Most January cruises out of Southampton potter down to the Canaries and back. Fred. Olsen’s 2028 offering goes a bit further. Five continents further.
The line’s “Amazon & Antarctica Adventure” leaves Southampton on 5 January 2028 aboard Borealis: 87 nights, 28 ports, 17 countries, and — Fred’s claim — the only round-trip sailing from the UK to do both the Amazon and Antarctica in one go. It goes on sale tomorrow, 22 July, from £10,999.
Where you actually go
South, thoroughly. Tenerife and La Palma first, then across to a proper Caribbean run — Antigua, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Cartagena, Curaçao, Grenada, Barbados among the calls, with whale-watching country at Samaná Bay in the Dominican Republic.
Then the headline act: days of cruising the Amazon itself, with an overnight in Manaus — a thousand miles up the river — and calls at Santarém and river villages like Boca da Valéria. It’s Fred’s first return to the Amazon in nine years, pink river dolphins and all.
From there it keeps going: Búzios, an overnight in Rio de Janeiro, Puerto Madryn, Punta Arenas, and around Cape Horn to three days of cruising the Antarctic Peninsula — Martin Lister, Fred’s head of product innovation, calls it “a region few ever visit.” Then the Falklands, Montevideo, an overnight in Buenos Aires, and home via Salvador, Cape Verde, the Canaries and La Coruña.
The honest bits
First, Antarctica. Read the wording: three days of scenic cruising. You’ll watch the glaciers, ice and penguins from the deck — you won’t set foot on the continent. Landings are the preserve of small expedition ships charging expedition money. Spectacular? Undoubtedly. Boots on Antarctica? No.
Second — and the itinerary says it plainly — you cross the Drake Passage. Twice. It’s the most famously rough stretch of water on Earth. It can be a millpond; it can be the “Drake Shake.” At this latitude, that’s part of the adventure, and you should book knowing it.
Third, the money. £10,999 is the lead-in, which on 87 nights works out around £126 a night — and Fred’s Freedom Fare packs in more than most: full board, selected drinks with lunch and dinner, entertainment, shuttle buses in selected ports, and — notably on a voyage this long — port taxes, fees and gratuities. No three-figure tips bill waiting at the end. As a nightly rate for three months of travel it undercuts plenty of hotels that never move. But it’s still eleven grand a head, and the lead-in cabins will vanish first.
Fourth, the “Freedom Fare Price Promise.” Book by 19 August and Fred’s promises the cruise won’t be sold cheaper in its first four weeks on sale. A four-week assurance — not a promise it’ll never be discounted. Know exactly what you’re being promised.
The genuinely good bit in the small print: solo travellers get a selection of cabins with no single supplement in that window. On 87 nights, that’s a serious saving — and squarely the crowd of a line whose regulars recently bought out a cruise to nowhere in particular.
The bottom line
Three months, five continents, the Amazon and Antarctica, out and back from Southampton without an airport in sight. There’s nothing else quite like it on sale from a UK port — though it’s very much in the spirit of the long, characterful voyages Fred’s has been leaning into.
Just book it knowing what it is: Antarctica from the rail rather than underfoot, the Drake Passage twice, and £10,999 cabins that won’t hang about. On sale tomorrow; the solo deal and price promise run to 19 August. Oh — and do check what 87 nights of Southampton parking costs before you fall completely in love.
The full route: Southampton – Santa Cruz, Tenerife – Santa Cruz, La Palma – St John’s, Antigua – Samaná, Dominican Republic – Ocho Rios, Jamaica – Puerto Limón, Costa Rica – Cartagena de Indias, Colombia – Willemstad, Curaçao – Fort-de-France, Martinique – St George’s, Grenada – Roseau, Dominica – Bridgetown, Barbados – Amazon River cruising – Santarém – Manaus (overnight) – Boca da Valéria – Alter do Chão – Fortaleza – Búzios – Rio de Janeiro (overnight) – Puerto Madryn, Argentina – Punta Arenas, Chile – Cape Horn – Drake Passage – Antarctic Peninsula (three days’ scenic cruising) – Drake Passage – Port Stanley, Falkland Islands – Montevideo, Uruguay – Buenos Aires (overnight) – Salvador, Brazil – Mindelo, Cape Verde – Las Palmas, Gran Canaria – La Coruña, Spain – Southampton.
