Fred Olsen Cruise Lines fleet is temporarily anchored in Firth of Forth (near Port Rosyth-Edinburgh (Scotland), during the company’s suspension in passenger operations until May 23, 2020. All the four liners (Balmoral, Black Watch, Boudicca, Braemar) are now in Scotland's Firth of Forth estuary.
According to Peter Deer (Fred Olsen's Managing Director) in March 2020 they had made the difficult decision to pause cruise shipping operations as all major cruise companies had done. The company took the decision to pause sailings ahead of the UK Government’s enforced period of self-isolation.
In the meantime, they had been working with Forth Ports and had secured temporary anchorages for the ocean fleet at Firth of Forth. Each vessel would retain only a minimum crew onboard to continue essential operations. Locals might see the cruise ships move within the river from time to time in order to carry out their duties.
Robert Mason, Head of Cruise for Capital Cruising, operating the Port of Rosyth, said they were pleased to be able to help their valued cruise line customer Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines at a difficult time for the cruise industry. He added they were providing safe and suitable river anchorages for 4 Fred. Olsen ships in the River Forth.
For Coronavirus updates on cruise ship quarantines (infected passengers and crew) and top-pandemic countries (COVID-19 cases and deaths, daily updated statistics) see at CruiseMapper's Norovirus page.