Following two recent cruises with Celebrity (reviewed here on Cruise Critic), my wife and I returned to Fred Olsen's Boudicca for an In Search of the Northern Lights cruise. Obviously these two cruise-lines are very different, but we decide who we travel with purely on destination and value for money. We have no particular loyalty, although we are now at Gold Level with Fred Olsen, and Elite Level with Celebrity.
Fred Olsen are an enigma to me, they must spend a fortune marketing themselves as the friendly cruise-line but that message does not appear to have reached all of their staff, either on their ships or at their H.Q. One example of this is that on that three occasions I have written to them I have been ignored twice and fobbed off once. On a more positive note their ships may be older, but they have a certain charm and character that often can't be found on larger, newer ships.
I should mention as I review this In Search of the Northern Lights cruise, I have spent a great deal of time talking to as many of my fellow passengers as I possibly could in an attempt to ensure the review is as representative as possible. One last thing before I begin the review. We booked this cruise over a year ago in advance on another Fred Olsen cruise and were told then that there were very few cabins left (sound familiar?). Actually there were lots of empty cabins, I guess we should not be so naive.