Hi, not seen this on here yet, apologies for being repetitive if it is..
This may not mean a lot to our US guests, but i hope it of interest anyway.
Fred Olsen cruise lines annouces forth ship within fleet to be named 'Boudicea'(thats bo-de-see-a) as it in the famous English Queen, she will join the Black Prince, Black Watch and Braemar within their fleet.
Boudicea was originally known as Royal Viking Sky for Royal Viking line and was launched, i believe, in 1972. She has spent time with NCL, Star cruises and Princess, amongst others, over the years.
This continues Fred Olsens tradition of using older, however fully refurbished, ships within their fleet to create a fleet of smaller ships, appealing mainly to the older guest.
The majority of staterooms will be refurbished to singles or luxury suites in time for sailing.
Fred Olsen has a loyal following, and im sure this ship will be a popular choice.

Rosey.

Rosey,

this has so far been discussed in our German-language forum, only, so your posting is certainly not repetitive.

It is wonderful that Fred. Olsen has acquired this ship. She should make an excellent running mate for "Black Watch", although I imagine it could take more than one refurbishment (depending on how extensive the first one will be) to fully bring her up to "Black Watch's" standards (particularly following that ship's upcoming refurbishment).

I'm particularly happy that all three original Royal Viking Line ships have now found what I consider long-term homes in Europe, where people appreciate these vessels and do not consider them "floating rist buckets", which they most definitely are not.

By the way, thanks for the pronunciation lesson - I was unsure how to pronounce "Boadicea" (that's the way it is spelled according to Fred. Olsen).

And a final question: What do you think about the name? Some consider it an excellent choice, while others (including quite a few Britons) think it's a rather bad choice. Personally, I would habe prefered the more traditional Fred. Olsen name "Blenheim", but "Boadicea" slowly begins to grow on me, now.

It's amazing how some of the great ships live on. That's three of the original 4 "big ships from the Royal viking Line still plying their trade:
The RV Star is Olsen's Black Watch
The RV Sky is now to be Boudicea
The RV Sun is Holland American's Prinsendam
The only one missing is RV Sea. Does any-one know what happened to her???

I sailed from Tahiti to Australia on the Star in 1984 & she was sensational. An alternate restaurant with no reservation fees, a midnight buffet every night, wine at affordable prices (I seem to remember Pol Roger champagne at US$30 a bottle & a service charge for bar drinks of 5%). And a happy crew & staff who gave fine service without looking for tips or soliciting with sad stories.

The halcyon days may be gone but it rather beaut to see the quality ships living on into the new century.

Dave

Hi Raoul,

Snap!!!!

But do you know what happened to the Royal Viking Sea (which was the third of the originals with the Sun being the fourth & somewhat larger

Best wishes

Dave

Apologies for the mis-spelling of the name, you are correct raoul!
Im not sure about the name just yet... Its not really in-keeping with their others, which are all derived from scotland as far as i know.
On the subject of the RV sea, she was last publicised here in 2001 when she transferred from NCL to Star Cruises, and i havent heard anything since, so if anyone knows where she is now i would be interested too.

Rosey

Hi Dave,

the former "Royal Viking Sea" was acquired by Dutch company Club Cruise in January, 2004. She is under long-term charter to Phoenix Reisen of Germany bearing the name "Albatros".

Here's a picture taken by fellow CC Moderator Stephan Giesen last year:



I will visit the "Albatros" in mid-May.

Thanks Raoul,

I had a feeling you would know what had happened to her.

She still looks marvellous, doesn't she!!

A real ship, built to circumnavigate the globe & still looking great at 30 years old) & hopefully being as loved by her current patrons as she & her sisters were in the seventies & eighties.

I look forward to your report on the May visit.

Interesting the the photo shows clearly the balcony cabins that were added when they stretched her. A much more tasteful alteration than what was done to the QEII when the penthouses were put in place - she has never looked the same since.

Cheers

Dave

I sailed her a number of times when she was operated by NCL as the Norwegian Star out of Houston to the Western Caribbean. What a great ship. She is perfect for Fred Olson.

This post reminds me that I have to add Fred Olson Cruises to CruiseREviews.com. It is strange that I have not received any reviews on them. Maybe if I get a site up for them, some will follow.

Tom

I had never heard of Fred Olsen until we saw the Braemar in Barbados last month. We spoke with the Captain for a bit, and are very curious about this line. It looks like the size we enjoy, and we like the fact it appeared to be mostly Brit. We were on a Costa cruise. There were very few English speaking passangers, and it was quite noisy at times. It was hard to listen to everything 5 times in different languages. Can we book it out of Canada?

Lorrie,

if you go to their web site, you can order a brochure. As Canada is among the countries "allowed to order" (there are approx. 20 of those), I guess they might have a Canadian GSA.

Oh, by the way, they have changed the spelling of the fourth ship's proposed name: it's now spelled "Boudicca" instead of "Boadicea".

Lorrie

I note your interest in Fred Olsen, I am the manager of a UK TA, please feel free to contact me if i can assist you in booking a cruise, or put you in contact with anyone, or indeed if you require any further info. We have a lot of dealing with them and many repeat bookers. They are a very popular choice here.
Hope i can be of some help.

Rosey

ps, Raoul, hadn't heard about the name. How the heck do we pronounce that!?

hmmm will look with interest and let you know if they let me know anything more.

Rosey,

it's your mother tongue, not mine.

But seriously: I'm glad I'm not the only one wondering about this.

Hi Raoul,

I believe the correct pronounciation is "Boodicka" (semi phonetically)

I must admit I prefer the "Bo-a-de-cee-a" I was taught at school. But I guess political correctness has extended to include the use of authentic British (or rather Celtic) names rather than the romanised versions.

I'm loooking forward to your May review

Cheers

Dave

Hi Dave,

I also prefer the "previous" spelling (and pronounciation!).

However, there were quite a few "traditionalists" on some other lists and forums who complained about Fred. Olsen using the "wrong spelling" for the name. It appears that the cruise line has listened to those voices.