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Wednesday 17th March 2010
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The Best Holiday of My Life |
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Reviewed By: hogwood, chadwell heath on 25th Jun 2009
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| Cruise Line: Fred. Olsen Cruises |
Times cruised before: 0 |
| Cruise Ship: Balmoral |
Sailed:
February,
2009 |
| Destination: World Cruise |
Age: 56-65 |
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I had never been on a cruise before so booking with Fred Olsen for a world cruise on the Balmoral was a bit of a gamble..would I be bored, would I like the food, was my cabin going to be big enough and more importantly, would I get on with the other passengers?
Well I enjoyed every minute of the cruise, I never had time to get bored as there was plenty of activities on board, the food was good, my cabin was large enough for two people let alone just for me, and the other passengers were very freindly.
The ports of call were amazing the only downside was that we were not allowed to visit Ho Chi Min city because of some kind of restrictions on the vessel passing under a new bridge so we called at a port called Chun Mi which was lovely, we also had to miss out on our call to Mexico because of the swine flu and visited Costa Rica instead which was an amazing place. A couple of excursions were not up to scratch, especially the one in Aqaba which was a washout and we got a refund for that, also one of the trips in China (Tianjin) was supposed to have a lunch stop included but this did not materialise which was a bit worrying to me as I am diabetic and needed a meal, If I had known I could have taken something with me, we also got compensation for this.
Whilst going through the Gulf of Aden we had a pirate attack which was scary and made the national press.
The weather throughout was very good and we only had 2 shore visits during the whole cruise where it rained.
The best experience for me was visiting Alaska where the Captain took us through the iced up Fjords to come very close to several glaciers. He was very enthusiastic about seeing wildlife and was always on the PA system telling us when whales or dolphins were sighted.
Our restaurant was the Spey where the waiters were very friendly and always smiling and nothing was to much for them to do, I have nothing but praise for them.
The lecture on the whole were good especially the ones on wildlife and photography.
The internet room was handy to send emails but very, very expensive. surely there is a way to make this cheaper.
Also the so called duty free shop onboard was very expensive..so it is an idea to take as much toiletries with you as you can manage.
The entertainment was good with only a couple of duff acts, but the ships entertainment company whilst being good repeated a lot of their shows which was not what you would expect.
My cabin maid was lovely and always smiling and kept my cabin immaculate.
The best thing that came out of this cruise was that I met a single lady and got engaged and are getting married next year, also we have booked another world cruise with Fred Olsen in 2011.
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| Quality of Food |  |
| the spey restaurant, i tried everything. | | Entertainment |  |
| most shows were good except for a magician whose name i cannot remember who got his laughs from takin the rise out of members of the audience, he was so bad that some of the audience walked out.. | | Shore Excursions |  |
| the best was the great wall of china and petra, the worst was the trip to the aquarium in aqaba | | Staff | |
| Danny & Patu in the Spey restaurant, they were very friendly always smiling and joking andnothing was to much effort. | | Children's Facilities | n/a |
| | Onboard Activities |  |
| there were not a lot on such a small ship, but what there was were good. | | Cabins | |
| yes | | Overall Rating | |
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