Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines is reinforcing its reputation for offering the greatest choice of ex-UK departures to cruise guests in 2017/18, with its fleet of four smaller, more intimate ships – Balmoral, Braemar, Boudicca and Black Watch – sailing from ten convenient regional ports: Southampton, Dover, Tilbury, Harwich, Falmouth, Liverpool, Newcastle, Greenock (Glasgow), Rosyth (Edinburgh) and Belfast.
Nathan Philpot, Sales and Marketing Director for Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, said:
“We know that travel to and from a departure port is a key influencer for guests booking a cruise holiday, and Fred. Olsen is continuing to offer the widest range of regional departure ports of any cruise line, with a total of ten, covering all the important cruise markets of the UK.
“We are also committed to ensuring that we match our departure ports to the right kind of cruise itinerary, meaning that we can offer the shortest duration of Norwegian fjords experience, of just five nights, from the North Eastern port of Newcastle, and a Canaries and Madeira holiday of just 12 nights from Falmouth, in the South West.”
In 2017/18, Fred. Olsen 1,350-guest flagship, Balmoral, will once again be sailing from Newcastle, with a record 13 departures, which is an increase of two sailings on the previous cruise season. Balmoral’s cruise programme from the Port of Tyne will commence on 25th May 2017, with a ‘Five-Night Fjords’ cruise. Other departures include: an 11-night ‘Swedish Fjords & Fjards’ cruise in May 2017 – a ‘fjard’ being similar to a fjord, but characterised ‘by a shorter, shallower, and broader profile’; a 14-night ‘Spitsbergen & the Midnight Sun’ departure in June 2017; and a nine-night ‘German Waterways’ sailing in August 2017. In addition to Newcastle, Balmoral will also be serving the Southern ports of Southampton and Dover in 2017/18.
929-guest Braemar will be serving Southampton and Dover in 2017/18, offering smaller-ship cruising to the UK cruise market on a variety of itineraries, including a 14-night ‘Spain & France Rivers’ sailingin April 2017 – which incorporates the Andalusian celebration of ‘The Seville Fair’, or ‘Feria de abril de Sevilla’ – a 10-night ‘Baltic’ cruise in July 2017, taking in the spectacular ‘Baltic Tall Ships Regatta’ in Klaipeda, and a seven-night ‘Belgium & Holland Rivers’ voyage in November 2017. Braemar will also be making a return to its popular Caribbean programme in 2018, with six fly-cruises between December 2017 and March 2018.
Fred. Olsen’s 880-guest Boudicca will be cruising from the port of Falmouth in April, for its second season, in 2017/18 – offering guests in the South West a 12-night ‘Canary Islands & Madeira’ cruise and a 16-night ‘Amalfi Coast’ adventure – an ideal itinerary for the ‘new-to-cruise’ market, as it only requires 10 days of annual leave. Boudicca will also be offering four sailings from Greenock (Glasgow) and two from Belfast.
Fred. Olsen remains one of the leading cruise lines operating from the port of Liverpool in 2017/18, with a total of 11 calls on board Boudicca, including a 26-night ‘Azores, Bermuda & the America’s Cup’ cruise in June 2017 – which is already proving a best-seller – and an eight-night ‘Lochs of Scotland’ sailing in July 2017.
In 2017/18, Fred. Olsen’s smallest, most intimate ship, 804-guest Black Watch, will be offering departures from Southampton, Dover and Rosyth (Edinburgh), with eight sailings – an increase on the seven available in 2016 – along with two cruises from Harwich and five from Tilbury.
