I was lucky enough to enjoy five nights on board Fred. Olsen’s Balmoral Cruise ship last year visiting some great ports of call in France, Ireland and the Channel Islands.Balmoral is Fred.Olsen’s largest vessel afloat, it carries around 1300 passengers and her name comes from the Scottish home of the Royal Family. Although the ship maybe smaller, when compared to other cruise lines, it is still big enough to offer all the facilities and entertainment that other cruise ships offer. This also means that the ship is able to get closer into ports of call then other larger ships.
There are a variety of cabins and suite accommodation on board, I can highly recommend the Balcony Cabins on Bridge Deck. The balconies have superb sea views and watching the sun set on the horizon from the comfort of your own balcony is a relaxing end to a perfect day on the ocean.
There are a number of restaurants on board, the main being the Ballindalloch restaurant which I dined every evening. Whilst on board, a member of our group had a birthday celebration and the staffs on board were excellent, all waiters sang round the table during our meal. The food on board is superb, there was a wide variety of choice and speciality requests were catered for. We also sampled the other restaurants on board Spey, Avon (both on Highlight Deck 10) and Palms Café (on Lounge Deck 7). Palms Café served an excellent buffet style selection every evening after the review shows, an alternative from the main restaurants. Breakfast was served in all restaurants, we ate in the Spey & Avon restaurants which provided excellent sea views. The Morning Light pub was a new addition to the ship in 2008, we took part in the daily quiz on the days we were at sea (although never won!). A fresh and light pub, named after a earlier ship from the Fred. Olsen fleet.
In the daytime, there were lots of activities to do on board. There was an Internet Room to keep in touch with emails and news from back home, plus a card room and a well stocked Library. In the Lido Lounge we also joined in the fun of the Daily Bingo, with a prize of £500 on offer…(I was very close to winning!!!) On deck there were two pools and a number of smaller Jacuzzis. Plenty of seating on deck was also available, sitting on deck in the blazing sunshine, topping up the tan, whilst we were in the middle of the ocean was fantastic…I didn’t want to come home! The gym and fitness centres were also available and provided good sea views whilst getting fit!
The nightlife on board excellent, after our evening meal, we would go to the Neptune Lounge and take in a review show or enjoy a musical. One of the nights was a themed night whilst another night we enjoyed a magical illusion show! The staff in the Balmoral Theatre Company were great and all spoke to us after the show. After the show, we would either go to Palms Café for our midnight snack or slope off to the Observatory Lounge for the Disco into the small hours of the night!!
It was sad to get off Balmoral, as I would of gladly stayed on board for another two weeks to sample to delights this fantastic vessel has to offer.
