braemar cruise

[jrblueblue]

thinking of booking a fred olsen cruise on the braemar, cruised with royal caribbean and princess. how does fred olsen compare. read mixed reviews. i am in my mid fifties and like to see a good show in the evenings and enjoy a comedian. please respond and help me decide if this cruise is for me.

[james33]

I have done RCI / Princess/Celebrity and Thomsons (awful!) as well as Braemar

They are very different!

The Braemar is small and very friendly
The food is in my view better than Princess and RCI and even the self service cafe sports china and white table cloths

Prices on board are very reasonable-i understand that a beer currently costs about £2.30

The entertainment is very different to the big ships
There was a troup who did reviews in the relatively small show lounge
They tried hard but were rather poor
There was a "mind reader" who did an act with his wife (dire) and a comedian who was OK

In the other lounge they had a resident husband and wife duo who were excellent

As I say everyone was friendly including the captain who had a great sense of humour and also the acts (other than the mind reader) would happily chat to you on deck

One warning

We had a low deck inside cabin and were awoke every night by a horrendous racket

People we me who had higher cabins did not have a problem

Other than that cabins were small for a 14 day cruise but comfortable and very clean

The staff mainly Phillipino are a joy

If you want an intimate cruise where you will readily make friends you will love Braemar

If you expect the glitz and facilities of the huge liners it is not for you

[jrblueblue]

:) thanks for your reply i found it very helpful. i think my husband would prefer a larger type of cruise ship, so i will have to rethink.