Fred Olsen's Balmoral Rome Cruises

Balmoral, Fred Olsen’s newest 1,340 passenger ship, starts a short season of Mediterranean fly/cruises from Civitavecchia (the port for Rome) from May, with flights direct from Stansted.

There will be five cruises in the Mediterranean and Adriatic before Balmoral returns to her UK home port of Dover for the remainder of the year.

The programme begins with an eleven night eastern Mediterranean cruise from Civitavecchia visiting Valleta, Crete, Kusadasi, Marmaris, Rhodes and Piraeus before returning to Civitavecchia for the return flight to the UK.

The second cruise itinerary is a 10 night voyage starting on the 12 May, with visits to ports in the Western Med and stops at Livorno, Villefranche, Barcelona, Majorca, Tunis, Valletta and Naples before ending in Civitavecchia.

In the final itinerary Balmoral will return to the UK, departing from Venice on the 11 June. Over the next eleven nights she will call at Dubrovnik, Sicily, Sardinia, Gibraltar, Lisbon and ends in Dover.

FRED OLSEN PREPARES TO CONVERT NEW ADDITION TO FLEET

NCL's (Norwegian Cruise Lines) Norwegian Crown has been handed over to Fred Olsen Cruise Lines in preparation for its expansion and conversion into the Balmoral.

The fifth ship in the Fred Olsen fleet is to be extended through 30 metre mid section being inserted at a Hamburg shipyard.

Public areas will all be redesigned while alterations to accommodation includes the addition of balconies on several cabins and suites to bring the vessel in line with three of the line's four other ships, Black Watch, Braemar and Boudicca.

Balmoral is due to sail on its inaugural cruise from Dover on January 30 on a 14-night cruise to the Canary Islands.

by Phil Davies