Fred. Olsen Balmoral cruise review: Day five

Here is what he got up to!

Day five was spent fully on the water for the second of our two back-to-back sea days, which I've found tend to go pretty quickly.

Nicole and I admittedly had a long lie and got up much later than we initially had planned.

To make up for our laziness, we went to the on-board gym to get in a bit of exercise and maximise our time here.

We spent around 45 minutes there, with a stellar view out the front of the ship while we used the treadmills and weight machines on offer.

The Balmoral gym. (Image: Newsquest) By the time we were finished, we headed for the pools which were pretty quiet at that time of day as everyone was having lunch.

The pool was certainly a wee bit colder than my first dip but was still pretty good! The hot tub remained a very good temperature and I almost didn't want to come out.

Our four laps of the ship. (Image: Newsquest) Next up on our quest for exercise, we started doing four laps around the ship - which the crew informed us equated to one full mile.

The itineraries had pencilled in a scheduled walk at 9am for passengers to take part in, but we had missed that due to our long lies!

The cheese station. (Image: Newsquest) On our third lap, we got a bit of a shock as a couple we didn't recognise stopped us and called us over by using our names.

To my surprise, they told me they had been reading my daily reviews and they actually had yesterday's update on their phone as we passed!

They introduced themselves as Derek and Julie and we chatted about the cruise before finishing our four laps, which was thoroughly relaxing and would recommend for anyone going on a Fred. Olsen cruise.

It's a great community activity if you join up with a group of passengers and all travel in the same direction.

As ever, we made our way to the Thistle restaurant for a very quick lunch - I had the lemon chicken which was very delicious.

My loaded plate of cheese with wine on the side. (Image: Newsquest) The reason for my quick lunch was Georgina had pencilled us in for a cheese and wine session, with the crew kindly swapping mine out to an alcohol-free option.

I was never much of a wine drinker but I have grown very fond of the Eisberg alcohol free white, while also sampling the red bottle as well - I'll definitely revisit both in the future.

The same applies for cheese - beyond your basic supermarket cheddar, I had never been all that into cheese.

The crew leading the session loaded my plate with one of each serving - minus the blue cheese as I have tried that and definitely did not like it.

Without knowing what a lot of them were, I cleared my plate and was a big fan of a lot of them, which may push my palette out a bit further in the future.

We finished our bottles of wine and felt a bit defeated and our eyes were heavy - so a quick power nap was needed before dinner.

My sea bass dinner. (Image: Newsquest) My starter for the evening was a lovely crispy egg with black pudding chunks and vegetables - not what I was expecting the egg to come as but was very nice, with a lovely batter around it.

The fish dinners have proven to be one of the best parts of this trip overall and last night did not disappoint either - sea bass fillet in a rich, dark sauce with broccoli and shredded lettuce.

I think that dinner might be my record for fastest meal finished - I wasted no time in wolfing that down with coffee afterwards.

Hubert leads the pub quiz. (Image: Newsquest) Nicole and I returned to the quiz in the Lido Lounge hosted by my absolute favourite crew member Hubert - so charming and charismatic and I could listen to him all day.

However, we turned in a terrible performance, only getting five out of 15 questions right.

The highlight of the evening was the very end though as we put our shame to one side and took part in the Lido Lounge's silent disco.

Chris and Nicole ready for the silent disco. (Image: Newsquest) This is the beauty of a cruise - I'd never even consider doing a silent disco in my personal time but on the boat, I'd be up for anything.

We were first on the dance floor but once the hits started coming through the headphones, more and more people took to their feet.

Fred. Olsen press host Georgina during the YMCA. (Image: Newsquest) Nicole made a couple of smart requests and suddenly had everybody dancing to the Macarena and YMCA, with some passengers learning on the spot and joining in!

We ended the evening listening to some of the jukebox sounds before the press team all walked back to their cabins together to go to bed.