I chose this cruise as it fitted in with school holidays and it was planned as a treat for my grandchildren. I booked a family cabin for my 2 granddaughters and myself and a separate cabin for my son - very expensive as charged full cost although obviously only half use of facilities and food. The family cabin was very cramped with uncomfortable beds. My son had to move cabins twice because of ...
Chosen for the itinerary - Iceland.
Fred Olsen is absolutely not worth the money.
Food is mediocre, drinks are expensive (particularly if you pay for their awful drinks package), entertainment is abysmal (apart from a fantastically talented bloke called Drew Levi), and they are clearly only interested in maximising profit and cutting customer benefits to the bone.
There was NO sanitation ...
Last time we went on a Fred Olsen cruise I said never again; if Olsen could charge for the air we breathed he would. But I succumbed. When we booked again we were offerd a drinks package at £25 or £29 a night (can't remember which) which seemed very expensive. During the criuse we learnt that late bookers had been offere free drinks packages. The moral is don't book early with Olsen.
On ...
We stayed in the Travelodge, Cobalt Business Park before our embarkation from Newcastle, which was a fairly new hotel. It was really good with the room, hotel and staff being excellent, so I would definitely recommend that as somewhere to stay pre-cruise. We stayed three nights, taking the opportunity to go on a boat ride to The Farne Isles one day with Serenity, which again I would recommend as ...
My wife and I enjoy cruising on small ships and wanted to see Iceland, this is as honest an appraisal as I can give on the whole Fred Olsen experience.
Cabin.
We had a premier suite which was perfect.
Staff.
Absolutely fine with one or two exceptions.
Mask etiquette
Some clown thought it was a good idea to let people sit in crowded restaurants without masks and dance in large ...
We chose this cruise for the itinerary, since we were visiting Amsterdam, Hamburg and Antwerp with an overnight in each base, so we were able to spend a lot of time ashore, including in the evenings. Amsterdam was particularly good regards this as we were there for the evening of St. Patrick's day, which seems a strange mix, but the vibe was even better than we have experienced in Amsterdam ...
This was our 26th cruise, 13th on Fred Olsen. While the cruise was ok, Olsen is not as good as it was before change of management. The outstanding feature is the crew. They are the very best of any cruise line we have been on. Efficient, friendly, helpful and always smiling. Many of them remeber us. The food was ok, The View self service restaurant is far better than the formal dining room, where ...
Wanting to celebrate Christmas and New Year away from the doom laden 2021, our plans had to be changed due to the uncertainty of travel to the U.S. A lucky chance took us to this cruise which included the Canary Islands for Christmas and to the fabulous firework display in Madeira for New Year.
We have travelled with Fred only once before and found the whole experience comfortable and ...
We travelled on Bolette's second voyage in the summer and were so impressed that we booked on board for this one. A voyage to the Canaries is always one of our favourites as it is around two weeks and is usually a sunshine cruise at whatever time of year.
Check in at Dover was simple and we were pleased to find that the 'probes' used in the Covid test were much more comfortable to use than the ...
Fred Olsen’s Bolette; veranda cabin; mid Oct 21. Dover to Barcelona.
Boarding was smooth with a flow test simple & organised.
Always plenty to do on a Fred ship though for some reason they always started one or two minutes before the appointed time. The evening entertainment was a bit average.
Food was generally good and we often plumped for the pool café (whatever it’s called) for ...