Fred Olsen Balmoral, Fred. Olsen

Myself, my husband and two friends took a short break on this ship and had a very enjoyable experience. First of all we had inside cabins which my husband and I had never experienced before, (we had always had a balcony cabin on bigger ships) but we were pleasantly surprised how roomy they were. Plenty of space for your luggage and being able to have a cup of tea first thing in the morning made a great difference to me. Everybody on board was very friendly, all the staff always smiling and couldn't do enough for you. The food in both the dining rooms, breakfast and lunch were good. The evening entertainment team were outstanding. We have been on lots of other cruises (7 in total) and have never seen such talented dancers and a team that could sing instead of the usual backing tracked singing that we had been used to. We were so impressed that they were singing and dancing at the same time. It was also nice to be able to practice our ballroom dancing skills to a proper ships orchestra and people travelling on their own even had escorts on board to dance with single ladies and chaps which I'm sure must have made some peoples holidays. I would certainly recommend that you try one of Fred's cruises; they seem to have got the balance just right. We hope to take another cruise to Norway later on in the year

Our daughter and her family regularly cruise with the large P&O ships, sometimes three times a year As you may imagine, she has tried to encourage my wife and I to sample a Cruise over a long period of time. As if by compromise, we agreed to give it a try provided that it was a Fred Olsen vessel on a cruise to the Norwegian Fjords. We were not attracted to the larger ships with 2,000+ passengers but friends and our Doctor had spoken highly of the Boudicca and Balmoral. It was the gentle persuasion of the Travel Agent who telephoned one Saturday lunch-time to say that she had limited availability on the Balmoral cruising to Norway and the Orkney Isles that finally encouraged my wife an I 'to go for it' From the moment we arrived at Dover, having driven from East Anglia by car, everything seemed to fall in to place. Well almost everything. We had been attracted to a cruise by the fact that you do not have to haul your luggage around with you. Indeed, having parked our car we were directed to a Mini-bus for transfer to the ship, our luggage having been manhandled with due care by the Mini-bus driver. It was re-assuring to note that one of our three cases was awaiting us when we reached our cabin on board, but alas, we did not see the other suitcases until late evening. Someone had transposed the Cabin Number on the case labels. Having eventually got the cases it did not take us too long to un-pack them and to stow our clothes etc. in appropriate storage this mostly due to the adequate storage in regular size cabin we were consigned to. If you have never cruised, the idea of sharing a holiday with 1300 or so passengers sounds a bit like doing ones shopping in the local Supermarket on a Saturday morning. We were therefore very surprised that the only time we were conscious of numbers was when we gathered in the Neptune Lounge for the evening events. Most events were well attended and well received. We had been well informed that the food on board would be well prepared and well presented - so we were not disappointed. Our friends and family have adopted limited conversations since we returned home "I told you that you would love it" How right they were.