It has been confirmed that Fred Olsen Cruises will retire its two cruise ships named Boudicca and Black Watch.
Fred Olsen Cruise Ships Being Retired
The UK-based Fred Olsen Cruises has announced it is retiring two of its cruise ships after purchasing two newer ones from Carnival-owned Holland America Line. Black Watch and Boudicca will both be retired as they are currently the oldest ships in the Fred Olsen fleet.
The two vessels MS Amsterdam and MS Rotterdam which were purchased from Holland America Line and renamed as Bolette and Borealis will replace the two older ships. This will include taking over the itineraries of Black Watch and Boudicca.
Peter Deer, Managing Director at Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, said:
“I am pleased to say we are now at the stage of finalising our back in the water plans and we are very excited to be doing this with two new vessels within our fleet.
“While we are still looking at a number of options for Boudicca and Black Watch, what we do know is that they won’t resume sailing with us when we do start to cruise again.
“We know that these ships are much loved among our guests, as indeed they are by us, but it is time to evolve and look ahead to a long and bright future for Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines.
“We will soon be revealing more details on our plans to resume sailing again, but in the meantime we hope many of you will join us on our virtual farewell cruises to see our two ships off in style.”
Guests who were booked to sail on Boudicca and Black Watch will automatically have their booking transferred to the same itineraries on Bolette or Borealis, and will be contacted by Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines with final details in the coming weeks.
Boudicca was built in 1972 and has been operated by a number of cruise lines before finally ending up with Fred Olsen Cruises since 2005. The ship is over 28,300 gross tons with a guest capacity of 900 along with 320 crew members.
Black Watch was also built in 1972 and has been operated by a number of cruise lines including Royal Caribbean before ending with Fred Olsen Cruises in 1996. The vessel is over 28,200 gross tons with a guest capacity of over 800.
The British-based cruise line will be holding virtual farewell sailings for Boudicca and Black Watch on Facebook. Guests and crew will be invited to share their photos and memories of the two ships.
It’s not known where the vessels will end up once they are retired. it’s likely they will be scrapped due to their age. We’ve already seen Carnival and Pullmantur ships being scrapped at the Aliaga ship breaking facility in Turkey.
Photo Credit: OlliFoolish / Shutterstock.com
