Fred Olsen’s fleet of smaller, more intimately-sized ocean ships will be visiting 224 destinations in 73 countries, on 93 different itineraries in 2021-22, with durations between three and 153 nights to 88 different areas of scenic cruising.
Complementing the UK departure ports of Southampton, Dover, Liverpool, Newcastle and Edinburgh (Rosyth), Olsen will also be offering an expanded programme of exotic fly-cruises.
Says Peter Deer, the line’s managing director: “For us, smaller ships bring big benefits, and we feel that we are just the right size for us.
“A family-run company to this day, specialising in personal service on a smaller scale, we look forward to taking our guests to even more fascinating and unique destinations on our smaller ships in 2021/22.”
The ocean cruise programme will feature 12 maiden calls: Bluff and Picton in New Zealand; Crotone, Gallipoli, Milazzo and Monopoli in Italy; M’Diq in Morocco; Port d’Alcudia in Mallorca; Sandakan in Borneo; Savina in Formantera, in Spain’s Balearic Islands; Setubal in Portugal; and Trelleborg in Sweden.
Focusing on its small-ship strengths, worldwide itineraries highlight the following key themes:
- In April 2021 and September 2022, Braemar will sail two 25-night ex-UK Greek Islands & Corinth Canal voyage. Braemar will also be undertaking two new 10-night Corinth Canal fly-cruises from Valletta, Malta, which will visit four different Greek Islands, as well as offering the chance to take in the ancient Acropolis from Piraeus and Olympia from Katakolon.
- Boudicca’s 28-night Transpacific Voyage with French Polynesia fly-cruise from Costa Rica to Auckland in November 2021 offers remote exploration to places that are culturally very different. Guests c an cross the largest ocean in the world and sail past remote and sparsely-populated islands, including volcanic San Benedicto, Sorocco and Clarion, part of the Revillagigedo Islands isolated off the coast of Mexico.
- Boudicca’s follow-on 13-night Exploring Cultural New Zealand fly-cruise from Auckland, to Sydney in December 2021 offers cultural experiences synonymous with New Zealand, from the indigenous Māori to the Scottish, and scenic cruising within the forest-topped mountain peaks of the Fiordland National Park, exploring Dusky Sound, Doubtful Sound and Milford Sound.
- Balmoral’s new Northern Fjords of Norway cruise from Newcastle in August 2021 offers unique and size-restricted scenic sailing to Trollfjord, Nordfjord, Nærøysundet, Lodingen Channel, and Torghatten, and calling at the lesser-known ports of Leknes, Bodø and Åndalsnes, as well as passing Svartisen glacier. Due to the departure ports northern UK location, this itinerary can be achieved in just nine nights.
- Braemar’s 14-night Uncrowded Caribbean Islands with Havana itineraries, in January and February 2022, feature lesser-known destinations, such as Kralendijk, Bonaire. She will be the only ship docked in Port Royal, Jamaica, and Basse-Terre, Guadaloupe.
Black Watch’s 14-night Fjords & Icebergs of Remote Greenland cruise in August 2021 will take in rugged mountains and icebergs
Other itinerary highlights and experiences include:
- Braemar’s nine-night Loughs, Isles & Iconic Sites of Ireland cruise in August 2021, sailing past uninhabited islands and a glacial fjord, only navigable by smaller ships
- Black Watch’s 14-night Fjords & Icebergs of Remote Greenland cruise, also in August, taking in rugged mountains and icebergs, including the glaciers of Prins Christiansund
- Balmoral and Boudicca will both be offering Uncrowded Baltic cruises in Autumn 2021, showcasing the Jewels of the Baltic at a time when fewer tourists are visiting
- Braemar’s 14-night Rivers of Spain & France scenic river sailing in September 2021 to places that are mostly off-limits to the larger ships, such as Seville, Nantes and Rouen
- Braemar’s 27-night Adriatic adventure in September 2021, docking at the heart of 10 city centre ports – Ibiza, Kotor, Sibenik, Chioggia, Monopoli, Trapani and Aviles, Cadiz, Cartagena and Lisbon, with maiden calls to Crotone, Gallipoli and Monopoli.