New Fly Cruises

[Eglesbrech]

I have just noticed the new fly cruises from Fred for 2025. They are offering charter flights from London and Manchester.

 

They are offering some interesting trips.

[cymrucat23]

Yes I saw these Eglesbrech, but honestly I'm not interested in flying anywhere, ever again, if I can help it 😕. 

[tring]

These are not really new cruises, but a splitting up of the Bolette world cruise for next January which was put on sale quite some time ago.  I was taken with the itinerary when I first saw it since it goes around the southern hemisphere without transiting Pananma or Suez.  As fly cruises though, that makes all of the flights pretty long, so not, imo, that appealing at all.  Admittedly though, a bit different to the other world cruises and sectors of them.

[Eglesbrech]

17 hours ago, tring said:

These are not really new cruises, but a splitting up of the Bolette world cruise for next January which was put on sale quite some time ago.  I was taken with the itinerary when I first saw it since it goes around the southern hemisphere without transiting Pananma or Suez.  As fly cruises though, that makes all of the flights pretty long, so not, imo, that appealing at all.  Admittedly though, a bit different to the other world cruises and sectors of them.

The ones I saw were next September onward to Italy, Greek Islands etc flying charter from London or Manchester.

[tring]

35 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

The ones I saw were next September onward to Italy, Greek Islands etc flying charter from London or Manchester.

 

Do you mean next September, 2024, or September 2025?  The Balmoral ones, in autumn 2025 are from a long cruise, (I think almost 60 nights), which was split up into numerous fly cruises (overlapping in some cases) from when the winter 2025/26 cruises went on sale a while back, and yes, they do include flights.  Fred sent an email out in the last week saying new fly cruises, but they seemed to be the breakdown of the world cruise next January.

 

We needed to move a 27 night cruise we had booked for July/Aug this year, earlier this year and booked Balmoral Civittavechia to Málaga instead.  It includes a number of ports we have not been to, which is good, though we are disappointed the call to Istanbul is only for one day.  We have been to Istanbul previously for a day and a half, but the full day was when The blue Mosque and other places were closed for most of the day, (and the grand bazaar closed all day), which was a shame.  We had flown out to Istanbul at the start of that cruise, so were not able to do much the first part day either.

 

It was very difficult finding a cruise to change a 27 night one to, as Fred is not doing many long cruises now.  We were thinking of just loosing the deposit, but it was a fairly big deposit, so thought we would change it for now.  

Edited July 2 by tring

[Eglesbrech]

@tring September 2025. I hadn’t seen the longer one but did see the “new” ones. So it’s a split then.
 

We looked at one of the split cruise including Istanbul this year but could not get a suitable flight so charters are an attraction, even if it is Manchester airport.

[tring]

8 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

@tring September 2025. I hadn’t seen the longer one but did see the “new” ones. So it’s a split then.
 

We looked at one of the split cruise including Istanbul this year but could not get a suitable flight so charters are an attraction, even if it is Manchester airport.

 

Those Balmoral cruises were all  new in at the start of March this year, when that season went on sale.  Not all of the fly cruises were in the brochure, but they were (and still are) on the website if you search for Balmoral fly cruises - I have just checked now and all are still there.  For instance from Civitavecchia, you can book 10,18, 30 or 37 nights.  The letter which came with the brochure mentioned the fly cruises, making a big point of them in the second paragraph.  

 

We transferred to the 30 night one soon after it went on sale, in March, partly chosen on price as we had to equal at least 75% our outside cabin price on the Canada/Greenland cruise which we would have taken later this month.  We were only prepared to book the cheapest cabin grade with Fred this time, so have got a mid ship deck four inside for now, but may upgrade if given a good price option.  I am not sure if it is one of those L shaped cabin arrangements, which we hate, but we did not want to pay any more deposit to transfer as we were not happy with the last Fred cruise, roundtrip Caribbean last Nov/Dec.  We chose flights out to Civitavecchia from Manchester on booking, but although the online booking system does not mention the return flights from Malaga, we still have those included on a TBA basis.  We have not been told which airline is being used for the flight out, but probably a cheap option.

 

Short fly cruises can be extremely expensive, so we always go for longer ones anyway and the Oceans + affinity discounts help a bit, though still pricy compared to other cruise lines.  We should get our table for two in The Spey restaurant though, for the days we want to eat there.  There are some overnights at the turn around ports, which we like, and a few new ports for us, so more like an Azamara Itinerary, than the main cruise lines.  It does include the infamous port of Santorini, which did not sound good, but as it is out of the Med cruise season by the time we call there, we seem to be alone in port, but we will see.  As it is late season, the weather may be iffy with bad storms often cropping up in the Med at that time, but at least we have a midship cabin and will not be changing to anything anywhere other than midship if we do upgrade.  Quite a number of port days as well, for the length of cruise.  What we are not happy about is that, being a longer cruise (I think over about 28 nights), Fred wants an extra 15% deposit (so 30% total deposit) six months prior to the cruise, which would put us off booking with him, if it had not been scratching to find something to transfer to.  At our age it is too risky for a large cost as medical issues can arise anytime.

 

We have only been on Balmoral once since covid and it was very soon after she started sailing, when things were not going well, but are hoping things have improved.  We do prefer her to Fred's newer ships, partly because of the Spey and Avon and also because the seating is much better in the lounges, e.g. all those bucket chairs by the observation lounge windows, and she has far better outside decks with a clear view from the ship.  So will be interesting to try her again, though Fred is not our main goto cruise line now.  Will not be particularly warm at that time of year, but hopefully better than home.

 

Edited July 3 by tring

[Eglesbrech]

5 hours ago, tring said:

as we were not happy with the last Fred cruise, roundtrip Caribbean last Nov/Dec. 

Can I ask what the issue was please as we are looking at one of the longer round trips. I,d appreciate any insights.

[tring]

20 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

Can I ask what the issue was please as we are looking at one of the longer round trips. I,d appreciate any insights.

 

Will reply, but we were out most of yesterday and out later today as well, so may be later or tomorrow.  Basically though there were a number of things we were not happy about, especially as there were so many sea days. Not a relaxing holiday as we had hoped.

 

Edited July 4 by tring

[tring]

On 7/3/2024 at 2:24 PM, Eglesbrech said:

Can I ask what the issue was please as we are looking at one of the longer round trips. I,d appreciate any insights.

 

Borealis late 2023, 29 night Caribbean

 

A long post as I did not do a review at the time, but must point out it was seven months ago.  Some things I have mentioned are ones we have never been happy about on the ex-HAL ships, but these really were much more of a problem because of the number of sea days, when we wanted a comfortable ship to allow us to relax and enjoy the cruise as we chose.

 

We chose early sitting because of the dark nights.  Starting a meal at 6.15pm meant that we usually finished at 7.30pm or soon after, as service was swift and we often do not eat sweets.  This was sometimes OK, but much of the time it meant we were in a rush to eat so early.  Likewise, late sitting would have been a problem as well, if it had to be observed every day, though at times we would have been happy with an 8.30pm meal.  The buffet was OK and we use it a lot, but with a lot of sea days we preferred the MDR much of the time.  We had liked Colours and Tastes in the past, but the menus had changed, so virtually all items were spicy and I cannot sleep well after spicy food and there was no, non-spicy speciality restaurant available.  The food is nothing like as good as it was, though we do not usually get too bothered about that. We found vegetables came coated in fat though, probably oil, which is a particular dislike of ours and no matter how many times we asked they still turned up that way.  Greasy food is not acceptable to us.

 

Finishing meals so early meant we really wanted to enjoy the entertainments.  The show company were excellent, but did very little on a long cruise, because of the limited repertoire.  Apart from that, there was an excellent young violinist, but sadly the rest of the theatre entertainers were pretty dire, “walk out” standard in many cases.  We did not go to all but hearing snippets was enough and also the opinion of many other passengers we spoke with.  There was a really big emphasis on ballroom dancing (not our thing), to the extent they had ballroom dancing before the shows (after the first few days) and also in the Ocean bar, at the same time quite often.  They even infiltrated the crow’s nest at times, but no option for disco dancing until after 10.30pm, or even later.  Otherwise, the lounge entertainers were equally bad, the morning light chap being particularly bad and the band in the crow’s nest had a singer who was incapable of doing anything other than C&W much of the time – no 60’s or more modern music which would be suitably for people under 75 (again not just our opinion).  The cruise director told us there was a disco – yes, that was about 10.30pm or later, a full three hours after we finished dinner!  No trio, which they used to have.  The Botanical room and coffee bar were large areas that have always been empty at night and also much of the day, as there is no bar there, or entertainments.  So they are wasted space IMO.  In the daytimes there were various activities taking place in what bars were available to order drinks, e.g. the Ocean Bar and Piano bar.  At times we wanted to just sit in a bar and relax with a drink by day, but found there was a choir or drama group in the middle of the floor at full volume, making the area useless as a bar.  Fred had stepped up the number of activities which makes this a real problem for us in that respect.  We find many of the chairs in the crow’s nest uncomfortable.  The seating there is also arranged with very few seats allowing a view out of the window.

 

The outdoor bar area to the back of deck 8 is a good place to sit undercover (by day or night), if it was raining, or breezy, but the starboard side was “smokers paradise” and there was no attempt by the bar staff to service the other side, unless it was really good weather, which meant we had to walk out in the rain to order a drink and bring it back from the bar.  A lot of sunbeds had been removed from the outside decks, both to the back of deck 8 and on deck 9, so where not available for the rans Atlantic crossings, and only turned up briefly when we actually got to the Caribbean, which was mainly port days.  We were told by a couple of very senior staff that was an owner decision, that had been made on the St Lawrence cruise, which took place last October, when a number of Olsen’s travelled.  

 

We had been upgraded to a terrace cabin.  We appreciated that on the relatively few occasions that we could sit outdoors on the steamer chairs as it was a shaded from strong sun at times.  However, there was constantly work going on a bit further back on a doorway out onto prom deck, which was noisy at times, and once approaching the Caribbean they started working on the lifeboats and prom deck quite a lot, meaning we could not use those chairs for at that time.  Also, the deck crew liked to stand on prom deck having a shouting conversation with each other, waking us up at about 6am fairly often. Asking then to talk quietly did not have much effect.  The cabin was really not fit for a long cruise.  It was small with very little storage space indeed and the doors onto prom deck were extremely heavy to open with a large gap underneath (more than 1cm), so hot air or gales just came straight into the cabin, from that gap and also around the door in general.  The way that was dealt with, each time we complained, was by putting a wide, thick black sticky tape around the door which did not work well anyway and when a gale started, on our return journey, the doors were completely sealed up with tape so could not be opened at all.  We kept spare pool towels along the bottom of the door to stop the worst of any water coming into the cabin.  Likewise, we constantly reported problems with the A/C, mainly because of excessive heat, but that was never dealt with either, despite the crew coming to adjust it.  The curtains were little more than a couple of nets with a very thin, cheap liner, so considering there is a strong light on the prom deck all night, it stayed pretty light all night in the cabin affecting our sleep. Reception told me the curtains were the same in all of those cabins.  I did learn that there were in fact blackout curtains on the other side of the ship, so complained again, so after a lot of hesitation by the head housekeeper, they did put those curtains in our cabin which helped a lot.

 

Overall, we had reported problems on previous Fred cruises and they had been sorted, willingly and speedily, but the maintenance staff on that cruise seemed unable to put things right.  Reception staff were not what we have previously encountered either, appearing to be there to stave off anyone who has a problem, rather than get it sorted.  I have seen other reports about Borealis more recently, again with people not being able to get those problems addressed, so I do wonder if it is largely Borealis, or if the other ships have become the same.  It has certainly made us very wary of Fred now though. 

 

I think you have travelled on Balmoral a few times from ports near you.  Can I ask how you have found it, compared to pre covid cruises?  Not bothered about cutbacks, which are happening everywhere, but wondering if the ship has a different feel now, overall.

 

Edited July 5 by tring

[Eglesbrech]

57 minutes ago, tring said:

 

I think you have travelled on Balmoral a few times from ports near you.  Can I ask how you have found it, compared to pre covid cruises?  Not bothered about cutbacks, which are happening everywhere, but wondering if the ship has a different feel now, overall

Thank you for your detailed reply, much appreciated. We paid for a terrace cabin on Borealis and found much of the same issues as you (including the crew noise). I would not purchase one again. Too expensive for what you actually get in return and less space than an outside.

 

As far as Balmoral goes it was like a comfortable old shoe. Just the same as before covid with the same atmosphere, entertainment, food, service and indeed people!
 

The sailings from Rosyth are like a country house experience. We enjoyed the company of many people we had seen on previous Fred cruises from Scotland.

 

We always have second dinner so the evenings were full.

 

Last year we sailed on on 3 Fred ships and the one I grudged the most was the terrace balcony as we felt we did not get value for money (and that includes being locked down for 2 days with noro).

 

 

[tring]

18 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

Thank you for your detailed reply, much appreciated. We paid for a terrace cabin on Borealis and found much of the same issues as you (including the crew noise). I would not purchase one again. Too expensive for what you actually get in return and less space than an outside.

 

As far as Balmoral goes it was like a comfortable old shoe. Just the same as before covid with the same atmosphere, entertainment, food, service and indeed people!
 

The sailings from Rosyth are like a country house experience. We enjoyed the company of many people we had seen on previous Fred cruises from Scotland.

 

We always have second dinner so the evenings were full.

 

Last year we sailed on on 3 Fred ships and the one I grudged the most was the terrace balcony as we felt we did not get value for money (and that includes being locked down for 2 days with noro).

 

 

 

Thanks for the reply, good to know Balmoral is still much as she was.  We have often gone for second sitting on the 30 night Med cruise, but with not many ports on the Caribbean cruise, decided we may as well try to get up early - not that we ever seem to do that.  The problem about that Caribbean cruise was having to have the same sitting each night.  I find 8.30pm too late if wanting to be up earlier the next day, but would be happy to do 8.30pm a number of nights and 6.15pm other nights.  Being regimented so much was just not right though, especially as we have had a couple of long Aurora cruises in the previous year or so, when we could relax and choose what we did when we wanted.  We, and other passengers we spoke with, were surprised at how poor the entertainments were, considering Fred's lounge entertainers and theatre acts used to be good.  Perhaps a sign of the times, the better ones will probably be paid better for the larger ships 

 

With a number of overnights on the Balmoral Med cruise, we will likely eat out in port a few times as well.  Eating earlier in the buffet will not be a problem sometimes, though would still like a non spicy speciality dining option.  Fred are loosing potential income by not offering that and also keeping bars openly available for people who want to buy drinks.