Fred Olsen river cruise (Brabant) - think before you book!

Just returned from Fred Olsen river cruise - Rhine and Moselle and I would like to share our experiences to allow others to make an informed decision. I don’t seem to be able to do a ‘cruise review’ as the Brabant ship doesn’t appear on the list.

First for the positives. We travelled mid summer for less than £1000 each which is an excellent price and the itinerary is really good, particularly the Moselle river was a highlight. I never imagined the river would be so beautiful and the castles and villages were lovely.

There are a number of considerations for future travellers:

- the ship and staff are not Fred Olsen so this may not be consistent with your previous cruise experiences. We did not have any issues with the service on board but we haven’t anything to compare this to. We note that some other guests said they were disappointed.

- this is an older ship which hasn’t been renovated recently. If ship decor is important to you, this is probably not the ship for you. It was clean but obvious signs of wear and tear, seems quite dark and the bathrooms need to be upgraded.

- I guess that the average age of passengers was 65-70. I understand that this is probably the target customer base for Fred Olsen so if you are in this category....all is good. If you are younger (as we are), you may feel a bit like an outsider, although we did meet some lovely people.

There are two key reasons why we would never consider travelling with Fred Olsen again:

- the whole cruise was rough around the edges. The communication was amateurish, the ‘daily news’ was a wasted opportunity. The tours were predictable and would probably have been ok if they were free. For example, there was a 3 hour walking tour in s small village in 35 degrees.... The entertainment was basic. The onboard singers were fine but the ‘special’ German entertainment was not good. We also had a special buffet which was organised chaos. If it was the first time they did this then I could understand but I can only guess this had been a repeat of previous weeks. It is really disappointing that Fred Olsen are not using this as an opportunity to be distinctive as opposed to offering what felt like a simple and cheap offering.

- finally, we believe that Fred Olsen failed to adequately deal with situations when things go wrong. Unfortunately the cruise could not finish in Basel as scheduled due to low water levels. This was totally outside of the control of Fred Olsen but what was disappointing was how the company decided to manage the situation. We had an early connection on the last morning and the Fred Olsen organised bus was not suitable. When we spoke to the representative (who was polite and very visible on the boat) he said that the company was not planning to offer any alternatives and the best they could do is write a letter for our insurance company. In addition, we were told that they weren’t even sure where we would end up. This uncertainty and what felt like a lack of support from day 1 really tarnished our experience. As young (ish) people we were able to reorganise things but I could in no way recommend this to our parents or elderly relatives.....not knowing where they would end up and having to reorganise and finance their own arrangements.

We have decided not to travel with Fred Olsen again and trust that this review will help others decide if they wish to travel. We note that many of the other passengers are loyal Fred Olsen customers and have planned future ocean cruises.