Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ inaugural virtual cruising program has been hailed a success, according to the company, with traffic to its website from its social media accounts up by more than 250% since the ‘sailings’ began.

Fred. Olsen set sail on its first virtual cruise on April 9, taking in the highlights of Norway, with destinations since then featuring the Canary Islands, Macronesia, Iceland and Greenland, the UK and the Mediterranean.

Since the start or the virtual cruising program, the number of visits from Facebook to Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ consumer website have increased by 252% on the same period last year, with more than 31,800 unique views to The Bridge, the dedicated section of the website hosting virtual cruising content, while bookings for 2021 are up by 11% year on year.

Ben Williams, Head of Digital at Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, said:

“When we started our virtual cruising program, it was to engage with our guests and to give them the opportunity to enjoy all the joys of cruising at a time when we are unable to travel.

“It has been so rewarding to see guests share their memories from the various ports we have called into, tell us their tales from aboard our ships and

“What it has also done is demonstrate that there is still an appetite for cruise, and that so many, like us, can’t wait to get cruising again as soon as the world is ready.”

Each week, Fred. Olsen’s virtual cruise takes in a different destination via a series of videos, images, blog posts, whilst also celebrating the onboard experience by offering ‘onboard lectures’, videos from entertainment acts, tutorials and live quizzes.

Fred. Olsen’s virtual program will continue next week with a focus on the Baltic, with a full itinerary to be posted across its social media channels at the start of the week.