Black Watch Review

4.5 / 5.0
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Black Watch cruise to Cape Verde Islands,

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Sail Date: Nov 2011
Cabin: Superior Outside Cab

We were booked on Black Watch for her voyage to the Cape Verde islands on November 26th, and were told to get to the Ocean Terminal at a given time. We drove to Southampton where we were given free parking (hooray) for the duration of the cruise,great but on entering the terminal on time found it packed with people and nowhere left to sit! We were held there for nearly 2 hours before being allowed to board the ship,not a good start.

Also about 3 weeks before we were due to sail Olsen's demanded a fuel surcharge which was calculated as a percentage of the fare paid. in our case nearly £200.So their very unfair system means that the more you paid for your fare the more your surcharge would be irrespective of the fact that the cost in fuel to move a given person from A to B is the same whatever cabin they occupy! Talking to many people on the ship we were amazed to find that the majority had not heard of this surcharge let alone paid it! We booked over a year in advance and paid over £2000 a head,but a lot had booked in the last 2 or 3 weeks before sailing and paid as little we were told as £700 odd. This really leaves a sour taste in the mouth and obviously the moral is if you want to go on one of Fred Olsen's ships don't book early,leave it to the eleventh hour and get it a lot cheaper.

The Ship itself is in very reasonable condition although being an elderly lady,having been built in 1972,and you will find deck crew repairing and painting around the ship 7 days a week as we did.

Cabin Review

Superior Outside Cab

Cabin B
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