Fred Olsen Excursions - too expensive!

[BORDER REIVER]

We're off to Scandinavia on Boudicca soon and were planning our excursions. We really fancied a "rib tour" on the Oslo Fjord and having done this sort of thing a few years ago, looked forward to another trip....until we looked at the price. £135 - £145 for 1 hour! They have to be joking! You can get 50 mins on the Thames for £35 and our rib trip on the West coast of Scotland was only£40 for over 2 hours.

We compared another tour of fjord cruise + city tour of Oslo £65-£75 with an identical one at £58 from another source. I know Fred's staff have to be paid and maybe a £10 mark-up isn't so bad, but £90 is ridiculous.

It's our first time with Fred and he certainly is expensive compared with P&O & Cunard. Has anyone else found F.O. excursions too expensive? We will make our own arrangements.

[CRUISIN LINDA]

We thought "Fred's" trips were quite reasonable compared to the American lines! They are ridiculously expensive:(

 

Love your signature!

[BORDER REIVER]

We thought "Fred's" trips were quite reasonable compared to the American lines! They are ridiculously expensive:(

 

Love your signature!

 

Thanks for the reply - we were just shocked at the cost of the rib trip in particular. We will possibly do one excursion and DIY the rest. I know 8 hour coach trips in Norway last year were around £70 - £80 with P&O, yet a 4 hour one with Fred is nearly the same amount.

 

My signature is a line from an old Scottish (some say Irish) folk song, called "Come by The Hills". I chose it because it's a favourite song and it sums up how we look at life now we're both retired.

[History addict]

We've just returned from a Fjord trip with P and O and also fancied their rib adventure. From what I recall their trip was even more expensive.

 

Both these companies usually have reasonably-priced excursions. I think the expensive element is likely to be Norway rather than these particular cruise lines.

[tiggertom]

Too expensive - compared to what? As others have said they are less expensive than other cruise lines. I think when you go to Scandinavia you will find out exactly what "expensive" means.:rolleyes:

[BORDER REIVER]

Too expensive - compared to what? As others have said they are less expensive than other cruise lines. I think when you go to Scandinavia you will find out exactly what "expensive" means.:rolleyes:

 

Compared to the examples given in my posts.

 

An 8 hour coach excursion (with a 3 course lunch) in Norway last year with P&O was £70 - compared with £52 for 4 hours with Fred Olsen.

 

A 2.5 hour rib trip off the West coast of Scotland cost us £40 each 2 yrs ago - compared with a 1 hour trip with F.O. in Norway - cost £135.....that's 8 times more expensive - even allowing for a couple of years and the cost of living in Norway, its a lot.

 

Even in Iceland, we got a 8 hour 4x4 trip onto a glacier for £170 (lunch included) - only £35 more than a 1 hour Oslo rib trip.

 

I know there's all kinds of factors that dictate price and, but we were genuinely shocked at the costs shown for the excursions on our cruise to Scandinavia.

As we were in Scandinavia for 6 ports of call (and 6 excursions) last year, we are able to make some reasonable cost comparisons between the two cruise lines.

It won't spoil our enjoyment of the cruise, but it will mean that we will make our own arrangements for sightseeing.

[KenQE2]

£135 for 1 hour would fall into the "not on your nellie" category for me - whatever it was*.

 

Excuse my ignorance - what's a "rib tour"?

 

 

* - with a few extreme exceptions (helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon, F1 driving experience, sub-orbital space flight...)

[BORDER REIVER]

£135 for 1 hour would fall into the "not on your nellie" category for me - whatever it was*.

 

Excuse my ignorance - what's a "rib tour"?

 

 

* - with a few extreme exceptions (helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon, F1 driving experience, sub-orbital space flight...)

 

 

A "Rib - Rigid Inflatable Boat" is a very fast, very manoeuvrable hard-bottomed rubber boat that takes you over the water at sometimes high speeds. The trip we did off the west of Scotland took us out to the Corryvreckan whirlpool and round numerous islands, stopping to look a historical sites and wildlife. Excellent fun and terrific value for money.

We did a fast boat ride through the Greenland Fjords last year at £90 for 3 hours, looking for whales and zipping in and out of icebergs - something we organised ourselves as P&O weren't doing any excursions there.

[KenQE2]

I've seen those going across the Bristol Channel from Cardiff Bay.

 

I think you would have to pay me!

 

It does seem an easy way to make money though. £135 each for, say, 10 people, minus some expenses... for an hour's work + some organising... hmmm!

[ISS]

Has anyone else found F.O. excursions too expensive? We will make our own arrangements.

 

When I started cruising I was recommended to arrange DIY excursions where possible by some "old hands" that I know. I have now completed six Fred Olsen cruises but only done two excursions. One summer 2009 and one this year.

 

Both of them I judged to be reasonably prices and both included "extras" refreshments on the first trip to a Calvados distillery in France and a cruise on Loch Lomond earlier this month.

 

But I know what you mean some of the excursion prices are over the top in my book. On the current trip I have just done one of the options was a visit to the Ffestiniog Railway from Holyhead - price £65! (I think that was with Ocean's Discount) The Ffestiniog Railway is not such a long run from Holyhead an hour or so - the train trip was only one way as far as I know. Being a Ffestinog Railway Society member I am aware that most party travel is just one way with coach picking up at other end.

 

Recently my local branch of the World Ship Society hired a 50 seater coach to take us on our annual day excursion. This year we went from Liverpool to Ullswater and back. That is a round trip of over 200 miles. The coach hire fee (it was during summer by the way) was just under £500 and we had the coach for around 12 hours.

 

Now how much does it cost to hire a coach for a much shorter period of time and for a much lower milage?

 

If one is doing an excursion one needs to be careful what one chooses not all are bad value but some are.

 

Now that most people have access to the internet it is very easy to plan your own shore excursions if you wish to.

 

But another thing to realise is that there is often a lot to be seen in the location the ship has called at anyway.

 

Ask yourself is there any real need to do an excursion?

 

ISS

[KenQE2]

That was my conclusion with the little experience I have - unless there is something of very particular interest, one might as well get the shuttle to the local town.

[Dartmoordan]

Generally speaking we have found Freds excursions very reasonable compared to other lines, MSC charged £50 for a walking tour in Italy. We often do our own thing in ports, you can find some good tips on the ports of call section of the forum. We have used a couple of the recommendations and found them to be exactly what they said they would be.

[KenQE2]

I've just had my cruise book through (despite currently being cancelled!) and the tour fares looked reasonable to me - around £50 for 4-5 hours.

 

My main concern is that, if I do go last minute, I won't be able to get on the few tours that I actually want to go on!

[LondonTowner]

My partner and I went on a Fred Olsen cruise to Norway in June. We, too were shocked at the excursion prices, even taking into account we were visiting one of the most expensive countries in the world. Also, I worked many years in the tourist industy and know the margins and mark ups on excursions.

 

I did plenty of research and we did our own thing in all the ports of call.

 

We are now booked on a FO Canary island cruise in November. As I lived for over 13 years in the Canaries we will not be doing the trips. We will be meeting up with friends and/or hiring a car. really looking forward to my stroll down memory lane.

[KenQE2]

As I lived for over 13 years in the Canaries we will not be doing the trips. We will be meeting up with friends and/or hiring a car. really looking forward to my stroll down memory lane.

 

This is exactly what I want to do on Tenerife (if I get there...), after several holidays I know the place quite well. Do you have any tips for hiring a car? It needs to be near the quayside!

[balf]

All the cruise lines use local agents for their tours, then add an additional amount as a booking fee and sell on the the passengers.

 

The only way that Fred could be more expensive is if he paid over the top to the agents or if he added a bigger booking fee than others.

 

Tours are expensive so it pays to be very choosy about what you book and where. The ship is often quite a nice place to be on shore days.

 

David.

[LondonTowner]

KenQE2

 

We will also be renting a car in a couple of places, including Tenerife. I will be doing it through Cicar as they have offices in the ports. They are a reliable company and have been around for years.

 

Which cruise are you doing? We are on the Boudicca departing 26/11.

[simonpjd]

Our experience.

Fred about 25% more expensive for the same excursion as P&O.

However both under half the price of Holland America trips. We paid $380 for a 2 hour trip there - float plane to Neets Bay to see the bears. Yes it was great but $380. Holy Moly.

 

As for the RIB boat - we did one with P&O at Helsinki a couple of years back and it was over £100 for 3 hours. Scandinavia can never be compared with Scotland over anything - it will always be many times the price.

 

We were in Falmouth recently and did a 2 hour rib boat trip there - £45 booked it ourselves. Has anyone been there on a FO ship and can tell us what they charged on board. Then we would know the %age markup.