Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines publishes 2022/23 itineraries

Details

Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: More News More News

Published: 16 March 2021 16 March 2021

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, the UK based destination focused cruise operator,  has unveiled a programme of cruising for 2022/23 as the line gears up for a return to sailing, with 126 voyages taking in 82 countries, with new regional departures from Belfast and London Tilbury.

The programme includes closer to home excursions around the British Isles and shorter, five-night breaks, with departures from eight UK ports – London Tilbury, Belfast, Portsmouth, Southampton, Dover, Liverpool, Newcastle and Edinburgh (Rosyth) – with a number of ex-UK sailings and fly-cruise options for those looking to venture further afield.

Several new ports of call

The Fred. Olsen fleet will sail into a number of maiden ports in 2022/23, including Hakata and Nagoya in Japan; Crotone, Gallipoli and Monopoli in Italy; Lyngdal in Norway and Louisbourg in Canada, to name a few.

There will also be another opportunity to relive history when Braemar returns to the narrow Corinth Canal in Greece in spring 2023.

Martin Lister, Head of Itinerary Planning and Destination Experience at Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, said:“We are always incredibly proud to unveil our new cruise programmes, but this year it feels particularly exciting as it is the first time we will do so with our new look fleet.”

“Every year we craft our new itineraries from scratch to ensure that we continue to offer our guests exceptional experiences in the destinations they visit with us. This has felt even more important this year, with the past 12 months having left us all dreaming of our next adventures and really considering what we all want from our holidays.

“A big part of 2022 will be making the most of our beautiful British Isles, with scenic cruising just as rewarding as the wonderful ports of call.

“For those looking to set sail on a shorter cruise, there are plenty on offer, each with the opportunity to experience time ashore, entertainment-packed sea days and scenic cruising aplenty.

At home in the fjords

“Our ships really come into their own in the Norwegian fjords, and of course we are continuing to celebrate that. Aboard our smaller-sized fleet, guests will be able sail size-restricted waters, away from the well-sailed route, right into the heart of the fjordland. Plus, the northerly departure ports of Newcastle and Rosyth in Edinburgh are ideally placed to showcase them at their best in just five nights.

“But the shorter escapes are not just bound to Norway, with sailings to Belgium, France, Denmark and Spain available in six nights or less, with many of these sailings made possible by the impressive sailing speeds of our new ships, Bolette and Borealis.

“We also have some exceptional sailings further afield for those ready to explore the world again, taking in the autumnal beauty of Canada, rugged explorations of Spitsbergen, and even the chance to follow in the footsteps of Phileas Fogg with an 80-day around the world adventure.”

 

Highlights of Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ 2022/23 programme include:

 

Borealis’ eight-night S2215 ‘Scenic Isles of Scotland’ cruise, departing from Liverpool on 9th June and Belfast on 10th June 2022. Prices start from £1,299 per person.

Ports of call: Liverpool, England – Belfast, Northern Ireland – Rothesay, Isle of Bute – Cruising by Mull of Kintyre – Cruising by Duart Castle – Cruising Sound of Mull – Cruising by Fingals Cave – Cruising by Dutchman’s Cap – Cruising by The Small Isles – Portree, Isle of Skye – Invergordon, Scotland – Kirkwall, Orkney Islands – Liverpool, England (for Liverpool debarkation) – Belfast, Northern Ireland (for Belfast debarkation)

For more details: Visit S2215 ‘Scenic Isles of Scotland’ 

 

Balmoral’s five-night L2225 ‘Summertime Norwegian Fjords’ cruise, departing from Newcastle on 27th August 2022. Prices start from £799 per person.

Ports of call: Newcastle, England – Cruising Lysefjord, Norway – Bergen, Norway – Eidfjord, Norway – Cruising Hardangerfjord, Norway – Cruising Maurangerfjord and Furebergfoss, Norway – Newcastle, England

For more details: Visit L2225 ‘Summertime Norwegian Fjords’ 

 

Bolette’s 15-night T2229 ‘Ancient Walls of the Med with Malta’ cruise, departing from London Tilbury on 17th November 2022. Prices start from £1,899 per person.

Ports of call: London, UK – Melilla, Spanish Morocco, Spain – Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy – Valletta, Malta – Cartagena, Spain – Gibraltar – Lisbon, Portugal – Montoir-de-Bretagne, France – London, UK

For more details: Visit T2229 ‘Ancient Walls of the Med with Malta’ 

 

Braemar’s 10-night M2307 ‘Corinth Canal & Ancient Greece’ fly-cruise, departing from Valletta, Malta on 27th March 2023. Prices start from £2,199 per person.

Ports of call: Valletta, Malta – Ermoupoli, Greece – Rhodes, Greece – Agios Nikolaos, Crete – Piraeus (for Athens), Greece (overnight stay) – Cruising Corinth Canal, Greece – Argostoli, Kefallonia – Katakolon, Greece – Valletta, Malta

For more details: Visit M2307 ‘Corinth Canal & Ancient Greece’ 

 

Fred. Olsen has teased sailings from its 2022/23 programme over the past few weeks, including Balmoral’s 15-night ‘Rugged and Remote Spitsbergen’ cruise in June 2022; a 19-night ‘Canada in the Fall’ cruise aboard Borealis in September and a 27-night ‘Discovering the Adriatic’ cruise aboard Braemar in October.

P&O Cruises to resume UK cruising with two ships in the summer

Details

Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: More News More News

Published: 16 March 2021 16 March 2021

 

P&O Cruises, the UK focused contemporary market unit in Carnival Corporation & plc group, said it would offer a series of short breaks on flagship Britannia this summer and week-long cruises on new ship Iona.

These cruises will depart from Southampton between June and September, sailing around the UK coast, “where the sun shines brightest,” the company said in a statement. 

P&O Cruises president Paul Ludlow said: “Given recent announcements we have every hope that our guests will be able to enjoy a holiday this summer. After the stresses and challenges of the past year everyone certainly deserves a treat and this series of cruises will provide memorable and much needed UK getaways.”

“Whilst there is still uncertainty about holidays abroad this summer, we are delighted to be able to offer our guests the ultimate escape here in the UK with the reassurance that we will take care of everything. Also, we really will look at the weather forecast each cruise and aim to take our ships where it is warm and sunny.”

“As the start of Iona’s very special maiden season, the new Ultimate Escape series of holidays includes a memorable seven night maiden voyage sailing around the Scottish islands. Iona will anchor off Iona, the island after which she was named, with a celebratory extended stay until sunset for magical views of the historic shores.”

Britannia to resume cruising in June, Iona in August

Britannia will offer three and four night breaks and one six night holiday running from June 27, 2021 through to September 19, 2021. Iona offers seven night itineraries running from August 7, 2021 to September 18, 2021. Prices start from £449 per person for a three night break on Britannia. Iona’s seven night maiden voyage starts from £1,199 per person.

Given the advanced progress of the UK vaccination programme, and strong expressed preference on the part of our guests for this limited series of UK coastal cruises, these sailings on Britannia and Iona will be for UK resident Covid-19 vaccinated* guests only.

All guests and crew will be required to follow enhanced health and wellbeing measures to protect everyone on board on these cruises. These have been developed with guidance from our global medical and public health experts and scientists and in close coordination with UK government agencies.

These protocols include enhanced sanitation measures, appropriate social distancing and the wearing of masks in certain areas of the ship. Crew will also undergo a strict testing and quarantine regime as well as regular testing during their time on board.

“Our protocols are subject to change, as we will continue to work with our experts and with government bodies to ensure all of our practices evolve in line with latest advice, with our primary focus always being to protect the health and wellbeing of our crew and guests and the communities we visit.  Travel insurance will also be mandatory for all guests,” P&O Cruises said.

Cunard to celebrate 100th anniversary of first world cruise, presents UK restart plan

Details

Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: More News More News

Published: 16 March 2021 16 March 2021

Cunard said it will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its pioneering world cruise, and the first-ever continuous circumnavigation of the globe by a passenger liner, with two celebratory voyages in 2023 on board Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria.

The Carnival Corporation & plc group member company has also laid out plans for restart of cruises in the UK this summer, on Queen Elizabeth.

“To celebrate launch week Cunard will be offering double Shine points on all Cunard Fare bookings made between 16 and 23 March 2021. Additionally, all bookings made by agents before March 31, 2021 will benefit from the 1% commission increase announced in December,” the company said in a statement.

Cunard’s voyages will mirror many ports of call from Cunard’s first world sailings on ships RMS Laconia and RMS Samaria, as well as calling at some of today’s most inspiring destinations.

Queen Mary 2 via South Africa, Queen Victoria via Suez

Destinations on Queen Mary 2’s 102 night Centenary World Voyage will include Colombo, Singapore and Hong Kong, emulating RMS Samaria’s 1923 world sailing. The voyage also includes overnight stops in Dubai, Sydney and Cape Town as it travels from Southampton through Asia, Australia and South Africa. Prices start at £11,499 per person.

Queen Victoria’s 101 night Centenary World Voyage will visit RMS Laconia’s 1922/23 ports calls with stops in Hong Kong, New York, Singapore, Cabo San Lucas, Colombo, San Francisco, Hilo, Honolulu, Manila and Naples as well visiting Aruba, Jordan, Tonga and a full transit of the Panama Canal. Prices start at £11,999 per person.

Meanwhile, Cunard also said it would offer a series of UK voyages on Queen Elizabeth, providing a staycation opportunity this summer for British guests. More details will be revealed later this month.

Sailings will be from Cunard’s home port of Southampton and will be in UK coastal waters, seeking out the very best of the summer sunshine. Cunard’s flexible booking terms will be applicable for these voyages, so guests will be able to book with confidence.

UK cruising to restart, but more international cruises cancelled

These new UK staycation voyages will replace a number of international sailings that unfortunately will be cancelled due to the current environment.

“With the UK Government confirming that domestic travel is close on the horizon, we are introducing a series of exciting, shorter duration holidays for British residents looking for the perfect staycation in Cunard luxury this summer,” said Simon Palethorpe, president, Cunard. “These will be sailings from Southampton, for UK residents, around the UK and will make the very most of the summer sunshine.”

“However, with international travel restrictions still in place, we unfortunately need to cancel a number of departures. We know how much everyone is desperately looking forward to longed-for holidays overseas, so to all affected by this news, I am sincerely sorry for the disappointment this will cause,” added Palethorpe.

Sailings on Queen Victoria are now cancelled for departures up to and including August 27, 2021.

Queen Elizabeth’s summer Mediterranean fly cruise season and all departures up to and including October 11, 2021 are cancelled.

Queen Mary 2’s current program is affected by a number of factors and all departures up to and including November 12, 2021 are cancelled.

Seatrade panel highlights expedition cruise ship innovations

Details

Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

Category: More News More News

Published: 11 March 2021 11 March 2021

When you moderate a panel discussion of four or five professionals with vast industry knowledge at a Seatrade conference, you never quite know what will come up. At Tuesday's Seatrade Cruise Virtual's Expedition Cruising session on 'Innovation in Expedition Ship Design, our panelists were Per Eriksson, Tillberg Design, Loris Di Giorgio, SVP sales for the Merchant Ships Division at Fincantieri, Patrick Janssens, CEO of Shipyard De Hoop, and Josh Leibowitz, president of Seabourn Cruise Line. The session was sponsored by Bureau Veritas.

And yes, there was a surprise.

For the expedition niche, sustainability, safety and wellness is a particularly special challenge, given that these ships travel in the world's most out-of-the-way places, without the support of close-by ports with full infrastructure. Self-reliance, which starts with the design process, continues on with sourcing products, and eventually is reliant on construction, is critical. And at the same time, cruise lines and ship designers are all competing for the next wow effect to attract new-to-expedition travelers to the niche.

Seabourn's Leibowitz offered a special example of having all of that come together – when it developed its "wow factor" twin submarines, it had to go with lithium battery technology to power them over more traditional technology – because of the remoteness of the locale.

Ultimately, Tillberg's Per Eriksson commented that the expedition niche "is the Tesla of the cruise industry." Truly, it was that kind of lightbulb moment that you can't predict -- and it perfectly captured an insight.

Other highlights?

– DeHoop's Janssen told a terrific story about how his yard, building Silversea Cruises' Silver Origin in the beginning of the pandemic, managed to use a military approach to staffing when all around Covid-19 was ravaging and the Netherlands was on lockdown. Sea Trials produced another conundrum when the ship was forced to undergo fine tuning remotely -- via a team in Russia's St. Petersburg. LINK to story: https://discover.silversea.com/on-board/building-silver-origin/ "It was a combination of creative thinking and strict regimes," he tells us, that allowed the yard to complete the newbuild just two weeks late.

– All agreed that enhanced camera technology, combined with drones, is a crucial new development in expedition niche as it allows travelers to be " David Attenborough or Jacques Cousteau for a few minutes," says Eriksson. "You can remain at an even safer distance because the zoom capacity of cameras is incredible," says Seabourn's Leibowitz, "and you are able to get closer visually to the optics even if you're not able to get so close to risking disrupting the nature."

– With one of cruise's youngest fleets, the expedition industry, partly due to IMO regulations on banning the use of heavy fuel oil and the impact of the great recession of 2008 has meant that cruise lines are on a rapid expansion tear and delivering newbuilds that are tons ahead of the old expedition ships. This has resulted in the development of a number of new technologies, such as the first dual LNG Hybrid battery powered vessel.

Ultimately, what's exciting today is the new innovations. "Ships are now often designed to stay in one area," says DeHoop's Janssen, speaking specifically about the Galapagos, which is a yearlong destination for expedition cruise. "That is quite a brave move." From a sheer design perspective, DeHoop is testing "a water vehicle attached with an umbilical so passengers can dine under the ice." And new trends in design of onboard Zodiac landing platforms onboard mean that, on newbuilds, travelers may no longer have to jump onto the soft ribs. Instead, there are risible platforms that literally bring the Zodiacs into the ship's garage.

"I see lots of great opportunities in the future for shipyards and cruise lines to work together," Janssen says.

Article was written by Carolyn Spencer Brown, moderator of this panel and Chief Content Officer of Cruise Media LLC