richard_london

But are they willing to "throw good money after bad?" (i'm not saying Fred's product is bad). Cruise for Bonheur is not a core product and is a bit anomalous in a wind energy and renewables business, so my fear is that with Fred gone, as the biggest proponent for cruise within Bonheur, what appetite is there for a cruise business that isn't making any money? As other cruise lines are cutting Covid restrictions and reporting big surges in bookings Fred are cancelling cruises and will be operating just one ship for a period. According to the latest financial report, it is costs 8 million NOK a quarter to have Braemar laid up. As I look it the MarineTraffic app, I can still see the Balmoral still in the A&P yard on the Tyne. These drags on the bottom line aren't going away and it is all rather worriesome. The company needs a good dose of luck right now.

I think this is the crux of the matter. The pandemic has "broken" something for Fred. Either their loyal cruisers aren't cruising at all or they don't want to cruise with the "new" Fred Olsen product. I'm not sure which one it is, I imagine a bit of both, but I assume more of the latter. When I spoke with long-term Fred cruisers they spoke very affectionately about the Bouddica and Black Watch. I'm sure they are very much missed. The new offering isn't appealing to current non-Fred cruisers in sufficient numbers and the high prices are going to deter new-to-cruising people, when you can get a much better offering elsewhere. New cruisers to Fred would have to adjust to the product, and perhaps they wouldn't find it offered what they had come to expect from their preferred cruise line. Fred is very tradtional. I like that, but the cruise market is saturated with so many different companies all vying for the same people. But if Fred is to attract new cruisers by altering its offering, then it risks alienating its loyal cruisers. So I think the company is stuck in a bit of a bind. Trying to be delicate, Fred's loyal passengers ageing demographic and that isn't not going to provide any certainty going forwards, as people will beable to cruise less and less. So where are Fred going to find people to cruise with them? I have no idea what the future for Fred will look like.

It hasn't always been like this. But since they decided to milk their loyal passengers by offering the same product at my higher prices (and adding a few fripperies), the magic has gone. The management seem totally disconnected to how many of their previous guests feel about their prices and their product. Also, Fred like to portray themselves as a friendly, family company but as twotravellersLondon points out they are part of a massive conglomerate. Customer service can be appalling - back in 2012 days before the Balmoral did the Titanic Memorial Cruise Fred slapped a large number of guests with a big fuel surcharge fee. One cruise I did with them was struck with norovirus and the cruise curtailed. It was a terrible experience and customer experience and compensation was rubbish (I got the money back for the shortened cruise but all they offered was a reduction on a number of largely similar itineraries in a short timeframe, so I said no). Then, after the cruise, strangely no-one on the cruise got their email from Feefo asking for feedback on the cruise. Apparently there was an IT glitch! So despite liking their ships I've not always had the best customer experience. Which is why when they stick their prices up, for a couple of tired old HAL ships that Carnival couldn't wait to jettison, I'm going to look elsewhere. It's sad really, because I had two cruises booked with Fred before the pandemic, but I've just had no compulsion to re-book. I wish someone from Fred was reading this thread and more widely on the forum as I'm sure some small changes could improve their offering and attractiveness to previous guests.

Looking at her track on Marine Traffic, after leaving Copenhagen she was at one point doing 13 knots and for a while was doing mid-12 knots. So she's had to slow down even more now. According to a book I have the White Star Line Homeric, once converted to run on oil in 1923 was able to achieve 1.5 knots higher in speed, and that reduced her time to cross the north Atlantic by 24 hours! Although not the same distance, this reduced speed must be costing so much extra time to get back to Rosyth.

With Fred's bad news at the moment I thought I should try and book a cruise to show some solidarity with them. I looked at a number of itineraries and was staggered by the pricing for solo cabins. I've done a comparison based on the 8 day European River Cities on the Braemar (https://www.fredolsencruises.com/cruise/european-river-cities-m2410) Looking at advertised prices and clicking to book online first as a couple and then as a solo, which is my requirement 2 PAX Superior suite (SS) = £2,799 per person Suite (BS) = £2,499 per person Deluxe balcony (DC) = £2,299 per person Balcony (BA) = £2,199 per person Superior ocean view (A) = £1,749 per person Ocean view porthole (D) = £1,399 per person 1 PAX Superior suite (SS) = No comparable grade Suite (JB) = £3,399 per person Deluxe balcony (DC) = No comparable grade Superior Ocean view (advertised as ocean view but has balcony) (J) = £2,999 per person Single ocean view (K) = £2,599 per person Ocean view porthole (L) = £2,299 per person So some grades aren't comparable because there aren't as many single cabins, but the difference is astonishing. Suite is + £900 Balcony is + £800 Ocean view window is + £850 Porthole window is + £900 They are basically charging 150 per cent of the per passenger rate but that cabins can't accomdoate two people, all the photos show single beds. I can understand if I booked a two pax cabin for one person, that I would need to pay the 2 pax rate. So for the "privilege" of travelling as a solo pasenger with Fred, who like to say they cater for solo travellers, I am paying between £800 and £900 for a solo cabin more than my fellow passengers travelling as couples. I know Fred aren't alone in this, I do hate the single occupancy supplement. It should be banned. But in the meantime, as much as I'd like to show my solidarity with Fred I won't be.

Apparently, according to this article, the MS Victoria (the first ship chartered the Scottish government) is being chartered in a deal worth £6.7 million. The company behind the charter would get a cut of that, so not all would go to the MS Victoria's owners. https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/20581599.scottish-cruise-ship-deal-ukrainians-completed-bradford-travel-firm/ As the Ambition is a larger vessel we can assume the charter is higher than that figure. So I imagine that has something to do with it and it isn't an entirely benevolent gesture by Ambassador.

With the news breaking yesterday of the cancelled Bolette cruises and the Balmoral's propeller issue, all following on from Fred Jr's departure it's looking like a difficult patch for FO. It is worrying that they can't fill their cruises, we've discussed at length for a while the low occupancy rates on the three ships in service and it just seems to confirm the premature retirement of the Bouddica and Black Watch in the favour of the two larger HAL ships was a mistake. I do worry, I'm waiting for the Braemar to be back in service. There needs to be something demonstrable from Bonheur's leadership to get things in order, and show confidence in the company, because the cruise industry without Fred with be a lesser place.

Thinking back to before the pandemic started, the USP of smaller being best and bespoke itinerarites worked better with the smaller four ships Fred. had then. To me, this was exemplified by the Braemar's Cornith Canal transit. I think you'd have to look back to the Titanic Memorial Cruise back in 2012 to find an equivalent time when a Fred.Olsen ship was in the news and on social media. That transit was such good publicity for the company. Sadly it was beyond my budget, but I would have loved to have done that. Strange then, that the Braemar is still laid up in Rosyth when she is the only ship of the "new" fleet that could do such an itinerary. People get very attached to ships, and feel great affection towards them. Unceremoniously dumping the Bouddica and Black Watch during the pandemic and not even giving previous guests the possibility of taking part in a farewell season for both ships was a bad move. Bringing in two new ships and claiming they were like-for-like small ships that are so unfamilar and different from the Fred.Olsen offering has likely alienated some previous guests (I know it has for me). The pre-pandemic fleet had been with Fred for a while, so through the various refits their styles on board had become aligned, so there was a family feel that just doesn't exist on the HAL pair. A light refresh, just adding Fred style carpet and soft-furnishing is not going to make them feel familar. And given their age, I don't think they bring anything extra that the other ships didn't have, not when you compare to the Viking and Saga new-builds. Fred. have to have the Borealis and Bolette in service to try and earn the money needed to pay Carnival but it isn't working. The Q1 report says both ships were out of service for two weeks due to "a significant number of crew members having to quarantine" because of Covid. Then the latest Q2 report on Bonheur's website says an average 73% occupany across the three ships compared to 79% in the samer quarter in 2019. So it's not going Fred.'s way, partly bad luck but mainly because they just can't get their former cruises back onboard, either people are cruising less or just not at all. Clearly Fred Jr saw a good deal with the HAL ships, but it was only going to work if he could fill them with cruisers. Seemingly he has failed. So maybe that is why he has stepped aside. He's had a year with them in service, but his gamble seems to have gone wrong. As you pointed out, his own comment about loyal customers taking less cruises, that does seem rather self-defeating. If your ships are (on average) over a quarter empty that can't be good for business. Previous loyal cruisers such as ourselves are, I would say, "content" with the Fred. product, knowing the fleet is not the most modern or efficient. So the product is not a barrier for entry, it is their pricing policy that is. And with the cost of living and inflation issues we are having, people are going to choose the essentials over a cruise holiday. If you are new to Fred. and say you have cruised with P&O, Saga or Cunard, you would look at your previous cruises and compare to Fred.'s and would most likely baulk at the higher prices. Would you risk you hard earned money on a product you are uncertain of or feel is deficient compared to what you have experienced elsewhere? If Fred.'s prices were lower, then perhaps new cruisers would feel it was a less of a risk to try. However many sales emails you send out, they aren't going to entice me, £100 onboard credit isn't going to cut it. Please be sensible with your prices. This current management philsophy of the Olsen Way and pricing strategy just aren't working. The average occupancy rate proves it. Oh, and bring back the Braemar immediately. Unless this happens I don't see a bright future for the company. Unfortunately, none of us are getting younger, so some of Fred's current customers won't be their customers in ten year's time, so they will need to bring in new-to-Fred cruisers. If Fred. are serious about cruising, then they are really going to need a new build to compete with Viking, Saga and all the new expedition type cruise companies encroaching on Fred's traditional market.

It could be water quality? I know she has scrubbers, but I understand to operate in the fjords they need to be closed loop. But what about other discharges? When on a previous QM2, whilst docked in Stavanger (the last stop on the cruise, previous ones included Olden, Flamm and Bergen), a rather unpleasant smelling, oily discharge was released from the ship for a considerable period. It was right under the two shell doors just aft of the rear stabiliser on the port side of the ship. Does anyone know the source? See photos. It made me heave on first smelling it. I then went ashore and it was still "fizzing" to the surface, and still smelling awful. I was quite surprised about how blatantly it was being discharged.

Having cruised with Fred. before the pandemic, and having two cruises booked during the initial phase of the pandemic cancelled I've not rebooked and sadly I don't feel I will at any point soon. I've cruised with P&O and Cunard and Fred. Service on P&O is poor, but I've found Cunard and Fred. comparable, can be slightly better or worse depending on the cruise is just down to luck. But Fred. have always offered more interesting intineraries than the Carnival brands, who tend to repeat the same cruises each year. Fred. has much greater diversity and more interesting cruises. Fred.'s ships also had a greater mix of solo cabins. Those two things were the differentiators for me. But it is the fleet that is the problem. I love the Balmoral but I can't fathom why Fred. bought the two HAL ships, they just didn't sit right with the rest of the fleet. Being larger than the Bouddica and Black Watch Fred. immediately limited where they could go (Kiel Canal transit for example). Borealis is already 25 years old (but has just done one year of crusing with Fred.) and sadly it can't compete with Saga and Viking ships which are modern, efficient and better appointed inside. It feels a dated product when compared to other cruise lines and isn't distinctive enough to stand out anymore. And trying to step up with larger ships that than Bouddica and Black Watch in a market recovering from the worst of the pandemic and fill them to a high occupancy rate was always going to be a challenge. I was trying to think what Fred. stood for in my mind but I couldn't think what they are and what they are positioned as. I was looking on the Fred. website about the "Olsen Way" https://www.fredolsencruises.com/the-olsen-way but it is all quite meaningless. With cruise lines desparate to make profits after years of losses due to Covid, the market is ultra competitive and I sadly think Fred. are being crowded out. I'm mainy a solo traveller and I won't justify the expense of a Fred. cruise for a dated product, despite the nice itineraries. Solo prices for high-grade cabins are overpriced for what they are, so extra perks aren't going to encourage me to cruise again with Fred.

The Britannia Club on the QV is beautiful. As it was retrofitted in the 2017 refit it is a different style to the rest of the ship and compared to the QE. I much prefer the QV's BC over the QE but that is down to personal taste. The first two photos (the decor is blacks/golds/mirrors) is the QV, the other two are the QE.

Having got of the QV at the weekend, I spent a bit of time onboard comparing deck plans of the two ships. For the deck plans it seems she can carry 935 more passengers, but there seems a much higher ratio of Grills and Britannia Club suites/cabins on the QA vs the QV. The Britannia Club restaurant is much bigger than on the QV and while on the QV, the Queens and Princess Grill restaurants are the same size, they are both bigger on the QA, but the Princess is noticeable larger than the QG. There are more ocean view cabins on 1 deck, compared to the QV, so there are some additional Britannia cabins, but it seems much more in the higher grades. Although the plans aren't strictly to scale, the Britannia restaurants look a similar size on both. Looking at the top suites, the QV has two Master suites midships, and four Grand suites aft. On the QV the Master suites occupy the space of approx 4 standard cabins, and the Grand suites the equivalent of 5. There are now 4 Master suites on the QA, but occupying the space of only 3 standard cabins, and only 2 Grand Suites occupying the equivalent of 5 standard cabins. To me it seems the best suites are smaller, and there are less of them. Seems strange to downsize these, but is it possible these suites don't sell on some voyages and it is more profitable to have more Queens and Princess Grill suites at the expense of the top suites?

I think I was on the same cruise (V220)? We were Queens Grill so got there just before noon. The first part (immediately inside the Mayflower Terminal) was quick, they checked our passport, vaccination certificate and Boarding Pass and asked for verbal confirmation we had taken a Covid test and completed the health declaration. We were then directed to the check in but there was another screening step before, and we kind of had to repeat the same steps again, with them scanning the boarding pass. The final check-in steps was pretty much like the other two, not sure why there are so many steps. If you didn't do the online check-in they did your photo then. You don't get your key card, they are in your cabin. When we came to sit down, we were told embarkation would not be until 1pm. There was just one girl on the coffee counter serving so it was incredibly slow to get anything so I gave up. I am not quite sure of the time we got onboard, but going through the X-ray machine was slow. It was getting quite crowded at that point (we were wearing masks, as were about half-a-dozen others). Sounds like it speeded up, but once onboard we were told departure would be delayed as there was a traffic incident (the A34 I think) and a number of guests were stuck and had been on the phone to Cunard, so they decided to delay departure, which I think was the right thing to do. It wasn't the best check-in experience, but not the worst, and in the age of Covid I think it went okay.

Back from the Queen Victoria's V220 cruise and when we checked in at the Mayflower Terminal we just had to verbally confirm we had taken a test (we had). They didn't want to see evidence, even though we had it with us. So the system is easy to abuse, I think.

I am wondering why this change. Is it because Covid is declining? (The evidence would suggest otherwise). Is it because testing facilities are ramping down because there is less demand? Is it because (cost and potential inconvenience) pre-departure Covid testing was discouraging some passengers? I suspect the latter, if cruise companies need to fill ships then they will try and remove all barriers and get people to test themselves at home and rely on their honesty pre-boarding.

It's annoying because I had booked a pre-departure Covid test to get the certificate but there is an "admin fee" to cancel. Typical! The "fee" is less than the amount I would still have to pay out, and since I still have some NHS test kits I shall do one of those before leaving home and one before I get on the ship to be sure. I do hope people will be honest and to a test, but it does open the system to abuse. A dishonest person who tested positive but didn't want to forfeit their cruise could easily lie and just say they caught if from someone else on board.

Azamara have contracted V.Ships (https://vgrouplimited.com/our-brands/v-ships/) to manage their ships. V.Ships looked after the QE2 in Dubai once she was sold by Cunard and before Dubai converted her to a hotel. So they are a potential candidate. I don't know how integrated Seabourn's operations are, but I imagine sales, marketing and crewing for all CCLs brands are centralised so it would be difficult carve out part of that for the sale. It would make things simpler for the Saudis (if they buy the company) as they have no experience in this field.

And this is 2004 on the Queen Victoria in 2019. So this is a bit squarer and probably the smallest of the solo cabins but plenty big enough for one. I quess on the QE they aren't too dissimilar as they were all retrofitted.

Thanks for the great photos. They really are nice cabins on both decks. Looks like plenty of storage too.

Although it was before the pandemic, we ate in the Verandah at the end of April 2019 also on the QE. The service was very good and the food was excellent. The menu (if I recall corrrectly) was the same sample menu they have on the website (https://www.cunard.com/en-gb/activity-types/dining/the-verandah, click the dinner one). We had the beef sampler which was good, as I wasn't sure which to try but the staff were very knowlegable on the different types of steak (I think they showed us the different types on a tray/trolley). If I tried to get a similar experience on land (I live in London) it would be a lot more expensive.

Yes, on the QV and QE there is a passage way off from the casino area on 2 deck but you would never know as it is really quiet. Just nine cabins, but located there you are perfectly located for the theatre, casino, Queens Room etc. On the QM2 they are mid ships but slightly more on decks two and three. I count fifteen on the deck plans. The ones on 3 deck (like in the photos) are wider than they are deep, as they occupy the space of the former photo gallery (I believe it was that) on 3L Deck, if you recall the Art Gallery on the other side of the ship which is very long, the same sized space is shared four six cabins so quite generous. I've not tried one on 2 deck yet on the QM2, does anyone have any photos yet?

I was so surprised at the size when I sailed on the QM2, these are a couple of photos I took. They really are very nicely furnished and not at all undersized. I always go ashore or am around the ship so I don't miss a balcony.

I always found them to be cheaper, not by a huge amount but enough to warrant booking. The cabins on the current Queens are in a great location, on the same deck (or decks for the QM2) as the Britannia restuarant, so great to avoid travelling up/down stairs/lifts to get to the main public spaces. Plus tucked away where they were, they have always been quiet for me. Not on a thoroughfare with passengers coming and going, so no late night noise. The cabins on the QM2 are especially spacious for a solo cabin, and have lots of fans. They get booked pretty quickly when the new sailings are pubished so they are in demand. Also, for other solo travellers, it's nice to be in a little community together on the ship. So I am all for them.

Just received an email, as I'm sure have many others about this: ...ahead of her scheduled return to sailing, Queen Victoria is currently located in Barbados. She will be staying in the Caribbean for longer than planned before her dry-dock and will now return to full service on 5 June 2022 with her existing itineraries from this date. As a result, we are sorry to advise that your voyage has been cancelled.