Dining options on Bollette

[alanandpam]

We intend to take a round UK cruise in early June, What is required pre embarkation, post disembarkation is anybody's guess at this time So I will leave that conundrum to another post .

Some time ago it was mentioned that F O were going to use one of the MDR's as an anytime venue,  with plenty tables for 2, has this happened ?. If not is the bubble arrangement still in place, or can you sit at 2 up at the specified time. Appreciate the one can always go to the speciality venues at a booked time, or the buffet whenever. 

Would appreciate information from a recent voyager.

Thanks in advance, Alan and Pam

 

 

[Les_ldh]

I’m sure others will be able to be more precise, but I have recently booked a cruise on Bolette for March 23 and there was no option for anytime dining, only fixed dining. It was possible to request my preferred table size but it was not guaranteed. I hope this helps a little.

Les.

[Coravel]

In the main dining room (upper and lower) the dining times are fixed but you can dine at anytime the View, Vasco or Colours are open.  The latter two must be booked so you will know what time your table is available.  There are lots of tables for two in the View, Vasco and Colours but I can't say I saw that many in the Bloomsbury,   

[alanandpam]

Thankyou very much for the above, am beginning to wonder if it is worth all the faffing about .

 

Alan and pam

[Coravel]

Despite everything, we still enjoyed it.  

[tring]

On 12/16/2021 at 4:29 PM, alanandpam said:

We intend to take a round UK cruise in early June, What is required pre embarkation, post disembarkation is anybody's guess at this time So I will leave that conundrum to another post .

Some time ago it was mentioned that F O were going to use one of the MDR's as an anytime venue,  with plenty tables for 2, has this happened ?. If not is the bubble arrangement still in place, or can you sit at 2 up at the specified time. Appreciate the one can always go to the speciality venues at a booked time, or the buffet whenever. 

Would appreciate information from a recent voyager.

Thanks in advance, Alan and Pam

 

 

 

Disembarked Borealis this morning.  Fred is still saying they have no firm date re bringing in a freedom dining option, so does not appear to be in the near future.  You can ask for a table for two, but it cannot be guaranteed and the table are fixed so will be no more tables for two if freedom dining commences, though at present ship's are not full so a lot table for e.g. four are being allocated for two.  Unless you are in a Bubble with other people on an evening dining table, you. Cannot share tables with others for breakfast/lunch.  Some seats in theatre/bars still marked as not to.be used to allow for distancing.  Currently working well and you are shown to seats in the self service (which is not self service in the full sense).

 

As you say no one knows what will be in place even a month from now, so next summer remains to be seen.  Fred has an FAQ section on his website which is changed fairly regularly, so best to keep reading that from time to time and you will notice any changes.

 

[alanandpam]

Having just perused my Round UK cruise in June on Bollette, I noticed that in the description of the The Bloomsbury and Terrace Restaurants that in the 2nd paragraph it states that whilst fixed time dining is still "de rigour" flexible dining is now an option. So that answers my original question.

 

Alan and Pam

[LandC]

We have booked the Freedom Dining option for our Norwegian Fjords cruise on Bolette in July.  Just wondering if that is likely to be possible now.

[tring]

1 hour ago, LandC said:

We have booked the Freedom Dining option for our Norwegian Fjords cruise on Bolette in July.  Just wondering if that is likely to be possible now.

 

We came off Bolette last Thursday and I asked about freedom dining and was told they do not know of any plans for that, so personally, I would not be holding out any great hopes.  May be worth emailing head office though, nothing like an answer in writing 😉

 

 

 

[LandC]

Thanks for the advice tring.  We haven’t been on either of Fred’s “new” ships yet.  What did you think of Bolette?  I hope the food and service was up to Fred’s usual standard.

 

I have sent an email to Guest Services and will post here when I receive a reply.

[tring]

2 hours ago, LandC said:

Thanks for the advice tring.  We haven’t been on either of Fred’s “new” ships yet.  What did you think of Bolette?  I hope the food and service was up to Fred’s usual standard.

 

I have sent an email to Guest Services and will post here when I receive a reply.

 

Service and staff were great throughout, as normal, but must admit we were not at all happy with the food on Bolette, both for our recent cruise and also in last Sept/Oct.  The food was very greasy, for instance the chef said he was having all veg on plated meals "sauteed", saying it added flavour!! That means the veg are all covered in grease.  If you are in the MDR in the evening there is a choice of steamed veg (on the extras part of the menu), so we learnt to ask for those instead of the veg on the menu and salad items are available in the self service at lunch time as well as the normal salads on all the MDR menus.  There are enough people complaining about it though, so may be changed by July.  We have been on Borealis four times and found the food better there, but only once felt it was up to the old standard on one of those cruises.

 

TBH there were number of things we were not happy about on the recent cruise, but DH drove back home last Thursday not feeling well and tested positive for covid on return.  I stayed negative for a couple of days, but have succumbed now.  I cannot blame the ship for that though as we were out in all three ports (Amsterdam, Hamburg and Antwerp), with over nights in each and restrictions in their bars etc. all lifted now, (apart from having to prove vaccine status in Germany) so can find yourself in quite crowded bars.  Was a great itinerary and we really enjoyed the chance to go out in a way we did pre-covid.  There is still social distancing on the ships, with seats marked as not available, so not that likely we had picked it up there, but could have done.  They had to cancel the normal shows on the last couple of nights as most of the sound/light techs had gone down with the bug.

 

I will do a review of the recent cruise when I am feeling better.

 

 

 

Edited March 27, 2022 by tring

[Coravel]

Really sorry to hear you both have Covid Barbara.  Not the best ending to a cruise!  When we received our questionnaire  for last December's cruise we mentioned that the food was not up to the traditional standard so it's disappointing to learn that they have not taken any action.  Did you still have to wear the tracing wristbands?   

[Britboys]

21 hours ago, tring said:

 

Service and staff were great throughout, as normal, but must admit we were not at all happy with the food on Bolette, both for our recent cruise and also in last Sept/Oct.  The food was very greasy, for instance the chef said he was having all veg on plated meals "sauteed", saying it added flavour!! That means the veg are all covered in grease.  If you are in the MDR in the evening there is a choice of steamed veg (on the extras part of the menu), so we learnt to ask for those instead of the veg on the menu and salad items are available in the self service at lunch time as well as the normal salads on all the MDR menus.  There are enough people complaining about it though, so may be changed by July.  We have been on Borealis four times and found the food better there, but only once felt it was up to the old standard on one of those cruises.

 

TBH there were number of things we were not happy about on the recent cruise, but DH drove back home last Thursday not feeling well and tested positive for covid on return.  I stayed negative for a couple of days, but have succumbed now.  I cannot blame the ship for that though as we were out in all three ports (Amsterdam, Hamburg and Antwerp), with over nights in each and restrictions in their bars etc. all lifted now, (apart from having to prove vaccine status in Germany) so can find yourself in quite crowded bars.  Was a great itinerary and we really enjoyed the chance to go out in a way we did pre-covid.  There is still social distancing on the ships, with seats marked as not available, so not that likely we had picked it up there, but could have done.  They had to cancel the normal shows on the last couple of nights as most of the sound/light techs had gone down with the bug.

 

I will do a review of the recent cruise when I am feeling better.

 

 

 

So sorry to hear Covid has got you Barbara. Hope your symptoms are/stay mild and you both feel better very soon. Take care,

Andrew

[tring]

55 minutes ago, Britboys said:

So sorry to hear Covid has got you Barbara. Hope your symptoms are/stay mild and you both feel better very soon. Take care,

Andrew

 

Thanks, we are not too bad, just a bit if a cough and felt whacked for a couple of days. Allan getting a bit better now, but still testing positive..  I was two day's later with a positive test, (Saturday for me), but it seems to have become a bacterial chest infection now, which is something all my colds tend to develop into as I am.mildly asthmatic.  From old I know that will.not go easily, but is nothing unusual for me.  Thing is we can now happily go on other holidays/breaks in the next few months with.little chance of reinfection, so some good has come of it.  At 72, we are too young for the spring vaccinations, so a useful extra immune boost imo.

 

Allan had an oxygen metre {one of those finger clips) delivered by the local health authority for him to report back three times a day and I have been asked to take part in an anti viral study for positive cases, (if I am considered suitable) so still stuff going on.

 

Hope you enjoy the summer - are you retired now?

 

Barbara

 

[tring]

3 hours ago, Coravel said:

Really sorry to hear you both have Covid Barbara.  Not the best ending to a cruise!  When we received our questionnaire  for last December's cruise we mentioned that the food was not up to the traditional standard so it's disappointing to learn that they have not taken any action.  Did you still have to wear the tracing wristbands?   

 

We are OK as mentioned previously.  Yes lots of complaints re the grease, even on our Sept/ Oct cruise.  One of my meals got sent back as it had a quarter inch depth of oil floating around a piece of fish, but luckily the baked potato and steamed veg were in different dishes.  The chef said the fish should definitely not have been like that.  We bumped into him a few times on the ship and when going out in the evening in Antwerp, (his home city), and he is a nice guy, but just does not seem able to grasp that Brits do not like very greasy food, though insisted he was happy for something else to be prepared for me!  It does not even seem to be due to cutbacks, unless for some reason that makes stuff easier to prepare - makes us wonder if most food is partly cooked and then popped in oil to warm it up. 

 

Borealis food has been far better though, which we had put down to a French sous chef (I think she said she had Caribbean ancestry, so you would not originally think she was French). She was both highly efficient and obviously very capable.  I mentioned her in my first review post covid.

 

Yes tracing bands and social distancing very much still in place, but only 535 pax on the recent cruise, as with most of our others, but some cruises are much more popular and have had a higher occupancy, as can be seen by the prices charged for the late bookings.  A knowledgeable member of the P&O boards reckons the half empty ships will stop as the summer season comes in due to relaxed covid rules, so the future of all cruising remains to be seen.  That 70% max occupancy, (as per all cruises whilst covid restrictions in place), on Fred's smaller ships will hardly be cost efficient though.  In Dec the Captain on Borealis said the company were still loosing cash big time, though of course two ships are still.laid up.  We got the feeling they had hoped for a better progression towards "normality", or something like it.  Our thoughts are moving towards land hols, perhaps more in the UK for the summer, as we tend to have always gone away mainly in the winter, to escape the cold 🙂

 

Barbara

 

 

Edited March 28, 2022 by tring

[Britboys]

44 minutes ago, tring said:

 

Thanks, we are not too bad, just a bit if a cough and felt whacked for a couple of days. Allan getting a bit better now, but still testing positive..  I was two day's later with a positive test, (Saturday for me), but it seems to have become a bacterial chest infection now, which is something all my colds tend to develop into as I am.mildly asthmatic.  From old I know that will.not go easily, but is nothing unusual for me.  Thing is we can now happily go on other holidays/breaks in the next few months with.little chance of reinfection, so some good has come of it.  At 72, we are too young for the spring vaccinations, so a useful extra immune boost imo.

 

Allan had an oxygen metre {one of those finger clips) delivered by the local health authority for him to report back three times a day and I have been asked to take part in an anti viral study for positive cases, (if I am considered suitable) so still stuff going on.

 

Hope you enjoy the summer - are you retired now?

 

Barbara

 

Good to hear. Your symptoms sound very similar to those a friend of mine has recently had.

I effectively retired 6 years ago but am pleased to say that I am now in receipt of my occupational pension!

[LandC]

On 3/27/2022 at 2:08 PM, tring said:

 

We came off Bolette last Thursday and I asked about freedom dining and was told they do not know of any plans for that, so personally, I would not be holding out any great hopes.  May be worth emailing head office though, nothing like an answer in writing 😉

 

 

 

Tring, I’ve had a reply from Guest Services.  Freedom dining is not an option at the moment, so we are now booked for fixed dining, second sitting!  I hope you feel better soon.

[Coravel]

Thanks for the information Barbara.  It's not very encouraging but we are unlikely to switch cruise lines at this stage.  I qualify for a 4th jab but Mrs Clive is the same age as yourself so is too young.  As you say, there are other types of holidays available including fantastic train journeys.  We once went on the Orient Express which was truly wonderful.  And we did a train journey to the Dordogne a few years ago too.   

[jeanlyon]

Just when I was thinking of switching to Fred, don't like the sound of the food 😞

[July morning]

Jean, hopefully won't be like this when we go certainly wasn't on our previous ones.

We were keen P&O customers lots of cruises with them but when they went big and we had bad service on the last few cruise decided to try FO and found them to be better fit (IMO) we have been on three now two on Braemar, Amazon great time so different.  The Caribbean but different ports from P&O as we've been to the Caribbean at least six times with P&O.  Last August we went on Borealis and we are on her again on the 9th of June.  We found the food to be hot when it was meant to be (LOL) and the entertainment was good thought Funky Blue was one of the best house bands we've had on a ship.