first trip to Canaries

Hi all- we've been to Madeira on a land holiday, but never visited any of the Canary Islands before. So we've booked a cruise for March, not with Thomsons but giving Fred Olsen a try and going on the Braemar.

Apart from one trip from Liverpool with Cruise and Maritime it's our first non-Thomson cruise, so will be an interesting adventure.

I know Cruising Linda has been with FO so any tips would be gratefully received.

We are visiting

LaPalma (sounds like a straightforward diy)

Fuerteventura (2 stops in 1 day here so not sure)

Lanzarote (fire mountain exc or beach transfer)

Gran Canaria (another diy, )

Madeira (been before and think we might go to Camara de lobos)

and a couple of more difficult ones-

El Hierro- looks a bit desolate! Maybe a trip to see the giant lizards.

La Gomera- another 2 stop day. Not sure if it's worth doing a trip?

I've looked up some older posts about the main ports, but if anyone has any info about where there are sightseeing buses or plenty of taxis I would be very grateful.

Thanks

Kate

Just a couple of recommendations Kate -

Yes I would do a trip at La Gomera - we did a day trip from Tenerife whilst on a land holiday (was with Thomson) and thought it was great! It's a small place where the ferry docked (assume this is where you will be taken on your cruise) so it's worth seeing rather more of the island. It's very mountainous with spectacular views. Well worth it imo but whether you can pick up a local tour or whether it's best to go with the ship I wouldn't know.

Another favourite of ours is the Manrique Fundacion on Lanzarote. You can do that by taxi - 10€ each way last time we did it - great! You would have time to go to the beach at Costa Teguise afterwards if you wanted to - it's only about 2 miles from the Fundacion and that in turn is only about 3 miles from the port so it's all close by. Taxis are pretty reasonable in Lanzarote.

Hi Kate,

I think everyone knows I love the Braemar ;) She is small, but when you are on her, you do not get that impression. Two show lounges, so a choice of shows. Same entertainment agency as Thomson (forgotten it again - Kruzseeka knows it :o) Lovely buffet (Palms) where the tables are laid out at night with tablecloths and flowers and the waiters show you to a table (if they are not too busy they will carry your soup and coffee for you) Of course there is a MDR with two sittings as well. The only snag is the food is not 24 hours. In fact it is more like full board with set meal times - breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner, but you can order room service free if, for instance, you get back after a trip out and the buffet is closed.

Sounds like you are doing a similar itinerary to us.

We have been to all before, except El Hierro and I need some advice on that, so am going over to Fred's boards to ask about that ;) have you been on Fred's boards?

Gran Canaria and Madeira have red ho ho buses.

La Gomera and La Palma are lovely islands, we have done trips on them and enjoyed them both.

Lanzarote - not sure where it docks, but on Majesty and Celebrity we docked a way from the town and there may be a shuttle bus or you can get a taxi. Fire Mountain is a good trip.

We are not doing Fuerteventura this time, but on the Majesty we docked at Puerto del Rosario and just walked along the promenade and went to a great shopping centre. Where else are you docking? We have just had a letter to say we are doing two stops in La Gomera, so as we have done the island trip, we shall probably just wander there.

When are you going? We are going in Feb, so may have more info when I get back.

Oh Kruzseeka, you beat me to it :D:D:D

Thanks both of you for the excellent (as always!) advice.

We are going on the 12th March so will look out for Linda's impressions of El Hierro.

In La Gomera we dock at Valle Gran Rey and then San Sebastian.

In Fuerteventura it's Puerto del Rosario and then Gran Tarajal.

That's a good tip about room service, Linda, especially as we are on second sitting. Do you know if it's usual to tip room service at the time?

I'm hoping to be able to get a dry martini and lemonade on the drinks package, as that's my usual tipple, but not sure if it's included as it only mentions beers, wines and spirits.

kate

Oh Kruzseeka, you beat me to it :D:D:D

It was obviously an advert break! :D

It's Peel Entertainment who have the contract with Thomson, Linda and I believe is also used by FO.

You reminded me about the HoHo Linda - we did that in Madeira and got off at Camara de Lobos for a coffee down by the harbour - it's a little fishing village with an old fashioned charm. We liked it - and coffees were really cheap too! ;)

We did the yellow hoho bus last week in Madeira and it is not as good as the red one and it does not go to Camera de Lobos :( We did walk to Camera de Lobos from our hotel just outside Funchal, but it was a longer walk than we thought and it started to rain, so had to shelter under an umbrella in the cafe with a beer ;)

Kate :Tips are added on, but you can remove them. Only just found out about room service from a very good Q&A on Fred's boards, so not sure about tipping, but I suppose you could if you want to.

I have docked at Puerto del Rosario and San Sebastion, so don't know about the other places. Because she is small, Braemar can get into all sorts of places. We have been right up the river to Antwerp and Amsterdam on her :)

We got free AI as we booked ages ago, but understand it is a bit limited, like Thomson's. Again, I am going to ask on Fred's board about that.

Got back in the early hours of yesterday morning. Been so busy reading all the exciting news about next year I haven't had time to post!

We enjoyed all the stops apart from Las Palmas in Gran Canaria- I wasn't really well enough prepared here and didn't realise how far away the main sites were from the dock.

Mostly we just stayed in the port areas, the favourite being Santa Cruz de La Palma which is extremely pretty with lots to see. Some of the smaller ports were attractive and relaxing, especially Valle Gran Rey (La Gomera) and Gran Tarajal (Fuerteventura).

On El Hierro we took the free shuttle to Valverde. Most people were very disappointed with this, but having looked it up on Google street view it was exactly as I expected, and had a certain charm!

In Lanzarote we took the resort transfer trip to Puerto del Carmen. Had we realised it was less than 10 miles down the road it would have been cheaper to take a taxi! Enjoyed seeing a Canary Island holiday resort.

Madeira was lovely- took a tuk-tuk up to the Botanical Gardens, which was new to us, and spent the rest of the time in town around the gardens, shops, market etc.

The weather was a bit disappointing- quite cool, often cloudy and always windy! The hottest place was Madeira which seems to be unusual as it's so much further north. Temperature well into the 70s, other places mid 60s (not really beach weather).

Travelling on a different cruise line was interesting, and Fred Olsen certainly run a very slick operation, but on the whole I prefer the Thomson brand. The food was considerably better on FO, though! And although I did have to pay half the price of my dry martini, the drinks package was good value.

kate

Got back in the early hours of yesterday morning. Been so busy reading all the exciting news about next year I haven't had time to post!

 

Travelling on a different cruise line was interesting, and Fred Olsen certainly run a very slick operation, but on the whole I prefer the Thomson brand. The food was considerably better on FO, though! And although I did have to pay half the price of my dry martini, the drinks package was good value.

 

kate

Glad you had a good time Kate. Out of interest; just wondering the reasons why you prefer the Thomson brand? Interesting to hear the food was better on Fred.

Glad you had a good time Kate. Out of interest; just wondering the reasons why you prefer the Thomson brand? Interesting to hear the food was better on Fred.

Jules, I think the main things we felt were better on Thomson ships were

1. Dining times- a bit restricted and never quite the same from day to day. E.g. breakfast in the buffet might stop at 9am one day, 9.30 the next. You could go to either restaurant instead, one would close at 9.30, the other 10. These were a mixture of waiter service and buffet, again a bit confusing for the newcomer- in the buffet you could get fried eggs/ omelettes from the "chef station", in restaurants you had to order them but it wasn't easy to time it right so you got them hot! And in one of the restaurants you had to order porridge, others it was on the buffet. It was the same for lunch- finished either 2 or 2.30. And very promptly too. We prefer to be a bit more flexible with meal times, especially on holiday, but felt we were constantly checking our watches and cruise news for meal times. It's a long time till 8.15 if you miss lunch!

2. The daytime activities. More variety on Thomson. Every day was the same on Braemar- no plays, films, only 1 talk by a guest speaker in 10 days (he was very good). No zumba or keep fit classes, 1 (chargeable) pilates session and 1 (free) line dancing class, but this was held at 9.30 am.

3. The entertainment. The guest comedian (he was also the guest speaker and did 2 extra singing spots) was really good, but the show team not as good or professional as we are used to seeing. Not as friendly, either. Didn't see any of the ents team interacting with passengers outside their performance times.

4. On 3 occasions we arrived at ports mid-day or early afternoon. Each time they played really loud music on the outside aft decks and pushed away all the people who wanted to sit quietly enjoying the sail-in and taking a few photos.

Sorry, that sounds like a long moan. Really they were minor points and we did have a good time, but you did ask!!!

kate

Jules, I think the main things we felt were better on Thomson ships were

1. Dining times- a bit restricted and never quite the same from day to day. E.g. breakfast in the buffet might stop at 9am one day, 9.30 the next. You could go to either restaurant instead, one would close at 9.30, the other 10. These were a mixture of waiter service and buffet, again a bit confusing for the newcomer- in the buffet you could get fried eggs/ omelettes from the "chef station", in restaurants you had to order them but it wasn't easy to time it right so you got them hot! And in one of the restaurants you had to order porridge, others it was on the buffet. It was the same for lunch- finished either 2 or 2.30. And very promptly too. We prefer to be a bit more flexible with meal times, especially on holiday, but felt we were constantly checking our watches and cruise news for meal times. It's a long time till 8.15 if you miss lunch!

 

2. The daytime activities. More variety on Thomson. Every day was the same on Braemar- no plays, films, only 1 talk by a guest speaker in 10 days (he was very good). No zumba or keep fit classes, 1 (chargeable) pilates session and 1 (free) line dancing class, but this was held at 9.30 am.

 

3. The entertainment. The guest comedian (he was also the guest speaker and did 2 extra singing spots) was really good, but the show team not as good or professional as we are used to seeing. Not as friendly, either. Didn't see any of the ents team interacting with passengers outside their performance times.

 

4. On 3 occasions we arrived at ports mid-day or early afternoon. Each time they played really loud music on the outside aft decks and pushed away all the people who wanted to sit quietly enjoying the sail-in and taking a few photos.

 

Sorry, that sounds like a long moan. Really they were minor points and we did have a good time, but you did ask!!!

 

kate

It doesn't sound like a moan - it's great to have feedback; I have read that FO have restricted mealtimes. I guess that's how they manage to keep their prices reasonable by not having potential food waste by having food out in a buffet 18 hours a day!

Shame about the music - you would think on a FO ship with potentially more 'older' clientele that they wouldn't have the loud music - although maybe they have to play it loud so people can hear it lol!!

Thank you

Hi Kate, glad you enjoyed your cruise. Sorry the weather was not better, but the Canaries are a bit of a lottery at this time of year :(

I know what you mean about the mealtimes. I'm sure that Palms buffet didn't close so early when we were on before. We thought the same as you about the set up in the MDRs for getting eggs etc. One morning we tried the Grampian, but we had to order our fried eggs and try to guess when it was coming before we get the other hot food.

You did know you could order room service if you missed lunch didn't you? Also afternoon tea is available.

I quite liked the music on deck (DH said it was too loud :rolleyes:) I thought Fred were getting a bit more with it :D

Anyway, you've now been to ALL the Canary island. It has taken me years to do that :D

We did enjoy it, Linda, and would probably use FO again if the price & itinerary were right. The food was really good, I thought. Had surf& turf, beef wellington, southern fried chicken, grilled salmon etc as standard and with there being no "extra charge" restaurant, you felt they were concentrating on giving all the passengers the best food possible.

The pool deck was much nicer than any Thomson ship I've been on, and sunbeds were plentiful (though the weather may have helped with this!)

Also liked the fact that we did not encounter the queuing you get with Thomson for meals, reception, getting on/off the ship etc. (Even though the public areas, buffet especially, seemed quite small to us at first.)

And once we'd read all the instructions about 10 times, the onboard check-in for the flight home was a real time saver.

Thanks again for all your help before we went,

kate

We thought the food was fab-u-lous Kate :D Especially after the Dream last year :rolleyes: A good point about there being no pay extra restaurant :)

Just the silly meal times that annoy me with Fred though :(