Black Watch Refit

Many thanks for that. We saw her out at sea today, but now she is back docked in South Shields, so I feared it was some mechanical problem. It is reassuring that it is only the weather, poor F.O. have had a lot of problems lately, the fire, the lost cruise after that, the bussing from Tilbury to Dover after the inspection delay. The passengers of course will not be happy with the change, especially those with booked private excursions, but the weather can be really bad up there. I know of both Marco Polo and Prinsendam having serious problems in the past. Let us all hope that things quieten down and they can enjoy the rest of the cruise.

Is there only one coffee\tea station on Black Watch,are there any cold drinks.Water?

There is only the one tea/coffee station. It is outside the starboard (right hand) entrance to the Neptune Lounge from the lifts. There is a small seating area adjacent and if this fills up there is more room by the lifts, they have put extra seats here.

I don't recall water or soft drinks, we were only looking for coffee. I think all they have done is to relocate the coffee station from outside the dining room, I don't think they changed it. Sorry I don't remember more, I should have photographed it.

Hi, Just got off Black Watch this morning from the Tinsel and Hogmany cruise. Well, all in all we had a great cruise. The changes is ports etc was due entirely to the weather. We managed Portsmouth and Plymouth, all 3 ports to Ireland were cancelled, due to the forecast. The Captain and FO decided that it wouldn't be safe for us to go north, as there was no shelter for us. It was decided that we would go to Newcastle for 2 days, but we only eventually got in port at 8.30pm due to the weather conditions. We sailed up and down the coast until we could get into port. Stayed in Newcastle the following day and the plan was to go to Dundee for 2 days, again change of plan we only managed to stay until 3.30pm on the first day. The Captain wanted to get us to Leith to make sure that we were there for the New Year Celebrations. From then on, we stayed in Leith and finally left for home on the 1st January at 2.30am. We had a good cruise, the entertainment was good, as was the food. The weather dictates where we were able to go, but we would rather have been safe. All in all a good cruise. We have been told that FO will be contacting us in the next few days regarding our lack of ports, obviously some are saying that we will be getting compensation of some kind. Will see what happens next.

Delighted to hear you had a good holiday, despite all the changes to the itinerary.

Our team of volunteers enjoyed welcoming all the passengers and crew to Leith, and we hope everyone had a lovely New Year.

Delighted to hear you had a good holiday, despite all the changes to the itinerary.

 

Our team of volunteers enjoyed welcoming all the passengers and crew to Leith, and we hope everyone had a lovely New Year.

Thank you, Yes we did, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We had been to Edinburgh before, but our friends hadn't. What a beautiful city, so much to do and explore. We went to the torchlight procession on the 30th, loved it. Did a tour around the city by foot and by HoHo bus, great value. Did the tour of the Royal Yatch, absolutely beautiful, and finally saw the fireworks from the deck of the ship. Will be visiting Ediburgh and Leith again for sure.

Delighted you and your friends enjoyed yourselves. The hop on / off bus is a great tour, and such an advantage that it stops right outside the cruise terminal at Leith!

We look forward to welcoming you back soon.

We look forward to welcoming you back soon.

I have always docked at Rosyth when visiting Edinburgh and thought how lucky I was to be docked instead of tendering, but it seems that I have been missing out. There are no teams of volunteers to welcome us at Rosyth. I must try and get to Leith next time.

Many thanks for your input to this forum.

obviously some are saying that we will be getting compensation of some kind. Will see what happens next.

Poor old F.O. dipping in to his pockets again. From the passengers point of view they would obviously like some monetary compensation, but what ever form it takes it will hurt the bottom line. If F.O. can't make a profit then he may give up and that would be a loss to all.

Where you on the previous cruise? If so it is a pity I didn't meet you. It is so nice to meet people that look on the bright side and make the best of everything instead of moaning all the time. I admire your attitude.

Compensation may come in the form of a discount on a future cruise, but what do I know.

Poor old F.O. dipping in to his pockets again. From the passengers point of view they would obviously like some monetary compensation, but what ever form it takes it will hurt the bottom line. If F.O. can't make a profit then he may give up and that would be a loss to all.

 

Where you on the previous cruise? If so it is a pity I didn't meet you. It is so nice to meet people that look on the bright side and make the best of everything instead of moaning all the time. I admire your attitude.

 

Compensation may come in the form of a discount on a future cruise, but what do I know.

No we only did the Christmas cruise. 1st time for us on Black Watch, we prefer Balmoral, but love Fred Olsen, so will definitely be booking again with them.

No we only did the Christmas cruise.

Perhaps we'll meet on a future cruise then.

1st time for us on Black Watch, we prefer Balmoral

We have only sampled the Black Watch so far, the Braemar is due next. Although, as you can see from this thread there was some consternation over the refit, potential loss of informal dinning and a quiet sitting area I don't think these have happened. The improved access to the dining rooms, and the addition of the speciality restaurant have improved the experience in my view. The only thing letting her down now is the noisy furniture, banging of cupboard doors and drawers coming from the next cabin. Otherwise she could replace

Ocean/Pacific Princess as our favourite ship.

I forgot to mention two big pluses for the Black Watch. The superb cinema. They have improved the equipment but we haven't seen it it yet as there weren't any films that were on our list on our last trip. The other big plus is the UK style power sockets as well as the continental ones, plus a USB charger. That was a brilliant idea, so many people have devices that can be charged from a USB socket nowadays.

Where was the USB socket - must have missed that?

Where was the USB socket - must have missed that?

It was next to one of the UK style power sockets. It was easy to miss as it it was just a little narrow vertical slot. There were no markings or instructions about it in the cabin information, but I recognised it and tried it on my USB powered mp3 player to verify what it was.