Fred Olsen Cruises, Black Watch

New Years Eve Cruise on Fred Olsens Black Prince from Liverpool to Isle of Man, Cohb and Dublin. (Waterford had been cancelled 2 weeks prior and substituted for dreary Cohb)

Liverpool Ferry terminal is little better than an old Portakabin site office. Car park was miles away with rusty shuttle buses in service.

Cruise delayed by 4 hours. Found next morning that the 3 hour crossing to Isle of Man had been canceled so we sailed all that day to Cohb. We arrived late afternoon and stayed there all evening and next day. Rail dispute in operation on line to Cork but no advice or assistance offered by Fred Olsen, which resulted in the day being shambolic and stressful.

Following day arrived in Dublin to find Fred Olsen were charging £4.00 per person for short trip into City.

12.30am at New Years Party more staff than passengers on dance floor, which resulted in many passengers trying to dance on the carpeted lounge area or not bothering at all.

Told to be out of cabins by 8.00am on New Years day but instead of disembarking at 10.30am we were left for 5 hours sitting with our hand luggage with no offer of refreshments until we got off at 1.00pm.

Restaurant service was atrocious, with wine waiters pressed into waiting on, so if you wanted wine with your dinner it had to be ordered during the day. Bar service was almost non existent. Attitude of staff was generally poor, as the ship appeared to be seriously under staffed.

One breakfast covered warmer contained porridge and baked beans which had contaminated each other

Farwell message by the Captain went something like this I hope you have enjoyed your trip, however, I am very disappointed at the number of passengers that have upset my staff They know how they are!

Complained to Fred Olsen who took weeks to reply and then just fobbed us off. Even tried justifying the porridge and beans in same covered warmer as follows but when the line is full with hot items it is difficult to know what else to combine the porridge with

We will stick with the safer options of Cunard and P&O in the future.