Not been on Fred Olsen for a while and chose this 14 day cruise to see the Northern Lights or should I say hope to see the Northern Lights! Embarkation was at the Liverpool Cruise Terminal, and it was a doddle, far better than Southampton. There had been some cases of gastro-enteritis on the previous cruise, so we were late boarding as the ship had a top to bottom clean before we could board. This ship was re-furbished in November 2022 following purchase by Fred and it was previously owned by Holland America. The new furnishings, existing art, statues, decor etc was stunning and it was like boarding a new ship. Great welcome aboard and unlike other cruise lines no jumping on you to buy cruise packages as you enter the ship. Our cabin, 1862 was on deck 1, the Marina deck and had to windows and twin beds. It could hold three persons, so the third bed was a convertible sofa. It was fine for our needs; the beds were comfortable and we were well looked after by cabin steward 'Elinda'. Borealis like her sister ship Bolette is a fast, traditional type cruise ship. It can easily cruise at 14-16 knots and when we hit a force 8 and 9 twice near the Faroes we had no issues with sea sickness. One of the benefits of a low deck cabin close to midships is less up and down movement.

There is no Casino anymore on these ships, Fred removed them on refurbishment. Entertainment on the ship was excellent, two pianists, one in each of the many lounges, a classical trio, a guitarist/singer in another lounge, a band in the Observatory/Nightclub, top/forward, and a great theatre over two floors from which we had a resident dance/theatre group, magician, comedian, two soloists and of course some great shows.

Unlike P & O you did not have to book a theatre seat or queue up. Read more