First time on Fred....Balmoral

Hi all

Just booked our first cruise on Balmoral. As you can see below, we have cruised before but have never tried Fred. Will probably have a few questions later, but in the meantime , any thoughts on comparisons between Fred & P&O from those of you that have done both.....happy to take warts and all! No cruise line is perfect.

Thanks.

Have only cruised on Fred and Cunard and reckon that Fred more than adequately measures up. Ships, especially Balmoral, are smaller and more intimate than newer versions and actually retain the atmosphere of a traditional ocean-going vessel. We did a long leg on last years 'Far East Explorer' and were more than happy with price, service, food etc - no complaints at all !

I consider Fred Olsen every bit a good as P&O save, perhaps. the choice of evening entertainment. The "Balmoral" is a lovely ship. It is small enough to be friendly but spacious enough to feel comfortable. The food is very good and the staff are extremely cheerful, friendly and helpful. I am sure you will have an enjoyable cruise.

We've booked our first cruise with Fred on the Balmoral for next year too, after seven cruises with P&O,

We needed a change, We've got fed-up with the same entertainment acts and the same headliners productions shows, god knows how many time we'd met Fogwell Flax, The Beatles Experience, the piano brothers and many others. On one cruise they had five different piano playing acts

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I think the food is better on Fred than P and O. I also think the lecturers on Fred more interesting. Last ear we did a cruise to Iceland on P and O and some of the lectures were about Egypt!

On P and O we did find the average age of passengers a bit younger and not everybody goes to bed by 10pm as on Fred.

I think the service from staff slightly have the edge on Fred, which is probably down to nationality differences. On Fred they are almost all from the Phillipines and on P and O from the sub continent.

More than happy to travel with either line. We like the Britishness and smaller ships.

Thanks for your replies...sounds like we will be happy enough on Fred....we can make oir own entertsinment if need be later in the evenings....presumably the bars etc stay open until a reasonable hour.....?

Oh yes, bars stay open as long as there are needed. Some cruises more lively in the bars than others. I've never cruised with P&O, but I have heard that the food has deteriorated recently. Fred Olsen food is excellent, particularly the soups. You'll enjoy Balmoral. We're on her again next February.

Oh yes, bars stay open as long as there are needed. Some cruises more lively in the bars than others. I've never cruised with P&O, but I have heard that the food has deteriorated recently. Fred Olsen food is excellent, particularly the soups. You'll enjoy Balmoral. We're on her again next February.

4th February 2017, same as us

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Great! We'll look out for a zib zib from Doncaster! We've done about 20 cruises with Fred, as well as some with Azamara, Princess, Cunard and CMV (ugh). FO is definitely our favourite.

Great! We'll look out for a zib zib from Doncaster! We've done about 20 cruises with Fred, as well as some with Azamara, Princess, Cunard and CMV (ugh). FO is definitely our favourite.

[emoji16] See you onboard Mummy [emoji16]

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Hi,

We have taken several cruises with various companies, Cunard, Azamara, Star cruises, P & O etc but have booked a 33 night cruise on the Boudicca from Liverpool in October 2017.

We are really looking forward to this cruise as it has a great itinerary and because we haven't been with Fred Olsen before it is interesting to read other people's comments.