Fred Olsen Cruises

[naffusername]

The husband decided to surprize me and book a cruise for my birthday.

He knew I wanted to see the Baltic and found this Fred Olsen Company that has smaller ships, sails from the UK and goes to the Baltic.

So he's booked it and the tickets to the UK, even got the travel agent to find us a place to stay before and after the cruise to do a bit of sight seeing.

Now, he's 70 and I'm 65. I still work and he's very active.

My gawd, I found their FaceBook groups and they all seem to be ancient, old people with several Bucket Woman types. It's like days of the Raj, formal nights and dressing for dinner!

He's so proud of himself and I do love him for booking this for me. But I'm dreading getting on the ship.

Has anyone been on a cruise with this company? Is it really as horrific as the posters?

Yes I've been and it was great! And I was only mid twenties. You don't have to do the dressing up if you don't want to, as you can eat in the buffet restaurant for dinner.

We had a whale of a time, met some great friends that were still in touch with. Entertainment not as good as P&O but we enjoyed it and would use them again.

Most Cruise lines still have formal nights because lots of people enjoy dressing up. There is only one a week and it’s not compulsory to join in. I haven’t cruised with Fred Olsen yet, though we probably will next year. It’s good to be able to cruise from 20-minutes up the road. I have taken several cruises with Celebrity and one with Azamara. They all had formal nights, sometimes we joined in, sometimes we didn’t. There is no pressure. As for the people. Yes, it’s an older demographic on FO, but you get every type of person on all ships. My husband is also 70 and I’m 65 in July. We are not boring, or uptight (good 1970s expression) and since you are suggesting that neither are you, why would you assume all older people sailing on FO are? Just thank your DH for being thoughtful, stop overthinking it, go and enjoy yourself!

Hopefully you'll have a lovely time OP. I (mid 30s)went on a northern Europe cruise with Fred olsen and would definitely do it again. There was quite a range of ages on board, and although it's a smaller boat than some of the massive ships there is still plenty to do and loads of nice places to just sit and read or whatever.

I've only been on that one cruise and when I find myself looking at other companies I never quite book because I don't think it would have the same feel as the fred olsen one.

As a previous poster said there are a few optional formal nights, you can skip these and go to the buffet or one of the speciality restaurants (we went to an Indian restaurant that was great). But what i also found is that the formal wasn't super formal like on cunard or something, so I wouldn't worry about the formality, any dress or trousers and nice top would be fine. The table service/formal restaurant is also available at lunch time, so you can go there then to mix it up if you don't want to do evenings. This is best if you have an at sea day, as I think it's good to get off the boat in port, though quite a few people did seem to stay on board.

One thing I would say is do your own thing when you get to port. You don't want to bother with the excursions, they are expensive and seemed to attract the older crowd. If you don't usually go on guided/group holidays I don't think there is much to recommend about the excursions. Instead research the ports and modes of transport to the sites/towns you're interested in before you go and take a bit of a plan. Wifi on the boat is expensive when you aren't near the shore and able to roam. So having a plan for what you're going to do when you get to a place will save time. Just note the departure time on the day and male sure you're back at least half an hour before because they won't wait for you.

Sorry this is long! Just wanted to try and reassure you that it's not as bad as what you've taken from FB. There's a lot to enjoy and look forward to.

Oh another weird thing I didn't realise was a thing before I went on the cruise was that the evening tables in the table service restaurant (not buffet) are allocated, so if you don't specify you want a table for two, you'll potentially be allocated to a large table with a mix of people you don't know, I seem to remember tables of 6 or 8. These tables are the same all week and you eat with the same people at a set time.

I found this really weird, though guess it's good for people who like making friends on holiday or travel alone. But if you don't, just email/phone them before you go and ask for a table for 2.

As I said this doesn't apply to the buffet, which is self service and always just sit where you want. It also doesn't apply to the speciality restaurants, but you pay a small surcharge for these (think it was about £10)

Thanks for the feedback.

The FB groups have been saying dinner jackets or formal evening wear for men and formal, long gowns for women. I have a ballgown but I'm not dragging it onto a cruise ship.

I keep seeing snaps of people with walkers, discussing their multiple medications, difficulties in walking on gangplanks, etc.

It was starting to sound like a floating retirement community.

We've only booked one joint excursion and one for the husband for special interest he has. We fully plan on wandering around the various ports.

He picked the cruise because it was a smaller ship and the ports of call were places he knows I want to see.

We've cruised before and never been told to bring tuxs and ballgowns! River Cruise and the west coast of the US and Mexico (3 different companies)

I am thinking of booking at the moment and feel throughly bewildered. Are the cabins tatty? They look very cramped. Can you open the window? Which cabins are refurbished? How much did you spend on trips?

I am really looking for as much feedback as possible.

I’ve just got back from a Saga cruise. I couldn’t find one thing to complain or nit pick about. The rooms are beautiful, everyone gets a balcony. The age demographic I’d guess at 80% of folk between 50 and 70, and the other 20% above that, we are early 60’s. There are formal nights but you don’t have to attend. We will Definatly book again.

So you mind if I ask the price and for how long?

We went to Iceland last year for first cruise work our 4 children - 20s and age 7. We are early/mid 50s. They are not cheap but thoroughly enjoyed it. We went for basic cabins as so many of us , they were comfortable and did the job, and didn't spend that much time there anyway. I hated the thought of crowds of uncouth that you get on some cruise lines, people were older (we felt young in comparison) and no queues, lovely food and staff, good quality. It all depends what you want. They weren't really geared towards children as only a few on board but then we didn't go in the school holidays. Booked again for this year.

It was for ten days, it wasn’t cheap at 7k for the both of us. For that you get
free insurance
return travel to and from the port (they pick you up and take you back to your door). Didn’t see our suitcases once the driver had put them in the car until they were delivered to our cabin.
all rooms have balcony’s.
wifi
excursions (although some longer ones you have to pay for)
drinks, meals, cocktails, afternoon tea, all included in the price.
there are speciality restaraunts that you can book and these are at no extra cost, but you will only be allowed a few of these depending on how many days you are onboard.
24hr room service

Theres more, but I can’t off my head think of them. We took some U.K. cash with us and didnt spend a Penny of it.
Head over to Saga cruises and have a look if you are interested.

The cabins are nice, not at all tatty. If you get a balcony, or terrace cabin, you can open the sliding doors. You can’t open any windows on any cruise ship.

How lucky you are. I wish I could meet a man as lovely and thoughtful.

Is it worth paying extra for a picture window? Or are porthole windows just as good? Please hit me with your experiences of cruises with PO

In years gone by, we always went for a balcony (on various cruise lines). Now we’ve been retired for years, we have to be more careful with money, so we tend to book an inside cabin. Due to the much cheaper price, they are the most popular, so unless the cruise is full (most are not completely), after the final payment, they (Fred Olsen) very often offer a heavily discounted upgrade. We sail on a Northern lights cruise in March and took an upgrade to a premium ocean view cabin (large picture window) for £300. The cost for that at booking would have been an extra £1200. Personally, I wouldn’t be interested in a porthole window. They are pretty small and you really have to peer through them to see much.

That's interesting. Do you find the interior cabins claustrophobic though?

Booking excursions - you can find cruise friendly ones through trip advisor or by googling, we never book through the cruise company as they are way more expensive. The only time to consider their excursions if you might struggle to get back in time - cruise ships won’t wait for you unless on an ‘official tour’!!!

The only negative thing about Fred Olsen cruises that I’ve found is that the ships are older and can look old fashioned and tired compared to newer ships. They were often bought from a company like P&O once they are too old to be used and then Fred Olsen refurbish them. However, this means prices are lower!

It’s a while since I went on a Fred Olsen cruise and the only other sea cruise I’ve been on was Alaska with Holland America so cannot really compare with the huge supersize ships that are more common. I prefer small river cruise now.

@Ihateslugs I things they have changed since you’ve sailed with FO. I used to look at photos and videos of their ships and, in keeping with your description, and think “no, too old and shabby”. They have modernised a lot since those days. A few years ago, they bought 2 new (fairly old) ships - now called Bolette and Borealis. They refurbished them as sister ships. We’ve sailed on the Borealis (and soon on Bolette). Found it so beautiful.

@Tripthelightfantastical we have only just started booking inside cabins, having only just gone back to cruising after years of land trips. We had the one booked on FO, which we recently upgraded at the heavy discount and we have one booked with Ambassador for June. I was against the idea of them, as I can be mildly claustrophobic. That was until it was pointed out to me that the cabin TV can be put on Bridgecam showing the view out from the bridge. Given that is more or less a window, I expect it will be fine.

It rapt depends on what you want. Wet have only sailed in inside cabins with p and o and that’s mostly because I like the room to be completely pitch black at night. I didn’t see the point in paying an extra £700 for a balcony. We spent most of the port days exploring from 9-3 ish and even on sea days spent very little time in the room. I really enjoyed p and o, they had some fascinating speakers in the auditorium and we really enjoyed the various quizzes etc.

we have now booked a Norwegian fjords cruise and for that we do have a banking booked as the scenery is spectacular and it’s not like a sea day where you just see the sea around you 360 degrees. So is worth the extra.

with p and o I like to have lunch in the main dining room and most evenings we preferred the buffet as we are pretty laid back. Never done a formal night but I did enjoy seeing Pele walking past dolled up to the 9s…. It’s just not something that we enjoy at all

Saga also includes tips in their prices bot the cheapest but a lot is included

Saga isn’t cheap but everything is included. You only pay for spa and hair treatments. You can get a good discount if you pay a deposit to book early.