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Great cruise but not without disappontment |
| Reviewed By: Lamond, Worthing on 2nd Jul 2008 |
| Cruise Line: Fred. Olsen Cruises |
Times cruised before: 3-5 |
| Cruise Ship: Boudicca |
Sailed:
June,
2008 |
| Destination: British Isles |
Age: 56-65 |
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This was our first cruise with Fred Olsen and we were generally impressed. We had booked late, ten days before sailing date, which it seemed nearly three quarters of people we spoke to had done. It seemed to us that the vast majority of the cruisers were, like us, of sixty years or older and this might not suit everyone. This was obviously not a popular cruise originally, probably because it started in Southampton and finished in Leith, with a twelve-hour coach trip back to Southampton if you wanted it. We chose to return to our hometown on the south coast by train. The itinerary appeared quite good although we would have preferred Falmouth or, better still, the Scilly Isles to Cherbourg on the way round to Ireland. The voyage was choppy at times and although the Boudicca has stabilisers we felt the movement was definitely more noticeable than with today’s larger, more modern ships.
We had a Deluxe Suite on deck 7, which was spacious and even had an additional toilet and washbasin and a lovely walk-in wardrobe area. The cabin was nicely furnished and the beds were extremely comfortable. The main issue with the accommodation was that the room always appeared to be dark even in bright sunlight. We put this down to the fact that the windows obviously had a film on them to prevent anybody looking in as the room looked out on the walkway around the deck. It was quite strange watching people walk right past the window knowing they could not see inside. In addition the curtained-off bedroom area did not have a window and therefore appeared very dark and the electric light was required all the time. This is not a cabin to have if you want the bed arrangement as a double and are not nimble. In this arrangement you have to climb over both corners of the bed where it is up against the protruding walls, no matter which side of the bed you want to get to.
A hair dryer was provided but with no mirror anywhere near the power points it is of rather limited use.
Servicing of the cabin was unobtrusive and I personally never met our maid and only knew who she was when my wife pointed her out to me. Having said that she kept everything clean with fresh towels, even flannels every day.
The food on board was very good with a wonderful selection in the evening in main dining rooms. It was well cooked and we had no complaints whatsoever. We went for the second sitting for dinner, which, with the age range of the people on board, was always going to be the least popular. We did hear of people being encouraged to take second sitting because there was so much demand for the first sitting. Our table companions made it even more enjoyable. Service at dinner was good with attentive waiters, but with the open dining options at breakfast and lunch it required more to get table service. There was one themed dinner, Indian, in the self-service restaurant on one evening which we also found enjoyable.
We found all the lounges to have very comfortable seating. The main entertainment each night was in the Neptune Lounge, which is what it suggests, a lounge rather than a theatre. It is more intimate than a theatre with tables and chairs, rather than rows of seats. The only problem with this is that majority of the seating is on the same level as the stage. Satisfactory enough for watching someone sing but not the best for watching dancers, especially a troupe of young Irish dancers who performed the afternoon the ship was in Cobh. The cost of drinks in the bars was very reasonable but we did have a job getting service at times. The upside of this was that we were not pestered by waiters/waitresses every few minutes. We found no trouble getting a seat for the entertainment, probably because we were going there after the less popular second dinner sitting.
The standard of entertainment varied. Unlike the larger cruise ships, which seem to bring in artistes for one-night stands, on this cruise the Boudicca relied on shows with the resident professionals. Best was the comedian, who also had a good singing voice and the international harpist. These performed on three occasions during the week. The amateur crew put on a show one evening where the dancing was entertaining and colourful. The singers tried their best. On other days the professional singers and dancers were ok but the singers did not have powerful voices, which meant songs like Goldfinger did not quite have the impact it should.
Smoking is allowed inside the ship. This is in a supposedly self-contained lounge, which would normally be acceptable but I never saw the door closed out to the central stairway. Smoke thus permeated into the busy thoroughfare.
We thought the cost of the excursions was quite expensive so we tended to do our own thing. The only tour we had booked was cancelled because the ship failed to berth at Kirkwall in the Orkneys because of the winds. At first we had some sympathy because they said a tug to assist sideways movement was not available and to us it implied this was the responsibility of the port. However since our return we understand that the port authority had quoted for tugs but the ship’s agents had declined. Short-sighted at best but numerous people were extremely disappointed.
In Cherbourg the town laid on courtesy buses and even two horse-drawn carriages to take people into town. This was a lovely thought and we thoroughly enjoyed the leisurely trot into town. At Cobh the railway station is right on the quayside with an hourly service into Cork, the duration of the journey being 25 mins. But who thought of only putting on a two-car train at the most popular time of departure at 10.30. It was standing room only all the way. In Dublin we took to the open top bus and had an excellent drive round with an amusing live commentary from the driver himself. How he managed the two together in some heavy traffic and rain we’ll never know. At the last port of call, Invergordon, we had a wonderful tour with five fellow cruisers, provided in a small mini bus by couple of local tour guides, neatly dressed in traditional Scottish kilts etc. Thanks Cyd and Bruce of Ocean Links Golf Tours for a great drive round the area. They showed us some lovely views, castles where coaches could not have got to, local landmarks and even basking seals. The only downside was a decision to leave the port early, which meant we weren’t able to see everything we had hoped.
It seemed there were limited on board activities but as we were in a port every day we did not have time to participate in many so can’t really comment on the quality. Most of the activities were of short duration, about 30 minutes at most. As you could guess the on board gym seemed little used and we had no difficulty getting on any of the apparatus. It had a reasonable number of pieces of equipment. The sauna and steam room were at the opposite end of the ship to the swimming pools and two or three decks below so it was quite a walk between them. There are separate men’s and women’s sauna and steam rooms which is just as well as they are small; you are really limited to two people in the men’s steam room. Also I like my steam rooms to be hot and steamy but this one was over the top and got extremely hot, too hot for me. The main salt-water swimming pool was heated but there was quite a difference in temperature on the two occasions we used it.
A good experience and we will probably cruise with Fred Olsen again sometime.
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| Quality of Food |  |
| Set evening dining (second seating at 8.30) in the Four Seasons, once in self service for themed Indian night. Main restaurants for most lunchtimes (self service) | | Entertainment |  |
| See main description | | Shore Excursions | n/a |
| Seemed expensive. | | Staff | n/a |
| | Children's Facilities | n/a |
| | Onboard Activities | n/a |
| Seemed a little limited but with time at a different port each day perhaps this is understandable. Did not participate very much so cannot comment as to quality | | Cabins |  |
| Cabin was very good but somewhat dark for a suite. | | Overall Rating | |
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Some of our favourite QE 2 pics!
QM2 
Iberian Interlude - The Chiles'
Baltic Highlights
