Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, Balmoral Review

Balmoral

The cruise appealed to me as a shipping enthusiast (not so much for my wife although she still enjoyed the cruise) as it went through the Kiel Canal twice (once at night) and I went on an excursion around the restricted container terminal at Hamburg. I went on another excursion to Papenburg from Bremen for a tour of the Weber-Werft shipyard where they build cruise ships, which was very interesting but I thought the cost of £145 was extortionate as a local tour was €15 so the extra for the coach was far too much. Some good talks on board about the Kiel Canal. We visited Kiel for the first time and found the Tourist Information Office difficult to find - we really missed the excellent port plans that Fred Olsen used to do, which were better than any other cruise line. We were disappointed that we had two single beds which were at right angles and could not be put together, and also disappointed at the amount of engine noise and vibration in our aft cabin on Deck 5 - an indication of the age of the ship! However the staff were brilliant as always. We thought that the meals were below in both quality and quantity compared with what we have had before on Fred Olsen. Overall, we enjoyed the cruise.