Now The Drinks Are On Fred

Norwegian Cruise Lines may have decided to ditch their All Inclusive drinks package but Fred Olsen have done to do exactly the opposite. Admittedly it is for a limited time only but the drinks package on Fred’s, at £ 15 per person per day, is really good value anyway.

Braemar was the first ship I ever did a real cruise on, other than an overnight on Explorer of the Seas. It was a 14 night Canary Islands sailing and it was truly one of the best cruises I have ever done. I went with a friend and we were definitely worried about the ship being a bit boring – how wrong we were,  we had a ball!

Fred Olsen ships are so friendly, the staff have all worked there for years, and there are so many repeat clients. The food is good too, although probably not so fancily presented as some other lines, and , of course, they are small ships so can get into lots of different ports.

Fred Olsen have 4 ships, Braemar, Balmoral , Black Watch and Boudicca. To get the free All Inclusive offer you will have to be quick and book by 8pm on Tuesday this week but there are some lovely itineraries so choose from, some sailing from local ports too. Black Watch has this lovely itinerary –  Crossing the Arctic Circle with Midnight Sun – sailing from Liverpool on 7th June for 13 nights.

The itinerary travels up the beautiful coats of Norway stopping first at Trondheim then Leknes, Honningsvag, Alta and Kristiansund in search of the Northern Lights. 12th June until around 29th July is the time to see the midnight sun in north Norway. There are no clear boundaries between one day and the next in the far north during summer , even the locals get confused as to what time it is – 5am or 5pm ? Svalbard is the place in Norway where the midnight sun occurs for the longest period. Here, the sun doesn’t set between 20 April and 22 August.

Give Fred a try and you may well be pleasantly surprised on your next cruise.