Balmoral French Connections

[1160451]

Hi

 

Back from a week on the Balmoral, French Connections or something like that. With wife and 88 year old mobile Mum.

 

Great time. Anything you care to think about.... it was good.

 

Have cruised on Breamar and Boudica and the Balmoral is the best by a Country Mile.

 

Nothing to complain about at all, oh just a minute now, I rememeber I had to wait a few minutes for my toast one morning which ruined my day:)

 

For Dancers, (like what we are :)), great music and good floor space.

 

Was not overkeen on Ports of Call but the cruise was booked with my Mum in mind.

 

New Theme night, was Rock and Roll, we dressed up but were only 2 of about 20 on the whole ship. But it will catch on and is good music for the night.

 

Will cruise on the Balmoral again for certain.

 

All the above is our opinion as one poster below was not too keen on the Balmoral which just goes to show.

 

If anybody else was on the cruise wasn't Bernie Flint the best ever comic you have ever seen, we howled.

 

Take it easy.

[Marius]

We mwere on the same cruise. Brnie Flint was excellent but we thought that the best show by far was the crew show on the last night - fantastic.

[1160451]

Agree the crew show was very good, I liked the Bouncing Engineers:)

[Dartmoordan]

Hi

 

Back from a week on the Balmoral, French Connections or something like that. With wife and 88 year old mobile Mum.

 

Great time. Anything you care to think about.... it was good.

 

Have cruised on Breamar and Boudica and the Balmoral is the best by a Country Mile.

 

Nothing to complain about at all, oh just a minute now, I rememeber I had to wait a few minutes for my toast one morning which ruined my day:)

 

For Dancers, (like what we are :)), great music and good floor space.

 

Was not overkeen on Ports of Call but the cruise was booked with my Mum in mind.

 

New Theme night, was Rock and Roll, we dressed up but were only 2 of about 20 on the whole ship. But it will catch on and is good music for the night.

 

Will cruise on the Balmoral again for certain.

 

All the above is our opinion as one poster below was not too keen on the Balmoral which just goes to show.

 

If anybody else was on the cruise wasn't Bernie Flint the best ever comic you have ever seen, we howled.

 

Take it easy.

 

We are on the Balmoral in May next year, having sailed on the Breamar ( which we really enjoyed) twice now I was wondering in what way the Balmoral is better. Is it just more spacious or is it the show lounges or anything else.:)

[1160451]

Hi Dan,

 

The country mile was between the Balmoral and the Boudica.

 

The Balmoral is a larger version of the Breamar.

 

The main lounge has a raised stage with the seats sloping up so you have real good sight lines. In the Braemar lounge there was no room to pass but on the Balmoral its fine. The Dance floors in both of the lounges are much bigger than the Braemar.

 

The Main Dining rooms are very similar but the Buffet Dining area is much better.

 

We liked the two pools apart on the Balmoral, one on the rear and one on the top deck, unlike the Breamar that had all the pools on the main deck. But that's just preferance.

 

The Balmoral is bigger so more spacious, but certainly not too big like the floating shopping centres.

 

Food, service, cabins and drinks the same.

 

We would sail on both the Breamar and Balmoral again but not the Boudica.

 

If you liked the Breamar you will love the Balmoral.

 

Also the entertainment was better but of course that's nothing to do with the ship but the actual cruise.

 

Would rate Balomoral at 10 Breamar at 8 and Boudica at 5

 

 

But like I said one poster said they did not like the Balmoral so its just opinions.

 

Have a great cruise

[Floppydog]

We also had a great time on this cruise. My first time on Balmoral although I've been on other Fred Olsen ships, and I must say I also preferred this one. The entertainment was certainly better than on the others. Bernie Flint was excellent, and I still get a big grin on my face when I think about the dancing engineers on the last night! The Buddy Holly show for Rock and roll night was also a highlight.

 

We chose this cruise because of the itinery. The two days in Rouen meant that we could take the train to Paris on the first day (we saw quite a few fellow passengers on the platform doing the same) and still explore Rouen on the second. The only problem was that we arrived back from Paris too late for dinner - the Palms Cafe was just closing. I can't say that we went hungry overall though...

 

St Malo was also lovely. The Interceltique festival in L'Orient was also a reason for booking this cruise. My husband plays in a band himself, so spent many happy hours watching bands in the town that evening. Brest, I will admit, was a complete waste of time.

 

I even managed to dredge up some of my old O'Level French while we were out and about, much to the amusement of my husband and son!

 

A lovely cruise. Roll on the next one...

[Marius]

We also went to the Interceltique event - a great evening, I also play in bands so I appreciated the very high standards of the musicians.