August

We are looking at the Meteor Showers and Sunbathing cruise in August next year. We tend to avoid school holidays whenever possible but this seems to be the only date for this itinerary. My question is does FO attract a lot of families with children during school holidays.

Fred Olsen is the only cruise line i would risk cruising with during school holidays.

There will be some children I think, but I have generally found that they are very well behaved on Fred cruises if there are indeed any.

We have cruised in School Holidays with Fred and there were no children at all.

The cruise you refer to seems a touch specialist and is also a Cruise and Walk Ramblers programme. So maybe not too many children.

Balmoral great ship.

We've been with Fred Olsen in August on several occasions and can confirm that there are very few children on board. To be fair, the entertainment staff organise activities for them during sea days so you are unlikely to bump into any. You stand a good chance of seeing the meteor shower though. It's near perfect conditions for them in 2015 with no Moon visible and enhanced activity predicted.

Thanks, I hadn't realised it was a specialist cruise. We were just attracted to the itinerary. What is a cruise and ramblers programme?

I am due to travel with family on the same cruise; its a very attractive cruise.

I'm 21 and we love fred olsen, have cruised on Balmoral twice and she's a great ship. We cruised on her in August 2012 (summer hols) and there werent too many children onboard. There are clubs for the kids which do take up the pools at certain times of the day but unlike p&o they dont let them run riot around the ship. Based upon the cruise i would say the age profile was probably around 40-50 still.

We are doing this very cruise; taking our very well behaved & well-used-to-cruising 15 & 18 year old who have never used Kids Clubs & enjoy cruising for what cruising is! They love the dressing up in the evenings, the ambience of the meals in the restaurant & the shows & entertainment & they also love exploring all the new destinations & happy to chill out listening to music or reading a book by the pool.

Have not done a family cruise with Fred before but I did a mini cruise on Boudicca & was most impressed so we're pleased we have booked for the August one. We have also just booked the Le Havre mini cruise (with teens) in December to see what the ship is like!

Thanks, I hadn't realised it was a specialist cruise. We were just attracted to the itinerary. What is a cruise and ramblers programme?

When I said specialist I really meant that the Brochure sort of highlights a specific item on the itinerary.

Many cruises have Clubs that take out bookings and then sell them within their own programme or magazines. Ramblers, Gardeners and some others I can not recall.

You will see them on the Cruise, they often have meetings on board. They often then all go on trips together.

To be fair you wouldn't really notice them as any different to other passengers.