The ‘FABULOUS’ Boudicca!!

And she is Fabulous – I can vouch for that.

I have just returned from a 5 night break on board Fred Olsen Boudicca, we went on 26th March visiting Antwerp & Amsterdam.  This was a great short break on a wonderful ship with great company!

Myself & my husband Adam traveled with my friend & colleague Teresa & her husband Paul – this was booked back in November and was the right time for a short break after the rush at work in January, February & March….

We were on Boudicca in December for our Christmas Conference so I knew the ship well and thoroughly enjoyed it again this time around. The captain made an announcement calling her ‘The Fabulous Boudicca’ which stuck and she surely is FABULOUS!! She is a small ship holding no more than 880 passengers.

The Observatory is a quiet bar with great views, light music on in here and quiet during the day if want to read and have some time out.

The main bars for entertainment were Lido Bar which featured singers so you can have a dance, then the Neptune Lounge where the shows were held.  The entertainment was great, minimal but very enjoyable.  The Megan & Joe Duo were great, we met them in December and they remembered us. During the day they also host quizzes and bingo and played games on the Nintendo Wii – which we did all of these and even won the quiz a couple of times and I won at the bingo – woohoo!  Adam won bowling on the Wii.  We embraced everything and got involved with most things, even a bit of karaoke!

Here is my Adam singing on the karaoke – boy he did good!!

We met some lovely people on board this ship, especially Bernie & Sheila who joined us most days for the quiz & bingo and at night, we even had lunch together & Bernie was my adopted ‘nan’ – she was so lovely and we will stay in touch.

Me & Bernie

Me, Teresa, Sheila & Bernie

A friend of mine’s parents were also on board, I had never met them so she set me the challenge to find them – mission completed & they were lovely.

Everything was fantastic from the cabin to the food and the service was amazing.  I don’t do onions so advised our waiter on the first night and then every night I was given the menu for the following night so I could choose my dinner and they would make sure no onions were in anything – great service and nothing was too much trouble for our waiters Arnold & Kadek – they were happy, pleasant and very welcoming every night.

Arnold

Kadek

We went to the Captain’s talk where he introduced the officers, very interesting and such a lovely man, his name is Mikael Degerlund and I managed a selfie with him – that’s the cheeky me!

We were very lucky with the weather also, in Antwerp we hit a massive 20 degrees so made the most of this and went in the pool & jacuzzi. The pool is heated so can use even if a bit cold, I used the pool a few times whilst on board.  The outside decks were quite busy with people enjoying the weather but it never felt crowded.

We docked in Antwerp overnight so had plenty of time to see this lovely town, we stayed on board the 1st day and made the most of the weather then we headed off the next morning, still a beautiful day.  We didn’t book a trip as the ship docks right in the center so you can just walk off and your are in town in about 20 minutes.  We had a lovely couple of hours mooching round, we had coffee in the most amazing coffee shop – if you are ever in Antwerp you need to see this place. there are statues inside of holy figures from around the world – quite a sight I can assure you.

The buildings are stunning and we enjoyed walking around before going for a Belgian beer – well it had to be done!

The next day we went to Amsterdam, myself & Adam got off for a wander as he hadn’t been before, we walked from the port which is about 30 minutes into the center so not too bad, you can get a metro or take a cab if not doing a tour.  Adam wanted to see Anne Franks house so we found that and had a mooch around the streets for a couple of hours, had a bite to eat and did some people watching – my favorite pastime… the one thing to watch out for is bikes, they are everywhere and we saw a few near misses with cars & lorries – I wouldn’t like to drive here…

Boudicca is well equipped with a good size gym – 2 pools, 2 jacuzzi’s & an exercise pool. I love the layout of the decks and plenty of space to relax on deck. There is a library, a card room, 2 gaming tables, a launderette, on board shops, golf nets & health & beauty salon.

On the corridors there are lovely plants which brighten the ship up, a lovely touch.

We had a Balcony Suite which was great in size and a large balcony but fully obstructed so couldn’t see anything at all, this was the only downfall so if you like a view just book a standard balcony, smaller cabin but at least you see from the balcony.

It was very comfortable and spacious, lots of storage space.  We saw a door and thought it was interconnecting and would be locked but when we opened it what a lovely surprise, a 2nd bedroom with 1 lower berth & 1 upper berth so ideal for 4 people – this was Adam’s room as he snores badly – ha ha!

This was the view from the balcony 🙁

We had a small bath with a shower over and the bathroom was a good size unlike other ships I’ve been on so we were happy with the cabin.  The balcony suites are different in layout as we saw about 3 of them before we got off. Our cabin number was 8034 if you want the one with extra room.

So what can I say about Boudicca?

Ship – Fabulous
Service – Fabulous
Staff – Fabulous
Cabin – Fabulous (expect the obstructed balcony)
Food – Fabulous
Itinerary – Fabulous

Hence why it is known as the FABULOUS Boudicca – call me to book your next Fred Olsen cruise…..

Until next time, happy sailing…………..