Eastanglian

City Forex ....

We are going on a Baltic cruise with about 6 different currencies and at face value this seems to be a good offer.

Has anyone used this facility before and what comments would you make about it?

I usually use my local branch of Thomas Cook, for our recent Baltic cruise I just needed a small amount of currency in Euros, Danish & Swedish Kroner & Roubles, all got OK from Thomas Cook except for the Roubles which they no longer order in so i went on the Fred website and ordered them through City Forex & collected them onboard ship, it worked very well and I cashed them back onboard, I only ordered a small amount as we were doing excursions the whole time in St Petersburg so I only bought a few books, I could have used a credit card but preferred not to in Russia.

Do Fred Olsen have Sailaway Deck Parties on their summer cruises & if so how often usually?

We have just returned from a Baltic cruise on Balmoral and there were several sailaway deck parties, I love them, nothing beats sitting out in the sun enjoying a drink while the band plays as the ship moves off, especially as happened a couple of times when there is another massive cruise ship just ahead of us with people looking enviously across at the FO crowd having a great time on our 'little ship' 🌞

The dreaded question... Does anyone know if balmoral has the noro still? I know it was plagued for sometime!!

We just got back on Saturday from a very enjoyable 14 day Baltic cruise on Balmoral, there were extra measures on board for the first 3 days, servers at all the buffets, frequent announcements to wash hands regularly, after the first few days the buffets were returned to self-service. The ship was kept extremely clean and there were no outbreaks as far as we were aware, they even had someone on each excursion bus with hand sanitizers, for the first 3 days they had toilet attendants in all the public loos on board to remind people to wash their hands, there were also crew constantly wiping down handrails on the ship throughout the cruise, I suppose some people thought it was overkill but the virus is caused by bad hygiene it is not airborne and is caught orally, unfortunately I saw people who couldn't be bothered to wash their hands so it seems it was necessary to have these measures. Its interesting that FO has been in the news alot about noro virus when it is not just them an MSC ship cut a cruise from Harwich short in June because of it and there have been outbreaks on P&O and others. I was satisfied that FO did everything they possibly could while we were onboard.

I think you will love it and the food is far better than I have experienced on any other cruise line. I think it is a bit of a fallacy about only elderly people cruising with Fred. On our recent cruise every decade was well represented from children to people in their eighties.

You are right, there are alot of oeople in their 70's or older but we also met people our age, 60's, and we were told they are expecting quite a few children on Balmoral this week, we have noticed that grandparents who like FO often bring the grandchildren along. I have met some lovely older people on FO cruises who are really interesting to talk to.

In reply to previous posts we are 62 & 60 and have done FO cruises for the last 3 years & just returned from Scandinavian & Baltic cruise, first time on Balmoral as previous two cruises were on Braemar. All the cruises were lovely we have done a Norway Fjord one & Arctic Circle one both from Dover on Braemar and the last one was from Southampton on Balmoral. The food is excellent and we found the entertainment to be of a high standard, for example on this last cruise we enjoyed a pre-dinner drink in the Lido Bar while watching an excellent Cabaret on several nights, and on other nights music in the same bar from 4th Dimension band, then on to an excellent dinner in the Ballindolach restaurant followed by a show in the Neptune lounge, we were second sitting for dinner which suits us so after the show it would be 10.45 pm and we could go on to the Lido Bar again for more 4th Dimension followed by the late night Disco, or on some nights up to the Observatory Bar for the late night Comedy Club. We enjoy the Formal nights as don't get the chance to dress up much to go out at home, but for those who don't then you can opt to go to The Palms restaurant for dinner instead. I read the forum posts and am often sad to see disparaging posts about FO ships from people who have previously been on the larger ships which perhaps have more wow factor with ice rinks, climbing walls and umpteen dining options this is am unfair comparison to make as FO does not offer this, theirs are smaller intimate ships and so they can get directly into the smaller ports, we went down the Keil Canal this time and on previous cruises have detoured down small Fjords in the evenings as an added bonus. We spend alot of time on deck watching the ship go into the sea locks or docking and you really feel closely connected to the ship and part of the action. Yes the FO clientele tends to be older but this is possibly because the UK departures appeal to older people, but also they are very loyal to FO and keep returning year after year. We have met lovely people from all walks of life and all ages.