Fred Olsen Cruises, Balmoral

We arrived at the ship and the service was excellent. We were then shown the lift (not taken to our suite) which we had been upgraded to the top. Very large and excellent facilities but no dining room table or chairs which we did expect as if we had room service we had to eat on our laps. The food was not good. No waiter service at breakfast apart from a couple of items and tea and coffee. My husband is not very mobile so I had to get his breakfast for him. Tinned tomatoes on second day. Why no fresh grilled? We had to serve our own wine at dinner after the waiter poured the first glass. We have travelled with Fred Olsen many times including their first world cruise on the Black Watch. The food was well below standard. On the final night my seasonal salad consisted of a few lettuce leaves and and one third of a tomato. My turkey roast was a giant baked potato, bread sauce covered by three large slices of compressed turkey. Looked like something from a cheap truckers café. I said I would like a steak instead but was refused. On the morning of departure we needed to be out of our cabin by 8 am although breakfast was served until 8.30! At 6.55 the cabin girl asked if she could service our room which we felt was most unacceptable with our type of cabin. We have travelled with Fred Olsen for over 300 nights and have booked again (top cabin) next year but after this experience we are not sure whether to cancel or not. If the service you offer on a 3 day trip is your way of encouraging people to stay with you I would think again.

Had a good time, the weather was brilliant sailing around Norway but a bit choppy on our way back down to Antwerp (so bad that we couldn't get there and so had to call at Rotterdam instead which was fine) The Captain always knows best, he was very informative all the way and pointed out several things that we needed to know.

Having been on about 8 cruises before with other companies we were very disappointed this time with the dining room, their was no atmosphere at all, our waiters were very miserable and couldn't wait to get rid of us, it spoilt it so much that we ate in the self-service restaurant for a few nights, the staff were much more pleasant in there

We did look forward to the entertainment every night, the shows were fantastic with the boys and girls all singing and dancing (no miming on this ship) led by Matt who stole the shows with his wonderful rich deep voice and the girls were all good.

The Cruise Director, although word perfect and pleasant wasn't the usual type of person you would expect to be head of entertainment on the ship, not much personality, they need someone who will joke about a bit and half a laugh with people.

The maintenance staff spent the whole of the 12 days replacing a small area of the front deck by the pool, using welding gear etc when people were sitting round the pool relaxing, I'm sure they could have done it when everybody was having their dinner !! they still hadn't finished it when we got off the ship . . . .

Having said all that, the drinks were good value, the quizzes good fun and we saw some beautiful places so it was great

This was our 2nd cruise on the Balmoral. What a ship, what an atmosphere, just luxury. Now let me begin by saying my husband and I are not retired we're just hitting our 50th year and although the other clientel on board were 95% retired we had a wonderful time. We've had all the holidays with the children, now its our turn. I thought we blended in pretty well we had a couple of remarks "aren't you a bit young to be cruising" but no we loved it evenmore. The atmosphere was relaxed, there wasn't loud music in cabins, there wasn't children running round the corridors or the decks and there was room in the pool to swim. We participated in the gym, sauna, spa, bingo, quiz, library, games/card room, british night, cowboy night. They put it on, we joined in. The staff were wonderful,they couldn't do enough for you the food was great and the shore trips were well organised although driving through St Petersburg on a Sun took ages so only got 75 mins on the souvenir trip. The Cpt kept us up to date with proceedings twice a day. The scenery going into Stockholm was fantastic and the Kiel Canal was lovely. Estonia you must see. Leaving travemunde was sad though, such a lovely place and a great send off from the quayside. On board we had a rum punch party on the pool deck with a great band of musicians. I highly recommend this trip if you want to see 7 major culture cities. FRED OLSEN CRUISES ARE BRILL. Must book the next one soon.