Fred Olsen vs P&O

I've had my first cruise with P&O and we're saving up for my step dad's 60th next year. Fancying a Fjord cruise and Fred Olsen seems quite competitive with pricing compared to P&O. Been on Ventura which is obviously their largest ship, but are their ships smaller? Would we get a better experience?

I think its a matter of personal choice to be honest. We went on a cruise about 10 years ago with Festival cruises, an Italian line no longer in service, we didnt enjoy it at all to be honest and it put us off cruising, we saw the Fred Olsen advert, wanted to go to Amsterdam and saw the cruise as a luxury way to see Amsterdam. I have to say how much we enjoyed the Fred Olsen style of cruising - smaller ships, courteous and pleasant crew, and the fact that passengers did talk to each other. If you like the larger cruise ships with about 10 restaurants to choose from then Fred may not be for you - but if you enjoy excellent service, fab food and a more leisurely pace, then I can certainly recommend it. The age range was very mixed - for info, we are both in our early 60's - we werent the oldest, but we certainly werent the youngest either.

An almost impossible question to answer this one.😄

If you thought the Ventura was your ideal ship then You may be disappointed with Fred.

Freds ships are smaller and the age group is usually around 55 plus. Not many children.

We cruise with both lines and think they are both fantastic.

You won't get a better or worse experience but a different experience.

It's up to you then to decide if it was better.

It's like asking which is best, beer or whisky or red wine. There all good but different.

Sorry if that's not much help.

Tbh I was thinking a smaller ship would be a good idea. I found ventura was very crowded in the evenings.

We have done 5 Fred cruises and are going on our first P and O cruise this month. The cruise we have booked with P and O was cheaper than with Fred.

However for a fjord cruise a Fred cruise is a good idea as their smaller ships don't have to tender.

We have thoroughly enjoyed all of our Fred cruises and are also in our early 60s. If there is ant criticism it would be that everybody seems to go to be very early which means there is no atmosphere in the bars, but we have met some other very nice passengers and had a laugh. We like to have a table for 6 at dinner.

However for a fjord cruise a Fred cruise is a good idea as their smaller ships don't have to tender.

They don't tender as often, but they do sometimes have to do it when the port is busy.

We have one tender port on our Fjords cruise on Balmoral in August.

really like both find food and service very good on both cruise lines but in my experience for cruises to Norway fred has the edge mainly they go to some really wonderful places that many others do not

We have been on a real variety of cruises with Fred and must have been lucky as we have never had to tender. Admittedly, we never go away in high season.

I suppose Fred do Norway well because they are Norwegian owned.

At the end of the day we have been to some great places, met some nice people and been very satisfied, so I suppose that is what is important.

As the destination is the fjords then this is easy. Go with Fred. Their captained are mostly Norwegian and , with the smaller ships, they love to show off the coast and the sights. P and O head out to sea between the ports so no views. I wonder whether this is a Carnival order since the Concordia fiasco. Anyway go north with Fred and you will see a lot more of the sights. Google the Troll Fjord. We went into it on the Balmoral. Wow. P and O wouldn't go anywhere near it.