Olsen claims only a small ownership share in his family companies, but hes long exercised strong management control over all of them. There is also a comment by Peter Deer that the board have not yet decided what to do about replacing Fred Jnr as chairman. We did get very cheap, good balcony cabins on those cruises by booking early, which we feel is necessary on larger ships when public space/seating/sun beds are limited, but we will not want to book so early in the future and prices not likely to be anything like as good now either. In 1996, amidst financial difficulties for NCL, the ship was sold to Fred. It has put me off ever booking anytime before the final fortnight. Olsen Production ASA (FOP) is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (trades under the ticker "FOP") and has been active in the offshore oil & gas production business since 1994. His long experience in petroleum production convinces him that the world isnt facing a shortage of oil or even a future of ultrahigh prices. We have been wondering what will happen to Fred for a while, since the cruise business does not seem to be looking good at all currently and the future will be a big challenge to all holiday companies. I answered a clear, "not interested" to all of them as we would never consider Fred's balconies whilst he allowed smoking on balconies, yet there was no option to state freely why the perks were of no interest to me (i.e. At least Fred now has Balmoral back in service and she can still go to ports the newer ships cannot, (e.g. I was feeling uneasy about the future of the company when I first saw this mentioned here, especially as it was done quietly. Its six farms in Britain supply around 7% of the nations wind power, and seven more sites that are approved or under construction, in Scotland and Scandinavia, will almost triple its output of electricity. From the mid-1960s to the early 1970s, Olsen shed almost his entire fleet of ships in a strong market. Fred sold most of his collection in 2006 for $29.5 million, though two Munch paintings hang in his Oslo home today. I wonder if more information will come out now it has made public. FOO and its subsidiaries supply all the labor and vessels required to install wind farms at sea. In the early 1960s discoveries of natural gas in the British sector of the North Sea convinced Olsen that the seabed between Scotland, Denmark, and Norway covered vast reserves of oil. before the pandemic, and having two cruises booked during the initial phase of the pandemic cancelled I've not rebooked and sadly I don't feel I will at any point soon. I pointed out bluntly that their advantage is their itineraries and a fly cruise to the Caribbean can be obtained far cheaper with P&O. Olsen Cruise Lines ('FOCL') takes its responsibility to be a good 'corporate citizen' seriously, and does all that it can to be a considerate employer, generous benefactor and environmentally-conscious cruise operator. I have just acquired a Blue Light Card and was looking through the offers to see that Fred is offering a 5% discount for previous Fred customers (combinable with Ocean's discount) and the Blue Light website also says 5% off any current offer for new to Fred customers. On every other line we travel in a balcony or suites but I cant bring myself to pay the inflated prices on Fred for what is just a very basic balcony cabin. When the ship is parked, the legs descend, planting their feet in the sea floor and turning the ship into a stable workstation. When the Fred's price rose from 180 to 193 in 2018, Fred lost over 25,000 passenger days per year. In a statement, the company said COVID-19 has had and continues to have a material impact on its financial position and results, suggesting the global shutdown of the cruise industry since March is the primary source of its financial difficulties. Olsen Renewables currently have an installed capacity of approximately 700 MW and a portfolio of 4 GW in different stages of development. 2 seller of watches in the U.S., behind Fossil. Id see him at our pool in a bathing suit, standing in the drenching rain, steeling himself against the dangers of lightning, says Olsen. Over recent years one of Fred Jun's declared USPshas been 'proud to sail our own course' as a 'family run company' but the truth of the matter that FOCL's doesnt even own the ships they are each individually owned by separate companies in a highly complex, multi-billion, international, corporate conglomerate beholding to institutional shareholders. We've likewise just returned from a SAGA cruise, also had a higher grade standard cabin and likewise paid less that the 319 average. 312 others named Alex Olsen . When the Olsens fled Norway they left much of their collection, including a celebrated version of Munchs famous The Scream, hidden in a barn, where it remained throughout the war. The skirt burrows into the soil and rock like a beer mug pushed into the sand. The 'Cruise Sector' is a very tiny part of their overall portfolio. Over three decades we've spent well over the equivalent of a year cruising around the world in four of Fred Olsen's ships. Some loyalty members on the highest levels have been asked to consider becoming members of focus groups. You will be able to leave a comment after signing in, By The fees charged by financial advisory firms depended on the types of services they perform for each client. Friends were on in July and felt the ship was quiet given it was the main summer season (some cabins will be out of commission for quarantine of course). This story is from the March 15, 2015 issue of Fortune. The two new ships, the Brave Tern and Bold Tern, recently completed one of the most ambitious projects in offshore historythe Global Tech 1 development in the North Sea off the coast of Germany. The 86-year-old Norwegian billionaire is showing me around the museum-like headquarters of his business empire when he pauses next to a. Health permitting, we hope to return to more along distance holidays, (sometimes including cruises) for winter 23/24, though cruise lines only offering "from the UK" cruises are no real help to us there and Fred has no sign of returning to the more interesting long distance holidays he was doing, particularly on Boudicca. Predicting bigger and bigger turbines, he insisted on making deck space both extremely large and clear of obstruction. 'Travelling respectfully' so as not to 'overwhelm the beauty or local people' is an odd claim when the Boudicca carrying up to 900 passengers and the Black Watch carrying up to 758 passengers have both been replaced by a couple of old ships carrying well-over 1,300 passengers each. Fred. In the course of almost two full days of conversations in his officeshoused in a building constructed in 1710 that occupies an entire city block in a historic district of Oslo and borders on Fred. His narrow aquiline visage and bald pate give him an uncanny resemblance to C. Montgomery Burns, the tyrannical tycoon in the animated sitcom. 'It's all about people' claims FOCLs but other companies that we've cruised with have an equally, if not greater, claim to the USP. We do not travel in school holidays and have never seen a child on a Fred ship. I think we will see changes and with other cruise lines as well, they cannot keep the same clientele for ever and P&O have made it clear they want to go for the family market, though I do think we may still see some good deals off season with them. Olsen also co-founded Norways first private oil company, Saga Petroleum, and rallied the Norwegian industry to build expertise in oilfield products and services, a course that helped make his homeland one of the richest nations on earth. In 1967, Noco, along with Amoco and other partners, retrofitted an old whaling vessel to explore for oil, punching some of the first test holes in Norways sector of the North Sea. They called such sessions going to the moon.. A very obvious question is: would many of FOCLs remaining very loyal cruisers who really do believe that the company is "simply the best" and who "wouldn't cruise with anyone else" be happy for the company to change and would they be willing to pay for a more "premium" offer? Fred. The new FOCLs leadership will certainly have a challenge. stood for in my mind but I couldn't think what they are and what they are positioned as. I have another 2 cruises with Fred in the pipeline, both more unusual itinerarys but wont be in a hurry to book again. But in 1955, Thomas suffered a serious stroke, and Fred, at age 26, took charge of the family business empire. We booked those Azura cruises for only a tad over 80pppn, but again for a single person that would work out more expensive. Some suites are at least twice the price of a standard cabin and so that raises the average price. It was a narrow escape. Shortly thereafter, his companys rig made the first discovery in Ekofisk, one of the largest deepwater oilfields ever developed. Hello. We certainly have our own ideas about what would attract us book more FOCLs cruises. This is what it had to say: "Given current economic conditions and the. The news about Fred Jnr resigning has finally made social media. Olsen Ocean. Beyond that, things suggested were inclusive drinks, excursions, free spa package or speciality restaurants and a couple of other ideas which I cannot remember now. Indeed your position booking for single occupancy is a difficult one for most, if not all holidays and I agree with a lot of what you say. Fred Olsen is reliving the day he ran off to sea. A few years later he brought illumination to watches with the Indiglo night-light. It may well have been the events of 2020 got in the way, there was uncertainty about how this new venture would sit with the existing business or doubts that the suggested starting price per-person of 300 per day would attract a sufficient market. The fall in oil prices isnt hurting renewables, since they benefit from rich subsidies provided by Germany and the U.K., among other nations. Take a serious look at what is actually being offered, rather than verbiage. The reported 73% average occupancy on Fred ships in Q2 does not seem too bad given the current state of the industry, though admittedly with his smaller ships he will need a higher rate occupancy than the monster ships sailing now and we have always wondered if Braemar will really return. The energy side of the business also includes Harland and Wolff, the shipyard in Belfast that built the, So what is the value of the Olsen empire? Olsen began spending every other week in Connecticut. All Rights Reserved. The Olsens control Fred. Better still, I would be more interested in a large OBS, which could be used on whatever we chose to spend it on. Over the years Olsen has demonstrated a remarkable instinct for catching trends, riding them to the top, and exiting at the crest. Fred has always been middle-market and with a woeful choice of smaller ships in that market, I am sure there is high demand but Fred's pricing policy will undoubtedly put people off. The 319 is their average per person per day. Otherwise I can get the small ship experience with the big ship facilities in a ship within a ship in the Retreat, the Haven, the Yacht club etc. Part of the problem may lie way back in May 2018 when Fred. In my conversations with him, it was clear that even Olsen himself believed hed been the inspiration for the Burns character. He could be really rough when he was mad about something. In January 1973, Olsen observed that tanker prices had tripled in five years. I dont mind paying for example for the Retreat on Celebrity as there is added value in terms of the services offered to suite guests. After a break lasting decades he staged a comeback, finishing a promising third, in a tight finish, in the 2014 Norwegian championships. We booked a cruise recently and the price dropped just a few days later which is really annoying, to the extent that we are putting off booking another one we had planned. The easy answer would be to go into the growth sector of "boutique cruising" for the traditionalist market (Fred Jun. That is not a direct quote, but no other detail except niceties as I understand it. So we really hope that new leadership at FOCLs will look very carefully at what many of the people who used to loyally cruise with them now think about the brand and why those people are now opting to spend their precious resources with different cruise lines. Timex remains profitable, but both earnings and sales are heading the wrong way. The idea of a personalised port exploration service (what do you want to do and we'll arrange that sort of thing), a quayside concierge at each port and a far fresher and more exciting dining option also appealed. I think it is essential Fred maintains his service levels to those good levels, to keep him apart from the lines where we have observed some staff being, in our opinion, quite slapdash and even slovenly with no one was making any attempt to correct that. Indeed we paid less than half the up front booking price for a recent Ambassador cruise and there were only 685 passengers on the ship as well, so about half full. FOE has been experiencing financial difficulties and is currently looking for a solution, or it might face bankruptcy. I do think that overall Fred, (as well as other cruise lines), really needs to attract new cruisers as the older ones will not be cruising forever and often the older cruisers are not the biggest spenders once on the ships either, as was discussed in recent days on the P&O boards. Today Olsens businesses fall into two main categories: energy and Timex. The offshore wind market is still tiny compared with onshore, but its growing far faster. 'Maritime' is not in the Olsen Family DNA (scientifically impossiblethe family are not descended from mermaids or suchlike) The company, Bonheur, is currently overwhelmingly involved in renewable energy: wind farms, operatinga 'Wind Service' and in innovative, commercial, renewable energy technology. P&O have traditionally been cheaper at launch, though it remains to be seen how that pans out in the future. P&O have been OK in the past for us if we just want a cruise to warmer waters, or when we had not visited that many cruise ports. Indeed we paid less than half the up front booking price for a recent Ambassador cruise and there were only 685 passengers on the ship as well, so about half full. My forthcoming cruise has now reduced in price 4 times in the last month. Along the way he studied the boats mechanical systems and observed how cargo was managed. For now, the larger green venture is Fred. Olsen Ocean Ltd. is the parent company for Fred. For Olsen, renewable energy is more an ethical calling than a business imperative. So very clearly, FOCLs was actively considering its offer and its market position before the resignation, for whatever reason, of Fred. Like them, Olsen is a dreamer who actsand rarely follows the expected script. Olsen Seawind have entered into partnerships with other leading industry players such as rsted and Hafslund ECO in Norway, Vattenfall in Scotland and EDF in Ireland. 'Elegance and simplicity' are not words which automatically spring to our minds when the refurbishment of the public spaces of the old ships that have replaced the Boudicca and the Black Watch are considered. Hence we have nothing booked ahead with him and no thoughts of doing so. We liked Fred Jun's idea of a fleet of two or four 600 pax exploration ships aimed at a boomer rather than a traditionalist market, and exploring ports and coastlines that many ships either couldn't or wouldn't consider. 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