Balmoral refit may not be an improvement

Cruise Line:Fred Olsen Cruises
Cruise Ship:Balmoral
Destination:Caribbean & Bahamas

No. of Cruises:6 +
Date Sailed:March 2008
Age of Cruiser:36-45

Review by:

kaylesleigh

Overall
Quality of Food
Entertainment
Shore Excursions
Staff
Childrens Facilities
Onboard Activities

Well, good and bad on this one. The refitted ship has a great new pool on Deck 11, but lots of 'lounger reserving' using towels means that if you don't get up there by dawn, you may only see the pool after a five minute walk from another deck. There were airconditioning problems in our cabin and several others, we were given extra blankets (it was cold!) but it wasn't solved until the last day but one. Finally, we dropped two ports, which was annoying - can't be helped sometimes but I heard the previous cruise dropped ports due to bad weather as well, which does make you wonder if this old ship just can't take the weather any more ... On the good side, great food and excellent service. A nice relaxed atmosphere and not too much booming megaphone announcements and insane poolside activities (assuming you could get to poolside, that is) but overall I think I'd take another Fred Olsen ship over Balmoral any day.