was closed there were precious few  "trips" "on a variety of vessels." There were virtually no tourist  trips along the canal of any kind. The vast majority of tourists saw the canal from excursion coaches on a tour of the Peloponnese or on a day trip to someplace like Olympia. If they were lucky, they might have a quick photo stop at the end of the E94 bridge... unless the needed to use the "facilities."

 

People cruise for different reasons and we fully appreciate from what you say that this would not be your ideal cruise.

 

However, there were a great many people in 2019 who found it a tremendously memorable, novel, and adventurous experience. I doubt that we all could have had a better view than from the height of the Braemar's decks... especially as the transit was made at a time the sun illuminated the Peloponnese side and really brought out the colours of the rock, the wild flowers and ever a fox sulking alone the sheer cliff.

 

The ship's rails were packed for hours during the transit and afterward, when we cruised into the Gulf of Corinth, there was talk of little else from those around us. The excitement was really intense. When Captain Jozo Glavic was able to join us all at the pool BBQ that afternoon he was welcomed with cheers, applause and handshakes. It was a real hero's welcome.

 

We had friends who paid very considerably more to secure a cabin on a later Corinth cruise (sadly cancelled)  and we know others who also really wanted this particular cruise... because of the Corinth Canal transit. The later Corinth Canal cruises were some of the most popular that FOCLs have launched in recent years.

 

And that's why the point of the comment is important...  does FOCL's phrase " as closely as possible" mean that FOCL is hedging its bets and will still charge a considerable premium for this cruise even if, at the end of the day, the Braemar doesn’t make a transit of the canal?

 

Can't resist another photo!

 

 

[tring]

1 hour ago, twotravellersLondon said:

 

Even before the canal was closed there were precious few  "trips" "on a variety of vessels." There were virtually no tourist  trips along the canal of any kind. The vast majority of tourists saw the canal from excursion coaches on a tour of the Peloponnese or on a day trip to someplace like Olympia. If they were lucky, they might have a quick photo stop at the end of the E94 bridge... unless the needed to use the "facilities."

 

People cruise for different reasons and we fully appreciate from what you say that this would not be your ideal cruise.

 

However, there were a great many people in 2019 who found it a tremendously memorable, novel, and adventurous experience. I doubt that we all could have had a better view than from the height of the Braemar's decks... especially as the transit was made at a time the sun illuminated the Peloponnese side and really brought out the colours of the rock, the wild flowers and ever a fox sulking alone the sheer cliff.

 

The ship's rails were packed for hours during the transit and afterward, when we cruised into the Gulf of Corinth, there was talk of little else from those around us. The excitement was really intense. When Captain Jozo Glavic was able to join us all at the pool BBQ that afternoon he was welcomed with cheers, applause and handshakes. It was a real hero's welcome.

 

We had friends who paid very considerably more to secure a cabin on a later Corinth cruise (sadly cancelled)  and we know others who also really wanted this particular cruise... because of the Corinth Canal transit. The later Corinth Canal cruises were some of the most popular that FOCLs have launched in recent years.

 

And that's why the point of the comment is important...  does FOCL's phrase " as closely as possible" mean that FOCL is hedging its bets and will still charge a considerable premium for this cruise even if, at the end of the day, the Braemar doesn’t make a transit of the canal?

 

Can't resist another photo!

 

 

 

Yes, some nice pics 🙂

 

TBF I did say immediately after my comment which you quoted that, "but that sort of view will vary for some people" and I in no way doubt that, (referring to my opinion of getting a better view as well as my earlier comment that "I do not see the appeal personally for such a cruise") and I really do see that there are views which differ from mine, as I have seen many comments from people who have been very keen to book new Corinth Canal cruises, both this year and previously, despite the price tags attached to them.

 

I do remember reading of people who had done trips to the Corinth Canal and certainly got the impression that was by going through it, but I am thinking about from holidays in Greece, not quick day trips from cruises.  Possibly I was thinking of references made of trips of more than one day by sea, but I cannot remember the full details now.  I am also thinking of a few years or so back, not just pre-pandemic, but admit you may well be a lot more up to date than me about the Greek trips.

 

Certainly some things will encourage booking (and I am pretty sure I have read comments from people who had booked the cancelled Corinth cruise and they had already been offered the summer 2023 one), but if a cruise varies substantially they would legally be allowed to cancel - must admit I have not been impressed with Fred's attitude on a number of cruises when he has tried to imply people could not cancel!  It does however leave Fred with a free loan in the interim.  Must admit we have a P&O cruise booked which, sadly, we fear may never happen, partly because we think there is a fair chance the ship will have been disposed of by then.  Perhaps we are being too pessimistic, but just seemed worth booking the cruise, which should be great if it goes ahead. 

 

For other itineraries - I have felt Fred has sometimes been very slow to alter them, but I do feel he is no different to other cruise lines TBH.  We have the Cities Break cruise booked on Bolette for four weeks time, yet his itinerary does differ with the Port of Amsterdam schedule, which lists us as being docked there when we should be in Hamburg according to Fred, so we will not be at all surprised to find we do not go to Hamburg, but will have to wait and see which website is wrong.  We have had similar discrepancies for previous cruises though and the itinerary has changed.  As I say I am not totally convinced other cruise lines are any different, but the alternative is perhaps to give up all hope of doing something a bit different, which would IMO be more of a loss to potential holidays - again just my opinion.

 

Edited February 16, 2022 by tring

[twotravellersLondon]

20 hours ago, tring said:

I have not been impressed with Fred's attitude on a number of cruises when he has tried to imply people could not cancel! 

 

I very much agree.

 

At the beginning of covid we changed our mind on a cruise that we had just booked under the cooling off period that was part of Fred's T&Cs at the time. We were using our legal rights to decide not to go ahead... legally the "contract" did't even begin until after the end of Fred's cooling off period.  

 

What should have been a simple, pleasant phone-call was anything but... and we had to point out their legal obligations under their own T&Cs.

 

The experience made and impression... but not a good one. And we had to wait ages for our money.

[Coravel]

We transited the Corinth canal in 2005 on the poorly named Ocean Majesty which was leased to Page and Moy.  Apart from the fact that we could easily touch the canal walls the most memorable part involved locals bungee jumping onto the ship's main deck.  The captain was extremely annoyed and kept blasting them with the ship's horn.  

[twotravellersLondon]

12 hours ago, Coravel said:

We transited the Corinth canal in 2005 on the poorly named Ocean Majesty which was leased to Page and Moy.  Apart from the fact that we could easily touch the canal walls the most memorable part involved locals bungee jumping onto the ship's main deck.  The captain was extremely annoyed and kept blasting them with the ship's horn.

 

We remember the Ocean Majesty very well... She did not too badly for a converted car ferry!

 

We last saw her in the port of Sami, Kefalonia in October 2019. Before Covid, there was some suggestion that she might cruise from the UK again and was open for viewing in London and, I think, either Portsmouth of Falmouth. 

 

We'd sail on her again just for the nostalgia. Happy memories.

[tring]

I see Fred has released two more, longer cruises for summer 2023.  One of 25 nights leaving May '23 to Italy and the Adriatic, to ports which can be picked up on much shorter, cheaper fly cruises, but also another of 23 nights, which goes to Murmansk and into the White Sea as well doing Spitzbergen, Iceland and Mainland Norway.

 

https://www.fredolsencruises.com/just-released?utm_source=email&utm_medium=e-shot&utm_campaign=newcruises_18.02.2022_campaignkw=cta&dm_i=8ID,7QTS4,16P00A,VKQLA,1 

 

As we were very disappointed when Fred stopped doing visits to the White Sea, because we were hoping to book one on the next release, my initial response was of excitement, so I started to tell DH that The White Sea was being offered, only to stop part way through my sentence, to say, "perhaps not"!  An unfortunate time for that itinerary to come out, but presumably Putin had not given Fred details of his intentions before the cruise was planned!  Despite the price, that was one which may have appealed to us a few months back, despite the price tag, though a mid ship inside would likely have been our limit.  Sad though that, apart from the current international situation, we would need to take trips there, rather than just go off and do exactly what we want independently, though the latter alone may not have put us off.  We are on Aurora for a Baltic cruise in May/June, so are wondering what will happen with the SPB call, though that is something we would love to see cancelled as we had hotel stays in hotels there and in Moscow with a river cruise between the two in 2018, as well as a port call on Arcadia in 2019, so we have seen all the standard tourist sites.  If we do go though, P&O put on an "on your own" style of excursion, stopping in three places, which we have booked.  We did that excursion from Arcadia and were very pleasantly surprised that there were no restrictions put upon us, apart from being back at the coach at the appropriate times, so knowing SPB well, we went off swiftly to parts of the city we wanted to visit, which included a very interesting visit to Pushkin's house.   

 

The other place Fred had done regularly in the past, which we had hoped to book, was a journey into the Gulf of Bothnia, though that also got discontinued.  That is something we may still have an interest in if we find a cruise line offering it, especially as my Ancestry DNA sample has revealed I have DNA originating from about half way up the Swedish coast there and/or from the Stockholm area.  I knew I had a Swedish great grandfather, but can not track him back to his early life as he just seems to have appeared in Liverpool as a seaman.

 

  

Edited February 18, 2022 by tring

[Coravel]

 We managed to visit Murmansk on the Braemar in 2018 but always planned to get as far as Archangel  which used to be a regular on that ship.  Not sure why the port was abandoned but I suspect that area of the world may be off limits for the foreseeable future with Putin becoming more and more unpredictable.  Each of  the new cruises is very appealing but we have now decided that we will only sail from Southampton because it's so easy to access although having said that Portsmouth is even easier.  

[twotravellersLondon]

4 hours ago, tring said:

An unfortunate time for that itinerary to come out, but presumably Putin had not given Fred details of his intentions before the cruise was planned! 

 

Having to cancel cruises can be something of a double-edged sword for cruise lines.

 

On the one hand a lot of work will have gone into planning the itinerary, selling the berths and much more will go into dealing with the cancellation and cruise lines really don't like to upset their customers.

 

However firstly, if a cruise line can convert a cancellation into a future cruise-credit, it will make a significantly vital difference to the company's cash flow in these very difficult times.

 

Secondly, if the company can persuade disappointed clients to take a different cruise, both the original booking and the replacement booking are counted as "bookings" and this can be reported in the company accounts.

 

FOCLs report to their ultimate owners every quarter. Their key financials include operating revenues, the number of passenger/days and profit/loss. FOCLs also indicate the "strength" of bookings. All companies see future bookings as an indication of future performance.

 

In early February this year, FOCLs were quoted in a fair number of industry publications as saying that it had a "bumper" January and that sales had "returned to pre-pandemic levels." Peter Deer, FOCL's MD, was quoted as saying, “The new year has brought with it a fresh wave of optimism for overseas travel"  and that FOCLs were looking forward to a successful summer season and beyond.

 

That's the type of optimistic news that owners and investors really want to hear at the moment. It's also the type of positive news that might give many potential clients the incentive and confidence to book ahead.

 

We would be interested in the White Sea... (tried and failed to get there in the past due to violent storms) but the idea of dragging ourselves, the type of gear that we would want wear for a day on deck in arctic waters.... (even in the summer months) all they way to Newcastle and back is off-putting. (We've been there and done that before when we were on Boudicca's circumnavigation of the North Atlantic).

 

If the Russian Bear does become unfriendly (and I very seriously hope... NOT), it would be more than possible to ditch the Soviet bit, go from Honningsvag to Svalbard and on past Jan Mayen Land to Iceland and then spend a few days in Greenland before returning to the UK.
 

[tring]

4 hours ago, Coravel said:

Each of  the new cruises is very appealing but we have now decided that we will only sail from Southampton because it's so easy to access although having said that Portsmouth is even easier.  

 

That is interesting, Allan is from Gosport and went to school in Portsmouth (Portsmouth Grammar).  We are spending three nights in that area before our March cruise, so may meet up with one or more people he knows.

 

Regards the White Sea, I remember reading a review of a cruise which visited there about the time Fred stopped going, but I am not at all sure which cruise line it was with - quite possibly not a Fred one (All Leisure used to do that area and I think it was done with the smaller Saga cruise ships).  Anyway there was mention of pretty bad experiences there, with the excursions not going well.  There was certainly mention of not being able to get into a church (or cathedral) that was a high point of an excursion, as t was decided to close it last minute.  I cannot remember the full details, but I think it mentioned a wedding taking place, and the timing of that was considered more important than the excursion, which had been planned for a very long time.  Overall it did seems like a pretty disastrous excursion and the visit to the whole area did not seem to be appreciated at all (I think there were other things mentioned which were not as expected).

 

Edited February 18, 2022 by tring

[Coravel]

The M275 which can be accessed from the M27 takes you straight into the Portsmouth cruise terminal - it could not be easier.

 

I'm certain the Russians make excursions more difficult than they need be.  We once paid extra to visit the Hermitage "after hours" and visit all areas.  We could see the museum from the Black Watch and it would have been an easy walk.  But everyone was herded onto a coach which drove into a layby around the corner and parked.  After waiting for half an hour people began complaining that we were wasting precious time.  Then we were told the museum was closed so everyone got off the bus and walked the short distance to the entrance door and knocked on it.  Eventually it was opened and we flashed our tickets and walked in.  We were given the exact same tour that we had previously although there were far fewer guests.  We wanted to see certain paintings but it was not possible and as we made our way through the galleries large doors were slammed shut behind us to prevent us from straying.  Everyone felt disappointed with the experience butt they did treat us to a string quartet and a glass of bubbly.