16 February 2009

Fred Olsen outlines 2010 UK regional departures

Fred Olsen ship Boudicca is to be deployed on departures from more UK ports in 2010.

The move will follow the retirement of Black Prince in October, the ship that operated from northern ports, such as Liverpool and Greenock.

Boudicca will reposition from Southampton to Liverpool in March 2010 and operate a season of cruises to the Canaries, Eastern and Western Mediterranean, Norway and the Baltic.

The vessel will then move to Greenock in June to run a series of summer sailings to the Canary Islands, Italy, Norway, and Spitsbergen.

Boudicca will reposition again to Leith in late July to operate two cruises, to the Baltic and Norway.

From September next year, the ship will run cruises from the Port of Tyne to the North Cape, Scandinavia, The Baltic, Norway and around the UK, before returning to Southampton in October.

General sales manager Lol Nichols said: "We have always been very committed to operating ex-UK cruises from a wide choice of regional ports, and with Black Prince retiring, we did not want to lose our ex-Liverpool and Greenock programmes.

"By utilising Boudicca from these ports - as well as Leith and Newcastle, where she has already operated successfully - we can maintain these important and very popular departures.

"The extra capacity of Boudicca - 839 passengers compared to Black Prince’s 412 - means that even with fewer sailings, we can still accommodate a large number of customers from these northern regions."

by Phil Davies