PrincessPete

I feel a bit of an intruder to this site never having sailed with Fred Olsen so hope my presence will be excused!

I do know Fred's ships very well though, having done numerous day visits on all of them to assist with a lot of writing I do for journals, online etc.

I was really surprised  today to receive a flyer through the post for a 34 night Balmoral cruise in September 2023, yes 2023.

Lovely itinerary, including going to New York and sailing up the Hudson River.

I can't remember ever receiving anything about a cruise so far in advance of this sailing which is three years and two months from now!

I guess the travel agent (think three letters and they advertise a lot in newspapers) sent it to me because I was booked with them for a cruise with CMV next year and Fred is a logical alternative.

However, Fred's prices are quite high and certainly £11,499 each for a balcony on this cruise is outside our budget.

I also have to say that sadly Fred's ships are out of bounds for us anyway at the moment until they change their policy of allowing smoking on balconies. But that's another story and I don't wish to upset anybody on here by dwelling on that!

Medical reasons make it impossible to sit on a balcony with smoke adjacent and we do love time on the balcony.

I would be interested to hear if anyone has plans to book on that cruise but it's just SO far ahead. Great itinerary and I do like the Balmoral - although she will be 35 years old by the time of the cruise in question. Kind regards Peter

I was thinking today about all the crew from Goa, the Philippines and other areas who have had no work with P&O and other lines for many months and how they are coping.

Obviously they work the nine month contracts etc away from home because they  can earn so much more than jobs at home. 

There are so many wonderful waiters and cabin stewards that we  have met over the years and I just hope they and their families are managing to get by until cruising restarts.

Anyone any thoughts on what they might be doing? 

Pete 14, yes they will get refunds from ABTA, no idea how long it will take though.

Having said that, some USA passengers of CMV are concerned as the ABTA cover does not apply to them and they are checking insurance policies etc

No I don't think you are missing anything Selbourne and I am sure you are completely correct.

Indeed Carnival will retain ownership of the two P&O Australia ships that were going to CMV next year and possibly Vasco de Gama which I guess has not been paid for from when it went to CMV last year.

What they will do with them is another matter though.

As far as the remaining ships in the CMV fleet are concerned - Columbus, Marco Polo, Magellan and Astoria - it is inconceivable that Carnival would want them for any of their brands. They range from 29 to 72 years in age.

Likewise, I can not see Fred being interested in any of them having just taken two far superior (age wise, number of balconies etc) ships from Carnival (Holland America).

You are again right that CMV's customers will probably now move in bulk to P&O or Fred, so even allowing for those that go to Fred, then Carnival overnight have potentially gained a lot of customers without doing anything.

As I have said elsewhere, I am very sad for the CMV crew and staff - as far as their Directors are concerned, though, they were still allowing bookings to be made yesterday shortly before announcing about the administration. Trading while insolvent perhaps? A criminal offence? Not sure, but certainly immoral. Yes, those people will get their money back but will doubtless have to wait months.

For those that aren't aware, CMV ceased trading today. 

Not a lot to add other than being very sad for their office based employees and shipboard crew

Sorry if this is old news but just saw an article on the BBC Regional TV news.

An iconic building I guess everyone on this forum knows.

Great picture on the link below.

Again, apologies if this has been covered before.

Kind regards. Peter

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-england-hampshire-51264989

The references to Ocean Majesty brought a smile to my face this evening.

We had two wonderful cruises on her, one  round Britain, including sailing right up the Thames and just beyond Tower Bridge, and the other to Norway.

Just over 10,000 tonnes and, rather stating the obvious, she had few of the facilities of the modern day ships - but the food was excellent, plenty of outdoor space, a minuscule swimming pool, the friendliest crew ever and all so hugely enjoyable.

We look back fondly on what can be called cruises from a different era, even though they were only 15 or so years ago. I suppose in reality that IS a different era!

Polly's posting 941 refers:

And a good friend of mine was sitting right next to the poor man who was killed on the Marco Polo in February 2014 when a window crashed onto him after a freak wave had hit it.

CMV were not directly blamed for it at the subsequent inquest although I understand there were claims by the victim's widow that the ship had been poorly maintained.

As above, though, they were not held responsible.

Perhaps not surprisingly my friend will not set foot on another cruise ship

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/man-85-killed-after-dodgy-cruise-ship-window-falls-and-hits-head-during-severe-storm-9964706.html

Indeed, I don't think (Carnival) ECSTASY would have been my emotion on first sight!  

Here is today's stupid question (although it really is not meant to be).

Where will these 13 ships go (or maybe 11 if that figure includes the 2 already destined for CMV next year)?

Surely there is a limited Chinese market where Oriana, and I believe now Oceana, have gone?

To the scrap yard? 

Feels like a very sad day reading this. 

Yes, there were a lot of VERY obstructed views on Royal Princess/Artemis but definitely no inside cabins. 

They made a big deal of that at her launch in 1984 (by Princess Diana).

Athena is now the Astoria, sadly soon to be no more, but she has had a good innings since 1948!

Astoria/Athena 16,000 tonnes, Royal Princess/Artania around 45,000 tonnes

We loved Artemis as well, although in our case it was when she was Royal Princess, her original name,  in the late 1990s.

We sailed from New York on a cruise to Canada and had a great time.

She was the first cruise ship to have no inside cabins.

We loved the bar at the stern of the ship with a 360° view and particularly remember sitting there watching us depart from Boston and sail down the Charles river with great views of the planes arriving/departing from the airport. Indeed a lovely ship back then 20 plus years ago.

That is so helpful Princeton.

And also Majortom, that came in as I was typing.

Many thanks to both and kind regards

Hi, we are looking at doing a return transatlantic trip, Southampton to Southampton late next year on Queen Mary 2 with just the one turnaround day in New York. Obviously, we understand all the uncertainties with everything at the moment.

However, I would be most grateful if anyone can advise what ship tours are offered on these turnround days as we would probably be a bit nervous about spending time on our own in Manhattan with the risk of missing our return half of the voyage if we were late back to Brooklyn!

We have been to New York several times before so it would really be a question of an organised tour visiting sights we have seen previously, just to give us a few hours off the ship.

Any help much appreciated and with kind regards. Peter

Yes there were indeed eight ships on that list and I don't think that it is a definitive list of those about to be sold/scrapped.

On a US video which referred to an interview a day or two ago with the Carnival Corporation CEO, there was reference made to the older Fantasy  class of ship still being profitable (in normal times) - and needed as Carnival Cruises (as opposed to the corporation itself) do use a lot of smaller ports in the US such as Tampa where there are bridges which preclude larger ships.

The overriding message was that no announcement had been made about the six ships although elsewhere I did read  that Costa Victoria was likely to be one of them.

It all remains to be seen and with  CMV in acute financial trouble a lot of ships being sold/scrapped seems likely in the next few months. 

Hello, apologies if this has been covered in the various coronavirus threats.

The Arcadia 26 April cruise goes to three mainland Italian ports, Genoa, Civitavecchia and Salerno.

I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on alternative ports if the current situation worsened in Italy before then, albeit the cruise went ahead.

Salerno of course is a lot further south than the main affected area but there was a problem with a Costa cruise ship at Civitavecchia recently and Genoa is relatively close to Milan.

Just wondering at this stage as, like others I guess, we are not 100% certain that we still wish to cruise in the current circumstances, particularly if Genoa and Civitavecchia were removed from the itinerary. (I  fully appreciate that P&O can alter the ports if necessary without us being able to cancel with a refund).

Any thoughts would be much appreciated and, as above, apologies if this is a repeat.

Kind regards. Peter 

Hello, my daughter and a friend disembark the "Pride of America" on Saturday 15 February after the one week Hawaiian Islands cruise.

They then overnight at a Waikiki hotel before catching a plane back to the UK the following afternoon.

I am trying to arrange a Pearl Harbour tour for them on the Saturday.

Time is obviously tight but it would be hugely helpful if a past passenger can advise the likely disembarkation time at the end of the cruise.

Also, does anyone know if post-cruise tours to PH can be booked onboard.

Thank you very much for any help.

Kind regards. Peter

All very good points, especially Eglesbrech re travel insurance. 

We are not on this cruise but insurance would definitely have been an issue (we can not get annual cover due to my wife's medical history so the cover would run out on the scheduled arrival day back at Southampton).

If a serious medical issue arose in the "extra days" I wonder whether P&O would cover the costs if  passenger's insurance had run out?

Hopefully nothing will arise for anyone on the extended cruise for those staying onboard.

Any thoughts on P&O's stance if it did 

Hi, we are on the 19 night Arcadia Mediterranean cruise in April. I was looking on the Cruise Personaliser at the shore excursions for our 9 ports and see that in 3 of them it says "no shore excursions available in this port". (Ajaccio, Elba, Genoa).

Does anyone think some will appear for them in due course? It just seems strange they can be booked for 6 of the ports and the other 3 have nothing. I know it is still some way ahead but the fact tours are available for 6 ports only confused me!

Gave up trying to get through to P&O so just wondered if anyone had thoughts on this.

Many thanks and kind regards. Peter

Hello SeaJane, that is most kind of you to reply. We would be so interested to hear your thoughts on Arcadia in due course. It would also be great if there was any way you could get us a set of the Horizons to send us (obviously we would send you the postage costs first).

We are always so interested to read in advance what's on offer on the ship (I know a lot of people prefer everything to be a surprise but we are the opposite!)

My email "peter.s.smith26@outlook.com"

We have done the same several times for other CC members, including on the 28 nighter we did on Oriana this year - obviously not a problem if this is not possible.

We see you are from Surrey, we lived in Stoneleigh, near Epsom, Surrey, for 34 years until moving to Rustington on the south coast last year.

Many thanks and sorry to bore everyone with this.

Have a wonderful cruise.

Kind regards. Peter and Beverley

In reply to the last post, yes I see that online about the Surf package. Didn't really register with me before as the ability to use the internet and send texts (by WApp) was what I was after hence booking the package.

As per my previous post I was able to send dozens of photos though, all by WApp, so didn't really think any more about it.

I don't use Instagram or Facebook so can't assist with that.

I don't know if the blurb about Surf means sending photos any other way (I'm not that good technically so not sure of the alternatives to WApp) but it certainly did what I wanted.

Interesting though and would be pleased to hear from others about their WApp experiences, for future reference.

Kind regards. Peter

For Maylea (Michaela)

On Silhouette two weeks ago on a Norway cruise we had the Surf package. It worked superbly and using my iPhone I sent dozens of texts, WApp with numerous photos  to family and friends and was able to access the internet and emails.

It worked perfectly in the cabin, on the balcony and around the ship.

The only exception was leaving Flam and Stavanger with very high mountains on both sides - the daily programme advised in advance (obviously from previous experience) that the satellite reception would be lost - that included the UK television channels.

That brief couple of hours apart the surf package worked brilliantly.  We don't do face time/stream videos etc etc which need the more expensive package.

Hope this helps.

Kind regards. Peter

Hi, on Silhouette last week I had the Surf package, £95ish UK for the week, purchased pre-cruise. Very impressed with it. I use W/App a lot to send pix to family and internet for news/football scores etc. Pretty much perfect service.

To answer the last post from Hollis25 it was really easy to connect. Can't remember the exact process but all done by following prompts on WiFi settings, with the ability to click a link as I had purchased before sailing. Not sure what you do if you buy the package onboard but I'm sure it is similarly easy.

Summary (of my experience), extremely simple to set up, just a few seconds.....the wi-fi was then really excellent throughout the cruise.

Hope this helps.

Kind regards.

Peter 

Thank you Emam for taking the time to post the sample excursions - most interesting and very kind of you.

Thank you also for the other replies.

Kind regards.

Peter

Arcadia in the Med next April. I guess the answer is 5 or 6 but would be pleased to hear any thoughts. 

Just to whet our appetites with 7 months to wait!

Kind regards.

Peter