Took the train to Southampton to spend a week finishing my Christmas shopping with Fred Olsen.

Not my first time on Fred Olsen having sailed on Black Watch and Black Prince over 7 years ago. The reviews here on Cruise Critic read quite positive about Balmoral and eased away the reasons why I had not booked with Fred Olsen since 2003. It did not take long to bring those memories flooding back, and how I wished I had remembered before I had booked and parted with some of my hard earned savings.

Arriving at Southampton at 11.30am I searched for the shuttle bus arranged by Fred Olsen. At 12 midday a coach arrived with a Fred Olsen sticker in the window. Coach driver got off, opened the luggage compartments, took my suitcase, put it in the hold and then stood back leaning against a wall. No smile, no response and no interaction. This repeated its self until there were 20 or so passengers on board and we drove to the Mayflower Terminal. Oh, the driver did say one sentence before we drove off 'If you haven't got luggage labels on your bags you wont get them in your cabin'. Mayflower Terminal was cold as we waited until the ship was ready. No boarding as you arrive here unlike P&O, Royal Caribbean, Princess..... Read more