Well it started off with a pleasant trip down to Euston in London, then a rather expensive £16.00 taxi ride over to Liverpool street station, this is the only way to get to Harwich by train, if you know a different or better way , please share ?
From Liverpool Street the Train goes via Manningtree, if you see a tight connection, don’t panic, it is a one horse station and you can easily change platforms in 5 minutes, there are only two !
Arrival in Harwich went smoothly, even with cases you could walk to the ship, there is a small cafe to get a drink/sandwich while you wait. We did have a little wait as the ship had a bout of sickness on the last sailing and they were giving her a good clean, cannot complain at that, just a bit frustrating when you are only on a two night cruise.
We eventually got on board about 4pm with the cabin being all ready, we were in 2065 D outside twin cabin, two porthole windows, a decent size as cabins go, though I would like a deluxe or balcony personally, its just the sense of space.
The Braemar is very easy to navigate around, being a smaller ship is far less walking , smoking area is aft on deck 5, tables and chairs and when the wind is not howling, would be very pleasant for the smokers. Smoking is still allowed on balcony cabins, if you are interested !
Holding 900 odd passengers I found the common areas very spacious, plenty of seating and the Neptune Lounge for the shows looked really nice, very art deco and talking to some passengers they felt a little old fashioned, I would prefer to say traditional.
There is a library , card area with a lovely little coffee /cake service area
We found the food very good, in fact my Friend had every course (she did it for the team !!!) I saved myself for the lovely puddings !
Lunch on day two we had in the Grampion as opposed to dinner the night before, this has lovely views, its small , intimate almost, and the best waiters, top marks for that.
The pool deck rather surprised us, the only heated swimming pool at sea, my friend took advantage and had a quick dip, the water was like a bath according to her, though did have a lot of chemicals in, be warned ! Plenty of space and lovely comfy outdoor couches to sit on.
We did take the All inclusive and we felt it was very good value for money, the house wine was very nice, and again for the team, we tried all of them !
The staff were very good, and some of the friendliest it has been my pleasure to be served by, they had a sense of fun and often called us by name, all in all Fred Olsen have a lot to offer, I would most definitely go with them again.
It was my friends 50th birthday and to be honest the age group varied from 20’s to 80’s which is always a little more interesting to get everyone’s opinion , who knows maybe for my next big birthday we will do it again !
