In January this year cruise lovers had the very special privilege of seeing six cruise liners meet in Southampton in one day – the first time in over fifty years this has happened. On that occasion Fred Olsen Cruises had two ships present: the Black Watch and the Balmoral.

On Thursday there will be another Six-ship Extravaganza in the same port. This time Fred Olsen will have only the Balmoral present. P&O Cruises will stand out with no less than five ships: the Celebrity Eclipse, Venture, Crown Princess, Artania and Grand Princess.

At the first Six-ship Extravaganza the two Fred Olsen ships were about to leave on long cruises: Black Watch for a cruise around South America, and Balmoral on a cruise around the world. This time Balmoral is on its way to a 16-night cruise to Italy.

The reason why Balmoral is once again on the list of six is that it is currently based in Southampton. From here it operates a range of cruises to destinations around the globe, such as the Baltic, Northern Europe, Iberia, Norway, Italy, France, the Canary Islands and the Adriatic. It also embarks on cruises around Ireland and the rest of the UK.

According to Fred Olsen there are still a number of cabins available on the Italy cruise. The ship will visit exciting cities such as Ibiza, Naples and Civitavecchia (Rome). Prices start from £927 per passenger sharing a cabin.

Fred Olsen also offers cruises departing from Portsmouth, Dover, Greenock (Glasgow), Newcastle and Rosyth (Edinburgh).