Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines is a UK-based, Norwegian-owned cruise

shipping Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ...

line with four

cruise ships Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "sho ...

. The company is owned by Bonheur and Ganger Rolf and is headquartered in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

, Suffolk, in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The company is part of the Fred. Olsen Group.

History

The company originated in

Hvitsten Hvitsten is a former town in Akershus county, Norway, located between Drøbak and Son. It is the smallest town that has ever existed in Norway: In 1951 it had 76 inhabitants, and an area of just 0.07 km2. Due its size it could not be establi ...

, a small town on

Oslofjord The Oslofjord (, ; en, Oslo Fjord) is an inlet in the south-east of Norway, stretching from an imaginary line between the and lighthouses and down to in the south to Oslo in the north. It is part of the Skagerrak strait, connecting the Nor ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

, in 1848 by three Olsen brothers, Fredrik Christian, Petter and Andras, who bought their first ships and began an international shipping company. The company is now into the fifth generation of the family and operates various companies skilled within the cruise and passenger shipping trade, as well as aviation, ships' crewing, ship building and offshore industries. The Fred. Olsen group also has business interests in the luxury hotel sector, estate management, property development and electronics companies. In May 2006 Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines announced the purchase of a new vessel, ''

Norwegian Crown The krone (, currency sign, abbreviation: kr (also NKr for distinction); ISO 4217, code: NOK), plural ''kroner'', is currency of the Kingdom of Norway (including Svalbard). Traditionally known as the Norwegian Crown (currency), crown in English. ...

'', from Norwegian Cruise Line. Following delivery of the vessel in November 2007, she was dry-docked for refurbishment and lengthening, with a pre-built 30 metre centre section added. She was renamed ''Balmoral'' and entered service early in 2008. This was followed by the extension of ''Braemar'' in summer 2008. A new centre section was added, with new cabins and public rooms, increasing the size from to (approx). In 2018 Fred. Olsen announced that a series of 600-passenger-newbuilts is planned and they are in negotiatings with shipyards, but those newbuilts were never ordered. In July 2020, Fred. Olsen bought the former

Holland America Line Holland America Line is an American-owned cruise line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. Holland America Line was founded in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and from 1873 to 1989, it operate ...

ships ''Amsterdam'' and ''Rotterdam'' for $37m and renamed them Bolette and Borealis respectively, they will be delivered in September 2020. They will replace the ''Boudicca'' and the ''Black Watch'', which were retired in August 2020.

Fleet

Current fleet

Former fleet

Destinations and cruise holidays

For most of the year, the ships are based in UK ports. A winter Caribbean fly-cruise programme on ''Braemar'' operates from Barbados. Destinations include Northern Europe, the Baltic, the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

, the Adriatic, the Canary Islands, the Caribbean,

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

Operations

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines operates smaller scale cruise ships, ranging in size from 24,000 to (approx), currently a fleet of five

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as ...

s, the ambience on board is traditionally British.

References

External links

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines official website
*

(covers ships of all Fred. Olsen brands, past and present)
Cruisepage.com Review

Photos of the current Fred. Olsen Cruises fleet
{{Authority control Shipping companies of Norway Cruise lines Fred. Olsen & Co. Companies based in Suffolk Transport companies established in 1848 Norwegian companies established in 1848