Fred is fulfilling its ‘Enjoyment Promise’

It’s over 6 months ago now that Fred Olsen made a brave move by promising  customers who were new to Fred Olsen that if they didn’t like their cruising experience after the first couple of days on board that they would fly them home AND refund them the cost of the cruise.

Brave or stupid?

Well, so far it looks like not only a courageous move, but a very clever marketing idea. Although the cruise sector of travel has increased hugely over the last couple of decades with the introduction of more cruise ships and mega vessels like Royal Caribbeans Allure and Oasis of the Seas that can carry  over 6,000 passengers, there is a huge untapped market waiting to be seduced on to a floating holiday by the cruise companies. What better way to do this by saying ‘Try it! If it’s not for you then we’ll send you home and you won’t be out of pocket’?

Since the ‘enjoyment promise’ was introduced there have been over 24,000 passengers  who have sailed across the fleet of 4 ships and how many people do you think have taken Fred up on his offer?  Not one single passenger! And the majority of new customers have said that they will sail with Fred Olsen in the future.

This is a testament to Fred Olsen, who are confident enough that their on board experience fulfills and exceeds customer expectations -they have proved this with excellent independent customer reviews and winning Best Affordable Cruise Line at the Cruise International awards 2013.

In my experience a cruise holiday offers a chance to visit many destinations in one holiday, amazing food, a great choice of entertainment, the chance to meet and mingle with like-minded people and the cherry on the cake is the service provided on board where the staff work tirelessly to make your cruise experience seamless and memorable.

I see no reason that every cruise line could not introduce some kind of enjoyment guarantee as cruises in general are of such high quality. And if there were any C.E.O’s of cruise companies out there who shudder at that thought, then they need to be tackling the subject of why, and what improvements need to be made so that they are as confident in their product as Fred Olsen.

I personally have not been on a cruise that I  would not rate as 95% or above for overall satisfaction and although I have yet to sail with Fred Olsen, it looks like I would be struggling to find a way to get my money back due to lack of enjoyment.

Bravo Fred!