Broch

Hi looking at going on a cruise on the balmoral but reading the reports it looks bad I know ships get the bug and we have allways been lucky not getting it might give Fred a call

Please post to let us know how you get on with calling Fred. We go on the Balmoral in 3 weeks and our last experience last May certainly shook us up. We had been on many other cruises on two different lines and the thought of getting the Norovirus never entered our heads but now it haunts us when we recall so many people missing cruise days they had looked forward to for many months, only to have them ruined, and no amount of money can compensate for this. However we are going on this cruise and will have to be very careful, and with a bit of diligence and luck we will hope to avoid the dreaded virus

They give a list of Islands visited but no full itinerary. Packing to get a case off by baggage handling co. tomorrow, so may do it later or tomorrow. Some places I have not heard of though. Pricey from upper £2,000's includes flights though.

 

Goes on sale early next week to Oceans members (I think all at same time) so if you have travelled with Fred before will likely get flyer soon. Non oceans sales will not be available until 3 days later.

Thanks

Well not quite Africa, but not far away.

 

I have just received a flyer in the post from Fred advertising a 15 night Boudicca fly cruise (round trip from/to Port Louis, Mauritius), visiting a number of Indian Ocean Islands departing 30th November 2017 and flying back to the UK on 14th Dec 2017 (arriving 15th Dec in UK).

 

According to the current brochure Boudicca's last cruise is from Liverpool on 30th September for 14 nights, so the mystery is what is happening with her for the intervening six and a half weeks and what will happen after that cruise?

Do you have the Itinerary for this cruise please.

Go to Google Maps and enter Premier Inn Postcode NE29 6DW. Take the little man and drop him near the hotel you can see the International Passenger Terminal is right near it.They both share the same roundabout.

Thanks for the info, much appreciated

The terminal is a DFDS ferries terminal. Maybe they do parking,check their website. Also,there's a Premier Inn right at the terminal maybe they do a deal for parking there ?

Can you walk easily from the Premier inn to the port terminal?. Hazel80 hav you thought about taking the train. We are taking the train from Aberdeen direct to Newcastle and staying in the Premier inn. So if you add up the cost of petrol, parking, and the hassle on the roads against the train fare it may make financial and relaxing benefits

They may be small and they be midges but there are lots of them. Take a face net and some fly spray. If it proves to be very windy the problem isn't so great. Enjoy lovely Iceland.

Thanks for the heads up. We will certainly take your advice and pack accordingly

I have taken this tour on two occasions with Fred. Olsen and thoroughly enjoyed it. One point not mentioned in the other contributions was that, at some times in Summer, there is a plague of mosquitoes. This was an especial nuisance on the first occasion. The experiences travelers wore face nets. It's worth a few pence investing in one of these to enjoy the beautiful scenery in greater comfort.

Thanks for your contribution. Mosquitos love me as they want to kiss me all the time. Are they not just small midges in Iceland though?

We took the Golden Circle tour on our Greenland/Iceland cruise when we called at Reykjavik. From memory a 3 course lunch was served in one of the restaurants in Geysir. There was a soup to begin with, then salmon with potatoes which was served on a large platter for each table and everyone took their share from the platter. There was a dessert. The food was good especially the salmon. If you have a special dietary request you would need to speak to the tours staff onboard prior to the call in Reykjavik to make arrangements.

Thankyou, that sounds really good. We both love salmon so here's hoping it is still the same

Whale watching should be good from Akuereyri as there are a lot of them around. We sailed in for about midday and out at about 2.30pm the next day, so both were in daylight, and we had a proper wildlife speaker on board who was outside at that time and making bridge talks if applicable. We saw whales on both days, including a Blue Whale on the way out, which was very exciting. Well we sort of saw the whale - there was this massive area of completely calm sea!

 

I think it took about two hours each way up and down to Akeureyri, if you have chance to be on deck.

Thanks. We get into Akuereyri Port at 7.30 am and leave the following day at 7.30 am

Whale watching should be good from Akuereyi as there are a lot of them around. We sailed in for about midday ayrind out at about 2.30pm the next day, so both were in daylight, and we had a proper wildlife speaker on board who was outside at that time and making bridge talks if applicable. We saw whales on both days, including a Blue Whale on the way out, which was very exciting. Well we sort of saw the whale - there was this massive area of completely calm sea!

 

I think it took about two hours each way up and down to Akeureyri, if you have chance to be on deck.

Thanks, we get into Akuereyi port atound 7.30 and leave the next day at 7.30

I have not done this with Fred, but we did do The Golden Circle with Swan Hellenic about three years ago. The cruise companies tend to use the same tour company (or companies) that are based in any particular port so Fred may well use the same company.

 

The tour was excellent and we saw a lot, with not a massive amount of travelling and the travelling that was done was enjoyable. We had lunch at a large restaurant near the Geysers and we went in after we saw the geysers. The tour is a very popular one and the coaches just follow each other round and park up together, so the lunch venue was very crowded with a busy buffet and long tables, if I remember correctly. There were sweets as well as main courses and I think there were some local options as well as standard buffet food, so plenty to choose from. I cannot remember if a drink was included, but suspect it was as I do not remember having to get a drink from the bar. I think there were hot drink machines, but not sure. We spent longer looking at and photographing the geyser that was spurting than the other tour companions, so we were a bit short of time compared to other people for lunch, but we preferred it that way. Probably a queue for the ladies, but it was not a problem there. Everything is expensive in Iceland, so lunch probably worth a bit.

 

There was a problem I had at our first visit (Thingvellir,) as I was the only person who wanted to use the toilet and there was a charge in local money into a machine and I had no change. There was a shop were I was told I may be able to get change, but the rest of the group were about to walk on. The tour guide asked the driver if I could use the toilet on the coach, which was kept locked, and he did let me use it. Smelly but it worked. So I suggest you get some change before the trip if you have chance to do so.

 

If you are going to Iceland you really need to travel to these sites and if you go to Akuereyri, you must do the tour from there which visits bubbling mud pools, lake Myvatin and another impressive water fall. It is those sites you visit Iceland to see and there is nothing spectacular in the ports. That is partly why we used Swan for that one as they include trips and also we knew they would have a Geologist as a speaker, which they did.

 

On one of those trips we were able to walk a short way along a small river by a big waterfall and be picked up at the other end, so you need suitable walking shoes and all weather wear in case it rains or is windy. After that short walk, there was a cafe (no time to use) and toilet blocks. There was quite a queue for the toilets there, but the coach did wait for me. OK my comments focus on 'basics' but that is something I always worry about with tours so you may find my comments helpful.

 

Enjoy Iceland

Thank you for your reply which is always informative especially regarding the toilets which is always a concern for me when on tours so I am glad to have some idea where the toilets are. According to the description of Fred's tour we would stop for lunch after the geysers so I would imagine this is the same place you had lunch at. We are going to akuereyri but my wife has chosen to do the Whale watching from there.

We are hoping to go on the Fred Olsen shore tour Golden Circle in Iceland and would like to hear of anyone's experience of their trip. I have also looked at Independent Tours which I agree are cheaper but do not include lunch so I was wondering what sort of lunch is provided on their Tour.

I have searched the forum but cannot get any reviews. All information would be appreciated.

Sorry to hijack this thread, but I've been meaning to ask:

 

Is there a list of what's included and, more importantly, what's not included. My drink of choice is Guinness - is this included in the package? If not, it would be a no-no for me.

 

Thank you.

 

Here is the link to All Inclusive

 

https://www.fredolsencruises.com/cruise-extras

I am fairly sure Fred uses charter flights so luggage goes straight to the ship. So it will not be the same flight. I also agree that Fred charge a lot for their flights. You do have to consider though that their price includes transfers and security that if there is a flight delay on their charter, the ship will wait. I would probably fly out earlier and have a hotel stay if arranging my own flight.

 

We left Braemar in Tenerife last December and were allowed to stay onboard until our flight transfer, which was after lunch, but independent travellers had to disembark by 9.30am. Given that flights from the Caribbean are evening flights, you will likely have to find somethwhere to go during the daytime and then have an overnight flight to the uk.

 

Not our style of travelling.

Could not have writen a reply better myself. I concur with everything you say especially regarding inclusive transfers and sometimes the cruiseline flight price includes a day room in a hotel is included in the overall price

Boarding is allocated in deck order with higher decks boarding first followed by deck order down. You will get a boarding time with your check in documents around 4 weeks before travel. Boarding usually starts around 1 pm

Yes this mall is near the port and is a quaint little place.

 

I should have been more clear in my reply, I meant things that a first time visitor would want to see rather than just shopping / food hence the reference to a museum and archilogical site.

Still good information which adds value to the topic. Thanks

There is not much to see or do in North Shields and the port is not particularly near the town. It is a commercial ferry port and a bit out of the way.

 

Much more availabe in South Shields (Catherine Cookson Museum, Arbea Roman site and dig etc) however it is on the other side of the tunnel so probably not worth the risk of being stuck on the wrong side unless you are coming up from the South in a car but I presume you are not if you need to drop bags off.

Hope this link works. Apparently this mall is walking distance from the pier

quayside mall North Shields

Have you looked at http://www.yourcruisecabin.com ? There are several reviews of Balmoral cabins, including one on the same deck as the one you're interested in.

Thank you for the link. Good report

Has anyone been in this cabin or any of the other balcony cabins on Lido Deck 8 where the balconies protrude out past the lifeboats. If so what is your opinion of the cabins

Down South, our local Morrison's supermarket has a whole shelf dedicated to low alcohol wine. I've never tasted the wine, so I'm afraid I can't offer a recommendation.

Thanks for that. Next time I am in Morrisons I will have a look. I did see one company selling the Carl Jung but not sure if it is the same brand as FO. Nice of you to help

It seems to be easily available from many online wine merchants and perhaps from your local wine merchan so perhaps it is worth just buying a bottle to find out...

Good thinking. I did try and get it in stores but could not see it anywhere. However I did see it online but had minimum quantities. I will have another search to see gif I can get a single bottle. Thanks for your reply

Has no one on the boards ever tasted this low alcohol wine. I am surprised. Surely it is not very popular

It is actually very easy to search Fred's website for details of excursions which have been offered in the past along with approximate prices when the excursion was last offered.

 

If you go to the 'places we visit' tab on the top of their website, you can search destinations from their. The site does prefer to send you into cruises offered rather than ports of call and shore excursions, but if you are careful which link you use you can get into any port of call and the shore excursions previouisly offered.

 

The only exception to this I can find is if a port of call is not on any cruise planned by Fred in the future, so any port in any of their current brochures should be easily searchable. This does not mean the same excursions will be available in the future, but most are the usual offerings.

Very helpful thank you. Took a bit of searching as you say the site directs you to cruises but got there in the end

I would be grateful if someone who has done an Iceland cruise and has done FO excursions there could kindly post details and prices as again no excursions on their site

I see on Fred's wine list there is a Low Alcohol White wine called Carl Jung Premium White or Red Wine. Has anyone tried this wine. if so can you give me your opinion of it. I like a dry wine but unfortunately because of health reasons Alcohol gives me problems if I drink it each night like on holiday. Thanks for any opinions.