The Cruise
A short 3 night cruise leaving from Harwich, calling at Amsterdam, and
terminating in Newcastle.
The cruise was specifically the Sir Bobby Robson Memorial Cruise.
Sir Bobby managed amongst other clubs, Ipswich, PSV in the Netherlands and
Newcastle, hence the itinerary of the cruise.
A donation of £5000 from Fred Olsen and a raffle and auction on board
raised £3800 that went to
the memorial fund. Sir Bobby's widow along with retired footballers were also
onboard for Q&A sessions and photos.
If you have read any of my previous blogs, you will know that we have
sailed primarily with P&O, so there will be comparisons with them I'm
afraid.
It's also a small world, an ex work colleague who I have not seen for 10
years, but I know was an Ipswich fan, and has cruised many times with Fred, was
also on board, so it was a bit of catch up as well
The Ship
This was our first Fred Olsen cruise, and we had heard good reports about
Fred ships, so it was with much anticipation that we stepped on board. Also
sailing from Harwich was a very big bonus as we only live 10 miles from the
port, and I work in Harwich, so know the port very well.
The Black Watch holds c800 passengers and is of the "old style" traditional
design. As soon as we stepped onboard, both Sue and myself said it reminded us
of Dear Old Arty ( P&O Artemis ) but with a much greater sense of space and
openness, at least on our deck. Black Watch is also about the same size as Saga
Ruby, which we have taken a couple of cruises on, but again , she seems to have
more public spaces. With none of the spaces feeling crowded at all.
The MDR is light and airy, and being a smaller ship, there are large
picture windows down both sides.
My big whinge, was the Muster drill, after attending the drill in the MDR,
we were lined up in single file, and taken out to our respective life boat, all
of which I have no problem with, even though the weather was atrocious, and it
was chucking it down. But the fact that they made us stand there for 10 minutes
or more, and when the staff were questioned as to why, the reply was "well you
would have to stand here if it was a real emergency". All in all, not very good
customer relations at all.
The Cabin
 |
| Leaving Harwich after the storm |
We had upgraded to a junior suite after the original booking on deck 7, it
was a large spacious cabin, and well appointed with TV, fridge, tea and coffee
making facilities, and a well stocked mini bar which we did make use of as the
prices were reasonable. The only thing that let the cabin down IMHO was the
lighting in the bathroom (which had a full size bath with a shower over). Now it
might just be a male and age thing, but I do need a bright light when I'm having
a shave ( even with my glasses on) and this bathroom was very dull. But other
than that minor point a very nice cabin. Now I know all cruise lines do things
slightly differently, but I failed to understand the logic of the evening "turn
down" service that saw the quilt being folded up at the foot of the bed. Very
strange
Food & Drink
We ate in the MDR for dinner, the menus had a good selection of food all of
which were plated meals. It was also nice to see a different menu, as my view of
P&O menus are that they need to change more. The drink prices seemed to be
on par with P&O aka normal pub prices. For breakfast and lunch we ate in the
buffet Garden Cafe, but it bears no relationship to the experience on a P&O
ship, it was much quieter, relaxed and pleasant. You were escorted to your
table, so always had no problem trying to find a seat, and never a "bun fight"
well done Fred !!
Entertainment
We saw a couple of shows from the on board theatre company in the Neptune
show lounge. This was similar to the show lounge on Artemis, but had better
sight lines. A very talented group of singers and dancers made up the group,
plus they also hosted quizzes etc. on board.
We watched one of the comedians early show which we found very "clean" and
entertaining, although we heard his late show did get a bit "blue"
Tours
We had pre booked via Fred a city and canal boat tour. We had previously
done this tour some years ago with P&O, but the cost was very reasonable at
£35 each. Being a Sunday the driver found it very easy to get about, so a
pleasant tour was had by one and all. Being a Sunday did not stop the queue
around the Ann Frank museum stretch around the block.
The Crew
As I think with most cruise lines, it's the crew that makes or breaks a
cruise and Fred Olsen are no different, but I can report they were excellent, so
top marks.
Weather
I don't think I have so much rain fall down out of the skies as it did just
before sail away. We had family and a work colleague on Halfpenny Pier to wave
us off that had to dodge the rain, not what you would expect for June. Now I
have seen many a cruise ship leave from Harwich, and they seem to a lot closer
to the shore then they are when viewed from sea
Conclusion
Being a football themed cruise you may have thought, the cruise would be
filed with rowdy football fans, but as they were of the mature variety, there
were no issues what so ever.
One difference I did notice from P&O was the lack of cabin stewards
trollies in the cabin corridors, and I'm sure they came out of secret hideaways
as we rarely saw them, but the cabins were always serviced very quickly. So our
first experience with Fred, did we enjoy the ship, cruise etc ? Yes we did, the
experience was closer to a Saga cruise than P&O IMHO, with an overriding
feeling of calm and relaxation on board.
The disembarkation was very painless, and was done in deck order, and by
0825 we were off to the complementary coach back to Harwich, which has given me
the time to write this review.
So will we cruise with Fred again ? There is a good chance that the answer
will be "Yes"
So now it's a wait until September when we go back to P&O on Arcadia
for a 4 nighter , and yes we will be going back to Amsterdam.
So until then
Bye bye
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