P&O v Fred

[emam]

I was going through some old papers to get rid of when I looked at a P&O leaflet and saw a cruise which looked interesting. So I have just gone onto the big cruise website but thought that I would look to see what is available from Tyneside. So far it's mainly Fred's Balmoral with an odd Ambassador coming up.

 

What is the difference between Fred/Balmoral and P&O,  The price is coming up around £150 pppn for an inside cabin, a 9 night cruise is more than we paid for 2 weeks on P&O.

 

Also i'm wondering how the smaller ships compare for those of us who aren't good travellers.

[bobstheboy]

It's a no from me. One cruise on Balmoral was enough. Old shio, poor atmosphere, pompous passengers. I know some are fans but not for us.

[purplesea]

I have sailed once with Fred Olsen on Black Watch, and although the food, entertainmnet and service was good, the cruise itself was like a mystery tour. Without going into details, everyday was different to what it should have been,  and we got the feeling that we were being lied to at every turn!

[Dermotsgirl]

I did a cruise on Balmoral in 2018.

 

Obviously an older, smaller ship and fairly expensive  for the outside cabin (not a balcony)

 

But the food was good and we enjoyed the evening entertainment. No freedom dining, but we were lucky enough to secure a table for 2 in the largest dining room.  We liked to use the two smaller dining rooms for breakfast and lunch.  From memory there was only one speciality restaurant, a steak house, and the steak was fabulous.

 

The overall feel was similar to P&O in the early 2000's and the passengers pretty much the same to what you got on  P&O in term time, average age 70+

 

We enjoyed the cruise, and had book another one on Boudicca for March 2020, which didn't happen.

 

Our enjoyment of the cruise may have been influenced by the £10 pp per day drinks package - which was amazingly reasonable.  It had gone up to £15 pp per day for the proposed Boudicca cruise - not sure how much it would be now.

 

I might consider them again if it was an itinerary I really wanted to do, and the price wasn't too steep

 

 

[July morning]

Sorry we haven't sailed on Balmoral but have been on Braemar, Borealis and Bolletta (?) and enjoyed them our personal opinion (hard hat on) was that the food and service was better than P&O my husband says he has no interest in going on another P&O cruise after more than 25!  I did introduce my daughter and grandson to P&O last year but my husband didn't go and I'm doing another in October with them never say never 😂

My husband and I have been on two Braemar which unfortunately has been sold it reminded us greatly of P&O Artemis which was a small ship. I never experienced any pompous passengers on FO and have meet some lovely people who we still keep in touch with as we had such good fun

 

[Ardennais]

We did one cruise on Balmoral s few years ago (a very good price tempted us) and we had a great time, although we were the youngest pair by about 20 years! 
 

I quite often look at the FO cruises leaving from Liverpool, which would be quite convenient for us, but the prices are very very high, coupled with the fact that the balconies are mainly terraced balconies on Borealis. I can’t justify the additional expense. 

[kalos]

We sailed with Fred on Boudica for a one night to sample what they could impress us with .

Once upon realising we were new to Fred we were instructed to stand back as we will be

the last on board .This also went for a Beatles tribute band ,in the end an officer came 

off the ship and ordered them to let them board with all their gear .

On a good point they did a cracking Sunday dinner and disembarkation was good .

Loved the actual ship but ,sadly Fred was not for us .

[July morning]

I should have mentioned that the post C cruise we have done with FO were from Liverpool and Newcastle which was much more convenient for us and as someone else mentioned the drinks are very reasonable.  Package on the last cruise at the end of April was £25pp bought pre-cruise or £35pp on board anything not in the package was half price luckily we have always booked when it was free drinks package also gratuities were £5pp per day 

Edited August 5, 2023 by July morning

[emam]

My only reason for looking is a 30 minute journey to Tyneside as against a 9 hour one to Southampton. I don't drink so we don't usually buy the drinks package. 

 

I don't think it will be for us, the extra price, gratuities on top, fixed dining and the smaller ship, meaning more movement especially going North.  

 

Thank you everyone for your replies.

[July morning]

There are two speciality restaurants which are very at but as you say might not be for you 😁 we worried that everyone would be very old and some were😉 but they went to bed.

 We have also been on Princess and apart from when we went to Australia didn't rate them but that is just our experience.

[Eglesbrech]

We have travelled on all 3 current ships on Fred and Balmoral is my least favourite as it is very old fashioned now. The other two also feel more spacious with a greater space ratio.

 

With regard to pricing you can actually get a good deal if you are prepared to book late. They have recently offered second passenger free on some sailings in September / October. They also have a plethora of “special offers” so it is possible to get a bargain. We no longer book early because of this.

 

The actual ship- P&O ships win hands down, modern with specious public areas. Fred’s are all older but have classic lines and nice promenade decks.

 

Embarkation/disembarkation  - smaller ships means quicker both on and off on Fred and cases delivered quickly as well. Liverpool is more of a faff due to the location of the car park if you take a car but Newcastle is all very easy and quick

 

Cabins - P&O balcony for the price of an outside on Fred. Fred still offer turndown, chocolates etc and other little extras like a voyage log.

 

Food - Fred food is really very good in the MDR and buffet compared to P&O IMO. They still offer afternoon tea with proper sandwiches, clotted cream, hot scones etc. they also offer tastes of the region every day so you get to try something from where you are sailing which is nice. And @kalosthey still offer a great Sunday lunch roast.

 

Dining arrangement - no freedom on Fred. Fixed first and second with first being the most popular. “Freedom” is however a relative term.

 

Speciality restaurants - P&O have much more choice of types of dining but they charge much more as well. Fred’s two (soon to be 3) speciality restaurants offer excellent food and service but they both offer spicy food which we love but some don’t Asian fusion / Goan for just £10 pp.

 

Daytime entertainment - Fred wins here with an extensive programme of entertainment and minimum 2 guest speakers who are experts on where you are going or what you are doing. They offer crafts, ukilalee playing, quizzes, bowls, floor curling, martini tasting*, wine tasting*,  cookery classes (you get a demo, taste the food and the recipe), bridge classes, dancing etc etc.   (*fee applies)
 

Evening entertainment - P&O wins here with great stage shows, staging Limelight etc. nothing on Fred even vaguely compares and the entertainment is what you would expect back in the old days of cruising but you would still be entertained.

 

Tips - pre paid on P&O. £5pppn on Fred can be paid in advance or onboard account.

 

Service - better on Fred IMO. After the first night the bar staff know your name, what you tend to drink and that you prefer twigglets and don’t eat nuts (complimentary snacks in the lounges). If you prefer more choice of bars then P&O is obviously better on the bigger ships.

 

Fellow passengers - P&O have a younger passenger profile but that’s what they are aiming for. If like me you are let’s say more mature then the mainly over 50s profile on Fred is fine. Any children onboard tend to get spoiled by the doting staff. We have met with some really interesting people on both lines.

 

Ship stability - we went up to the Arctic in March on Bollette and were met with force 12, officially a hurricane. The ship did well in it and personally I never missed a meal (though lots of other lost theirs!). The ships are pretty stable actually. What we experienced was extreme and any other cruise I have not had issues. The biggerP&O ships are great in this respect as well.

 

We have been booking more with Fred recently as I’m really fed up having to drive 9 hours to Southampton, traffic hassles as well. Worth a try on a short cruise to see what you think at least. It’s just a pity one of the bigger lines won’t move a ship to Northern England / Scotland.

[tring]

The particular advantage to us on Fred is the itineraries, some of which can be really good and quite unusual.  As we sail for the locations, rather than the ships, we have in the past used Fred a lot and have a couple booked at present.  We have done/will be doing a fair few on P&O recently, including a round trip to the Caribbean on Aurora, last November when getting somewhere warm was more important than the itineraries as a lot of places still "no go" after covid, a 16 night fjords and Baltic on Arcadia, which was a good itinerary and the Canada/US for next month.  True you can book a balcony on P&O for the price of an outside on Fred, but for us it depends on the itinerary and we also benefit a lot from the northern departures, especially Liverpool, which is only a 20 min taxi ride away.  The chaotic dining on P&O is not pleasant, but we did find we were happy in the self service on Arcadia in particular, whilst Fred is more organised and far more restful IMO with better service in all bars and restaurants.  

 

Eglesbrech has given a pretty good, and more importantly, up to date assessment of the comparison, and I agree with most of it, though have never found the Colours and Tastes speciality restaurant food spicy, certainly nothing like Sindu, more oriental type food, not Indian and we have eaten there quite a lot.  I can never eat spicy food at night, so the Goan restaurant is not the best for me (nor Sindu), but have been to both a few times.  We have also sailed on all current Fred ships, though have never been on the three bigger P&O ones, with limited sailings on Ventura/Azura, though we did spend time on Azura last October, which at the incredibly good price was OK and the fly cruise helped as more ports, but the really big drawback for us was the really loud music wherever you went on that ship, which became very overpowering at times, even at breakfast time in the self service (we are never up early enough to make the MDR.  We are disappointed Fre dno longer do fly cruises.  We do not usually go to the shows etc, but appreciate a quiet bar at night and have enjoyed the observation lounges with piano and other low volume, restful music on Fred, whilst on P&O we generally preferred to just sit outside or on the balcony at night if temperatures allowed and because of Freedom dining problems, we often ate quite late as we do not like very early dinners.  So we would always want a balcony on P&O, though Fred's cabins are all a good size, so not too bad and there is plenty of outdoor space.  We found the public areas very cramped on Arcadia compared to Fred's ships, but Aurora is fine for us in the main.  The only daytime things we tend to opt into are the talks and we do find the speakers to be better on Fred and better topics.

 

As I said to begin with though, it is the itineraries which matter to us and all the experiences I have mentioned have been from since cruising re started on both cruise lines.  Going forward we do have a couple of cruises booked on both lines, for itinerary on Fred and for the balcony and good weather on P&O.  We have sailed on numerous cruise lines, at least eleven I can recall at present, but all on smaller ships and largely for itinerary.  Our favourites, Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery are sadly no more.  The other line we would still consider is Azamara.  We did travel on Ambassador last year and have decided that is not going to be repeated, a step too far for us and we can afford something better.

 

Edited August 5, 2023 by tring

[Windsurfboy]

Once you get to Fred's prices  Saga is a very serious contender. A bit more expensive much better in many respects.

 

Biggest problem with Saga is half their cruises go out of Dover or Tilbury which is a pain if you don't live in London or South East.

[gsmt47471015]

2 hours ago, tring said:

The particular advantage to us on Fred is the itineraries, some of which can be really good and quite unusual.  As we sail for the locations, rather than the ships, we have in the past used Fred a lot and have a couple booked at present.  We have done/will be doing a fair few on P&O recently, including a round trip to the Caribbean on Aurora, last November when getting somewhere warm was more important than the itineraries as a lot of places still "no go" after covid, a 16 night fjords and Baltic on Arcadia, which was a good itinerary and the Canada/US for next month.  True you can book a balcony on P&O for the price of an outside on Fred, but for us it depends on the itinerary and we also benefit a lot from the northern departures, especially Liverpool, which is only a 20 min taxi ride away.  The chaotic dining on P&O is not pleasant, but we did find we were happy in the self service on Arcadia in particular, whilst Fred is more organised and far more restful IMO with better service in all bars and restaurants.  

 

Eglesbrech has given a pretty good, and more importantly, up to date assessment of the comparison, and I agree with most of it, though have never found the Colours and Tastes speciality restaurant food spicy, certainly nothing like Sindu, more oriental type food, not Indian and we have eaten there quite a lot.  I can never eat spicy food at night, so the Goan restaurant is not the best for me (nor Sindu), but have been to both a few times.  We have also sailed on all current Fred ships, though have never been on the three bigger P&O ones, with limited sailings on Ventura/Azura, though we did spend time on Azura last October, which at the incredibly good price was OK and the fly cruise helped as more ports, but the really big drawback for us was the really loud music wherever you went on that ship, which became very overpowering at times, even at breakfast time in the self service (we are never up early enough to make the MDR.  We are disappointed Fre dno longer do fly cruises.  We do not usually go to the shows etc, but appreciate a quiet bar at night and have enjoyed the observation lounges with piano and other low volume, restful music on Fred, whilst on P&O we generally preferred to just sit outside or on the balcony at night if temperatures allowed and because of Freedom dining problems, we often ate quite late as we do not like very early dinners.  So we would always want a balcony on P&O, though Fred's cabins are all a good size, so not too bad and there is plenty of outdoor space.  We found the public areas very cramped on Arcadia compared to Fred's ships, but Aurora is fine for us in the main.  The only daytime things we tend to opt into are the talks and we do find the speakers to be better on Fred and better topics.

 

As I said to begin with though, it is the itineraries which matter to us and all the experiences I have mentioned have been from since cruising re started on both cruise lines.  Going forward we do have a couple of cruises booked on both lines, for itinerary on Fred and for the balcony and good weather on P&O.  We have sailed on numerous cruise lines, at least eleven I can recall at present, but all on smaller ships and largely for itinerary.  Our favourites, Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery are sadly no more.  The other line we would still consider is Azamara.  We did travel on Ambassador last year and have decided that is not going to be repeated, a step too far for us and we can afford something better.

 

Would definitely recommend Azamara , loved them and will look to sail with them again when a suitable itinerary and timing suit us , however they are more expensive 

[Selbourne]

7 hours ago, purplesea said:

I have sailed once with Fred Olsen on Black Watch, and although the food, entertainmnet and service was good, the cruise itself was like a mystery tour. Without going into details, everyday was different to what it should have been,  and we got the feeling that we were being lied to at every turn!

So quite similar to P&O then? 😂 

[emam]

Hmm after those replies I will have to think about things a bit more. The biggest advantage is the departure point. Hubby really likes the promenade deck and being able to go to the front of the ship on Ventura. Our last cruises were on Britannia as Ventura wasn't going to places we were looking at.

Apart from one Celebrity cruise the rest of our (not many) cruises have been P&O. We aren't in a position to book due to hospital appointments, but it gives us time to think about things.

[Selbourne]

Some really interesting and helpful comparisons have been given. I don’t know if this is still the case, but when I last looked at Fred Olsen (pre Covid) they still allowed smoking on balconies. This made them a complete no-go for us, so we looked no further. 
 

On that note, can anyone confirm what Sagas policy is? I can’t remember if I’ve asked them. If they allow smoking on balconies I will need to get a refund of our pre-registration fees!

[tring]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

Some really interesting and helpful comparisons have been given. I don’t know if this is still the case, but when I last looked at Fred Olsen (pre Covid) they still allowed smoking on balconies. This made them a complete no-go for us, so we looked no further. 
 

On that note, can anyone confirm what Sagas policy is? I can’t remember if I’ve asked them. If they allow smoking on balconies I will need to get a refund of our pre-registration fees!

 

Yes still smoking on Fred's true balconies sadly, but we would not pay for them as prices very high and often they are not included in late deals.  There are not many of those on those newer ships, but they are a good size, about the same as mini suite on Sky Princess, which we have been in.  Fred calls them junior suites and suites.

 

The terrace cabins go straight out onto the prom deck which is no smoking.  There are two steamer chairs reserved for those terrace cabins, but no table outside.  Also, no sun as the prom deck is covered over, but that would be handy in hot or rainy climates if you want shade or shelter outdoors, which I often do.  Other times I want sun though.

 

Our view is it is worth sticking to an outside, or even inside most of the time, if it is a good itinerary and since the ship is a pleasant place to be with plenty of deck space, unlike some ships.  We have not been on a terrace cabin, but would consider a upgrade to one for a 27 night arctic Cruise we are booked on next summer, if prices are ok.  Sometimes you can get reduced price upgrades near to the cruise date, but cannot rely on that.  All personal choice of course, but the northern departures do give another advantage for some of us.

 

Hope that helps,

 

Barbara

 

Edited August 5, 2023 by tring

[yorkshirephil]

We used to sail with Fred a fair bit as they had great itineraries and smaller ships, however the prices are considerably more than P&O for a similar experience. There are not many offers around on Fred albeit you can pick one up late if you are lucky. They must be doing something well to keep their regular customers at the prices they charge. The clientele is older than P&O and tend not to have a lot of children aboard in comparison with larger P&O ships. The more local ports are an advantage for us as we do not need to travel the day before. I would give them a try and form your own opinion if their style and pricing suit your needs.

[Selbourne]

7 hours ago, tring said:

 

Yes still smoking on Fred's true balconies sadly, but we would not pay for them as prices very high and often they are not included in late deals.  There are not many of those on those newer ships, but they are a good size, about the same as mini suite on Sky Princess, which we have been in.  Fred calls them junior suites and suites.

 

The terrace cabins go straight out onto the prom deck which is no smoking.  There are two steamer chairs reserved for those terrace cabins, but no table outside.  Also, no sun as the prom deck is covered over, but that would be handy in hot or rainy climates if you want shade or shelter outdoors, which I often do.  Other times I want sun though.

 

Our view is it is worth sticking to an outside, or even inside most of the time, if it is a good itinerary and since the ship is a pleasant place to be with plenty of deck space, unlike some ships.  We have not been on a terrace cabin, but would consider a upgrade to one for a 27 night arctic Cruise we are booked on next summer, if prices are ok.  Sometimes you can get reduced price upgrades near to the cruise date, but cannot rely on that.  All personal choice of course, but the northern departures do give another advantage for some of us.

 

Hope that helps,

 

Barbara

 

Thanks Barbara. We would only cruise with a balcony, so their policy of allowing smoking on balconies keeps them off our list. I’d also hate a cabin on the promenade deck. 
 

I completely understand the appeal for those who don’t live in the South though, with their Northern departure ports. We are only a couple of hours drive from Southampton and we were surprised at the number of Scots on our recent cruise. If we lived in Scotland, or even the North of England, I think that the appeal of cruising from Southampton would be severely diminished. I wouldn’t like the thought of having to drive for the best part of the day after we have disembarked and train or coach travel wouldn’t be options for us. 

[AndyMichelle]

4 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Thanks Barbara. We would only cruise with a balcony, so their policy of allowing smoking on balconies keeps them off our list. I’d also hate a cabin on the promenade deck. 
 

I completely understand the appeal for those who don’t live in the South though, with their Northern departure ports. We are only a couple of hours drive from Southampton and we were surprised at the number of Scots on our recent cruise. If we lived in Scotland, or even the North of England, I think that the appeal of cruising from Southampton would be severely diminished. I wouldn’t like the thought of having to drive for the best part of the day after we have disembarked and train or coach travel wouldn’t be options for us. 

Just wish P&O would enforce the no smoking on balconies policy more... 

 

We always seem to get talking to a family at disembarkation that has a late flight back to Scotland or Ireland, and are stuck in Southampton for the day with all their luggage, usually with children... Always feel guilty saying we will be home in 20 minutes😊

We sail from Southampton because it's easy for us, I wouldn't even want to travel to Dover or Tilbury unless I really had to, so totally understand using the regional ports. 

Andy 

[zap99]

8 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

Just wish P&O would enforce the no smoking on balconies policy more... 

 

We always seem to get talking to a family at disembarkation that has a late flight back to Scotland or Ireland, and are stuck in Southampton for the day with all their luggage, usually with children... Always feel guilty saying we will be home in 20 minutes😊

We sail from Southampton because it's easy for us, I wouldn't even want to travel to Dover or Tilbury unless I really had to, so totally understand using the regional ports. 

Andy 

We live an hour, or so from Southampton so it's convenient for us too. A couple of weeks ago we drove home from St Ives and are off to Devon for a few days next weekend. Graham and Pauline don't seem to be put off by the trek down to that Southampton. 😊

[Selbourne]

12 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

Just wish P&O would enforce the no smoking on balconies policy more... 

 

We always seem to get talking to a family at disembarkation that has a late flight back to Scotland or Ireland, and are stuck in Southampton for the day with all their luggage, usually with children... Always feel guilty saying we will be home in 20 minutes😊

We sail from Southampton because it's easy for us, I wouldn't even want to travel to Dover or Tilbury unless I really had to, so totally understand using the regional ports. 

Andy 

Yes, I think the problem now tends to be those who Vape, as many seem to think that no smoking rules don’t apply to them 😡

 

I know what you mean about Dover and Tibury. They are a pain for us too. I’m hoping that we can find a suitable Saga cruise from Portsmouth. I know that they offer a chauffeur service, but ours would be a shared one (as we are more than 80 miles away), which doesn’t appeal. 

[AndyMichelle]

37 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Yes, I think the problem now tends to be those who Vape, as many seem to think that no smoking rules don’t apply to them 😡

 

I know what you mean about Dover and Tibury. They are a pain for us too. I’m hoping that we can find a suitable Saga cruise from Portsmouth. I know that they offer a chauffeur service, but ours would be a shared one (as we are more than 80 miles away), which doesn’t appeal. 

Yes, we had a chap a few cabins along who thought it was constantly OK to vape on his balcony, nothing was done to stop him as far as I know...

 

I could cope with Portsmouth, that's 20 minutes the other way😊

Andy 

 

[david05]

10 hours ago, Selbourne said:

On that note, can anyone confirm what Sagas policy is? I can’t remember if I’ve asked them. If they allow smoking on balconies I will need to get a refund of our pre-registration fees!

Saga do not allow smoking on balconies.