Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, the destination focused UK operator of four medium sized ships, has recorded a 27% rise in bookings in the first week of January, which set a new record and exceeded that reached in the same week last year, as the share of new to cruising rose by seven percentage points, the company said in a statement.

Nathan Philpot, Sales and Marketing Director, said: “A key strategic driver for us is to attract new guests to the brand. Whilst we have a very high repeat rate – with a significant number of Fred. Olsen cruisers returning time and time again – January has seen the share of ‘new to cruise’ guests shift by seven percentage points, and the average guest age has fallen by 11 months across the fleet. This is against a backdrop within the cruise industry that has seen the average age grow by five years, with an increasing reliance on existing customers.”

“A number of our sailings for 2016 are already sold out, or only have a handful of cabins left. We will be moving our largest ship, Balmoral, to Newcastle this year, which was an ambitious decision, but the travel trade have been extremely supportive, and our sales in the North East are well ahead of expectations,” he said.

The company operates four ships that cruise from 10 departure ports around the UK and call at about 200 ports worldwide.