Fred Olsen cruise

Hi

Would like to a cruise to the Fjords the mountain,waterfalls and Fjords on the Braemar only been on Thompson cruises can any one give me and info good and bad. ?

Thanks

Wolf7

Hi wolf...will try.

We cruise with Fred but have also cruised with Thomson, P and O, RCI and HAL.

Comparison between Fred and Thomson. As you know what Thomson is like I will say what Fred is like....

Well Fred is often compared with a British Country House. You will on sea days see many people reading and snoozing in the lounges.

Not as much loud music on the deck on Fred.

Age group on Fred 55 plus.

Not many kids on Fred.

More formal on Fred.

Food better on Fred. In our opinion.

Balmoral and Breamar are our favourite ships.

Fred has the AI for £10 per day, great value.

Entertainment similar, but Thomson has the edge for the Shows.

Sail Aways better on Thomson.

Tours similar.

Not a lot of pressure on Fred to buy extras. Low key Photo Staff.

Safe is free on Fred.

No extra cost on Fred to choose your cabin.

Service same on both.

More Ballroom Dancing on Fred.

Fred has Male Dance Hosts.

We usually end up on Fred because of the good value price and we do not like the large family ships.

We always check Fred, Thomson and PandO for our cruises, but usually end up with Fred.

Have a great time in Norway, we went on the Balmoral there. Fantastic.

I agree with what has been said above with Fred. We had our first Fred to Baltics on Braemar and loved everything. Booked Norway winter on Fred as we too want to explore more of Norway. We still love Thomson though, so choose what we want to do by itinerary.

We have cruised mainly with Thomson, but also tried Cruise and Maritime from Liverpool, and Braemar for a cruise around the Canaries.

Agree with all the points above about the differences. The food and the overall organisation on Braemar were better than Thomson. We missed the easy-going atmosphere that Thomson have- on FO it's very much "do it our way". Also the set meal times meant that you could come back aboard having missed the 12.30-2.30 lunch slot and have a bit of a wait before afternoon tea/dinner times.

There was little in the way of entertainment on sea days- we missed the plays, guest speakers, zumba etc.

Liked the ship very much- very well kept, plenty of deck space, nice roomy cabins.

kate

We have been on several cruises with Thomson & always loved them. In 2014, I tried a mini cruise on the Boudicca & was so impressed, we booked another mini & a longer cruise on the Balmoral.

I agree with what 1160451 says about Fred Olsen and I also agree with Kate about the organisation - it's very good with Fred & the food is superior to Thomson. The staff are lovely & very friendly & soon remember your drink choices & names - so similar in so many ways to Thomson.

Meal times aren't as flexible as Thomson but there is cabin/room service until 11pm - you can order snacks, salads, sandwiches, soup etc to be brought to your cabin for no extra charge or you can wait for afternoon tea.

We have been impressed with Fred Olsen; I have done 2 more fantastic mini cruises with them this year & have also booked to sail with them next year too.

I can't really say anything negative about Fred to be honest & have really enjoyed sailing from the UK; so much easier than airport hassle!

We have cruised mainly with Thomson, but also tried Cruise and Maritime from Liverpool, and Braemar for a cruise around the Canaries.

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There was little in the way of entertainment on sea days- we missed the plays, guest speakers, zumba etc.

Liked the ship very much- very well kept, plenty of deck space, nice roomy cabins.

 

kate

We did a 2 week Canary Cruise on the Balmoral & there was lots going on during sea days - guest speakers, games, port talks, quizzes, dance classes, golf, craft classes, Bridge games, Whist drives, fashion shows, tea dance, aerobics, shuffleboard, quoits etc & the infamous Dolphin Racing of course! We didn't do any of it as we prefer to chill out by the pool or use the gym.

One thing I did love about Fred Olsen was the fact they do none of this loud entertainment around the pool during the day ie cocktail demos, ice carving, music etc - it really is much more relaxing! We also never had a problem with getting sun beds at any time of the day.

The bar service is very good too - never had to wait for a drink & during the day, the waiting staff were forever coming around to the sunbeds asking if you wanted drinks etc - very good service!

We had some good sailaway & one sail-in party (we arrived into Tenerife mid-afternoon!)

Had a great sailawy leaving Lisbon under the bridge late afternoon & a fantastic outside deck party that went on until after 2am when we left Tenerife.

The drink package is not restricted ie with times - you can have the included drinks any time of day for example on a recent mini party cruise, the music was still going at 4am & they didn't call last orders until that time either - no extra charge between the hours of 2am & 10am like Thomson! (I'm not an alcoholic - soft drinks too are included lol!)

Thanks for the replays will see where best deals are.

Wolf 7

And the pools are HEATED on Fred!

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Although Fred have set meal times, if you get back too late for lunch, you can always order room service and it is FREE :)