Balmoral to Baltic

Just back from Baltic on Balmoral.

Basically if you enjoy Fred then all is well.

Balmoral is our favourite Fred ship and we were not disappointed.

Entertainment usual for Fred, Show Group full of effort and costumes great. Maybe one show the vocals struggled.

Food fine for us but talked to some people who said it was poor, so it's all about opinions.

Great ports of call, having been to St Petersbug for 4 days before I think we choose the wrong trips there. Helsinki and Wanermunda fantastic.

Kiel Canal good but entering at 3 in the morning I think was a bit of a downer. Basically we only had a few hours cruising the canal after breakfast mid morning.

Staff fantastic and service top notch.

Inside cabin mid ships on Atlantic. Clean and tidy and enough room for us.

Did notice this cruise noise from other cabins which I hadn't before.

Not a hint of vibration.

Did notice footsteps above us which must have been from the walkway or steps. Not a problem but never heard it before on Atlantic deck.

Had the AI, wine fine and used the half price for a cocktail a day plus a few premium whisky.

Show Band 4th Dimension very very good and played music for all tastes and dancing styles.

2nd sitting with great waiters.

Great Formal nights with most in Black Tie.

Liked the idea of an early show for 2nd sitting. They had both on this cruise an early show and a late show for 2nd sitting. It made for a bit of variance.

As I say a typical Fred cruise and the standards in our opinion are as good as ever.

Looking forward to the Amazon in February.

The following comments are from my wifes and I point of view and any critical or positive remarks should be weighed against your own likes and dislikes.

It started with a long queue to register,all advised boarding schedules seemed to have been abandoned.We and those around us didnt mind,though the odd grumble was heard here and there.I remember looking around at all the people waiting(with different needs,standards, etc)and thinking thank god I was never in the hospitality business.Standing in line turned out to be a regular thing aboard ship An audience with the captain,show time,meals and such.A British thing I guess.Our inside cabin was fine and we soon settled in for the cruise.

Food was very good ,we heard only positive remarks on this.Big eaters in heaven....and there were plenty on this ship.

Unlike the great report above we did not rate the entertainment that highly.We think but do not know that there may have been problems behind the scenes. First show was cancelled and it seems like it was a mixture of all entertainers to fill in.Dancing folk get a lot of time and room.We sat and watched and got up for the odd turn around the floor.Very popular when they crank it up a bit for some jive.Never more crowded when they did a rock and roll set one night in the Neptune.

As a non card player I was astonished to see the number of bridge players playing all day and night in the bridge room!Crammed every time I passed.

On the other hand I had the gym pretty much to myself.

My St Petersburg tour choice of going independant with TJ Travel was a great

decision.One of the first off the boat,most others still gathering in the Neptune for their tours.Got through ,and back both days quickly....but unable to raise a smile from the immigration officers!

Eight on our mini bus,two others from Balmoral and five Americans from the Regal.We were gone and on our way before the ships tour s left the lounge.

It was crowded in the palaces etc.but our guide managed to get us in without any waiting around.We chose not to sit down with the others to lunch on both days and used the hour to walk around give our tummies a rest(we did buy ice creams at a supermarket) and take in the local life a bit.Sunday in a small park in St P.was a highlight for us seeing local life.Wonderful photographs.

Enjoyed Tallin in the rain.My off the ship early tactic backfired this time as the weather improved as the day went on.

Warnemunde(spelling?)was a delight.Also took the train into Rostock to enjoy that old town.On the way back we were delayed for 20 mins as they were overun by migrants getting off a train.They were not expected as police cars and sirens were all around us.

This was our third cruise and the second with Fred.We will cruise again and it will be with Fred for sure.To us who love to travel and explore places and have done so all our lives the travel part of cruising is so dumbed down and pre packaged it makes no sence to us.So next year its on to something new and different........as Arnie said We will be back.

I agree with you about the entertainment! We were onboard from 8th August for 2 weeks & the entertainment was a bit of a let-down for us including the Ents Hosts & some of the Acts in the Lido Lounge & Observatory. The Entertainment team really did not seem to want to join in at night either; some of them preferring to sit down & socialise amongst themselves a lot of the time.

We have just come back from a 3 night mini on the Black Watch to Ireland & how different that Entertainmet was! The Hosts were very sociable, superb at joining in with the dancing with the passengers in the Lido Lounge & all the Acts & shows we saw were fantastic!

One thing I just don't get on the Fred Crusies is how little you see of the Cruise Director? Other lines we have been on & you always see them around the ship but with Fred we only ever seem to see them introducing & closing the Show or evening Entertainmet in the Neptune Lounge - is this the norm?

No complaints from us with the Cruise director and her team. Only for a few of the shows. .Plenty of energy and spirit from the resident song/dance performers but to be fair each performance was identical,just a different theme and costume change.

Personally we do not need any contact with the cruise director as most things are published daily with full details of where to go and when to be there.If you then choose to attend for example ....deck quoits,hula hoops,line dancing quiz,and so on the cruise director or one of her team will be there.....We stumbled across the line dancing lessons one day and can confirm she was taking the class herself.Looked like she made it enjoyable for all.....including the onlookers! Sorry to hear you had a different experience on your August trip.

No complaints from us with the Cruise director and her team. Only for a few of the shows. .Plenty of energy and spirit from the resident song/dance performers but to be fair each performance was identical,just a different theme and costume change.

Personally we do not need any contact with the cruise director as most things are published daily with full details of where to go and when to be there.If you then choose to attend for example ....deck quoits,hula hoops,line dancing quiz,and so on the cruise director or one of her team will be there.....We stumbled across the line dancing lessons one day and can confirm she was taking the class herself.Looked like she made it enjoyable for all.....including the onlookers! Sorry to hear you had a different experience on your August trip.

We had a fantastic time & the Showteam were very good even though they had only just come together as a team the previous week. I am not complaining about the CD; just making observations that she was not very visible - she was pleasant enough when she was around.

It was more some of the Acts (not sure if they were resident or Guest?) that we felt were a bit dire particularly in comparison to the ones onboard the Black Watch over this weekend. I don't want to name names but some of the lounge/bar acts had no 'oomph' to them & some of the Entertainment Hosts; again although pleasant enough, did not seem to interact with passengers in the evening - this is not what we have been used to on other lines; a lot of the time they were just sat in the corner chatting amongst themselves. If it weren't for Linda & Phil (great Dance Hosts) & a core group of passengers in the Lido Lounge who encouraged others to get up & enjoy themselves, it would have been very 'flat'

Very different to what we experienced on the Black Watch last weekend!

We were on the Balmoral for the first week in August and, although we didn't see the Cruise Director a great deal, when we did we found her very personable.

One afternoon she did a quiz, with one of the other hosts, which lasted a long time and I must say we laughed more than at any other time on the cruise.

On other cruise lines we've been on (apart from QM2 where the CD did a morning quiz) although we've seen them around the ship they didn't really do anything where they engaged with the passengers.

As regards the rest of the entertainment our favourites were Nico and Carolina, in the Morning Light. We also found the show company (who I believe were new on that cruise) not really to our taste, although you couldn't fault their enthusiasm.

It just shows everyone's personal experiences and opinions can be different!

It's really interesting reading other folks views on cruises we have been on or ships we have been on.

On Balmoral last week everything other people have noted on reflection is there.

For instance the Entertainment hosts through the day did their jobs and at night they were not in too a high profile. But the reason I didn't mention it was that

We cruise with friends and make friends aboard so don't tend to notice the hosts at night.

We dance to probably 90% of the dances in Neptune and Lido, and we go to lots of the day activities, but maybe I don't appreciate the hosts artificially attempting to create atmosphere in the evenings

It's like everybody says, we are all different and reviews can often show that.

By the way the Bridge people were from an organisation called Mr Bridge who organise cruise holidays for Bridge players.

We went to the Begineers Bridge organised by them. It was very good.

I have noticed the Cruise Directors on Fred are not as much in your face as they are on say P and O and Thomson. On those lines the sail away parties are very much up beat and the hosts do really get involved with creating a party atmosphere on the sail aways. Now those we do like.

Only Fred ship we haven't cruised on is Blask Watch so interested to read the good reviews.

It's really interesting reading other folks views on cruises we have been on or ships we have been on.

On Balmoral last week everything other people have noted on reflection is there.

For instance the Entertainment hosts through the day did their jobs and at night they were not in too a high profile. But the reason I didn't mention it was that

We cruise with friends and make friends aboard so don't tend to notice the hosts at night.

We dance to probably 90% of the dances in Neptune and Lido, and we go to lots of the day activities, but maybe I don't appreciate the hosts artificially attempting to create atmosphere in the evenings

It's like everybody says, we are all different and reviews can often show that.

By the way the Bridge people were from an organisation called Mr Bridge who organise cruise holidays for Bridge players.

We went to the Begineers Bridge organised by them. It was very good.

I have noticed the Cruise Directors on Fred are not as much in your face as they are on say P and O and Thomson. On those lines the sail away parties are very much up beat and the hosts do really get involved with creating a party atmosphere on the sail aways. Now those we do like.

Only Fred ship we haven't cruised on is Blask Watch so interested to read the good reviews.

We don't do the daytime activities but we also dance a lot in the Lido - we went with friends on the Balmoral; we noticed the first few nights that there really was very little atmosphere in the Lido but fortunately there was a good group of us that got up & enjoyed the dancing which got larger as the cruise progressed & we all met some lovely fellow passengers of all ages!

We did actually have some good Sailaway parties on the Balmoral, particularly a fantastic late night deck party that continued until 1.30 - 2am.

The team on the Black Watch were very enthusiastic & full of fun - they was no need for them to 'artificially attempt to create an atmosphere' as the atmosphere was already there with a great bunch of staff & passengers onboard!!

I agree with you about the entertainment! We were onboard from 8th August for 2 weeks & the entertainment was a bit of a let-down for us including the Ents Hosts & some of the Acts in the Lido Lounge & Observatory. The Entertainment team really did not seem to want to join in at night either; some of them preferring to sit down & socialise amongst themselves a lot of the time.

 

We have just come back from a 3 night mini on the Black Watch to Ireland & how different that Entertainmet was! The Hosts were very sociable, superb at joining in with the dancing with the passengers in the Lido Lounge & all the Acts & shows we saw were fantastic!

 

One thing I just don't get on the Fred Crusies is how little you see of the Cruise Director? Other lines we have been on & you always see them around the ship but with Fred we only ever seem to see them introducing & closing the Show or evening Entertainmet in the Neptune Lounge - is this the norm?

We were lucky on our recent cruise on Boudicca to the Baltic as The Cruise Director, Elliot, was often seen about the ship talking to passengers and enquiring if everything was good. He solved a problem for us (changed our dinner sitting from 1st to 2nd) and explained about the changes in entertainment times. He also explained that he was employed to manage/direct the entertainment only, and that he was neither a singer or dancer unlike the Thomson CDs.

Our Show team had just arrived on the ship and were not expected to join in and be sociable with the passengers for this first cruise as they had to practice and concentrate on getting their show routine polished off on stage. However, most of them did talk and chat to passengers in the Lido lounge later in the evening when they had finished their show and they had free time. We thought they were a very good group of young singers and dancers.