Another Cruise Line to branch across to River Cruising.

There has been a lot of attention around Viking Ocean Cruises since the giant of River Cruising announced they would take on the oceans with a Ocean going fleet of ships and they have been really popular. Crystal Cruises announced not that long ago that they would take on the River Cruise world but now we have a contender from the more mainstream side of Cruising – Fred Olsen!

 Fred Olsen have announced that they will have their first ever river cruise program which will have around 30 sailings doing the 3 main rivers of Europe – the Danube, the Rhine and the Moselle. All to start in Spring 2018.

 They will be chartering the vessel from Amadeus, which is currently the Amadeus Princess in 2018 from April to November and the same again in 2019. They will have 12 different cruises that you can choose from and offer trips from five to twenty-five nights.

They will rename Amadeus Princess to Brabant which is much more fitting for Fred Olsen, she holds 156 passengers in total, however it is likely that a Second ship will be added to the program which could offer other rivers but they haven’t confirmed that as of yet.

 Although Amadeus Princess will be rebranded whilst under the Fred Olsen name, she will not receive a refit, although the ship is only 11-years-old and the Rivers are much kinder than the big vast oceans so they don’t seem to age as quickly.

Flights, transfers, full board and Wi-Fi will be included in the cost but shore tours and drinks will not be included, so it will be interesting to compare the price of these against the likes of Viking whom do. They have said they are looking at the possibility of doing a drinks package but we will have to watch out for that.

Are you a Fred Olsen fan? Is this something you would do?