Boudicca 30/05/16 Ireland - Changes to be Made

After some efforts to clarify details about this cruise with Fred, my husband was told yesterday afternoon that a changed itinerary will be sent out to passengers (booked on this cruise), later this week as the dates in port will differ.

The new itinerary, we have been told, is:- Cobh (31st May), at sea (1st June), Killybegs (2nd June), Belfast (3rd June) and Dublin (as per original itinerary, on 4th and 5th June). We will arrive late morning in Cobh, leaving late night, and the late night is lost in Killybegs. So beware if making own arrangements for port days for this cruise!

I picked up in January from the port of Cork web site that Boudicca was booked into Ringaskiddy, rather than Cobh as advertised by Fred. Caribbean Princess was (and still is) booked into Cobh on 3rd June. Efforts to extract information from Fred about that and if shuttle buses will be provided, (given that Ringaskiddy consists of one pub and some industry and housing), have been in vain. Even the trips were scheduled to be leaving from Cobh on 3rd May, when published. At that stage Fred's staff were still insisting Boudicca will dock in Cobh on the 3rd May, and I was told the Port of Cork site was not correct. I emailed the Port of Cork at that stage and received the following reply on 11/4/16:-

I can confirm that Boudicca will be docking in Ringaskiddy on the 3rd June. Fred Olsen Line are aware of this as they originally booked Cobh for the 2nd June but changed to the 3rd, at which stage Caribbean Princess had already booked 3rd June. We operate a first come first served booking system with our cruise berth in Cobh. The shore excursion company handling Boudicca are aware as we are in close contact with them.

The original change to the itinerary referred to above was before late May 2015, when we booked the cruise.

Re contacting Fred a few days later, and asking for the details to be checked, did elict an admission that Boudicca was indeed booked into Ringaskiddy and that altered information would be given out later that week or early the next. It took a frustrated phone call by myself and a formally worded email by my husband to Ocean's to obtain the information I have posted above. Changes to the Killybegs and Belfast port web sites seem to confirm those details.

OK, so docking in Cobh rather than Ringaskiddy is considerably better in our opinion and we were looking forward to a pleasant day in Cove during that cruise when we booked. However, it does beg the question why Fred has advertised the details he has over the last year with changes to be notified only about a week before the cruise commences!

I do despair at Fred's marketing habits at times. I wonder if it is done deliberately to thwart anyone who wants to plan private arrangements or is it just that there is absolutely no communication between the marketing department and the people who plan the itineraries, as well as bad planning on behalf of the planners. This will be the third cruise we have done with Fred within the last year, when similar last minute changes were made (and that does not include the Balmoral cruise when we returned to Southampton a day early last May as that was obviously not planned ahead). The other two itinerary changes impacted us much more seriously.

Fred, if you are reading this - please consider changes to your habits.