seymour12

Keithm, the issue was with the service on board not the ship itself.

flamomo, how long have you got?

SwissDave, I am not prepared to accept a lack of civility or low service standards considering the cost of the product.

Good Morning Sir,

Having just completed our first cruise on Crown Princess to the North Cape I would not recommend this Cruise line to anyone.

We have cruised with Thomson, Fred Olsen, P&O and Holland America so have just a vague idea of what we should expect. Sadly, as far as we (and a number of other guests were concerned) Princess Cruises did not deliver the goods and it was obvious that they had no intention in attempting to solve problems.

"If you are in a hole it is usually a good idea to stop digging" is not a sentiment that they recognised.

Thanks for the information FinnishFun.

It is just a pity that HAL are not prepared to answer any questions and leave it to their "customers".

We are booked on the 13-NIGHT NORTHERN LIGHTS cruise on ms Rotterdam 13 - 26 Sept 2015.

Does anyone know if shuttle buses are provided between the ship's berth at Breivika and the town centre?

We have tried asking HAL but to date no reply.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

The only reason that I queried the experience on Ryndam is that we have heard a few horror stories from previous cruisers and reviews on this site are not particularly favourable.

I totally agree regarding glitzy ships. A local travel agent was most enthusiastic about the adventure facilities on some ships and just could not understand why you would not want to travel on such a ship.

The Ryndam spec looks good and having seen her berthed at Parkeston Quay (Harwich) in the past she looks to be just the right size of ship for us.

Thanks for the replies.

As to the HAL (Ryndam) cruises, we have been put off by the numerous negative reviews of cruises on this ship, both from internet sources and other known cruisers.

This is a pity because Harwich is our local port, very easy to reach and as such we do not have a day long journey (minimum) before we meet the ship.

Anyone know of any cruise lines departing from UK preferably to visit the North Cape (Norway)?

Enquiries with P&O were met with complete indifference "it's difficult to give any advice on cabin grades", "your guess is as good as mine, just look in the brochure that is what I have to do".

Past experience of a complete lack of customer care (or even any response) from Fred Olsen rules them out.

It appears that Holland America line should also be avoided like the plague.

Any help would be very much appreciated.