Recently we - the better half and I - received a wonderful invitation to join the flagship of Fred Olsen Cruises, the Black Watch, on a short cruise from Walvis Bay to Cape Town. It is always such an interesting contrast landing at the desert airport of Walvis Bay and seeing, from 15km away across the flat desert bordered by towering sand dunes, simmering on the horizon the towering superstructure of a cruise ship that almost dwarfs the dusty town of Walvis Bay.
Fred Olsen Cruises is a Norwegian family-owned company that operates four smallish-sized cruise ships, Boudicca, Black Watch (sister ship to the Boudicca), Braemar and Black Prince with the soon-to-be-added Balmoral (which used to be the Crown Odyssey and then the Norwegian Crown).
We found the Black Watch comfortable, the food good, the service from the mostly Philippine crew friendly and very good and the entertainment not bad for a small cruise line operation.
I must admit we were a little put off when we saw our cabin for the first time with the beds arranged in a sort of L-shape. Most of the lower grade cabins are configured in this way with one of the beds made up and the other made up as a sofa during the day. It works rather well and makes for a spacious cabin, but would not suit those looking for a double bed.
The bathrooms in most of these cabins are functional, albeit small. We were pleasantly surprised to see the new balcony cabins which were completely refitted and refurbished making for luxurious, spacious cabins with a sizeable bathroom, a largish bedroom with lounge area leading onto a balcony, all well within standards of the luxury cruise ships of the world.
Initially it is rather difficult finding your way around the ship until you realise that there is only one full deck - deck 6 - dedicated to the public areas. This deck is home to the main dining room, a small casual buffet-styled dining room, the show lounge, a couple of lounges and bars and the main pool, which is at the aft of the ship. It is odd that the main access to this pool deck is through the show lounge which is immediately forward of this pool area.
Directly above this deck, deck 7, the comfortable Lido Lounge is located as well as the well stocked library, card room and tiny casino. Deck 7 also has an open promenade - a good place to lie on a deck chair to catch up on reading. Deck 9 has another small pool located aft and the Marquee Bar and then, lastly Deck 10 - the highest deck - which is home to a small fitness centre. Deck 5 is home to reception, the shore excursion desk and two small shops.
Fred Olsen Cruises is ideally suited to those who are looking for longer cruises that visit places of historic and geographic interest. Most of its cruises depart and return to ports within the UK. It runs a series of cruises in and around the Mediterranean with a cruise to the Black Sea, a series of cruises to Northern Europe with some calls to the ports of the Baltic Sea, cruises to the Arctic, Iceland, Greenland and White Seas with cruises that visit the North Cape and Spitsbergen. The cruises are British orientated, with good English food interspersed with a European and Norwegian flavour of excellent fish dishes and other fine food.
Onboard lectures are the order of the day prior to port visits, giving a fascinating insight of what to expect. Onboard expenses are reasonable and in fact we found to be of the cheapest of many of cruise lines we have experienced.
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