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Fred Olsen river cruises

(11 Posts)
4lyndon6 Tue 05-Feb-19 12:50:58

There is a cruise along rivers in France, departing Liverpool in September.....actually on our anniversary! We’ve not done a river cruise before with any cruise line, but would be very interested to know if any GN have, in particular with FO, and if so any recommendations or useful tips please?

Jane10 Tue 05-Feb-19 14:15:28

I don't think Fred Olsen do river cruises. Is it one of their smaller ocean ships? I know they do a cruise on French coast that goes a little into one of the larger river outlets. We looked into this but thought we'd go on a river boat eg a Viking one.

jeanio Tue 05-Feb-19 15:10:20

I've done a cruise to the Norwegian Fjords with Fred Olsen from Liverpool on the Black Watch, a smaller ocean ship but never a river cruise. The whole experience from beginning to end was first class, ease of boarding from Liverpool, onboard staff, food and entertainment. I wasn't so impressed with the ship itself, maybe this was because I had only cruised with larger ocean going ships before but it didn't spoil our holiday.

dizzyblonde Tue 05-Feb-19 15:14:46

Fred Olsen have started doing river cruises, I haven’t been on one of theirs but I have been on one with another company which was wonderful.

Jane10 Tue 05-Feb-19 15:25:03

I've looked and can only find the Braemar and the Black Watch doing French coastal rivers.
The river cruises seem to be in Germany and leasing boats from another company. (OK I'm bored waiting for school to be out and DGCs arrival so time to Google!)

Greenfinch Wed 06-Feb-19 10:17:40

We did the German Waterways on the Braemar last year and loved the cruising but were disappointed in the venues. They pride themselves on visiting smaller places that the bigger cruise ships can't reach but some of these places are characterless. We docked at Flensburg on a Sunday afternoon but everything was closed bar one church. The visit to Bremen was cancelled because it could not be reached due to a potential storm in the North Sea and so we spent two days in Kiel which was OK but there again everything was closed for the day because of Halloween. I would advise going on a traditional river cruise if you want to visit more interesting places

dizzyblonde Fri 08-Feb-19 09:50:16

Fred Olsen apparently have a river cruise ship now’ I think it’s called the Brabant which does the Danube etc.
When we went we did Nuremberg to Budapest and visited some lovely places Melk Abbey and Vienna amongst others. I would probably advise going with someone like Viking who are experienced river cruise companies. We went with scenic who are fantastic but expensive. I do think they are worth it though as we did not spend a single euro over the eight days which was very refreshing.

silverlining48 Fri 08-Feb-19 10:27:36

Greenfinch sorry you were disappointed but in my experience most countries in Europe keep to Sunday and bank holiday closing. It’s just us that have changed to open all hours.

Pittcity Fri 08-Feb-19 12:02:22

I think the OP is considering a sea/ river cruise sailing from Liverpool to France and taking in some of the larger navigable rivers.
So the ship will be as jeanio described it.
Remember to consider extra costs such as drinks and excursions, which may not be included in the price.
I prefer to fly/cruise as British waters can be a bit rough.

Jane10 Fri 08-Feb-19 12:29:49

I agree with dizzyblonde. Viking are VG. Well organised, lovely riverboats, good tours. All in all a good quality experience and worth the price.

Greenfinch Fri 08-Feb-19 15:05:18

The point I was making silverlining was that,given this fact,it would have been preferable to be docked in a large port where the churches at least would have been open.Also,I did not appreciate that Halloween was a bank holiday in Germany.