Just back from Borealis. The 8 day Scenic Islands with Cowes Week - part 1

[Izzywiz]

My DH and I enjoy cruising with Fred Olsen but we also use many other cruise lines. We are fairly easy going (I think) and do not expect perfection because we are not perfect. 

This cruise replaced our 5 day Faroes and Orkney voyage which should have  taken place on July 17th but Borealis had some technical problems. Fred offered us a transfer to any cruise 8 days or less without penalty so we chose this one.

I am posting my personal views of the ship and the itinerary with some practical information that may be of use.

Impressions of Borealis.

Particularly liked:

• the deck 3 promenade is wide and circles the entire ship. 3.5 circuits = 1mile.
• All the crew members that we encountered were polite, helpful and pleasant.
• The main pool deck has a retractable roof.
• The ship feels spacious and I would expect that feeling to continue even when sailing with capacity passenger numbers 
• The production shows were excellent as the stage is large and it was much easier to see the action from the tiered theatre seats. The guest entertainers knew their audience and performed appropriate material….a comedian and a performer with a wonderful singing voice and skills on musical instruments
• Reasonable drinks prices.
• The 2 speciality restaurants - ‘Vasco’s’ for Goan cuisine and ‘Colours and Tastes’ for Asian Fusion cuisine.
• The way a lot of food options are plated in the buffet so it affords portion control. There were other choices like salads and stir fries where the server would plate your choices for you.
• The enforcing of the COVID protocols - wearing face masks when moving about the ship, hand sanitising stations, chair and table cleaning, servers plating food requests, marking own answers in the trivia quizzes, keeping pencils for personal reuse…… and more! 
• The hostess tray in the cabin.
• The pool deck café for lunchtime ‘light-bites’

Liked.

• The coffee card which gave 7 specialty coffees and a small bag of truffles for £15.67.
• The overall quality of the television options

Disappointed by:

• the lack of a music channel on the TV. The system on Boudicca had one.
• The choice on the film channel for me and other ladies of a certain age….too many films containing gratuitous violence for my taste.

Disliked.

• The drinks package rule that all adult passengers in the cabin had to purchase the package if they didn’t want to 'pay as you go'. I don’t drink alcohol so it would be costing us £40 per day instead of £20 (pre-cruise booking price)
• FO do not give real arrival and departure times for ports. 'Early morning' or 'late afternoon' etc are not particularly helpful when planning the day.
• The lack of evening dining time options in the main restaurant. Our preferred method is ‘anytime' dining where we choose our own time and table size to suit our mood each day.
• The only way to access the main restaurant dining area on deck 4 is by going to deck 5 and then down the stairs either by the door of the upper balcony or inside the upper balcony which makes it a bit of a trek for people with cabins on decks 2 and 3.

Surprised by:

• The limited choices for the main course at dinner in the main restaurant…..usually 1 fish dish, 1 meat dish and 3 vegan/vegetarian/gluten free options. Fortunately, there were some ‘always available’ choices and it was possible to mix and match food choices too.

 

[tring]

Thank for your comments, good to have a variety of opinions and not a lot of us posting here or on reviews at present.

 

The area of deck 4 without access is the kitchen.  It is ok once you get used to it, but we often get caught out by forgetting the access route many ships, though as a new ship we were doing that more often admittedly.

 

We have found reception are very helpful with giving approx arrival/departure times once you are on the cruise, though if course can change.

 

Edited August 9, 2021 by tring