Balmoral - BL0914 Baltic cruise Sun 16th Aug 2009

[cruiser mick]

We are booked on the above cruise, are there any fellow cruisers out there who would like to join me and get a thread going for this cruise.

[grannygristle]

Might do - we're also looking at BL0912 but waiting for a price drop to be honest. Hoping to get a kids go for £99 deal like I did last year as daughter wants to take a friend with her.

[Kez100]

We are also looking at this one and waiting for the price to drop. We had a good deallast summer too.

 

Bit upset the 'family friendly' has been dropped and there is only a note that if there enough children will they run a childs host. How will we know?

 

What adult price did you get with the £99 child last year and what company did you use to book through?

 

Wondering what the baltic itinerary will be like with the children.

[cruiser mick]

We are also looking at this one and waiting for the price to drop. We had a good deallast summer too.

 

Bit upset the 'family friendly' has been dropped and there is only a note that if there enough children will they run a childs host. How will we know?

 

What adult price did you get with the £99 child last year and what company did you use to book through?

 

Wondering what the baltic itinerary will be like with the children.

 

The price has dropped look at Gill's

[Kez100]

Hi Cruiser M,

 

Yes, seen that! Thanks for alerting me. We are OK with the price on that deal - just £100 more than last year (worth it because we know in advance we are going and can plan) but we invited family (assuming they would want an inside on a deal like us) and they want a balcony! They have all gone now and only suites available - waiting for them to make a decision as there's will obviously be ££££££. Mind you they should have known that when they asked for the posh decks over steerage!

 

I don't regret asking because we dearly love them to join us as we don't get much time together in real life and the meals and pomp and circumstance would all be rather special to us and the children, but it looks like we will have to wait for their decision.

[flea b]

Hello All

 

I booked last Thursday on this cruise, been on a Freddie cruise before and loved it! We were not supposed to be going on a cruise this year as we went on Ventura at Xmas & NY 08/09 (not good!) so really spent enough - However, they keep sending the info and once I got a quote the TA talked me into it, telling me how the Baltics is a fantastic experience etc. The only downside is that to make it affordable we are all in an inside cabin - myself my husband daughter 17 and son 15! I need to be organized!! I booked late sitting for dinner so I can get myself ready then go for pre-dinner drink(s!) whilst the rest of them get ready - clever ehh?

 

It will be great to be back on a smaller friendly ship, I am really looking forward to it.

 

Bye for now, Fiona x

[cruiser mick]

Hello All

 

I booked last Thursday on this cruise, been on a Freddie cruise before and loved it! We were not supposed to be going on a cruise this year as we went on Ventura at Xmas & NY 08/09 (not good!) so really spent enough - However, they keep sending the info and once I got a quote the TA talked me into it, telling me how the Baltics is a fantastic experience etc. The only downside is that to make it affordable we are all in an inside cabin - myself my husband daughter 17 and son 15! I need to be organized!! I booked late sitting for dinner so I can get myself ready then go for pre-dinner drink(s!) whilst the rest of them get ready - clever ehh?

 

It will be great to be back on a smaller friendly ship, I am really looking forward to it.

 

Bye for now, Fiona x

 

Hi Fiona.

Nice to have you aboard, yes your T/A was correct in telling you that a Baltic cruise is a wonderful experience, we have been before and its an area not to be missed. We too, have booked on second sitting, hopefully in the Spey.

We do hope that this thread becomes a little more active, as you can see its been very quiet so far.

If we can be of any help in answering any questions, please don't hesitate in contacting us.

I am retired and I worked in the tyre business for 39 years and live in West Kent, although my wife Dianne still goes off every morning, she tells me that it helps to keep me in a lifestyle to which I have become accustom and it helps to keep, F/Olsen and Princess Cruises in business.

We will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary on this cruise, so hopefully it will be a good one. My wife Dianne is still an Australian citizen,

and proud to be so, although she has resided in the UK for 25 yrs.

Great to hear from you and hopefully a few others will join us soon.

Regards for now.

Mike

[flea b]

Hi Mick

 

Thanks for welcoming me to the thread, I see you are a very experienced cruiser. I shall no doubt have plenty of questions before we sail so thanks for offering to help!

 

We live in Derby - born & bred! Andy my husband has been working in Aberdeen since Christmas, so we don't see enough of him at the moment - mostly every other weekend. He's an engineer. I work for Lakeland (kitchenware) and absolutely love everything about it! I must stop buying the gadgets!! Our Daughter Marie is at 6th form doing her 'AS' levels and our son Andrew is doing his GCSE's, so they need a holiday as they are under a lot of pressure. We need to spend time together as a family too.

 

I am sure the Baltic cruise will be very intersting, in the past people we have met on cruises have told us that it was their favourite. We went on Black Watch Summer 06' and we met such great people, I preferred the smaller ship atmosphere. I enjoyed Oceana but did not like Ventura. Too big, too busy, too holiday campish!

 

We have booked a guest house in Dover for the Saturday night. It will be nice to sail from the UK again after 2 fly cruise holidays.

 

Did you specify which restaurant you preferred or are you just hoping to get lucky? The TA just asked us which sitting we would like. Also, what can you tell me about Balmoral? Did you really enjoy your last cruise on her? I would love to hear any information at all. I am getting excited already!

 

Look forward to talking more, say hello to Dianne from me :)

 

Fiona x

[cruiser mick]

Hi Mick

 

Thanks for welcoming me to the thread, I see you are a very experienced cruiser. I shall no doubt have plenty of questions before we sail so thanks for offering to help!

 

We live in Derby - born & bred! Andy my husband has been working in Aberdeen since Christmas, so we don't see enough of him at the moment - mostly every other weekend. He's an engineer. I work for Lakeland (kitchenware) and absolutely love everything about it! I must stop buying the gadgets!! Our Daughter Marie is at 6th form doing her 'AS' levels and our son Andrew is doing his GCSE's, so they need a holiday as they are under a lot of pressure. We need to spend time together as a family too.

 

I am sure the Baltic cruise will be very intersting, in the past people we have met on cruises have told us that it was their favourite. We went on Black Watch Summer 06' and we met such great people, I preferred the smaller ship atmosphere. I enjoyed Oceana but did not like Ventura. Too big, too busy, too holiday campish!

 

We have booked a guest house in Dover for the Saturday night. It will be nice to sail from the UK again after 2 fly cruise holidays.

 

Did you specify which restaurant you preferred or are you just hoping to get lucky? The TA just asked us which sitting we would like. Also, what can you tell me about Balmoral? Did you really enjoy your last cruise on her? I would love to hear any information at all. I am getting excited already!

 

Look forward to talking more, say hello to Dianne from me :)

 

Fiona x

 

Hi Fiona.

Gee you found our reply real quick, as I did not realise that it had even been sent, due to a hitch or an ID IO T error on the lap top.

As I had a few questions regarding this cruise, I asked the T/A to check them out with Olsen's, including the restaurant request They came back to me and YES they have given us our specified restaurant. The Spey restaurant is at the top of the ship on port side, with lovely ocean views and there are some really nice and experienced waiters in this dining room.

The Balmoral is totally different to their other ships. Some of the cabins are not as well laid out as they could be. It's rather a smart and pretty ship internally, with plenty of nice quiet lounges. Deck space and loungers were plentiful, especially at the rear of the vessel - saying this we very rarely cruise in the school holidays, when there are children in abundance. It has a nice theatre, quite a large pub which is spoilt rather, by having a walk way through the middle of it. The Observatory, host's the pianist and later in the evening the night club. We found the main restaurant rather noisey (at breakfast) and the staff weren't as pleasant as one would have liked. We enjoyed our last cruise on her, even though they were still sorting out teething problems, in fact we booked this one whilst on board -April/May 08. As we were fairly confident that the wrinkles would be sorted out by August 09. We found the food to be very good and if there was a problem, it was sorted on the spot. I am a rather bad Diabetic, with other problems and I am on low fat diets, so some of the buffets did not agree with us and I found eating in the restaurant was generally a better option.

Looking at the ports of call, tour excursions are a must in St Petersburg, as the ship docks way out of town in a commercial dock in a forest. I am informed that there are no taxi cabs available and a walk into town takes 1 to 1 1/2 hours. But there are some delightful places to visit on the tours.

The other ports of call, can be done easily on your own. We can give you further details nearer the time. Please feel free to ask us questions, as we are pleased to share information with all.

Lovely to hear from you

Mike & Dianne Medhurst

[flea b]

Hi Mike

 

Thanks for replying, I was only quick as it's my day off!

 

The Spey sounds lovely, I have just received confirmation of table for 4 at 20:30hrs. I feel cheeky asking to have a table in the Spey Restaurant but I do like the sound of that one.

 

I know we need to do Fred Olsens excursions in St Petersburg because of the visas. The kids want to do the evening at the ballet to see Swan Lake, have you done that before? If not what do you recommend as 'must do's?' Both our kids are very interseted in music & dance.

 

There is plenty of time to ask your advice on ports, I'll probably go through them one by one if you don't mind!

 

Thanks so much for your help,

 

Fiona & Andy Bould

[Norfolk Brit]

The Spey sounds lovely, I have just received confirmation of table for 4 at 20:30hrs. I feel cheeky asking to have a table in the Spey Restaurant but I do like the sound of that one.

Fiona & Andy Bould

 

Fiona, there is nothing cheeky about asking for the Spey; it is available to everyone, on a first booked first served basis. The only negative comments we heard about the food on Balmoral came from those dining in the main restaurant, where I gather it was sometimes luke-warm - the Spey, being smaller, did not have this problem. It's a lovely room, and I hope you enjoy it.

 

Mary

[flea b]

Hello Norfolk Brit

 

Thanks for the advice, I will ring Bolsover Cruise Club today and try to request Spey! I need to be more assertive!! No harm in asking I don't suppose. It's really helpful to find advice from these boards so thanks again to you all.

 

Fiona x

[cruiser mick]

Hi Mike

 

Thanks for replying, I was only quick as it's my day off!

 

The Spey sounds lovely, I have just received confirmation of table for 4 at 20:30hrs. I feel cheeky asking to have a table in the Spey Restaurant but I do like the sound of that one.

 

I know we need to do Fred Olsens excursions in St Petersburg because of the visas. The kids want to do the evening at the ballet to see Swan Lake, have you done that before? If not what do you recommend as 'must do's?' Both our kids are very interseted in music & dance.

 

There is plenty of time to ask your advice on ports, I'll probably go through them one by one if you don't mind!

 

Thanks so much for your help,

 

Fiona & Andy Bould

 

 

 

Hello again Fiona.

Yes we have attended the ballet, although they seemed to do a split evening, between ballet and opera then. One word of advice though, take a thick towel from the ship in a bag or a blow up cushion ring with you, as the seats are small and very hard. Wether you will see "Swan Lake" is another thing, as they alternate with "Sleeping Beauty" and "The Nutcracker". On our last visit here, we went on 5 excursions in 2 days, to say the least we were cream crackered by the time the ship sailed. We took excursions to the Hermitage, Catherine Palace, Petrdvorts/Peterhof, the evening at the Ballet and Opera and a city tour.

 

Another tour that I am told is a wonderful experience, is a musical evening at the Hermitage. It gives you the chance to tour the museum with out the crowds and also enjoy a short concert, but it does come at a premium price!

 

Ref your interest regarding the ship, I have some photos of the interior & lounges. As I'm not clever enough to place them on this site, if you E mail me on mickeycruising@yahoo.co.uk, I'll return them by attachment to you.

 

In and aroud Dover

If you find that you need some new clothes or just need to kill an hour whilst in Dover, there is an outlet centre to the rear of the Churchill Hotel(on the sea front), which is all under cover. Also if you have the time there is a lovely Castle which overlooks the town, that one can visit and another attraction is the White Cliffs Experience, or one can catch a ferry to France for the evening or just go for a dinner trip, as a non landing passenger.

 

As for requesting the Spey, don't be sheepish about asking. Olsen's are normally very accommodating to requests, after all, its first come first served and doesn't mean anything to them. Also its making a client happy. So go for it Fiona.

Will speak soon

Regards Mike

[flea b]

Hi Mike

 

Thanks again, it all sounds wonderful! You can email me the pictures at fiona.bould@ntlworld.com, we only have 1 PC and daughter is hurrying me up as she need to use it as usual! I rang TA whilst on my break at work today re: Spey, they were happy to take the request but told me they cannot promise anything which is fair enough. Thanks again for all this advice. Got to go now, I'll be back soon.

 

Cheers Fiona x

[P1TKL]

Hello Fiona

 

Im not on this cruise but I was with you on Black Watch in 2006. I keep seeing your name pop up. Have pm`d you on Crows Nest.

 

We did the Baltic last year so can give you hints and tips

 

Nice to catch up with you again...hope you remember me as we communicated pre cruise but never actually met !!

 

Tricia

[flea b]

Hi Tricia

of course I remember you, it will be lovely to catch up! I'm going to quickly read my PM then off to work, speak soon, happy cruising!

Fiona x x x

[RayF]

Hi Fiona and everyone,

We're also booked on this cruise.

Our first time with Fred Olsen, our previous cruises have been with P&O and Saga.

 

We're also from Derby ( will have to look out for you in Lakeland !)

[Kez100]

Well, the man from Del Monte says yes! I shall be ringing first thing tomorrow with our cabin choices from the list we were given and - if they can honour the price quoted today - we will be joining you.

 

Is there any reason people are talking of the Spey restaurant and not mentioning the Avon?

 

I've no idea which to ask for! We were in Ballindalloch last time.

[cruiser mick]

Well, the man from Del Monte says yes! I shall be ringing first thing tomorrow with our cabin choices from the list we were given and - if they can honour the price quoted today - we will be joining you.

 

Is there any reason people are talking of the Spey restaurant and not mentioning the Avon?

 

I've no idea which to ask for! We were in Ballindalloch last time.

 

 

Hi Kez, nice to hear from you again and hopefully welcome aboard to both you and your family.

 

There is no particular reason why we are talking about the Spey, apart from a different decor, the Avon is a mirror image and I expect like the Spey, the staff are pleasant and helpful who work in there.

 

We made the request, as the guys there understand my dietary needs. Normally like you all, we just ask for the sitting and a table that suits, we prefer large tables of 6 or 8 persons.

Hope they can honour your choices and we see you on board in August.

Regards Mike

[Kez100]

That's it now for BL0914 - they've let the ruffians in!

 

We will be joining you and hopefully, between us lot here, we'll manage to pull the average age down quite a bit. Really looking forward to being back on the Balmoral.

 

Add to the list a chartered accountant, a retired nurse, two young children and a couple of random BT blokes.

[flea b]

Hi Kez100

 

Well done for booking the cruise, look forward to speaking to you! :) :)

 

RayF

 

Hi, That's a coincidence us both being from Derby!! Are you a Rams fan? Do look out for me in Lakeland, I always wear my name badge, or just ask the staff if I'm available we are very friendly in there! Hope you like Fred Olsen, I do. :) :)

 

Bye for now to all fellow cruisers! Fiona xx

[flea b]

Good Morning Mick,

 

It's my day off and I've just realised my mail box was full and you have sent me the lovely pictures of Balmoral! Thank you so much. I think the ship looks lovely and I'm of the opinion that if she can withstand those seas we will be just fine! That did look scary though. Sorry for the delay in finding them, I really appreciate your kind efforts. The restaurant looks lovely too! Hope you have a lovely day and thanks again, speak soon, Fiona x

[flea b]

Hi everyone!

 

It's gone awfully quiet on here, I am getting very excited.

 

Not too long to wait now.

 

Fiona x

[Kez100]

We had a weekend with the outlaws over Easter to talk about things and now it's the same here.

[cruiser mick]

Hi to you all.

No there hasn't been too much action on here recently, yes the final statement will be arriving next month, so its not far away now. If any one requires any port information, we will be only too please to help out, as we have been to most before.

We will be unavailable for comment after Friday 24th untill 10th May as we join the Grand Princess this coming week end. Hope to hear from you after our return.

Mike