How does Fred compare to P&O?

[Presto2]

Hi, just curious as I've noticed some members on the P&O and Thomson threads mentioning Fred Olsen. To be honest we have never considered their cruises before and are wondering how they compare to P&O & Celebrity.

 

Thanks

[Pugwash123]

Hi, just curious as I've noticed some members on the P&O and Thomson threads mentioning Fred Olsen. To be honest we have never considered their cruises before and are wondering how they compare to P&O & Celebrity.

 

Thanks

 

Irene and I have cruised on P&O Oceana some time ago and Celebrity Eclipse last year. We have cruised on Fred Olsen Braemar 5 times. We like the intimacy of the smaller Fred Olsen ships, you soon get to know many of the staff and lots of other passengers. It is also true that there seems to be a friendlier atmosphere on the Fred Olsen ships. Age wise we find that Fred Olsen cater for an older age group who enjoy a more traditional type of cruising, you will not find many Fred Olsen passengers complaining about having to dress up in the evening. The Fred Olsen ships cannot compete with the glamour and glitz of the newer and bigger ships or the multitude of alternative dining venues so do not cruise Fred Olsen if this is what you want. To put it in a nutshell P&O and Celebrity are good at what they do and Fred Olsen is good at what he does and while Irene and I do not preclude sailing on other lines, Fred Olsen is always our first choice.

[Presto2]

Irene and I have cruised on P&O Oceana some time ago and Celebrity Eclipse last year. We have cruised on Fred Olsen Braemar 5 times. We like the intimacy of the smaller Fred Olsen ships, you soon get to know many of the staff and lots of other passengers. It is also true that there seems to be a friendlier atmosphere on the Fred Olsen ships. Age wise we find that Fred Olsen cater for an older age group who enjoy a more traditional type of cruising, you will not find many Fred Olsen passengers complaining about having to dress up in the evening. The Fred Olsen ships cannot compete with the glamour and glitz of the newer and bigger ships or the multitude of alternative dining venues so do not cruise Fred Olsen if this is what you want. To put it in a nutshell P&O and Celebrity are good at what they do and Fred Olsen is good at what he does and while Irene and I do not preclude sailing on other lines, Fred Olsen is always our first choice.

 

Thanks Pugwash - we tend to be cruisers who do our homework and expect to adapt to a cruiseline, rather than expect a cruiseline to adapt to us (if you know what I mean). :)

[Julessmiles]

Thanks Pugwash - we tend to be cruisers who do our homework and expect to adapt to a cruiseline, rather than expect a cruiseline to adapt to us (if you know what I mean). :)

 

 

Give them a try; they do quite a few 'mini cruises' from various different ports around the UK which would give you a 'taster'. We have done 2 mini cruises with them & have booked a longer one for this summer - I'm really looking forward to it. As Pugwash says, they are smaller ships but they have a very friendly atmosphere, the staff are lovely, the food & entertainment is good & they are 'proper' ships! They do some really nice itineraries too and as the ships are smaller they can get to a lot of the ports that the bigger ones can't.

[comcox]

Irene and I have cruised on P&O Oceana some time ago and Celebrity Eclipse last year. We have cruised on Fred Olsen Braemar 5 times. We like the intimacy of the smaller Fred Olsen ships, you soon get to know many of the staff and lots of other passengers. It is also true that there seems to be a friendlier atmosphere on the Fred Olsen ships. Age wise we find that Fred Olsen cater for an older age group who enjoy a more traditional type of cruising, you will not find many Fred Olsen passengers complaining about having to dress up in the evening. The Fred Olsen ships cannot compete with the glamour and glitz of the newer and bigger ships or the multitude of alternative dining venues so do not cruise Fred Olsen if this is what you want. To put it in a nutshell P&O and Celebrity are good at what they do and Fred Olsen is good at what he does and while Irene and I do not preclude sailing on other lines, Fred Olsen is always our first choice.

 

I will be taking my first Fred Olsen cruise in summer 2016 and was curious about the evening dress code.

 

I've cruised several other cruise lines including Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery and they tend to have two evening dining venues--the main dining room in which some evenings are designated formal and others smart casual and a second buffet style venue which remains smart casual all evenings.

 

Does Fred Olsen have such a second venue with a more casual dress code? Also at what time does the ship offer dinner? Are there options for room service in the evening?

 

Thanks

[Pugwash123]

I will be taking my first Fred Olsen cruise in summer 2016 and was curious about the evening dress code.

 

I've cruised several other cruise lines including Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery and they tend to have two evening dining venues--the main dining room in which some evenings are designated formal and others smart casual and a second buffet style venue which remains smart casual all evenings.

 

Does Fred Olsen have such a second venue with a more casual dress code? Also at what time does the ship offer dinner? Are there options for room service in the evening?

 

Thanks

 

On our cruise next week we will have three formal evenings. I believe that the dress code for the other evenings is now smart casual as the informal dress code has now been dropped. I suspect that on non formal evenings a lot of the diners will wear a jacket if not a jacket and tie. The dress codes on Fred Olsen are rigouresly enforced which is something I like (once on P & O Irene and I were shown to a table where we had to share breakfast time with a man wearing a singlet, this was not a pleasant experience as he had particularly hairy armpits, when I asked why the dress code wasn't being enforced the Maitre de merely shrugged his shoulders). There are two sittings for dinner one at 1830 and the other at 2030. The Thistle and the Grampian restaurants have exactly the same menues. The Grampian restaurant is considerably smaller than the Thistle restaurant and is our prefered choice.We always request a table for eight people but there are a number of tables for two. The deck plans on Fred's websight give you an accurate idea of the Retsaurant seating layouts. The Palms Cafe is always smart casual at dinner. For breakfast and lunch you may use any one of the three resaurants but be aware that the Grampian tends to get quite crowded. If you are a wine drinker it is advisable to preorder your wine so that it will be on your table waiting for you, (on Celebrity last year we often had a 20 - 30 minute wait before the overworked wine waiter took our order let alone produced a bottle for us to drink). Room service is available but I believe it is light snacks only.

 

Carl.

[comcox]

On our cruise next week we will have three formal evenings. I believe that the dress code for the other evenings is now smart casual as the informal dress code has now been dropped. I suspect that on non formal evenings a lot of the diners will wear a jacket if not a jacket and tie. The dress codes on Fred Olsen are rigouresly enforced which is something I like (once on P & O Irene and I were shown to a table where we had to share breakfast time with a man wearing a singlet, this was not a pleasant experience as he had particularly hairy armpits, when I asked why the dress code wasn't being enforced the Maitre de merely shrugged his shoulders). There are two sittings for dinner one at 1830 and the other at 2030. The Thistle and the Grampian restaurants have exactly the same menues. The Grampian restaurant is considerably smaller than the Thistle restaurant and is our prefered choice.We always request a table for eight people but there are a number of tables for two. The deck plans on Fred's websight give you an accurate idea of the Retsaurant seating layouts. The Palms Cafe is always smart casual at dinner. For breakfast and lunch you may use any one of the three resaurants but be aware that the Grampian tends to get quite crowded. If you are a wine drinker it is advisable to preorder your wine so that it will be on your table waiting for you, (on Celebrity last year we often had a 20 - 30 minute wait before the overworked wine waiter took our order let alone produced a bottle for us to drink). Room service is available but I believe it is light snacks only.

 

Carl.

 

Thanks Carl for the detailed answered. I'm not a slob, like hairy armpits :D, but I also don't especially like dressing up formally.

 

Part of that is just practicality in not wanting to drag that much luggage all that way. I come from the western U.S. and, if travelling to the U.K., I am also including family history research time as well so those research notes takes precedence over dressy clothes anytime I'm afraid. And since my cruise is to the Arctic cruise I will have to pack some cold weather gear as well.

[Mark_T]

I suspect that on non formal evenings a lot of the diners will wear a jacket if not a jacket and tie.

 

Jackets have been getting a lot rarer on the non-formal evenings and both a jacket and tie even less common.

 

You certainly wouldn't feel out of place wearing a jacket and tie, but an open-necked, long sleeved, collared shirt is more the norm. What the American's would call a 'formal' or 'business' shirt.

[Presto2]

Thanks for all of your replies - it has given us something else to think about.

:)

[1160451]

A question about P and O v Fred gets dragged into another dress code issue.

For what it's worth with 25kg each, on a 14 day cruise, my wife has a different dress each night and I wear a jacket and tie every night, not the same one each night by the way.

And yes I am a strong advocate of the dress codes, and no I don't look down on anybody who isn't.

So back to topic......Here for what's it's worth are my thoughts on the difference.

We have cruised in the last three years with both lines.

Food better on Fred.

Service and staff better on Fred, but that's because the ships are smaller I think.

Entertainment similar.

P and O ships larger with more entertainment options.

P and O ships decor and style are more sophisticated.

More children generally on P and O.

Can always get a sun bed on Sea days on Fred.

Age group on Fred, 50 plus, wider on P and O.

AI drink option on Fred.

No 24 hour dining option on Fred unless you count room service.

Formal Night attire adhered to strictly on Fred.

No hard sell of photos, speciality dining, wine packages, jewellery etc on Fred.

Mostly British passengers on both.

British style entertainment on both.

More opportunities for Formal type of dancing on Fred.

Dance Hosts on Fred.

Fred often described as an English Country house atmosphere.

Library's often packed out on Fred, on P and O you struggle to find them sometimes.

 

All in all if identical cruises were there the AI at £10 per day often swings it Freds way.