Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines Ltd.

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Shipping
Founded	1848
Headquarters	Ipswich, United Kingdom
Products	Cruise ships
Parent	Bonheur
Website	www.fredolsencruises.com

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines is a UK-based, Norwegian-owned cruise shipping line with three cruise ships. The company is owned by Bonheur and is headquartered in Ipswich, Suffolk, in the United Kingdom. The company is part of the Fred. Olsen Group.

History

The company originated in Hvitsten, a small town on Oslofjord in Norway, 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, ^[1] property development and electronics companies. ^[2]

In May 2006 Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines announced the purchase of a new vessel, Norwegian Crown , from Norwegian Cruise Line. Following delivery of the vessel in November 2007, she was dry-docked for refurbishment. She was renamed Balmoral and entered service early in 2008. This was followed by a new centre section being added, with new cabins and public rooms, increasing the size from 19,000  GT to 24,000  GT (approx).

In 2018 Fred. Olsen announced that a series of 600-passenger-newbuilts was being planned and they were in negotiations with shipyards, but those newbuilts were never ordered. ^[3]

In July 2020, Fred. Olsen bought the former Holland America Line ships Amsterdam and Rotterdam for $37m ^[4] and renamed them Bolette and Borealis respectively, to be delivered in September 2020. They replaced the Boudicca and the Black Watch which were retired in August 2020. ^{[5] [6]}

Fleet

Current fleet

Ship / Flag	Built	In Service	Gross tonnage	Flag	Notes	Image
Balmoral	1988	2007–	43,537  GT	Bahamas	former Crown Odyssey; Royal Cruise Line
Borealis	1997	2020–	61,849  GT	Bahamas	former Rotterdam; Holland America Line
Bolette	2000	2020–	62,735  GT	Bahamas	former Amsterdam; Holland America Line

Former fleet

Ship	Built	In service	Tonnage	Notes	Fate	Image
Black Prince	1966	1966–2009	9,499  GRT 11,209  GT	Built as a combination ferry/cruise ship/reefer ship. Rebuilt into a cruise ship in 1987.	Scrapped in October 2013 as Ola Esmeralda.
Blenheim	1970	1970–1981	10,427  GRT 12,244  GT	Built by Upper Clyde Shipbuilders Ltd as a larger version of Black Prince and Black Watch combination ferry/cruise ships. Sold to Scandinavia World Cruises 1981. Burnt out 1984. Rebuilt and continued as Discovery 1.	Scrapped in 1997.
Brabant	2006	2018–2020	1,566 GT	First river cruise for Fred Olsen. Chartered from Amadeus River Cruises between 2018 and 2020.	Laid up in Germany.
Black Watch	1972	1996–2020	28,613  GT	Retired in 2020, after Fred. Olsen bought the former Amsterdam and Rotterdam.	Scrapped in Alang, India in 2022.
Boudicca	1973	2005–2020	28,388  GT	Retired in 2020, after Fred. Olsen bought the former Amsterdam and Rotterdam.	Scrapped in Aliağa, Turkey in 2021.
Braemar	1993	2001–2024	24,344  GT	Retired in 2022, [7] sold to Villa Vie in 2024 [8]

Destinations and cruise holidays

For most of the year, the ships are based in UK ports.

Destinations include Northern Europe, the Baltic, the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, the Canary Islands, the Caribbean, Africa, Canada, the United States and South America ^{[ citation needed ]}

Operations

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines operates smaller scale cruise ships, ranging in size from 24,000 to 62,000  GT (approx), currently a fleet of three cruise ships, the ambience on board is traditionally British.

RNLI

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines is the RNLI's longest-standing corporate partner, with a history that spans more than 60 years, all starting in the 1960s, when an RNLI volunteer started fundraising on board a Fred. Olsen cruise. Since then, the generosity of Fred. Olsen's guests and crew has raised over £1 million, which has funded:– ^[9]

• five Inshore Lifeboats
• three mobile training units
• three seminar rooms at RNLI College in Poole
• the development and cost of three lifeboat launching trolleys
• mobile health check kiosks for divers
• RNLI apprenticeships

Fred. Olsen funded RNLI lifeboats

Op. No. [a]	Name / Class	On Station [10]	Station	Comments
B-549	Blenwatch B-class (Atlantic 21)	1981–1996 1996 1996–1997 1997–1998 1998–2001 2001–2003	New Brighton Porthcawl Relief fleet Tighnabruaich Relief fleet Enniskillin (Lower)	[11] Now with ICE-SAR
C-521	Prince of Arran C-class (Zodiac Grand Raid IV)	1988–1998	Arran (Lamlash)	[12]
B-774	Braemar B-class (Atlantic 75)	2001–2014 2014 2014–2015 2015–2021	Relief fleet Stonehaven Relief fleet Weymouth	[13]
B-856	Spirit of Fred. Olsen B-class (Atlantic 85)	2011–	Kyle of Lochalsh	[14]
B-913	Pride of Fred. Olsen B-class (Atlantic 85)	2019 2019 2019–2020 2020–2021 2021–2024 2024–	Relief Fleet Stonehaven Relief Fleet Filey Berwick-upon-Tweed Relief Fleet	[15]

1. Op. No. is the RNLI's Operational Number of the boat.

References

1. "Home". fredolsen.co.uk.
2. "Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines".
3. "'Series' of new 600-passenger ships announced by Fred. Olsen Junior at launch of cruise line's 2019/20 brochure". 2018-02-28. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
4. "Deep distress: Fred Olsen swoops for two Carnival ships funded by seller's finance | TradeWinds". 15 July 2020.
5. "ACQUISITION OF CRUISE VESSELS AND FLEET OPTIMIZATION". 2020-07-15. Archived from the original on 2020-07-16. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
6. "Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines confirms new ships Bolette and Borealis will take over from classic vessels Boudicca and Black Watch". 21 August 2020.
7. "Fred. Olsen To Sell Braemar".
8. "Villa Vie Takes Delivery of Cruise Ship for Residence Start up - Cruise Industry News | Cruise News".
9. "Fred. Olsen and the RNLI". Meet our partners. RNLI. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
10. Leonard, Richie; Denton, Tony (2025). Lifeboat Enthusiasts Handbook 2025. Lifeboats Enthusiasts Society. p. 81, 102, 83–85.
11. "Shoreline Section" (PDF). The Lifeboat. XLVII (474): 130. Winter 1980. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
12. "Princely Donation" (PDF). The Lifeboat. L (499): 138. Spring 1987. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
13. "Lifeboat Lottery". The Lifeboat. 61 (583): 38. Summer 2008. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
14. "Spirit of Fred. Olsen". The Lifeboat. 61 (600): 6. Summer 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
15. "Fred. Olsen guests fund and name new RNLI lifeboat | RNLI". rnli.org. Retrieved 2019-01-31.

External links

• Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines official website
• (in Swedish) Fakta om Fartyg: Fred. Olsen (covers ships of all Fred. Olsen brands, past and present)
• Cruisepage.com Review
• Photos of Black Watch and other Fred Olsen cruise ships
• Photos of the current Fred. Olsen Cruises fleet