P&O vs Fred

[twotravellersLondon]

18 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

The best food we've had on a cruise in a long while.  Halibut, prawns, rack of lamb etc

 

That sounds a marked improvement on what was being offered a couple of years ago and we found so off-putting. Really encouraging. Will look forward to more views after you are back home. 

[JeanieC,Aston]

You can always book one of these if you want a faux balcony cabin on Fred.

They are called Lanai cabins,,not much privacy though with doors open but you do get your own steamer chairs.

 

[Ilovemygarden]

I remember those lanai cabins back in the day on Holland America - presumably now owned by Fred?  

[jeanlyon]

Only smelled smoke once on stern of deck 8 outside.

[happy v]

48 minutes ago, JeanieC,Aston said:

You can always book one of these if you want a faux balcony cabin on Fred.

They are called Lanai cabins,,not much privacy though with doors open but you do get your own steamer chairs.

 

Oh my God! That's worse than the prom deck on Iona😦

[davecttr]

2 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

We are in an inside cabin. Paid about £150 pppn for a grade one up from the basic.  13 night cruise.  Yes more than we usually pay but did get 400 obc.  Still on board and Azores tomorrow 

£160 pppn for a 13 night cruise suggests maybe £161.50 pppn for a 14 night cruise, a total of £3230 for the cruise. My superior inside cabin cost £3199 which is about a 38% single supplement, not bad as I have had 70% SS in the past. I also have £210 OBC.

 

It appears that price comparisons can only apply to the basic inside and ocean view cabins as Fred does not have any balcony cabins, or rather the balcony cabins are classified as suites.

[zap99]

On 4/7/2024 at 4:13 PM, davecttr said:

I have just booked a cruise on Balmoral in June from Newcastle, 14 nights to Norway and Svalbard in an inside single premium cabin. It did not come cheap but I always wanted to visit Svalbard and two new ports for me are Hammerfest and Alta. Lots of midnight sun for whale watching which is why I booked it. The fare was £3199 with £210 on board credit. I have September and November P&O cruises which I will cancel saving £2812 so the difference is only £387 and further savings will come from the lack of a casino. No Blackjack for me. I am pleased that the cabin only has a shower as well as I did not like the bath/shower arrangement on Arcadia. I can have my Blackjack fix on Arcadia in July with 14 nights to Iceland/Norway and two new ports, Belfast and Stornoway. My Arcadia cabin is shower only and only yards from the whale watching deck 🙂

 

The only problem might be a rail strike.

I'm slightly confused. Am I right that you cancelled 2 P&O cruises and that nearly paid for 1 FO ?.

[zap99]

On 4/8/2024 at 9:41 AM, Vampiress88 said:

Isn’t it the age old “you get what you pay for?” 
 

Im going on Royal Caribbean next month. 
I have paid £2549 (as I had to prepay gratuity)

for the p&o equivalent it’s £1856. 
ive paid 37% more so that I can go on a different line and I will expect it to be better due to paying more. 
if I don’t get good service I will remove the relevant gratuity though fyi but you get my point. 
 

however in August I have paid £3936 with princess (not included gratuity) for Iceland itinerary as p&o was coming in at £5036 for the same dates but to Mediterranean instead. 
 

so it’s all a bit subjective as the prices fluctuate way to much. I don’t think we are allowed on fred ones as I believe they are adult only. 
 

but my point is that p&o isn’t always the cheapest. Nor is it always the best but the amount you pay will tend to reflect the service you get. 

Well Vamps we like RC and are torn between 12 nights on Anthem, or 14 nights on Iona. Iona is a bit cheaper, but Anthem will be a bit better. Every thing is reasonably comparable, until you buy a drink.ouch. A plus is that the Anthem cruise moves us up to diamond which means we get 4 free drinks a day each. Decisions , decisions. 🤔

Edited April 9 by zap99

[davecttr]

5 minutes ago, zap99 said:

I'm slightly confused. Am I right that you cancelled 2 P&O cruises and that nearly paid for 1 FO ?.

Yes but there is more. I have 4 P&O cruises booked for this year. 

 

14 nights on Britannia to the Canaries on 5 July - £1907 to pay

16 nights on Arcadia to Iceland/Norway on 30 July - £1844 to pay

7 nights on Britannia to Norway on 13 September - £1259 to pay

14 nights on Iona to the Canaries on 9 November - £1553 to pay

 

I will take the Arcadia cruise leaving £4719 saving £1520 after paying for the Fred 14 nights to Svalbard/Norway. That Fred Cruise is more attractive to me than the 3 cancelled P&O cruises combined. I could invest that £1500 in a private Carpal Tunnel Syndrome op on my left wrist, better than waiting 6 months or the appoinment falling in the middle of a cruise IMO.

[jeanlyon]

The food on here has been really good and varied.  I couldn't believe the boring choices on Aurora last October.  Roast,  roast and more roast.  Certainly no rack of lamb, and definitely no fish like halibut and tiger prawns.

[Eglesbrech]

2 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Only smelled smoke once on stern of deck 8 outside.

I agree Jean. I really hate cigarette smoke but have never found it an issue on any of Fred’s ships.

[happy v]

38 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

The food on here has been really good and varied.  I couldn't believe the boring choices on Aurora last October.  Roast,  roast and more roast.  Certainly no rack of lamb, and definitely no fish like halibut and tiger prawns.

I wonder if it is only Aurora with mediocre food. We have just been on Ventura and all those choices were available and lots more. All decent portions, well cooked, and hot.

[Dobbers]

1 hour ago, zap99 said:

Well Vamps we like RC and are torn between 12 nights on Anthem, or 14 nights on Iona. Iona is a bit cheaper, but Anthem will be a bit better. Every thing is reasonably comparable, until you buy a drink.ouch. A plus is that the Anthem cruise moves us up to diamond which means we get 4 free drinks a day each. Decisions , decisions. 🤔

Personal opinion only, disembarked Iona on 30th March our 4th time on her and it wasn’t the best. Would rather have paddled a canoe up the canal 😮🤣

[zap99]

21 minutes ago, Dobbers said:

Personal opinion only, disembarked Iona on 30th March our 4th time on her and it wasn’t the best. Would rather have paddled a canoe up the canal 😮🤣

Thanks.  We are on Arvia in a couple of weeks. We gave only been on Iona on a staycation cruise. After being locked down for 2 years, it was heavenly. No rush until we need to decide.

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, happy v said:

I wonder if it is only Aurora with mediocre food. We have just been on Ventura and all those choices were available and lots more. All decent portions, well cooked, and hot.

We have been on Aurora, Iona, Britannia and Ventura over the last year and the MDR in 3 of them was very good - the sole exception being Aurora. 

[Selbourne]

Even though their stance on smoking and vaping will ensure that we never book a Fred Olsen cruise, it’s interesting to see the price comparisons. I have no doubt that the MDR food may be better, but Jean is paying double what we have been paying lately for a balcony cabin on P&O for an inside on Fred Olsen, even after allowing for the OBC. 

[Eglesbrech]

16 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

We have been on Aurora, Iona, Britannia and Ventura over the last year and the MDR in 3 of them was very good - the sole exception being Aurora. 

I’m just off Aurora and would agree. The food was a really mixed bag.  but then the food on Iona was just adequate as well. The food is much better on Fred IMO (accepting that you pay much more for it).

 

It’s not just the food on Fred though. Lots of nice little extra touches.
 

The big thing is the regional departures which means the cost is much more comparable if you live in Scotland or the North of England, taking account of travel, hotel stays etc.

 

[mike x ftc]

We love Fred but we accept when we cruise Fred we have a window as balconies are far too expensive, when we cruise P&O and other lines on bigger ships we have a balcony as it is cheaper but we know dining, service etc will not be the same. It's all about choice, where you're going and for how long.   As someone has said Fred's drinks packages are very cheap and more often or not they have an offer and they are free, our 2025 Northern lights cruise included one. This is worth quite a bit of money on a 10 night cruise.  Other lines drinks and drinks packages are prohibitively expensive.

[showingdiva]

5 hours ago, happy v said:

Oh my God! That's worse than the prom deck on Iona😦

 

I had a similar reaction during a ship visit on the then HAL Rotterdam which is now, of course, Fred's Borealis.   Not sure how much of an advertising feature Fred make of them, but HAL thought they were quite the selling point.

[Windsurfboy]

The real comparison is what you can get on both lines for same money.

 

So Fred vs P&O bigger balcony cabin , plus eating in speciality restaurants each night.  Fred food is better than MDR, but how does it stack up to Epicurean, Sindhu,  or limelight club

[Eglesbrech]

2 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

The real comparison is what you can get on both lines for same money.

 

So Fred vs P&O bigger balcony cabin , plus eating in speciality restaurants each night.  Fred food is better than MDR, but how does it stack up to Epicurean, Sindhu,  or limelight club

If you can get bookings for them. 😀

[terrierjohn]

3 hours ago, Dobbers said:

Personal opinion only, disembarked Iona on 30th March our 4th time on her and it wasn’t the best. Would rather have paddled a canoe up the canal 😮🤣

We were on the same cruise and, weather apart, we were happy with the food, service and the entertainment,  the bits we saw, and enjoyed some really interesting dinner companions.

[zap99]

7 hours ago, davecttr said:

Yes but there is more. I have 4 P&O cruises booked for this year. 

 

14 nights on Britannia to the Canaries on 5 July - £1907 to pay

16 nights on Arcadia to Iceland/Norway on 30 July - £1844 to pay

7 nights on Britannia to Norway on 13 September - £1259 to pay

14 nights on Iona to the Canaries on 9 November - £1553 to pay

 

I will take the Arcadia cruise leaving £4719 saving £1520 after paying for the Fred 14 nights to Svalbard/Norway. That Fred Cruise is more attractive to me than the 3 cancelled P&O cruises combined. I could invest that £1500 in a private Carpal Tunnel Syndrome op on my left wrist, better than waiting 6 months or the appoinment falling in the middle of a cruise IMO.

I'm sure your calculations work for you. Did you not lose 3 deposits as well?.

[zap99]

2 hours ago, showingdiva said:

 

I had a similar reaction during a ship visit on the then HAL Rotterdam which is now, of course, Fred's Borealis.   Not sure how much of an advertising feature Fred make of them, but HAL thought they were quite the selling point.

I'm sure they were brilliant ships with HAL and thousands of folk had very enjoyable cruises...But HAL sold them off.

[davecttr]

3 minutes ago, zap99 said:

I'm sure your calculations work for you. Did you not lose 3 deposits as well?.

Yes but that was money already spent and I tend not to worry about that.