Loved Fred Olsen & the Caribbean! |
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Reviewed By: Grieve, Durham on 30th Jun 2009
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| Cruise Line: Fred. Olsen Cruises |
Times cruised before: 0 |
| Cruise Ship: Braemar |
Sailed:
January,
2009 |
| Destination: Caribbean |
Age: 56-65 |
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General:
We obviously hoped we would enjoy cruising but with no previous experience, it therefore came as a wonderful surprise to experience Fred Olsen's Braemar.
The average age was high, most people were over 50 and were so friendly, we felt completely at home.
Overall, we thought the crew and ship were magnificent - see notes later for some specifics and I apologise in advance for the inevitable repetitions which will occur.
Public areas inc bars:
The restaurants were great. Clean, well organised and with wonderful staff.
Our waiter in the Thistle restaurant was working his first cruise after completing his education and training. He was friendly, efficient and very attentive. The support staff in the restaurant who backed him up were of a similar high standard.
Staff in the Grampian restaurant were of a similar high standard and in the Palms Café, where there were some minor reduction in quality of service, the throughput of casual diners more than explained this small drop.
Cabins:
The cabin was spotless and our stewardess was excellent.
From what I can see elsewhere in the fleet and those of other companies, the cabin sizes are not unduly small but it did feel cramped at first, certainly smaller than a hotel room. The bathroom was the only part of the ship with a dated and rather tired look. It was on the small side, however, even in the fairly small shower, I managed without difficulty and I’m a bit larger than most people and I have mobility issues.
Entertainment:
This was simply first class. We followed the Braemar Show Company from the Neptune Lounge to the Coral Club and back again. Their energy and professionalism was breathtaking! The other entertainers displayed a similar professionalism but on a more relaxed level.
Food & Drink:
Put simply, the food was marvellous. I heard minor murmurs from some people who felt dishes should be prepared differently but when you have an excellent executive chef, hey, he’s a top man, he does things his way!! It’s his flair, quality and originality Fred Olsen pays him for.
We tended to go for a proper sit down and be waited on type of meal but did try the alternatives as well and found the food uniformly as I’ve previously described it. The presentation and delivery method varied but nothing else.
Drinks were reasonably priced and comparable to pub and restaurant prices in our home area. A bottle of wine with our meal for example, on one evening, £13.00 approx for a Red which is only pennies different from what I paid recently in a pub restaurant here at home.
Staff:
Uniformly excellent. They went out of their way to be friendly and helpful. What more can I say except to mention an individual or two who excelled! Ali, in the Thistle restaurant, who we wouldn’t have known was working his first cruise except he volunteered the fact. Daisy our cabin maid who just got on and did the job really well. The singers and dancers of the Braemar Show Company who were brilliant
Excursions:
While we sometimes thought too much was being packed in, I don’t know what I would have chosen to leave out! We loved the many tours we did though we did cancel one on St Lucia because new wanted a rest so we just took a water taxi across to the capital.
Apart from a nice place we found to have a drink overlooking the harbour, the capital was awful! It actually lived up to my stereotyped view of the Caribbean and was dirty, run down and not a nice place to be at all. Guess where I took the picture I've uploaded!
I knew my stereotypical view of the Caribbean was wrong otherwise I’d never have gone and the shock was to find that somewhere did match up to my expectation, or rather, fear! The rest of the places we visited were wonderful and the people outstanding and touchingly super keen on getting their children a good education!
Summary:
The big factor for me when listening to someone singing the praises of any type of holiday is whether they would go back!
Both of us would happily sail with Fred Olsen again. We’d both sail on the Braemar again and we’d love to visit the Caribbean again.
I’ve mentioned a place I hated, the rest I would go back to and know that the places and the people would captivate me all over again.
Curacao is a place I’d love to see again, indeed, I’d love to holiday in that one spot! Similarly, Antigua, Grenada, New Providence Island (Nassau), and Barbados.
I’ve not mentioned our start/end point, Miami. We’d heard all the stories, including some from people on our own ship, about rudeness, delays and general apparent dislike of people visiting the ‘States.
We experienced helpfulness, friendliness and, it has to be said, delays. We did what we were told and did the visa waiver on the internet and duly took the print out with us only to be told (after the date it became mandatory) that they weren’t interested in the internet, we had to fill out the paper version!
The delay in our case was 1 hour spent queuing for immigration. I thought that was excessive but within another 10 minutes we were outside waiting for our transport.
At Manchester when we flew back, we were through immigration in a very few minutes but queued for an hour for our luggage. So, who am I to criticise Miami which incidentally, is a much nicer airport to be in!
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| Quality of Food |  |
| Mostly ate in the Thistle restaurant and tended not to use the casual, self service, options | | Entertainment | |
| Loved the Braemar show company - they were brilliant. The others were ok but 'background' as far as my tastes went. | | Shore Excursions | |
| Loved the Grenada & Antigua excursions. Not so keen on Isla Margarita which I felt was trying to stear us to places to spend money. | | Staff | |
| Ali and Daisy, respectively, our main waiter and cabin maid. | | Children's Facilities | n/a |
| | Onboard Activities | |
| There were more activities than we could take part in but also, many places where we could avoid activities if we wished. | | Cabins |  |
| Probably about what I expected in size but the bathroom could do with updating. | | Overall Rating | |
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