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 embarkation we found a bottle of mineral water in our cabin. Ye,, if we drank it we had to pay!

Food, at first, was moderate. The introductory lunch from the buffet was poor with a pork stew hich was tasteless. The first few dinners were not much better; I had a steak one night, a triangle of beef weighing, I should think, between three and four ounces. From then on things did improve but there was never any dish describable as memorable. Portion control clearly features heavily in the Olsen thinking! Read more