Balmoral Reviews

Small, intimate ship, very good for single travelers as they have more single cabins than other cruise lines. The food was brilliant.

I took the Cities of Norway cruise from Southampton, sailing on May 3rd, with my son. It was our first cruise and I can see how they can become addictive.  I could definitely get used to being waited on, having no housework to do and lovely food available. Giles would have stayed on. We usually holiday in our small motorcaravan so the cruise was quite a contrast and I wasn't sure how much I would enjoy it. However, it was the easiest way to see the Fjords, which we had wanted to do for sometime, given the ferry from Newcastle has been discontinued.  I knew that we wouldn't have as long in each stop as I would like, despite choosing a cruise with 4 reasonably full days and 3 half days, so I can't complain when I would have preferred longer. I would particularly have liked longer in Stavanger, which was interesting in it's own right and there was a local boat that takes 3 hour trips along the Lysefjord. Unfortunately, when we were there it went at 12 noon and the Balmoral sailed at 2.30 so we couldn't go. Look out for the National costume shop in the streets towards the Petroleum Museum, beautiful hand embroidery.  Some Fjord cruises have much shorter time ashore which will give longer cruising the Fjords in the day. I hadn't thought this through as we were going along the Fjords when most people were asleep or eating. Fortunately we were on the second sitting for dinner which gave us time to stay on deck. One morning I woke at 5.30, looked out of the window to see snow capped mountains magically tinged with pink from the sunrise. I intended only to take a photo from the deck above our cabin. 2 hours later I was still there. The Fjord had so many twists and turns I had to see what was round the next corner and the light was fantastic. There were 3 other passengers awake and several crew inevitably cleaning. We returned along the fjord at sunset.  We had amazing weather, it rained in Bergen and very low cloud when we took the Norway in a Nutshell trip from Flam, which only added the the atmosphere, the rest of the time it was warm and brilliant sunshine. The trips were very expensive, Norway in a Nutshell cost £125 each, with only 30mins free to look around Voss, after a sumptuous buffet which wasn't really necessary. This was a very popular trip with 5 or 6 coachloads of people, not my ideal but it was worth it to see the views. Other passengers just did the return train ride from Flam to Myrdal for £40 through spectacular scenery, but missed out on Voss and the coach to waterfalls, past a frozen lake and the stop high up with views over a spectacular valley. It was the only organised trip we paid for.  At Bergen we walked to the funicular railway & bought our own tickets for about £5. The easy walks in woodland to a small lake and a lovely tarn were one of the highlights of the holiday for me, despite the rain. We saw a red squirrel, one of the few signs of wildlife in the whole trip. (We did see eider duck and kittiwakes at Alesund but no seals or whales and not many seabirds).  The boat was spotless, the friendly crew were cleaning all the time. The food was great with plenty of choice. The chef was particularly good as I have an intolerance to onion in any form, so long as I informed the head waiter by 2pm what I would like from the evening menu they would ensure there was no onion in it. So on occasion they made me a separate sauce, or cooked meat on it's own. Special mention must go to our waiter, Emerson, who usually brought me the next day's menu as we finished our meal and took the next day's order.  The passengers were, on the whole, very friendly. Most of entertainment wasn't to our taste, but others seemed to enjoy it and we usually went along for something to do, although we didn't give the comedian a second chance. Laughing at his own, not very good jokes, was annoying.  Ricky, the deputy cruise director, was much more entertaining compering Who Wants to be a Millionaire and the ice sculpture demonstration. The Crew Show was extremely good, with Philippino and Thai dancers and comedy turns from the engine crew. It was much the best evening entertainment. We enjoyed the quizes but there wasn't a great deal more we felt inclined to take part in. I gather some of the larger ships put on a more varied programme.  I would now like to visit Norway in order to explore more, but it is very expensive. We spent very little of our Kronas. Look in the little markets for something to take home.  Of the itinery several passengers I spoke to wondered, as I did, why we stopped for so long at the first stop, Farsund. It ws a pretty fishing village with lots of islands, but wouldn't have been so pleasant had it rained. There wasn't a great deal to see or do and it certainly didn't have the mountains we were expecting of Norway.  Flam & Olden were small towns but at the end of fabulous Fjords and the start of some of the trips. The description of a 'waterfall' at Olden is a misnomer, more like small rapids. If it's very hot take the little train round a lake. The churches are worth a visit in most places and usually have toilets.  We are already looking at some of the offers for another cruise and fighting off the temptation to go. For this cruise I took a late booking, as we only decided to go a few weeks before sailing. A bargain.

Our first cruise, every thing was as we had hoped for on board and will sail again with Fred Olsen as soon as we can.

From the minute we arrived at the port of Southampton we were amazed at the beauty of the Balmoral and from the minute we got on board we felt the warmth and friendliness of all the staff and crew. The food in all the restaurants was superb and the wine selection was second to none. The cabin was spacious with lots of storage space and was always tidy and well looked after by the house maids. The entertainment again was superb with a different show to see every night. The most impressive point was the genuine friendliness and smiles of the staff and crew. I can only say that Fred Olson must look after their crew because the always looked happy. I would like to thank "Igloo cruises" who were superb in arranging the holiday.

We've just had a personal crisis so we were looking for a cruise as a quick getaway, so when we saw this 10 day cruise with Fred Olsen to the Norwegian Fjords we thought why not try it out?  We cruise a lot and to be honest we weren't expecting too much, but in the event we were extremely pleased with the ship. The on-board service is truly first class and the food is above cruiseline average, our balcony cabin was roomy and quite stylish. The main public rooms feel spacious with the exception of the Neptune Lounge which, like most ships of this age, seems cruelly dated. The entertainment was a cut above similar cruise lines but sadly the venue appears to us to detract from the productions.  The weather was well behaved throughout the entire period, apart from spots of rain in Bergen and this always is a bonus on a cruise. As the Americans would say, this cruise definitely exceeded our expectations.

Visited Balmoral at the cruise convention and she is a lovely ship. Cabins are a good size and well equipped and the lounges and public areas are lovely - and the pool area is great. We experienced the famous Fred. Olsen food and service at lunch - where we dined on a delicious seafood cocktail followed by beef wellington, cooked to perfection. Delicious and service with a smile.

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