Europe - British Isles & Western Cruise Reviews

Borealis is a nice ship, and some areas have clearly been refurbished in few months that Fred Olsen have owned it. Our Ocean view room on deck 2 was clean, and the carpet was new. The shower flooded onto the floor every time we used it, so we created a dam with a spare towel to keep the water in. It didn't cause a particular problem for us, but we felt for the lady who had to service the room ...

We were kindly invited to join a friend (who I had worked with for 4 months on an NHS Test & Trace mobile testing unit) and her partner on this 2-night sailing as they wanted to try it to see if they would like cruising. Obviously, they were conscious that with all the current COVID-19 protocols in place, this sailing would not be like any ‘normal’ cruise, but hopefully it would give them a good ...

We actually sailed out of Portland not Portsmouth and it was the Dress Rehearsal Cruise for six nights. The ship is brand new and lovely as were the staff. The main problem was that neither were anywhere near ready for paying passengers. There was so much wrong its difficult to know where to start. 1. Food and Drink - probably one of the main reasons people cruise on high end cruise lines is ...

The ship’s inaugural cruise post pandemic was a 6 nighter to Dover,Belfast and Liverpool from Southampton.The crew and staff gave us an emotional welcome on board and a guard of honour at disembarkation,aswell as gifts in our cabin during the cruise.They also upgraded us to a balcony cabin which was a treat.Throughout the cruise the staff couldn’t have been more helpful and respectful.We received ...

We had chosen this cruise to be able to experience the coast of Norway and sample Norwegian specialities. The cruise delivered on the former but not the latter. Restaurant are in urgent need of training to be customer oriented, and acted like they were doing passengers a favour by being there. Although there was an effort to accommodate the food restrictions of some of the passengers in our ...

Oh the great debate: to cruise or not to cruise amid a global pandemic? But like most folks, after 15 months of restrictions, we decided to take a punt on a Western UK cruise - thinking that was least likely to be cancelled. I’ll be honest - we would not have considered a spin around GB under any other circumstances. We had not travelled with Marella before. But we’re impressed by the fare ...

We embarked at Oban! International travel restrictions have taken our usual cruising options from us, but we were desperate to get onto the water. So we discovered The Majestic Line and were pleased we did. It was lovely not having a pre set itinerary but just trusting the judgement of our skipper Neil to choose our route and stops for the day. Typically we moved after breakfast and lunch and ...

Once MSC announced that their flagship Virtuosa was going to have her inaugural season in U.K. waters, making several sailings around the country for British residents, we wanted to sail on her. Even more attractive to us was that Virtuosa would be departing from Liverpool for selected sailings. For us this was a great opportunity to just travel for about an hour, driving 35 miles from home ...

We chose this Viking cruise as we saw it offered and after many months of no travel due to COVID, it gave us the opportunity to be "pampered" even if the UK Scenic itinerary was largely the Irish Sea with 2 port stops. Also, after many years with Celebrity our line of choice, it gave us a change to experience something new (at a very reasonable price). We thoroughly enjoyed every moment of the ...

At last, after fourteen very long months we are back onboard a cruise ship, and whilst we are cruise veterans, we are Viking Virgins, and we were particularly excited to board the beautiful Viking Venus, a brand-new ship travelling round England from Portsmouth, on to Liverpool, the Scilly Isles, Falmouth, Portland and back to Portsmouth. Of course, because of Covid, things are a little bit ...