Enjoy a great choice of regional departure ports with Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines

The new Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ brochure of worldwide cruises for 2012-13 offers a comprehensive range of cruises to destinations all over the world, from a choice of British ports.  You can choose to cruise from Dover, Southampton, Portsmouth, Newcastle, Greenock (Glasgow) or Rosyth (Edinburgh.)

While the majority of cruises from the south depart from the traditional cruise ports of Dover and Southampton, Portsmouth will also be a popular choice for many, especially with the recent opening of the new passenger terminal for cruise and ferry passengers. Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ Boudicca will return to Portsmouth in November 2011, for a second season, having cruised successfully from this port in 2009. Portsmouth offers many benefits as a cruise departure port; it has good road and rail access, and Southampton airport is also close by. 

The new brochure details a longer season of cruises from Portsmouth for Boudicca, including longer cruises for the first time. She will be based here from October 2012 to April 2013, and her cruise programme includes two long voyages – to the Caribbean and the Amazon – as well as a winter cruise to Norway in February 2013, ‘In Search of the Northern Lights’.

For summer 2012, Boudicca travels north, and operates cruise seasons from Greenock (Glasgow), Rosyth (Edinburgh), and Newcastle (Port of Tyne.)  From Greenock, she cruises to the Canaries, the Adriatic, Iberia and Norway, and from Rosyth, her mid-summer programme of cruises heads into the far north – easily accessible from this Scottish port – to visit the Baltic, Norway, the North Cape and Iceland.  Based in Newcastle in August and September 2012, she cruises to the Arctic, Norway, the Baltic and the Western Mediterranean.

Sister-ship Black Watch is based in Dover for most of the year, operating a varied cruise programme to destinations including the Mediterranean, Around the UK, the Baltic, the Black Sea, Greenland and Iceland, and the Atlantic Islands. Black Watch departs from Southampton on her longer voyages, such as her World Cruise, departing January 2012, her Caribbean Christmas cruise 2012, and her Indian Ocean Voyage in early 2013.

For Balmoral, largest of the Fred. Olsen fleet, Southampton is her home base throughout the year, and from here she embarks on her longer voyages – to the New World in January 2012, the Canadian Eastern Seaboard in September 2012, and Around the World in January 2013 – as well as offering a host of other cruises throughout the year. 

Braemar will complete her final season of Caribbean fly-cruises in winter 2012, cruising home to the UK in April.  She will then be based in Dover for the summer of 2012, offering ex-UK cruises to a host of destinations, including the Canary Islands, Iberia, the Mediterranean, Atlantic Islands, the Baltic, the North Cape and Around the UK. She repositions to Southampton for the winter.

Nigel Lingard, Marketing Director of Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, said: “We are very pleased to be able to offer such a good choice of departure ports for our ex-UK cruises; we know from experience that the great majority of our guests prefer not to fly, and enjoy the convenience and relaxed nature of a UK departure.  The choice of ports, along with good rail and coach connections, make our cruises accessible to everyone no matter where they live.  The addition of Portsmouth is very good news, especially with the new passenger terminal available to enhance the experience of our guests from the moment they arrive at their departure port.”

Find out more about all Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ regional departures, by visiting www.fredolsencruises.com