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Olsen Cruise Lines News

19 Mar 2019

Cruise Meet at Posidonia Forum

Photo: Posidonia

The biennial Posidonia Sea Tourism Forum will be held from May 28-29, 2019, at the Domotel Kastri Conference Center, in Athens’ northern suburbs. Here there will be more than 30 senior cruise executives responsible for ports and destinations from the world’s biggest cruise lines, including MSC Cruises, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Holland America Group, Disney Cruise Line, Silversea Cruises, Fred Olsen Cruise Lines and Celestyal Cruises among others.Elisabetta De Nardo, VP Port Development…

20 Nov 2018

Fred. Olsen Cruise Line’s MD Mike Rodwell to Retire

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ managing director, Mike Rodwell, is to retire at the end of August 2019, following 15 years in the role and 31 years with the business.Mike has worked across a number of the Fred. Olsen businesses since he joined the group in 1987, with his first role as accountant for Fred. Olsen’s first-ever designated cruise ship, Black Prince.Following this initial role, Mike spent four years as Financial Controller for Fred. Olsen Travel, before a brief period as Financial and Commercial Manager for Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, from September 1994 to November 1995.It was then that Mike became Commercial Director, a role that he held for eight-and-a-half years…

23 Aug 2018

Cruise Ship Refit: Business Steady at Blohm + Voss

Photo: Blohm + Voss

In many cities where industrial activity is pushed to the fringe, Blohm + Voss on the Elbe is an iconic sybmol in the port city of Hamburg, a shipyard steeped in tradition but fully modernized to handle some of the most complex and high-value ship repair jobs in the world: a developed, ultramodern infrastructure and 421,000 sq. m. of yard.Blohm & Voss has seen it share of market cycles, and following the current long shipping crisis due to low charter rates, the repair backlog…

11 Mar 2018

Baltic Cruise Boom Boosts Chances for Port Cities

Good opportunities for local port cities are up for grabs as a cruise shipping boom sweeps the Baltic. Both Rostock and Kiel are already profiting from it. Between them they are expecting 1.3 million cruise ship visitors during this year’s season – an increase of 12.5% over last year. The managing directors of Germany’s two leading Baltic passenger ports, Rostock and Kiel, addressed the issue during a news conference at the ITB, the world’s leading travel trade fair in Berlin. The Managing director of the Port of Rostock (Rostock Port GmbH) Jens A. Scharner and Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the Port of Kiel  spoke about the trend to sea travel in northern Europe and about new developments in the two Baltic ports.

07 Mar 2018

GAC UK wins Fred Olsen Cruise Lines Business

Fred Olsen Cruise Lines' Balmoral at the Port of Tyne. (Photo copyright John Fatkin/Courtesy Fred Olsen Cruise Line & GAC UK)

Fred Olsen Cruise Lines has appointed GAC UK as its agent in Newcastle and Liverpool. Under the deal, GAC will manage 18 calls during 2018 for the 804-guest cruise ship Black Watch at its home port of Liverpool, and a further 16 for the 1,350-guest Balmoral, at its home port of Newcastle. Clare Ward, Director of Product and Customer Service at Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, said: “Turnaround calls are always busy days for everybody involved in the operation, with crew changes, immigration and Customs formalities, stevedoring activity, receipt of supplies and much more all going on at once.

29 Apr 2016

Norovirus Outbreak on Fred. Olsen Cruise Ship

Balmoral (Photo: Fred. Olsen Cruise)

An outbreak of the norovirus stomach bug has sickened 160 people aboard a Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines ship docked at Norfolk, Virginia, U.S. health officials and the company said on Friday. The norovirus outbreak took place aboard the Britain-based line's Balmoral during a transatlantic cruise, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement. The CDC said 153 passengers and six crew members had fallen ill from norovirus, whose symptoms include vomiting and diarrhea.

26 Jan 2015

Fire Scare Aboard British Cruise Ship

The Boudicca, a Fred Olsen cruise liner, with more than 1,000 people on-board has been left without power off the coast of Morocco after an engine fire. Passengers of the U.K. based luxury cruise liner were terrified when a fire plunged it into darkness and they prepared to abandon ship. The Boudicca was sailing off the coast of Casablanca, Morocco at 4am on Sunday when the engine room caught alight. As the ship lost power and started to list the passengers were ordered to put on life jackets and assemble at emergency locations. However, it is now on the move again with three auxiliary engines and two main engines running. No one was injured in the incident. The ship left Southampton on January 20 and was making its way to Lanzarote, when it caught fire this morning.

28 Jul 2014

Fred. Olsen's ‘Poison, Murder & Mystery Cruise’

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines is proud to introduce a very unique cruise experience for Summer 2015, aboard its 880-guest ship Boudicca, the like of which guests will never have seen nor heard of before! Fred. Olsen will be offering an exclusive sailing, created around secrecy and suspense, with Boudicca’s 16-night D1516 'Poison, Murder & Mystery Cruise', departing from Rosyth (Edinburgh) on 10th July 2015, linking the Duchess of Northumberland’s 'Poison Gardens' at Alnwick Castle – which starred as ‘Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry’ in the Harry Potter films – and that of Mr. Fred. Olsen Senior in Guimar, Tenerife. Fred. Olsen unveiled this participative 'murder mystery' cruise at an exclusive VIP launch at The Tower of London, hosted by The Duchess of Northumberland and Mr. Fred.

02 Apr 2014

MTN, Fred.Olsen Extend 4-Year Relationship

Photo: MTN

MTN Communications (MTN) announced Fred.Olsen Cruise Lines has extended its four-year relationship with the company. Fred.Olsen chose to increase the breadth of communications, content services and support MTN provides. The MTN partnership includes an enhanced onboard suite of connectivity options for passengers and crew. MTN will continue to provide crew calling and its Worldwide TV service (MTN TV). Known for exclusive service catering to European travelers, Fred.Olsen itineraries include the Caribbean, Mediterranean and Baltic regions; Norway; the British Isles and Africa.

14 Nov 2013

Hamburg Cruise Port Marks 500,000 Passengers

f.l.t.r.: Nadine Palatz (Hamburg Cruise Center e.V.), Anja Tabarelli (Cunard Line), Ivar Hammerbeck (500.001st guest), Senator Frank Horch (Senator of the Ministry for Economic, Transport and Innovation Affairs) und Dr. Stefan Behn (Hamburg Cruise Center e.V.).

The Hamburg Cruise Port said it reached the 500,000 passenger mark in a single season. The port anticipates further growth forecast for 2014, with the 200th ship in sight. “The visit by the Queen Mary 2 to Hamburg on November6, 2013 will go down in the annals of Hamburg’s cruise industry and become an unforgettable ship’s call for everyone concerned,” said Frank Horch, Senator of the Ministry for Economic, Transport and Innovation Affairs. The visit was not only the 168th call of the current season but also marked the arrival of the 500,000th cruise guest in the city.

22 Nov 2012

Cruise Ships Smarten Up in Bremerhaven

'Braemar' & 'Balmoral': Photo credit Lloyd Werft Bremerhaven AG

Three big cruise ships visit Lloyd Werft Bremerhaven AG in the coming days and weeks to be spruced up for the 2013 cruise season. The ships are the MS "Braemar" and the MS "Balmoral", belonging to new customer Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, and Saga Shipping Corporation’s MS "Saga Ruby", better known previously to the yard as Cunard’s "Caronia". In the meantime Cunard’s 294 m long, 90,049 gt cruise ship "Queen Victoria" has returned to passenger service. That came after the original contract was extended to include the additional installation of a new type of exhaust gas cleaning plant or scrubber.

24 Sep 2012

Insights with an Kees Pilaar MD, Blohm + Voss

It could be argued that running an efficient, safe and profitable ship repair yard is one of the most difficult of all maritime jobs. First and foremost, unpredictability – in terms of planned and actual workload, as well as the very nature of the job themselves – is a recurring theme. Maintaining experienced staff in times good and bad; keeping ahead of evolving regulations, as they pertain to the local environment and the global ship market; and weathering the inevitable influx of cut-rate competition from emerging nations are but a sampling of the issues ship repair managers face every day.

09 Apr 2010

MTN Provides VSAT for Fred.Olsen Fleet

MTN Satellite Communications (MTN) announced that it has signed an agreement with Fred.Olsen Cruise Lines, an international shipping company based in Norway, to outfit its entire fleet of ships, Balmoral, Boudicca, Black Watch, and Braemar, with MTN’s state-of-the-art VSAT equipment and services providing global, reliable broadband connectivity. Under the agreement, MTN will provide services such as OceanPhone calling, StreamXcel, a bandwidth optimization service, toll-free inbound line dialing service for passengers and crew, and credit card processing. Installations on the Black Watch have been completed with scheduled rollouts for the rest of the fleet over the next few months. www.mtnsat.com

13 May 2008

Braemar to Undergo Lengthening at Blohm + Voss Repair

The cruise ship Braemar entered the Elbe 17 Dock at Blohm + Voss Repair on May 13 for lengthening and other conversion work. The ship, which belongs to the Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines will be lengthened by 31.20 metres amidships at the shipyard, which is part of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems. Braemar is the second cruise ship from Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines to be lengthened at Blohm + Voss Repair. She follows the conversion of the BALMORAL between November 2007 and January of this year. In addition to getting a new midship section, 18 new balconies will be installed on the BRAEMAR and her Deck 8 restaurant will be completely renovated. Various other public areas will be rebuilt or renovated as well.

20 Jul 2007

Fred Olsen to Offer 2008 Cruises with Fleet of Five

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines will, for the first time, offer a fleet of five ships. Coupled with the lengthening of both Balmoral and Braemar, this will mean a greater capacity than ever before for the cruise line and the opportunity to offer a wider choice of cruise destinations and departure ports.

30 May 2006

NCL Corporation Sells Norwegian Crown

NCL Corporation announced last week that its parent company, Star Cruises, has agreed to sell Norwegian Crown to Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines Pte. Ltd., Singapore effective August 2006. Star Cruises will concurrently charter the vessel back from Fred. Olsen and NCL will continue her announced deployment through to November 2007. Norwegian Crown is presently owned by Star Cruises along with four other mid-sized vessels also operated by NCL and Orient Lines. These vessels are on inter-company charter between Star and NCL. Last week, NCL announced that Norwegian Wind will be transferred in late April 2007 to Star Cruises to become SuperStar Aquarius, based in Hong Kong.

26 May 2006

Ganger Rolf Acquires Cruise Vessel

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines Singapore which is 50 percent owned by each of Ganger Rolf ASA and Bonheur ASA, has entered into an agreement with a subsidiary of Star Cruises Ltd. to purchase the 1988 built 34242 grt. cruise vessel MV Norwegian Crown, with delivery late August 2006. The vessel will upon delivery be chartered back to the sellers for a 14 months' period until around 1 November 2007. The vessel will be re-named at re-delivery. commence operations for Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines in early 2008. Total project costs amount to about USD 130 million. Upon completion of this acquisistion Fred. Black Watch, MV Braemar and MV Boudicca.