Boudicca

A truly world class cruise ship with a light and airy design, Boudicca's scale creates a sense of warmth and welcome from the moment you embark. Her large windows bring light to the subtle and elegant décor of the unconfined lounges, restaurants and public areas.

After a varied career operating for Norwegian Cruise Line, Princess Cruises and Star Cruises, Boudicca has found an appropriate berth with Fred. Olsen Cruises, which already operates her sister ship, the former Royal Viking Star, as the popular Black Watch.

Cabins on Boudicca are generously roomy for her scale of ship, and the suites sumptuous and unrestrained. She has just 437 cabins and carries a maximum of around 850 passengers - totally in keeping with the Fred Olsen Cruises values of friendliness and intimacy. A generous teak promenade deck stretches around Boudicca and with considerable deck space, it contributes towards the feeling of space and freedom.

Travelers who prefer small, intimate bars to barn-scale open-plan facilities will be very much at home on Boudicca. There is a genuinely cozy feel to the lovely Heligan Room, just outside the main restaurants on Deck 6. The best venue for drowsing over a book and watching the world go by is the Observatory, an airy, large-windowed lounge set high on Deck 9.

In contrast, The Neptune, the ship's main show lounge, is spacious enough to seat 400 guests for twice-nightly production shows and cabaret acts, and the Lido Lounge on Deck 7 is also fairly substantial.

The ship also has a well stocked library, a small casino -- with two gaming tables and, blessedly, no noisy slot machines -- larger card room, as well as an Internet Cafe.

Both Tintagel and the Four Seasons, the ship's main restaurants, have been attractively refurbished, the first in warm shades of red and cream, the latter in very stylish creams and browns. Both offer open-seating breakfasts and two sittings for lunch and dinner, while the Secret Garden, a third eatery, offers lighter, buffet-style meals for passengers who want more relaxed dining hours.

On a Boudicca Cruise Holiday Expect to meet large proportion of British couples of a certain age or beyond. Enjoyable if your idea of fun is a gentle cruise in pleasant surroundings peppered with gently humorous conversations; not so nice if you're a razzmatazz merchant in search of 24-hour action.