richard_london

I was so upset to read this. I have been hanging on for the Braemar to return to service to try and undertake a cruise on her, which I was planning to do before the pandemic hit us. It definitely won't happen now. Really cross with Fred. Of all the publicity that Fred has had in the last few years the photos and footage of the Braemar squeezing through the Cornith Canal was the best the company has ever had. It was such a good advert for their brand of small ships. It was all over social media and in the cruise news. Fred couldn't have wished for better positive news stories. How badly now has it all ended. Just like every other cruise company Fred are following the bigger is best approach (to their bottom line, not their passengers). It makes a complete mockery of the small ships ethos that the have flogged for so many years. But it just doesn't hold now. When they got rid of the Black Watch and Bouddica they immediately killed off all the Kiel Canal transits those ships frequently did with the new HAL ships too big for it. Their statement that says the Bollete and Borealis still offer a small ship experience is ambiguous. If I am being generous it is a spurious statement, but the way I am feeling right now it is akin to gaslighting. They aren't small, and unforunately that aren't pretty. Nor does the interior design gel with the traditional Fred fleet. Adding their signature carpets doesn't distract from two ships with dated interiors, whereas the previous ships had been regularly refitted over the years. They just don't appeal to me in the same way and I suspect this is part of the problem why Fred can't fill them. Fred love to tout their family-firm curated itineraries, visiting the smaller ports that big ships can't reach. Well that's going to be impossible now. With this decision, they are really restricting where they can go. I think this is the beginning of the end for Fred. It is definitely the end of small ship cruising. With their dynamic pricing they were already alienating many loyal customers. Getting rid of the the Black Watch and Bouddica alientated the same and more. Buying the HAL ships alientated even more and now this, is probably not the final nail in the coffin but one of the last. If the company is still in operation a year from now I will be surprised. But the Fred product we all knew and loved has gone now. Yes, they still have the Balmoral but I suspect they won't keep her for much longer. If they can't fill the two HAL ships and are bleeding money, then more cuts will have to come along the way. What a sorry, sad state of affairs. I'm feeling rather emotional and angry.

I am sorry to hear that. Sounds like poor customer relations. Sadly another example of the brand failing it's loyal passengers and not living up to the family company image they are so keen to project.

When it a special port of call that you booked the cruise specifically to visit that place, I think you are entirely justified to complain. Especially when cruises aren't exactly cheap, and in your case the reason given is completely disingenuous. (I've never heard such rubbish before from a cruise line!) But sadly I don't think it is grounds. It comes up quite a bit across the forums and people point out that the terms and conditions of each cruise company allow them to do this with no recompense for you. I would definitely give them feedback, but they would probably just give you some flannel about it. I think it happens an awful lot, I've done fourteen cruises in my life and this has happened on two of them. I hope you still manage to enjoy your cruise.

Nowadays, with cruise ships being turned round in less than a day following the end of one cruise and the beginning of the next, cruise lines will do whatever they can to stick to the schedule, otherwise they will have to compensate. One Fred cruise I did was terminated early due to norovirus and we arrived back in Southampton a day early. We got a refund for some pro-rata amount they calculated for the day missed, but it was poor consolation to a terrible cruise. But they did that so the next cruise would leave on time. They'll do whatever they can to meet the next sailing, but it looks like it this case they made a bad choice.

I'm sorry that you will miss Lisbon. Having visited the city earlier this year (not by ship) it is a great city to go to. I've looked online and they have deleted it from the cruise itinerary listed, but if you look on agents' sites you can see it still, I believe Lisbon was the last port of call on the way back? I agree with your assessment, another day at sea on the way back will allow the ship to crawl back to Liverpool and save a whole load of fuel. If you read some of the other threads on Fred, particularly the ones on cruise costs and the departure of Fred Jr you aren't alone in your feelings. I know that doesn't make up for your disappointment but many of Fred's former passengers are disenfranchised with the company. Essentially they put their prices up a couple of years ago, but since the pandemic things haven't gone well. The decision to buy the two HAL ships to replace the Black Watch and Bouddica looks like having turned out to be a bad one because Fred can't fill them. That's why you got the upgrade offer. In answer to your last question, as others have pointed out on other threads FOCL is part of the massive Bohenur comglomerate. Although Fred present themselves as a family company that can quickly become a mirage because their customer relations can be poor, making decisions like you experienced without consideration of how it makes its guests feel. Unfortunately, they can be just as ruthless as any of the large cruise companies when it comes to (trying to) make a profit.

She isn't having much luck in 2022. The propeller issue and now this. Just adds to Fred.'s woes, another disrupted cruise, more compensation (I guess for passengers disrupted) and more costs (repairs).

The articles say 6,000 with around 2,300 crew members on this new ship. On the DCL news site factsheet for the Wish it says 4000 pax and 1555 crew. So this new ship will potentially carry half as many again as the Wish!

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/28788-disney-cruise-line-acquires-unfinished-global-dream.html It is official. The article has a rendering of the ship. Definitely not as nice as the Wish. Quite a brute, I think. And here in more detail https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/shipbuilding-refurb-equipment/its-official-disney-cruise-line-bags-global-dream-sail-new-markets

One idea would be to see if any transatlantic voyages leaving soon still have single cabins or are they all sold out? if some are still available you could risk booking late on your chosen voyage. If there is a particular transatlantic voyage you want to do I would book early as there aren't many single cabins as Lakesregion says. Then you have peace of mind and if you choose the Cunard fare you can pick your preferred cabin. Also, gives you longer to save up/before you have to make payment.

The email says we have until 25th November to decide. I wish we could book for the rest of 2024 as at the moment i don't know whether to cancel or not. Not being able to have the option to shift to another cruise into 2024 is disappointing from Cunard. I have another cruise just a few days before (also with Cunard) so it would be a mad rush to get back from one and ready for the other. I don't know if Cunard would allow me to cancel the earlier cruise so I can keep the Queen Anne maiden.

On the QV in August our butler served afternoon tea forums and my parents who were on the same cruise. I didn't ask for anything else from him other than that as I felt uncomfortable to do so!

I sailed on the P&O Britannia in July 2018 and during dinner the situation was sufficiently serious to warrant the captain announcing to the entire ship over the PA that there the crew were tackling a fire in one of her incinerators (since incinerators burn things we were confused by this). A hush descended over dinner from that point until a later announcement that it was under control. The word "fire" was definitely used in both PA broadcasts.

News story on the refit for the Borealis, according to the article costing £5.8m. https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/cammell-laird-upgrade-means-cruise-25426596 They need to maintain her, but given Fred can't fill her to capacity when she is sailing and taking her out of service means zero income from her during that time, it's just more expense that the company seemingly won't be able to recover.

Thanks for your insight and analysis. They are always interesting to read. Yesterday's "Indulge in a suite" email is sticking with the "Olsen Way", pre-fixing it with "Cruise in luxury". I do like Fred and the two older ships but they aren't luxury and just putting up your prices and then for the posh cabins adding the "Suite Dreams package" doesn't cut the mustard. I fear at some point the parent company, without Fred Jr, will just decide enough is enough and shut the business down. The UK cruise market would be the worse for that, but those level of losses are staggering and unsustainable for such a small company. When the large companies, such a Carnival Cruises and Royal Carribean (the brands, not the groups) are reporting great sales with relaxing Covid protocols, Fred are reporting Covid is still impacting the bottom line through cancellations. As you say, things don't add up. Fred might be hanging on to its loyal customers, but it doesn't seem to be attracting any new ones. I maintain a passing interest in their itineraries, and if something really appealing came up, I would bite the bullet, but at current prices it's a no from me, especially with cost of living and inflation the way it is. It's all very sad.

The Q3 Bonheur report is out and it doesn't seem to paint a positive picture. It says Q3 occupancy was 73% (https://www.bonheur.no/quarterly-reports2). In Q1 occupancy was 47%, in Q2 was 73%. So, no improvement in what should have been their peak quarter (I imagine) for cruises given it covered the summer? The report also says "Furthermore, some cruises during the quarter experienced lower than expected occupancy due to last minute cancellations and transfers because of guest concerns with rising cases of COVID in the UK" The worrying thing is that all the financial figures except operating revenues are worse numbers and it says there is large impairment included, due "to the asset value of the two older cruise ships". So it doesn't seem to be an improving position, and no news on a replacement for Fred Jr.

If you go to Fred.'s home page and scroll to the bottom, you can sign up for emails. Just be mindful they can be quite frequent! If you read some of the other threads you'll learn that Fred. aren't achieving high occupancy rates with their new ships so there are always offers around. But usually around extra on board credit. The is also the offers page, which is linked to in the top menu on the homepage.

I attempted to use it on my QM2 cruise in September but it wasn't very reliable. You need to make sure you are in reasonable proximity to one of the wifi routers around the ship. I found in certain places on the ship, that whilst it said I was connected to the wifi I couldn't get into the app. I had problems on the cabin balcony, for example. Unfortunately, when I was able to use it, I didn't find it particularly intuative. It does give the impression of something hastily put together in the age of Covid, but not properly thought out or planned. I've not tried Princess Cruises, but am aware of the Princess MedallionClass and that has very poor reviews on Google Play and the Apple App store. So it seems this is not something that Carnival Corp excels at. I'm not sure of the wisdom of launching something that seems a half-hearted effort and one that customers struggle to use. It will only discourage guests from using now and in the future.

I'm glad your experience was better than mine because it has discouraged me from booking one of those cabins again. I guess it just depends on who your fellow passengers are and how considerate they are when moving between the G32 and their cabins. I will still avoid as I am a light sleeper and will try one of the cabins on 2 deck.

On my cruise earlier in September on the Queen Mary 2 I was given 15:30 arrival. I turned up at 15:00 and there must have been less than ten other passengers boarding at the Mayflower terminal. It was incredibly quiet. No one quibbled my early arrival, I've always arrived a little early (say half an hour) so would be very surprised if they did. It was the best boarding experience as it was so quick, but the disadvantage is missing lunch.

Here are a couple of photos of the Balmoral leaving on her first voyage following her shipyard visit on the Tyne. I think she was off on a round-Britain cruise. These photos were taken from the Observation Deck on the Queen Mary 2.

Their "new" webite has gone live: https://www.cfc-croisieres.fr/ I say new in inverted commas because it is just the old CMV website with a different logo. The content might be slightly different but the entire website layout and look and feel is a carbon copy of the old CMV site. https://web.archive.org/web/20191115053717/http://cruiseandmaritime.com/

Far from it. We were doing 10/11 knots on the sea day On the previous day the captain said we would get as far as Devon before turning back to Southampton but we crawled along only as far as Portland, so definitely going for fuel saving. My point was more about her physical condition inside and out, and the fact that damaged/broken things hadn't been fixed. If she is spending more time at sea there is not the time to fix things. Unfortunately, it is starting to show.

I was on this cruise as well, so having read everyone's comments above, here are my observations/thoughts. This was my eighth cruise with Cunard and probably my most disappointing (sadly). I like others had to use a FCC, so this wasn’t my first choice. Zeebrugge isn’t a good port, as everything is a reasonable bus ride away. I like Rotterdam, but it is an itinerary I have done before and won’t be repeating. For reasons I explain below I felt the whole voyage atmosphere rather flat. The inclement weather on the last sea day didn’t help as everyone was forced to stay indoors for most of the day. I was relieved to get off in the end, which is not how I expected or wanted to feel. The experience was underwhelming. I arrived for check-in at 15:00 and the Mayflower Terminal was pretty empty. So I was able to go straight through to check-in. There the lady said that they'd had computer system trouble earlier, so was having to check people in twice. I was straight through security and on to the ship. There was a book of condolence on Deck 3 by the Queen's portrait (by the Champagne bar) and one in the library. Whenever I was passing either, there was usually someone signing in. On deck two, the video display boards near the purser’s desk was displaying a memorial message. Televisions in public spaces were carrying the broadcasts of the news. I’m not sure how much the mood on board was affected by the news of the Queen passing away, but it may have played a part. Sail away was fairly muted, no sounding of the whistles at any of the ports. Later we were told this was out of respect for the Queen. (MSC sounded their whistle departing the previous day and Anthem of the Seas on the same day did, however). In fact, generally things were more muted – the daily programme - and sailaways were quite unspectacular. When leaving Rotterdam, as it was after first sitting for dinner had started, there were very few on deck, and it was all rather underwhelming. As has been said by those above, there was a small, but noticeable contingent wearing masks (me included). I ate in the Kings Court in the evening and Britannia for lunch during port days, and room service for breakfast. It worked okay except for lunch in Rotterdam. For some reason the maître d' decided to seat everyone really close together on one side of the restaurant when the restaurant was empty. I have no idea why. Even if Covid wasn't an issue on ships, why seat strangers right next to each other on tables for eight, when you have a restaurant that is 135ft wide, with so many empty tables? It just doesn't make sense. This is meant to be a luxury cruise ship, not Wagamama (where everyone sits together on benches). It felt like eating in a barracks rather than on a luxury cruise ship. I did make my feelings felt politely, but it was like I was communicating with a brick wall. I checked on Deck 5 during the cruise, and all the starboard side cabins from 5009 aft to 5097 were blocked off, so 5 deck starboard side wasn't accessible from either A or B stairways. So, by my reckoning that is 45 cabins, so space for less than 100? I checked down on 4 deck and elsewhere on the ship and couldn’t find any more closed off spaces. The fire doors were shut for the closed off area with large signs saying not to enter unless in an emergency, but on one occasion I did see a guest leave the cordoned off area and he wasn’t wearing as mask. So not sure if the protocols on board are working. I heard plenty of people coughing and spluttering. I thought more people were wearing masks by the end of the voyage, but perhaps I had just seen more people over the course of the four days. The food was okay, nothing exceptional. In the Kings Court, especially at dinner time the choice seemed very reduced and there was a lot of repetition. It wasn’t self-service like on the QV in the summer, you were served by the King’s Court staff. The Daily Programme is in a different physical format that on the QV when I was on her in August. Is this something specific to the QM2 or do all the Queens now have this format? On the QV it was a folded A3 double sided programme, with lots of space for text about each activity in the programme. The QM2 version was much more condensed and just a list with very little detail. I didn't like it. Are they trying to wean us of the printed programme in favour of the online version? It's disappointing as this new printed version is not as good. The one thing that surprised me was the physical condition of the ship. She will be twenty next year so I wonder if she is starting to show her age? The crew were very active painting areas of the ship, but the upperworks and vertical (inaccessible) surfaces of the ship were looking very weathered and rust-streaked. I know she regularly crosses the Atlantic but she was looking noticeably tired. The hull, especially at the bow was covered in rust, and looking at the balconies, particularly the underside of the balconies above were bad, with lots of rust on the pipework. The lifeboats, on their orange topsides were faded by weathering and the sun. When on the observation deck under the bridge I could see the boards on the ceiling/underside of the bridge broken and sagging, and the (I presume escape) hatches from the bridge were rotten and had been poorly repaired. But it wasn’t just the outside, in my cabin the inside of the door to the balcony was rusty, with peeling paint. The area around the door handle on the outside was uneven with thick, multiple layers of repaint. Handles (on the desk drawer and one of the wardrobe doors) were broken/hanging off. The sofa was clearly dirty and worn. The bathroom smelt of the shower curtain (I never understand how a “luxury” cruise line can have shower curtains). In the library there were broken black-out blinds at the front overlooking the front of the ship. In one of the corridors there were missing lamp shades. During the last night, the steam generation system was shut down for seven hours (actually eight as we put the clocks back) for “essential maintenance”, so there was no hot water during that time. In the Kings Court, drinks and ice machines were broken and inoperative for the entire four days. Three of the “Commodore’s cufflinks” – her spare propeller blades – were missing from the fo’c’sle deck, so had been used to replace her existing propeller blades. She is a lovely ship but everywhere I looked I could see that she is getting old and Cunard are working her hard. She really needs a refit soon. The crew were working hard, but there were always trolleys in the corridor long into the afternoon so perhaps the ship is understaffed as on one day my room wasn’t tidied until the afternoon. I have no other criticisms of the crew as they were all working very hard, apart from the maître d. I hope people don’t think I am being picky or overly critical, as I had a lovely voyage on the Queen Victoria in the summer, but just found this one very disappointing. I am not quite sure what to put for my Feefo review.

She cast off this morning at around 9am, according to MarineTraffic, and is currently chugging along at an economical 10 knots on the way to Southampton.

Well the Balmoral left the shipyard on Wednesday morning (7th Sept) and is currently tied up alongside the International Passenger Terminal. Marinetraffic has her down as arriving into Southampton (very) early on 11th September.