Newcastle (England) to Europe - British Isles & Western Cruise Reviews

Chose this cruise as a replacement for a covid cancellation, the duration and departure port were right for us but we had visited the destinations before. Newcastle is easy to get to with plenty of secure parking near the terminal. Check in was quick and efficient. A friendly welcome. Our porthole cabin on deck two was a good size and very comfortable, better than some of the so called ...

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 ...

Iceland and Norway were on our bucket list so this cruise seemed the perfect way to tick them off. As destinations they didn’t disappoint and are both amazing places. We had sailed with Marella at Xmas in the Caribbean and selecting Marella again was an easy choice. This time departure was from Newcastle so no flights and extra luggage allowance. Departure was fine. It took a little while ...

Very dated ship. Mainly elderly passengers. Nothing on during the day except bridge bingo and handicrafts. More like a floating care home. Tour operator extremely unhelpful.. Don't book flam railway through olsen it's a lot cheaper to do yourself and there were plenty of seats. Guest service manager very helpful as had to move cabins as extremely noisy. Noticed a lot of cutbacks. Eg no conditioner ...

I consider the price we paid for the itinerary, distance travelled, entertainment, drinks package and cabin comfort (superior interior) was far too much. The A/C in the cabin was rubbish we had the setting off the scale and still found it stuffy and through the night it seemed to go off altogether, maybe to save money- so very poor sleep quality. Obviously we reported this and it was supposedly ...

My wife and I recently took our first cruise. We travelled on Deck 5 in an outer, windowed cabin, on Fred Olsen's Balmoral to the North German ports of Bremen, Hamburg and Kiel dep Newcastle 19 November. To say it was grossly disappointing would be to ignore the few highlights, but even they are too few to persuade us to repeat the experience. The worst aspect was the selfish and uncouth ...

The reason for choosing this cruise were many One the embarkation and disembarkation port was only half hour from home so we did not have any extra travel to join the ship.TwoThe ship Balmoral, we have sailed on this ship in the past and have had a wonderful time . The food,entertainment and ports of call had always been good. The size off the ship was also to our liking, friendly yet spacious ...

Embarking in Newcastle wasn’t good we were treated like hearded animals, once on board the staff were so friendly they actually made eye contact which is unusual. The ship was very clean, the seats in the communal areas very comfortable and clean. The cabin very clean the shower was compact but practical, the bed a single was comfy sheets very clean. The cabin attendant was absolutely brilliant ...

Although this ship was recently refurbished (newer furniture and carpeting) it lacks the excitement and character of other cruise lines we've been on (P&O, NCL, RCCL). The entertainment was so-so (think community college theater not Vegas-style), the comedian unfunny, and the average passenger age was over 60. We traveled with a well-behaved toddler. Even so most people were friendly (only had ...

We chose this cruise because of the itinerary and were just viewing it as a means of getting to Orkney and Shetland and really were not expecting much. However how wrong we were. We found our inside cabin clean and spacious with a good sized shower room. The food was excellent and we found the entertainment some of the best we have come across. We have cruised many many times with Cunard, ...