P&O vs Fred

[twotravellersLondon]

13 minutes ago, zap99 said:

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

 

And replace them with new ships which can successfully operate at much more attractive priced.

[JeanieC,Aston]

15 hours ago, mike x ftc said:

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.

Hi

Did Fred twice from Liverpool,,really enjoyed the cruise and I agree with others the food was far superior to P&O,,,they even show you to your table in the buffet that’s laid out with cutlery and table clothes,,,then the person who showed you to your table gets you your tea or coffee,,,,little things that makes a difference.

 

Where I disagree is re the Drink Package,,,,it’s woefull,,,,one beer,NB,one lager.cheap spirits,,,the choice of one white,red,rose house wine….if you want say a Guinness or John Smiths maybe a Jameson’s or a choice of wine you pay 50% of the bar price.

We are looking at an 8 night Round Ireland cruise from Liverpool on Bolette with added DP,,,,,,,in a fully obscured Outside cabin on Prom Deck====£4400 for 2.

who are they kidding.

I would sail Fred from Liverpool every time if it was at P&O prices.

 

[Eglesbrech]

1 hour ago, JeanieC,Aston said:

Hi

Did Fred twice from Liverpool,,really enjoyed the cruise and I agree with others the food was far superior to P&O,,,they even show you to your table in the buffet that’s laid out with cutlery and table clothes,,,then the person who showed you to your table gets you your tea or coffee,,,,little things that makes a difference.

 

Where I disagree is re the Drink Package,,,,it’s woefull,,,,one beer,NB,one lager.cheap spirits,,,the choice of one white,red,rose house wine….if you want say a Guinness or John Smiths maybe a Jameson’s or a choice of wine you pay 50% of the bar price.

We are looking at an 8 night Round Ireland cruise from Liverpool on Bolette with added DP,,,,,,,in a fully obscured Outside cabin on Prom Deck====£4400 for 2.

who are they kidding.

I would sail Fred from Liverpool every time if it was at P&O prices.

 

We did the Ireland round trip last year and it was brilliant. We really enjoyed both the ports and the scenic part as well.

 

We paid nothing like that price, they must have really ramped it up. We did however book when the drinks package was included.

 

Perhaps worth a phone call to see if they can do anything for you price wise. All they can say is no.

[Selbourne]

I could fancy a round Ireland cruise, but tender ports would be problematic for us as my wife cannot use them. 

[jh1809]

I've considered trying FO, but a couple of things have put me off. Not only are they considerably more expensive than P&O, but I'm a solo traveller, and for most of their cruises their single supplement seems to be not far short of 100%. Also I live in SE England and don't drive, and many of their most interesting cruises seem to leave from Liverpool or Newcastle. Whilst that's great for people who live up north, it's not attractive for me.

 

I tried Saga in summer 2022 but - though considerably better than P&O - I didn't feel it had been worth playing almost twice as much. I'd have been quite happy with an outside cabin, but they make a great thing of all their cabins having a balcony; then of course you are paying balcony prices. As my cruise was to Greenland (I was attracted by being able to cross that off my bucket list), the opportunities for me to use my balcony were unsurprisingly limited. They also make a great thing of having lots of single cabins, but in spite of that there's still a substantial single supplement.

 

I'm trying Ambassador next year. They seem remarkably cheap for what they appear to offer. I'm also going on a cruise with Noble Caledonia. I've been on ships they've chartered before now, and they've been very good, but this will be the first time I've tried one of their two "in house" ships, which are more expensive. The cruise I've chosen, though dear, was less eye-wateringly so than most on those two ships (helped by a "no single supplement" offer), and it looks like it should be very high quality.

[Bazrat]

I wasn't going to bother replying to this thread but after reading how this cruise line or that cruise line is far superior to p&o, I really would have thought they would have abandoned P&O by now, why pay to go on a cruise who you believe is the pontins of the ocean waves.

[zap99]

3 hours ago, Bazrat said:

I wasn't going to bother replying to this thread but after reading how this cruise line or that cruise line is far superior to p&o, I really would have thought they would have abandoned P&O by now, why pay to go on a cruise who you believe is the pontins of the ocean waves.

We quite enjoy P&O. We know that if we paid 2,or 3 times the amount we could have got picked up at home and shown to our table. We know that.

[July morning]

I use both FO & P&O 

 

[terrierjohn]

9 minutes ago, zap99 said:

We quite enjoy P&O. We know that if we paid 2,or 3 times the amount we could have got picked up at home and shown to our table. We know that.

P&O do now attempt to take you to the table, but quite often the waiter/stewards don't know where the table is!!😯

[Bazrat]

19 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

P&O do now attempt to take you to the table, but quite often the waiter/stewards don't know where the table is!!😯

No idea which ship you was on, they give your waiter a ticket which tells them the table you have been given and they take you straight to it, that is the system they have used on every cruise ship we have been on.

[JeanieC,Aston]

27 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

P&O do now attempt to take you to the table, but quite often the waiter/stewards don't know where the table is!!😯

Same on our Iona cruise last year,,problem was those who now show you to the table are commandeered from the cabin steward team even when they had a map they was getting lost.

They don’t even dress them like restaurant staff,they are the ones in the scruffy grey polo shirts.

[Bazrat]

1 minute ago, JeanieC,Aston said:

Same on our Iona cruise last year,,problem was those who now show you to the table are commandeered from the cabin steward team even when they had a map they was getting lost.

They don’t even dress them like restaurant staff,they are the ones in the scruffy grey polo shirts.

Standards must have been very poor on Iona, we was on Arvia and not once did we have a problem getting to our table and have not read it anywhere else there have been problems 

[terrierjohn]

12 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

No idea which ship you was on, they give your waiter a ticket which tells them the table you have been given and they take you straight to it, that is the system they have used on every cruise ship we have been on.

You mean you have never had a waiter struggle to know where the table is?  Or had the host send you to a table where they were halfway through their meal?

 

[Bazrat]

1 minute ago, terrierjohn said:

You mean you have never had a waiter struggle to know where the table is?  Or had the host send you to a table where they were halfway through their meal?

 

No never they have all been professional even the young lad who was looking after us who struggled with the order, we got our food and drinks so we was happy.

[zap99]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

P&O do now attempt to take you to the table, but quite often the waiter/stewards don't know where the table is!!😯

I seem to recall being shown to the table every time. The monitor Lady gives another person a little slip of paper. That person shows you to a table. It may be the wrong table but.....any port in a storm🤣

[zap99]

41 minutes ago, JeanieC,Aston said:

Same on our Iona cruise last year,,problem was those who now show you to the table are commandeered from the cabin steward team even when they had a map they was getting lost.

They don’t even dress them like restaurant staff,they are the ones in the scruffy grey polo shirts.

As long as the don't commandeer the blokes from the engine room.🤣

[zap99]

40 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

Standards must have been very poor on Iona, we was on Arvia and not once did we have a problem getting to our table and have not read it anywhere else there have been problems 

I don't think folk have identified this as a problem,  just that on fred the staff carry you to your table in a sedan chair whilst a butler cleans your shoes. Good old Fred.

[Bazrat]

11 minutes ago, zap99 said:

I don't think folk have identified this as a problem,  just that on fred the staff carry you to your table in a sedan chair whilst a butler cleans your shoes. Good old Fred.

Now that's what I call service 

[enjoysailing]

The mention of staff leading you to tables on FO was referring to in the buffet - not main dining. This is from #77.

"they even show you to your table in the buffet that’s laid out with cutlery and table clothes,,,then the person who showed you to your table gets you your tea or coffee,,,,little things that makes a difference."

I agree that would be nice. Just nice to find a table sometimes 🫤

[JeanieC,Aston]

2 hours ago, Bazrat said:

Standards must have been very poor on Iona, we was on Arvia and not once did we have a problem getting to our table and have not read it anywhere else there have been problems 

Standards was very poor on Iona.

[Vampiress88]

I found iona and arvia exactly same standard. Nearly every cruise we get one that takes us all the way around the dining room trying to find a table and every cruise I get one that always gets the order wrong. Usually at breakfast and it’s always mine even though I speak clearly. But I was a waitress in a much smaller restaurant so completely understand even though I get a little annoyed. They always have a ticket though and we get to the table eventually so no issues.  
 

I’ll let you know my thoughts on royal Caribbean and princess when I’ve done them just like I did with Msc.  
I do have trip reports for the last two cruises we did on Iona and Arvia but I just haven’t got the energy to upload them, let alone do them live. 
 

P&o seem to be so easy for us to do that even when there are faults I can’t help but like them. 

[Eglesbrech]

@jeanlyon how is the holiday going? Hope you are enjoying it.

[davecttr]

So on topic. I just noticed that Fred have 3 formal nights on my 14 night Balmoral cruise, times they are a changing. 

[davecttr]

7 minutes ago, davecttr said:

So on topic. I just noticed that Fred have 3 formal nights on my 14 night Balmoral cruise, times they are a changing. 

..and a captains welcome party😬 You can wear dark jeans on normal evenings though. I have a nice smart black pair.

[twotravellersLondon]

9 hours ago, davecttr said:

So on topic. I just noticed that Fred have 3 formal nights on my 14 night Balmoral cruise, times they are a changing. 

 

Changing back to what they were in the days that "Fred" was sailing with over 90% occupancy.