AAT                                Cruising with Fred Olsen

My wife and I have had six cruises with P&O.  I now use that company as a benchmark for a comparison with the only other company I have cruised with.  This last Christmas I looked for a cruise starting and finishing at a UK port.  I don't like flying.  P&O didn't do one so I talked to our Cruise Agent (more on them later) and found that Fred Olsen did one from and to Southampton.  I have heard that this Norwegian cruise line was good.

I got a local chap to run us to Southampton from here in Nottingham and paid him rather less that the local taxi firm wanted.  The journey was uneventful and we boarded the ship in the early afternoon.  Similar to P&O they had their lifeboat drill (a legal requirement within 24 hrs of boarding).  I found that Fred Olsen is good, but not up to the standard of P&O.  The food was about equal in quality, although some other passengers reckoned it was a bit better.  You can see I'm fussy!  I'm going to recite a string of minor complaints that, to my mind, put Fred Olsen in a lower category than P&O.

The route the ship took was south via the Bay of Biscay to the entrance to the Med. and around the Canary Islands.  The MV Black Watch is smaller than most P&O vessels..  As a result the Bay was rather bumpy.  I'm not an good sailor, and I felt queasy at times.

Some other nitpicking complaints are: As I entered our cabin I stumbled down a slight slope.  The floor below the excellent carpet had loose tiles or plates and at one point a plate could be stood on and rocked back and forth.  I've got gammy feet, so I am more aware of uneven-ness than most folk.  We'd only been in the cabin for a few minutes and all hell broke loose.    The general alarm went off and its intensity was frightening.  Even with my hands hands hard over my ears, it was painful.  Had the signal been on the open deck, I would have understood, but to have that intensity within the confines of the cabin -- it was totally unnecessary.  I am sure it would be illegal for industrial use.

Then there was the other extreme.  Some important announcements were only given in the outside corridor.  It was possible to discern that the corridor speaker was saying something, but unless one opened the cabin door, the message was almost completely lost.  As I said, I have gammy feet and to reach the cabin door and open it took over five seconds.  The nub of the announcement was lost.

Another small complaint was the noise of the engines.  We may have been unfortunate with our choice of cabins, but the thrumming all night was most disconcerting.  The amplitude of the noise was about the same as a person talking, although the nature of the noise was quite different.  Having a window may have allowed more noise into the cabin than if we had had no window.  (The inner cabins, of course, do not have windows)

At some time in the past the ship had a piece added to its middle.  This may have been the reason why there were odd ramps at different places.  They were not that obvious in some places  The gangway at Southampton on our return was not to my liking.  Leaving the lift and proceeding toward the  gangplank there was a temporary stiff carpet that was buckled and humped in a strange fashion.  It was quite difficult to 'climb' along the carpet.  The actual gangway down to the quay had slightly wobbly treads that gave me an uncertain feeling despite having a good handrail.  At the bottom of the ramp were two three-foot square platforms, but no handrail.  The platforms wobbled badly and it was only because a crew member helped me that I didn't fall.

The ship was full; the dining room showed that.  Again it was the stewards who came to the rescue.  Because the tables were a little too close to one another, I had difficulty in seating myself in my allotted place.  As soon as I was spotted by a steward, one would take my arm and help my to the table.  The stewards were wonderful and overcame some of the management failures.

I discovered that Fred Olsen had got out of Norway shortly before the Germans invaded.  He made Scotland his home during the war.  So when he wanted some names for his cruise fleet, he took Scottish names. We are on The Black Watch, the largest of his fleet.  The Breamar is the next one down, with the Black Prince being the smallest.  Small ships are cosy, but do not ride rough seas as well as bigger ones.

I don't think P&O have any worry about the competition from Fred Olsen.  Also P&O have Eavesway Coaches link up from all over the country to the ship at Southampton.   Eavesway are at Brynside, Bryn Road, Ashton in Makerfield, Wigan, WN4-8BT  T = 01942.727.985    F = 01942.549.390.  Here in Nottingham we used the M1 Trowel Services  as our pick-up point

I said I would talk about the Cruise Club.  When living in Clowne I discovered that The Bolsover Cruise Club were a travel agent for nothing but cruises.  Although a family firm they are very professional.  Dealing with nothing but cruises, they get good discounts from the cruise operators.  Most of the firm's business is by telephone of mail, and if you get you name on their database, they mail you the latest offers.  Except for my first cruise, they have handled every one.

Bolsover Cruise Club, Barlborough Links, S43-4WP, T = 01246.819.819.F = 01246.813.314

As an incidental point, I had four cruises courtesy of the British Army just after the war.  My first was from Liverpool and we sailed for India two days after VE Day.  Hammocks and Mess Decks are a thing of the past.  Modern cruise ships are much more like good-quality hotels, at least P&O and Fred Olsen are.

Colin D Campbell CDCNottm@AOL.com