Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines Announces 2018/2019 Cruise Itineraries

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines has announced the 2018/2019 cruise itineraries for its fleet of four small, more intimate ships, Balmoral, Braemar, Boudicca and Black Watch. The ships will visit no fewer than 228 destinations in 73 countries.
 
The ships will offer cruises from a range of departure ports in the United Kingdom, including Southampton, Dover, Liverpool, Newcastle and Edinburgh (Rosyth) but will not cruise from Harwich or Greenock unlike previous years.

​The cruise line’s new 2018/2019 cruise programme includes nine maiden ports of call which include:

• Anavilhanas, Amazonas, Brazil
• Chioggia, Province of Venice, Italy
• Georgetown, Ascension
• Khasab, Oman
• Kirkenes, Norway
• Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico m
• Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
• Porbandar, Gujarat, India
• Sanremo, Liguria, Italy

 
Justin Stanton, Sales and Marketing Director for Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, said:
 
“A Fred. Olsen cruise is all about getting ‘closer’. From taking advantage of the ship’s smaller scale, to calling into destinations out of reach to larger ships, all the way through to the special, one-off itineraries and excursions that show destinations in real depth – it is part of the Fred. Olsen ethos, every step of the way! We are proud to have been named ‘Best for Itineraries’ by Cruise Critic’s independent experts two years in a row, and we are renowned for giving our guests a very different kind of holiday, tailoring our cruise programme to celebrate great events and festivals around the world, on over 135 different itineraries, with a variety of durations, in all the style and comfort of our more ‘human-sized’ ships.”
 
Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines are to increasingly offer more fly-cruise itineraries in 2018/2019, with the publication of the cruise line’s first-ever dedicated fly-cruise brochure, which will highlight new exotic holidays to Arabia and India.
 
The new cruise programme also sees a larger range of five-night cruises from the United Kingdom to the Norwegian Fjords, and along the River Seine in France.
 
Fred. Cruise Lines Olsen will also be offering more ‘experience-led’ cruises than ever before – a total of 117 in 2018/19 –specifically ‘built’ around a key global event, such as the Edinburgh Tattoo, the ‘Northern Lights’ and New Year’s Eve in Sydney.
 
In November 2018, Black Watch will set sail on an epic 107-night world cruise from Southampton, visiting a total of 35 ports in 22 countries. This is the first time that Fred. Olsen will be offering guests the chance to spend New Year’s Eve in Sydney, Australia, to take part in the world’s largest and most lavish celebrations.
 
Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ flagship, Balmoral will undertake her first-ever ‘California, Mexico & the Panama Canal’ adventure from Southampton in January 2019. This very special 62-night cruise will visit San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, along the Californian ‘Gold Coast’, with the chance to see some of the best attractions, such as the Golden Gate Bridge, Balboa Park, Alcatraz, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive and the Hollywood ‘Walk of Fame’. This ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ voyage also gives guests the chance to explore cities and towns in Colombia, Barbados, Portugal, Costa Rica, Aruba, and three beautiful beach resorts on the Mexican Riviera, as well as transiting the mighty Panama Canal twice.
Balmoral is also cruise from Rosyth for the first time ever, offering a total of nine cruises including a five-night cruise to Norway, a 14-night Baltic cruise and a nine-night ‘German Waterways’ cruise.
 
Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines will be offering three magical ‘Mystery Cruises’ in 2018 /2019, where only the Captain will know where guests are going! Boudicca will be undertaking a five-night ‘Easter Mystery Cruise’ in March 2018, Black Watch a nine-night ‘Mystery Cruise’ in October 2018 and Balmoral a 12-night ‘Mystery Cruise’ in November 2018.
 
In addition, Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ ground-breaking ‘You Choose Your Cruise’ concept in May 2018, will see guests on board Braemar vote for which poets they’d like to visit. Guests can opt for Amsterdam or Rotterdam in the ‘Dutch vote’, Copenhagen or Hundested as part of the ‘Danish vote’, Tallinn versus Saaremaa in the ‘Estonian vote’, Helsinki or Kotka in the ‘Finnish vote’, and Traveműnde versus Wismar as part of the ‘German vote’. In addition to the five winning ports of call, guests will also enjoy a two-night stay in St. Petersburg.
 
On 10 September 2018, Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ ‘Captains in Cadiz’ event will see all four of its ships reunite again, marking the 170th anniversary of Fred. Olsen’s beginnings in the shipping industry. This will be the second time the four ships have ever met, following on from the cruise line’s ‘Four Ships in Bergen’ event in July 2015, when the fleet united for the very first time.
 
 
Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ new 2018/19 itineraries will go on general sale from 09 March 2017.