Restricted View Cabins

Cruise ships have to have life boats in case the worst occurs and these have to be positioned somewhere, which unfortunately results in some cabins having a restricted view. These cabins though often offer great value for money, outside restricted views can be cheaper than a high grade inside cabin and give you the benefit of some natural light in your cabin and balcony cabins can offer substantial savings.

You can still sit out in the open and enjoy the breeze and privacy, albeit without the full view. Customers also forget that even with a clear view the view is not always that pretty. When in port you often just see cranes or buildings and whilst at the sea you cannot always see the coast. If you want to make your money go further I would strongly recommend an obstructed view cabin.

These photos give a good indication of a restricted view cabin and are taken from Fred Olsen's Boudicca. - BS grades with restricted view.

How much do drinks cost?

As a cruise specialist, I often get asked about the price of drinks onboard the cruise ships, so I thought I would share some details with you all!

Drinks prices vary from ship to ship, as they do in most bars at home. It is also worth bearing in mind that overall the American based cruise companies work out  more expensive as they add on a 15 - 18%  service charge to drinks aswell as being more pricey in the first place. Royal Caribbean, NCL & Oceania are all known to be expensive.

Fred Olsen and P&O tend to be more competitive  as their prices are in Pounds Sterling. A spirit and mixer is approximately £2.65, a bottle of beer is approximately £2.30 and a coffee is about £1.50, although some offer free tea and coffee in the afternoons or in your cabin you may get tea and coffee facilities, it is always worth checking this information when booking.

Island and Thomson Cruises are also fairly reasonable, charging average bar prices, but they also offer an All Inclusive drinks package for the duration of your cruise, starting from as little as £49 per person. These need to be purchased before departure, and is often offered for free if booked in advance. If you decide not to take this option, prices for a spirit and mixer is just over £3.00, and a bottle of beer from £2.70.


The European cruise lines such as Costa and MSC will charge prices in Euros. Depending on the exchange rate at the time, the prices work out at 7 Euros for a spirit/mixer, a coffee is approximately 2 Euros and a beer range from 4 Euros.


Cunard, Royal Caribbean and Princess Cruises all charge in dollars and will add a 15% gratuities onto their prices automatically. Prices for a beer aboard these floating marvels start at $4, and a spirit/mixer on average is $5 plus. Cunard offer a soda package which includes unlimited soft drinks from $3.75 a day, all of these prices do not include the 15% service charge. Royal Caribbean has a child soft drink package starting from $20 for a 7 night cruise - well worth it for those of you with thirsty children!

Seabourn and Regent - the most exclusive of cruise lines offer complimentary drinks aboard their ships, however you do pay for this in your original cruise cost.
Hopefully this will give you some insight into additional costs onboard and will help you budget for your dream holiday!  Any further questions just give me a call!

Take a friend or child on Fred Olsen for £99

I've just come across this great deal for Fred Olsen's Black Watch - the 3rd and 4th passengers are just £99 each.

The sailing is 31 August for 5 nights, from Southampton and calling at Rouen in France for 2 days and an overnight. St Peter Port Guernsey, St Malo in France and back to Southampton.

The first two passengers start at just £649 for an inside cabin and 679 for an outside.

Give me a call now

Further comments on fuel costs

Thanks for your comments and questions on my recent blog - it's good to know people are reading this.
As a general comment, last time the cruise lines introduced fuel surcharges it was for new bookings only on all lines except for Swan Hellenic, who applied them retrospectively. Swan's customers ended up having to pay an extra £200 or so on their cruises.

So far Fred.Olsen and P&O have added fuel surcharges for next year and so we are expecting the others to follow suit soon. I'll keep you informed.

Would I book a guaranteed cabin?

Yes I certainly would. At the moment there are a lot of great deals for cabins on a guaranteed basis, before booking these though you need to know exactly what you may get.

Look at the cabin grade - the cruise line has to give you this grade of cabin or above. Be careful though they could allocate you a higher cabin grade, which may be on a lower deck, or may be an obstructed view. ie - You may have a guaranteed outside cabin, but be allocated an obstructed view balcony. Check that you would be happy with any of the cabin grades that you could be allocated.

With a guaranteed cabin you cannot choose your bedding configuration - this isn't normally a problem as the cabin steward can always remake the beds however on some cruise lines (Ocean Village and Fred Olsen) you may be allocated a cabin with fixed twin beds. So if you're sleeping arrangements are important then always check with your agent first.

Finally, MSC when giving a guaranteed cabin, do not guarantee that you can stay in the same cabin for the full duration of the cruise. If the cruise is busy there is a very small chance that you will be asked to swap cabins during the cruise.

The plus side of a guarantee cabin is the price, you get the same service on the cruise, everything else is included and you get a great price. Cunard are currently offering a great guaranteed deal on Queen Mary 2 -14June. A balcony cabin on a guaranteed basis is £1199pp, whereas to book a balcony knowing your cabin number you'll pay £2279pp. To save £1080pp I would definately risk an obstructed view.

Calling all Bridge players

Fred Olsen have teamed up with the English Bridge Union to offer an EBU sanctioned bridge tournament on board Balmoral's Canaries Cruise in May. The tournament is being hosted by Daily Express bridge correspondant Paul Hackett  and is sure to be very popular.

The cruise itself is now on a special offer and prices through myself start from just £799pp, which is an incredible price for a 12nt cruise.

Balmoral sails on the 3rd May 2010 - Dover, Madeira, La Palma, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lisbon, Dover.

Just call or e-mail me for more details

Fred Olsen 2011 on sale 25 Feb

Fred Olsen 2011 preview brochure is landing on your doorsteps this week and goes on sale on 25th February 2011. The brochure offers a great selection of durations and itineraries and some new destinations including Ullapool in Scotland and Sandane in Norway

Fred Olsen are offering an additional 5% discount to past passengers and by booking through ourselves you will save even more. It is always a tough choice as to whether to book early or not but with Fred Olsen's ships being small, their balconies and suites always sell out quickly, so my advice would be to book now if you want a higher grade cabin. Plus their prices are increasing on with the full brochure in May, so if you were planning on booking early anyway, book from the preview brochure and get the best deal.

These sailings may not all be on our website, so please give me a call for your best price.

A quick guide to Fred Olsen..

With a Fred Olsen sale currently I thought it would be useful to note a few tips down regarding the cruise line, from someone who has sailed on board.

Fred Olsen are a traditional cruise line and do have both formal & theme nights, however they also offer a great buffet restaurant on all of their ships offering excellent cuisine in an informal atmosphere. That way, if you don’t want to dress up for dinner you don’t have too.

They are the friendliest cruise line I have sailed on, with smaller ships and very accommodating staff. When I was too full for desert but fancied something sweet the waiter on Balmoral gave me a small selection of chocolates – fantastic.

They sail from 6 UK ports – Greenock, Rosyth, Newcastle, Liverpool, Southampton and Dover, as well as offering fly cruises. Giving everyone somewhere local to sail from.

Whilst not marketing themselves as a family cruise line they do offer kids clubs during the school holidays on board Balmoral, offering a much cheaper alternative than their competitors

The average age on board Fred Olsen is slightly older than on Royal Caribbean or Celebrity, mainly due to the no flying cruise option. However it varies by sailing and you’ll find younger clients on Caribbean sailings, mini cruises and school holidays.

If you can afford to upgrade your cabin, I suggest you do so, I sailed on Marina deck on Black Watch and found the cabin to be noisy. Whereas on board Balmoral I had a cabin on Lido deck and this was just perfect – a much better nights sleep.

If you would like a balcony cabin then I suggest you book early. There are fewer balconies on Fred Olsen ships and these always sell out early.

2011 itineraries go on sale on the 25th February, book early for the best cabins.

Oceans members receive an extra 5% discount on all sailings booked 6 months or more in advance

Balmoral - A Christmas Cracker

Having sailed on Black Watch last year I was prepared for good food, friendly staff and drinks that are as cheap as my local pub. What I wasn’t expecting on Balmoral was a bright and airy ship with great feeling of space, a choice of bars and evening entertainment and better still a great nights sleep. Read on for a review of my 3rd Cruise.co.uk Christmas party

We were lucky enough to given a superior outside cabin on Lido deck  - nice and spacious, plenty of hanging space and shower into the bath. Only a small bath I would have liked a larger one to soak my weary body in but at least I was able to sit down. Compared to Black Watch the cabins were far superior (although BW has now been refurbished.)  I would definatly recommend a higher deck as their was none of the noise I have experienced on lower decks in the past.

A quick refresh later and it was off to dinner  - the menu had a great choice and most of my colleagues chose the steak, which looked fabulous. I  went for the angel hair pasta in a ragout sauce, which did it's trick and warmed me up. The main dining room was lovely - good selection of table sizes and plenty of space. The waiting staff were polite and efficient and won me over when I was too full for desert but fancied something sweet so they bought me a selection of chocolates instead. I hadn't asked for these so it was a very nice touch.

The following morning and it was time to check out Amsterdam - the cruise director sold it to me with 'it's minus 3 degrees, blizzard conditions and blowing a gale' This was the first time snow had fallen in Amsterdam since 1981. I decided I had to take a look but first had a quick look around the ship. She really is a lovely ship, a bright appearance and plenty of space. Lots of people had chosen to stay on board and seemed very content just enjoying a coffee and relaxing.

Amsterdam itself - was blowing a blizzard, I've been 3 times before and have a hectic time at home so decided on the comfy option of the Palms Cafe and coffees with my colleagues for the day instead. There were also plenty of activities on offer - Pilates, a pub quiz and a hair striagtening technique class to name a few. The Pilates carried a

£5 charge which I thought was cheeky though.

Sunday night came and it was Gala Night. A cocktail with the captain was enjoyed and then time for the annual Cruise.co.uk christmas photo. This was my 3rd christmas cruise with the company and definately the best yet. Balmoral was a great venue and my collegues are all good fun. It's hard to fit in 3 days away so close to Christmas but  I can't wait to see where we go next year

Traffic Chaos hits Cruise.co.uk Christmas Party

Even travel agents have trouble getting to their holidays. On Saturday morning we left Redditch at 9am sharp, knowing that Dover port and the M20 were closed and Balmoral not yet in dock. This photo gives a clue as to how the journey ended but read on to find out more..

After a good journey down, a re-route to the A2 and a coach driver threatening to turn back we hit traffic 7 miles from Dover, just outside of Whitfield. ½ an hour and less than ½ a mile later the more crazy of us made the decision that walking was clearly the only way to make the ship.

After 50 minutes of trudging along the side of the road the traffic cleared a bit and the coach caught us up. Feeling a bit stupid I happily got back on a settled down for the rest of the journey. Just 4 miles to go according to the driver.

40 minutes later and we hadn’t moved at all. It was 3.20pm and 3 hours to the new scheduled departure time of 6.30 and it was time to pick those bags up again. Now or never. Caroline Kyle and myself were first off and boy does she walk fast, but is a great travel companion. At 4.50 we walked up the gangplank. Slightly dishevelled, shaking and aching, but at least we made it. The whole company had got off the coach and made a sterling effort, all 50 of us made it on board with a mixture of blisters and ailments.

Our boss (Andrew) had said we were crazy to walk---‘Stay on the coach, they’ll hold the ship’ Normally I listen to Andrew, I’m glad I didn’t. Balmoral sailed at 7 and was 300 passengers light.

The cruise itself was fabulous..read my separate entry and view the photo's tomorrow

Party Time

Well that's it, I'm off for 4 days now and ready to party with my work friends on Balmoral. I just wanted to say thank you to anyone who visits my blog whilst I'm away and thank you for your comments on 'rate my service' You can also comment on on any of the articles, or the blog in general, via add a comment.

I'll be back in the office (possibly a bit jaded) on Monday afternoon, so will update with stories of the weekend then.

Party Dress Crisis

This dress is the most expensive item of clothing I own and I was so chuffed when I bought it. Long, sexy and sophisticated - just like me! However 1 night of dancing later and the beads on the bodice had rubbed all my arms to shreds. We now have our Christmas party this weekend - 2 nights on Fred Olsen's Balmoral and I need to decide whether to wear it or not. It's been in my wardrobe for 18mths, been worn once only and I feel in the current economic climate I shouldn't be splashing out on a new one. The option I guess is just don't dance, or at least dance slightly more calmly. However as anyone who knows me will verify, not dancing is just not an option.

Do you enjoy getting all dressed up on your cruise holiday?

Just how specialist is your cruise consultant?

I consider myself to be a cruise specialist having worked in the industry for so long. But even I can't explain to a customer why Google Maps doesn't show the correct location for Southampton's City Terminal SO15 3AJ.

After 20 minutes of looking at google maps, checking postcodes with Fred Olsen and describing to my customer the correct way to get to Black Watch for her cruise, I find out that she has train tickets booked and will be getting the free shuttle bus to the ship!