Balmoral
- 6 February 2009 18:0614841this is about the cruise ship not the country seat of pb.
just heard that 230 pasengers have gone down with the galloping gut rot.
wasn't this the vessel that has had problems in the past.
i distinctly remember that it got stuck in stormy conditions recently, at the back of my mind i seem to remember another problem.
anyone with a better memory? - 6 February 2009 18:2914844I got a bit worried there for a moment, you are right Howard this cruise ship has had no end of problems, stuck in a force 10 and had to lay off the Downs just before Christmas. She has been hit by this nasty virus so many times I've lost count, I cannot help thinking that she has been beset by this problem since the owners added a 30 metre section to her midships.
- 6 February 2009 18:4814847i thought that was the case barry, but needed someone else to confirm in case i was wrong and the shipping line took umbrage with the forum.
- 6 February 2009 20:3414859Yes you are right Howard we do have to be careful on stuff like this...but here goes with my tuppenceworth and its not always that easy remembering it right these days. But I think it was the Black Watch that was in trouble before , however it is the same shipping line..The Fred Olsen Line. They seem to have recurring problems. Lets just put it this way, I might just prefer another shipping line when I eventually do a bit of cruising. But the pity is... this cruise line use Dover very regularly so one would like to see them do well.
Ermmm should this thread disappear without trace it will be for legal reasons!! I think we are okay though so far.
email: dover7@msn.com - Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
6 February 2009 20:4314861shame really it seems to be happening more reguler these days. - 6 February 2009 22:4714868paul
it all comes back about the black death, sorry i meant watch.
i know that they sent in special cleansing companies to combat problems.
such a pity that a grand old norwegian company are suffering so much.
i have a special reason for remembering them, on my first day at work, i was given a sheet of paper with the name of fred olsen on together with a telephone number.
i was told to ring and enquire whether some bills of lading were ready for collection.
i rang the number and when the switchboard operator answered, i said "can i speak to fred please".
i still cringe even now. - 7 February 2009 07:1914873 ah we have all made clangers like that Howard..and look back and cringe. I have sympathy.
The Balmoral has a fair few Dover citizens on it, it seems to be fairly packed out (more than 1850 people)and has been referred to by a relation of someone onboard as
"the cruise from hell"
I beleive our Town Clerk Mike Webb and wife Carol are onboard. All public areas of the ship have been closed and people are confined to their cabins. So there you have it, a prison ship in all but name.
Its the wrong time of the year for cruising though isnt it...I mean one is asking for trouble.
email: dover7@msn.com - 7 February 2009 10:2914877Like when are asked to get a long wait or the left handed screwdriver
Been nice knowing you :) - 7 February 2009 12:1614886Sounds like the ship is cursed to me. My parents were on the cruise to Morocco that hit the papers last week encountering a severe storm in the Bay of Biscay.
The weather was so rough my father crashed into a glass door and couldn't stand up and loose items were smashed on the floor. Many of the passengers just sat on the floor wearing life jackets for much of the voyage. They were forced to dock in La Coruna before sailing on Bilbao in Spain where the local fishermen kicked up a stink as the liner was forced to berth blocking some of the harbour. Many passengers were then taken off to hospital due to injuries sustained. The cyclone which then blew up was 'off the scale' according to the captain and the worst he had seen in 15 years, so he was forced to abandon the cruise to North Africa and turn back to Cherbourg and Antwerp.
The bus trips were refunded, they were given a discount voucher for a future cruise, £75 cash, a few freebies and they got to see the Bayeaux Tapestry so not all was lost...but so much for North Africa this year! - 7 February 2009 12:2914887
- 7 February 2009 17:5714891Couple of videos of her in heavy weather:
[URL][/URL]
[URL][/URL] - 7 February 2009 18:0214892...ah the Balmoral drifts out on the evening tide....
Gosh thats a sorry tale of woe Phil and I myself couldnt think of a more miserable experience. There must have been a lot of seasickness too. I dont know why people want do it off season but even this latest cruise has a large passenger list. It was by no means even the slightest bit empty as I understand it.
This cruise line does not appear to have too much sympathy for the passengers either, according to the latest reports re this latest mishap as they have refused to cut the schedule short and let people go home.
I would suspect the local newspapers will be waiting dockside to interview our Town Clerk and lady wife when this latest debacle comes to an end.
Added Bit: Nice links Ed well done. Is it true some ships weather these conditions better than others or is that just a romantic phallacy brought about by paying vast sums of money to go on the likes of the gynormous Carnival Splendour?email: dover7@msn.com - Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
7 February 2009 18:0614893dont yah just love it when its like that - 7 February 2009 18:4614900sad story
- Alec Sheldon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 18 Aug 2008
- Posts: 1,036
7 February 2009 23:5114918I joined the "Blenheim" of Fred Olsen Lines in Millwall Dock, London (now Canary Wharf) in December 1970 and made ten cruises in her to Madeira, Lanzarote, Tenerife and Gran Canaria. She carried general cargo out and tomatoes and new poatoes plus 500/600 passengers. They were 13 day cruises, London back to London, and sailed every other Thursday from London. The other ship on the run was the "Black Prince", which we see in Dover occasionally. They were near sisterships.
In those ten trips I made we obviously crossed the Bay of Biscay twenty times and I can only remember one occasion when we encountered weather that has been described in the previous posts. We had a few windows cracked and a watertight door damaged which let some water in. Passengers were seasick (some of them pig sick) but they soon got over it. I never remember being late or missing ports out. Maybe we were lucky.
The "Blenheim" was a lot smaller than the "Balmoral" so maybe she rode the waves better rather than banging into them.
Blenheim........Net Tonnage= 5640 Gross Tonnage= 10,419
Balmoral.........Net Tonnage=34,242 Gross Tonnage= 43,537.
She always had a full pasenger list.
Howard, with regard to the "Black Death", I think that you will find that most of the big companies like P&O, Cunard, Norwegian Line etc. have had their fair share of "galloping gut rot" as you describe it. Did "Fred" ever offer you a complimentary cruise.? He came aboard the "Blenheim" once with his daughter in Madeira. He was a very nice man. I'll tell you a story the next time I see you around the town.
PaulB, I think that you will find that Fred Olsens are no better or no worse than any other shipping company. I would say better in fact having worked for them. The "Blenheim" was one of the best ships I sailed in, decent accommodation, best of food and good money.
Mind you, all this was nearly forty years ago, maybe standards have slipped since then. 
In contrast to these passenger ships I crossed the Bay of Biscay many times in small coasters of 700 net. tons carrying phosphate from Casablanca, Morocco, to Cork, Londonderry and Whitehaven. You knew you were at sea on these small ships in bad weather. - 8 February 2009 07:2714919Many thanks for that post Alec..excellent stuff. Its always great to hear the voice of experience and especially so from someone on the inside looking out as it were. I take my hat off to anyone who has made it across the notorious Bay of Biscay 20 times or more. I made it across the IRish Sea on the old steampacket a few times..jeez that was rough!.Interesting what you say about the Fred Olsen Lines. It might just be that they have been very unlucky lately and unable to stem the flow of bad publicity.email: dover7@msn.com
- 8 February 2009 09:1214923Thanks Ed, they both show how wicked the Bay of Biscay can be.
It is a shame when passengers have paid good money, in many cases heard earned money, to take a cruise and then experience this.
The Bay of Biscay is infamous even in the summer season, so will be much worse in the winter time.
Jean and I went on the Black Prince a few years ago and that went through the BoB, it was a bit choppy but no real problems I seem to remember.
Maybe cruises shouldn't go across it during the winter months, or perhaps further out to sea.
Roger - 8 February 2009 13:2414944Isn't Webby on one of these Fred Olsen ships at present?
- 8 February 2009 13:3414945and his lovely wife
- 8 February 2009 14:0314948Indeed he is PaullyW but tut tut you clearly havent read the earlier posts. Should make a good story for the newspapers
I can see the headlines now...
"Rubber legged Mike Webb emerges bedraggled down gangplank !!"
or
"Town Clerk in Spew Fest!"
ah no..we shouldnt laugh. As its not very nice at all.
email: dover7@msn.com
