Christmas Markets Cruise

Hi everyone,

I've booked Boudicca for 14th December to do the Christmas Markets cruise, calling at Cobh, Dublin and Belfast.

I fly into Liverpool ( departure port ) at 9.30 am and will have to wait until 2.30 pm before I board.

My question is this... Can anyone recommend a good hotel / bar / restaurant that we could crash in for four hours , we would like to have coffee, read the morning papers, wifi would be a bonus and maybe even a pre boarding drinkie.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Crowne Plaza is only 100 metres away from the Cruise Terminal.

I am a local and agree the Crowne Plaza is good and right next to the port, but maybe 4 hours is a long time to stay for just one, or maybe two, drinks.

We were on a cruise from Liverpool in the summer and had checked out the situation beforehand. It seems luggage is usually accepted from about midday, so if you have a coffee in the Crowne Plaza, you could then probably drop off your luggage and head more easily a little bit further away from the port. If you head straight inland from the port entrance and cross the main road, you will find all sorts of places for a second pit stop as the port is on the doorstep of the city centre. We perhaps left it a bit too late to return though as a very big queue had built up - but we did have a very nice lunch and our luggage was outside the cabin door when we got to it.

Enjoy your cruise,

Barbara

Hi Stephen - Have you had your tickets for the cruise? We're also booked on it and haven't received ours yet, so don't know our boarding time.

Tickets arrived, just looking forward to getting onboard and seeing the new upgrades, ie the new Coffee/specialised Chocolates bar and the new Morning Light Pub.

Has anyone seen any photos of these, I have looked online and there is NOTHING !

Very strange as thousands of people have been on board since the upgrade.

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We've only had a one night taster cruise (Bristol-Liverpool in June) on Boudicca so far, and so don't know what it was like and whether there's been changes. Just looking forward to a good time. Does your ticket list actual arrival & departure times for each port? Ours doesn't. I found something on another website and was a little disappointed that we don't arrive into Dublin until 3pm.

Hi again, our tickets are the same...No timings.

Can you tell me the website that gave you the timings for Dublin please.

Thanks Stephen.

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Ok for all those on the Boudicca Irish Markets Cruise 14th - 18th December 2014

I have contacted Fred Olsen cruises personally and have got the exact timings for this cruises departures and arrivals at all ports.

Sunday 14th Depart Liverpool 4.30pm

Monday 15th Arrive Cobh 1.00pm

Monday 15th Depart Cobh 10.00pm

Tuesday 16th Arrive Dublin 12.30pm

Tuesday 16th Depart Dublin 10.00pm

Wednesday 17th Arrive Belfast 09.00am

Wednesday 17th Depart Belfast 6.00pm

Thursday 18th Arrive Liverpool 08.00am

I hope this helps anyone who would like to plan their day.

I have also been informed that there will be a Formal night on this 4 night cruise, it will most likely be on Tuesday 16th when we are in Dublin.

Stephen Larkin

Belfast Cruise Ship Watch. ( Facebook )

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I have contacted Fred Olsen cruises personally and have got the exact timings for this cruises departures and arrivals at all ports.

Always remember that nothing is 'exact' when it involves ships, water and weather :)

Consider those times as a best estimate and don't depend on them to be exact when arranging anything time critical off the ship.

Thanks for the info. We won't plan anything off the ship. We usually "play it by ear" on cruises. The weather will be a factor. If the formal night is the Dublin night, we may not bother taking our finery because we may eat ashore. I may ring Fred Olsen (but maybe not ... as they were totally useless regarding another query).

I may ring Fred Olsen (but maybe not ... as they were totally useless regarding another query).

That is bad to hear. A sign of a great company is how they deal with you "After" they get your money.

Customer service on ships is always fantastic. Its always the shoreside people who let the side down. (In most cases)

That is bad to hear. A sign of a great company is how they deal with you "After" they get your money.

 

Customer service on ships is always fantastic. Its always the shoreside people who let the side down. (In most cases)

I have always been impressed with their customer service in the UK so far

Having been on our 4 night "Irish Christmas Markets" cruise, I'll now say what my questions were, and how they were answered.

We booked from a mini brochure that covered only Christmas cruises. This short cruise from Liverpool was one of the new ones that the company had slotted in, presumably after a cancelled charter. I booked a Balcony Suite. After booking I got a full brochure and was initially pleased to see that a "Suite Dreams" package applied. Then I noticed that it didn't apply to mini-cruises. I telephoned Customer Services to ask whether it would apply to our 4 night cruise and was told that they didn't know - it would be up to the ship. Very strange - I would have thought there'd be a company policy. We were pleased that we did actually receive the package onboard - it was lovely.

Nearer our departure date I rang again to ask whether our 1.30 check-in time meant that we'd be boarding at 1.30. The answer was that it would be any time between 1.30 and 4pm. As it happened, we we boarded before 2pm, I think. I also asked whether lunch would be available on boarding and was told to eat beforehand. So, we made a packed lunch as walking in the pouring rain from Liverpool Cruise Terminal to find a meal was not enticing. When we boarded, lunch was in full swing, and afternoon tea was served after that. Passengers were already on the ship, having boarded in Ireland, and so Liverpool was a port-of-call, as well as departure port.

As Fred Olsen have only 4 ships, and one of those was in dry dock, surely customer services should know what happens on their ships?

As with another cruise line (that's our favourite), it's the onshore staff that let the side down. On board there were no issues at all. In fact we tried to book another cruise whilst onboard, but our cabin choices were unavailable. For us, departing from Liverpool was so easy compared to the hassle of getting to Southampton, and with no "will there be a flight delay" worry.

Forgot - I also asked when the Formal Night would be. The answer was that it wouldn't be on the first night (Sunday), so would be on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday evening. Couldn't fault the logic.