Where to go next and which ship

[Omega1]

Originally Posted by Loopylooloo

Fred Olsen are the best in Norway, our smaller ships can go right up into the fijords, where larger ones have to stay out to sea. I have been twice now, and was blown away by the closeness of waterfalls etc, it was just breath taking! Best food I have had at sea too. Ships are older, and many passengers older too but that doesnt stop us enjoying it, they have got RIB boats now too, for an even more exhilarating experience if you brave enough!

For Alaska, am told Princess have good land tours, and trains etc, all geared around the cruise destinations. Its on my bucket list. (Its a long list)

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Good to hear the positives about Fred Olsen. We’ve done two cruises to the fjords (Princess and P&O) and were looking for something a little different ie different ports in Norway. We checked Fred Olsen itineraries for the period we were interested in (June) but the itineraries offered called into the same ports as other cruise lines - Stavanger, Olden, Alesund, Flam, etc. There was one great 16 night itinerary to Spitsbergen but it was outside our price range. In the end we have booked on a 14 night Princess cruise to the North Cape on a £1 deposit which means we will wait for the price to drop and rebook - it’s dropped £250pp already and based on previous years should drop another £200 at least.
We even considered Hurtigruten - a totally different experience but looks really interesting.
Have I missed something with the Fred Olsen 7 night Fjords itineraries?

[DisneyDaffodil]

I haven’t been on any cruises Vinniecat but I know you are reading my Vietnam trip report and may be interested in exploring South East Asia. Have you considered a cruise to do this?

It would give you a taste of each country but also the comfort of the ship and it’s restaurants (although we stayed in amazing hotels in Vietnam and ate incredibly well there). Many cruises stop at a few places in Vietnam, Singapore, Cambodia and Thailand etc

[Omega1]

Originally Posted by DisneyDaffodil

I haven’t been on any cruises Vinniecat but I know you are reading my Vietnam trip report and may be interested in exploring South East Asia. Have you considered a cruise to do this?

It would give you a taste of each country but also the comfort of the ship and it’s restaurants (although we stayed in amazing hotels in Vietnam and ate incredibly well there). Many cruises stop at a few places in Vietnam, Singapore, Cambodia and Thailand etc

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That’s a good call - we have done four Far East cruises and they give a good introduction to an area. The cruises we did had four stops in Vietnam (12 days in total) - but I would like to go back and do a land tour.

[Vinniecat]

Originally Posted by DisneyDaffodil

I haven’t been on any cruises Vinniecat but I know you are reading my Vietnam trip report and may be interested in exploring South East Asia. Have you considered a cruise to do this?

It would give you a taste of each country but also the comfort of the ship and it’s restaurants (although we stayed in amazing hotels in Vietnam and ate incredibly well there). Many cruises stop at a few places in Vietnam, Singapore, Cambodia and Thailand etc

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That is certainly something I would consider. I was under the impression that it is better to visit between December and April though ( maybe I am wrong?). Unfortunately we are still at the stage where we have to go in August due to school holidays. I am looking forward to reading your trip report.

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by Omega1

That’s a good call - we have done four Far East cruises and they give a good introduction to an area. The cruises we did had four stops in Vietnam (12 days in total) - but I would like to go back and do a land tour.

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I can definitely recommend it, there is so much to see in Vietnam, a cruise can only show a tiny amount of it. We look forward to exploring more in a few years time

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by Vinniecat

That is certainly something I would consider. I was under the impression that it is better to visit between December and April though ( maybe I am wrong?). Unfortunately we are still at the stage where we have to go in August due to school holidays. I am looking forward to reading your trip report.

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The weather is pretty much the same temperature all year around (32-35°) but our summer is the rainy season. Like Florida, very heavy downpours for part of the day (biblical amounts 😂 ) We were there for the last two weeks of July and barely saw any rain though, just one afternoon in Hoi An and a huge thunderstorm in Ho Chi Minh one evening which did last quite a few hours plus a couple of short heavy showers which didn’t last long. My son says it became much wetter the week later and September has been wet too. He finds August-October the worst months.

[Love*my*hols]

Originally Posted by Omega1

That’s a good call - we have done four Far East cruises and they give a good introduction to an area. The cruises we did had four stops in Vietnam (12 days in total) - but I would like to go back and do a land tour.

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We are considering this,can you recommend any particular cruise line or itinerary?

[Loopylooloo]

Originally Posted by Omega1

Good to hear the positives about Fred Olsen. We’ve done two cruises to the fjords (Princess and P&O) and were looking for something a little different ie different ports in Norway. We checked Fred Olsen itineraries for the period we were interested in (June) but the itineraries offered called into the same ports as other cruise lines - Stavanger, Olden, Alesund, Flam, etc. There was one great 16 night itinerary to Spitsbergen but it was outside our price range. In the end we have booked on a 14 night Princess cruise to the North Cape on a £1 deposit which means we will wait for the price to drop and rebook - it’s dropped £250pp already and based on previous years should drop another £200 at least.
We even considered Hurtigruten - a totally different experience but looks really interesting.
Have I missed something with the Fred Olsen 7 night Fjords itineraries?

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Hi! Sometimes the ports of call may be the same, but we can dock nearer rather than tender outside the fjord.

For next year we have some amazingly unique itineraries for Iceland, South America, and also Mystery Cruises that are really popular! We have also got a new ORCA initiative where the ORCA charity members come onboard to record sightings of marine life. This year we had a veterans cruise for the D-Day anniversary and 300 veterans were invited to sail free of charge to France, we even had Rod Stewart singing for the sail away 😊

My favourite cruise ever was Fred Olsens Christmas markets which I want to do again next year. There are literally too many cruises and not enough time!

[Omega1]

Originally Posted by Loopylooloo

Hi! Sometimes the ports of call may be the same, but we can dock nearer rather than tender outside the fjord.

For next year we have some amazingly unique itineraries for Iceland, South America, and also Mystery Cruises that are really popular! We have also got a new ORCA initiative where the ORCA charity members come onboard to record sightings of marine life. This year we had a veterans cruise for the D-Day anniversary and 300 veterans were invited to sail free of charge to France, we even had Rod Stewart singing for the sail away 😊

My favourite cruise ever was Fred Olsens Christmas markets which I want to do again next year. There are literally too many cruises and not enough time!

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Thanks very much for the info, much appreciated.

[Omega1]

Originally Posted by Love*my*hols

We are considering this,can you recommend any particular cruise line or itinerary?

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We chose Holland America Line as they seemed to have the best itineraries ie not rushed. We had sailed HAL before and we like them.
We did two separate holidays each with two back to back cruises.
The first was in Jan 2015, we flew to Hong Kong for 3 nights and then sailed to Halong Bay (Vietnam), Da Nang (for Hoi An), Nha Trang, Phu My (for Ho Chi Minh City), Sihanoukville (Cambodia), Bangkok (overnight), Koh Samui (Thailand), Singapore. We then stayed on the ship for another 14 nights, sailing to Malacca (Malaysia), Penang, Phuket (Thailand), Yangon (Myanmar 2 nights), Langkawi (Malaysia), Port Klang (for Kuala Lumpur) and back to Singapore for a couple of nights before flying home.
The second trip was in November 2016 when we flew to Phuket for 5 nights and then on to Singapore to pick up the ship. The first cruise was purely Indonesia with the highlights being Komodo Island, Bali and Lombok. We then sailed back to Singapore and did the first cruise from 2015 again in reverse order to Hong Kong. They were all fantastic cruises visiting fantastic locations.
I was unsure about the Indonesia cruise but it turned out to be one of the best - especially hiking to see the Komodo Dragons but the Singapore to HK (or vice versa) itinerary give a great introduction to the far east. Hope that helps.