Fred. Olsen’s Bolette Completes Refurbishment

Fred. Olsen’s Bolette Completes Refurbishment

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ Bolette has recently completed a refurbishment at the A&P Falmouth shipyard in England.

According to the company, the drydock was supported by 500 members of the facility’s workforce, including 32 apprentices.

“We are really pleased to further support the Falmouth economy by working with the team at A&P to maintain and refurbish our ships, and in particular providing their apprentices with new experience and opportunity,” said Peter Deer, Managing Director of Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines.

After entering drydock in late February, the Bolette spent two weeks at the A&P Falmouth shipyard to undergo a program of works that comprised underwater painting, servicing of lifeboats, maintenance of stabilizers and more.

Other technical interventions included the exchange of the ship’s bow thrusters, which were replaced with newly overhauled ones.

The 2000-built ship also underwent a full underwater hull cleaning before receiving fresh antifouling paint.

According to Fred. Olsen, the new coat of paint helps reduce friction in the water while keeping the hull clear of barnacles and other marine life.

The crew cabins onboard were also refurbished, the company added, and all of the vessel’s lifeboats and davits underwent a main overhaul and overload test.

The Bolette’s Azipod propellers were removed for maintenance as well, while a new autopilot system was installed at the ship’s bridge.

On the guests’ side, Bolette also saw improvements to its photo gallery, which received digital screens for selecting and ordering pictures, according to Fred. Olsen, the new format saves time and paper.

A small studio where passengers are able to take professional, portrait-style shots was also installed in the photo gallery area.

Following the work, the 62,735-ton vessel resumed service on March 9. Sailing from the port of Newcastle, the Bolette is now offering a series of five- to ten-night itineraries to the UK, Norway, Iceland, the Baltic, Western Europe and more.

Originally built for Holland America Line as the Amsterdam, the Bolette was acquired by Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines in 2020.

Damen Completes Breakaway Refurbishment

Damen Completes Breakaway Refurb

Damen Shiprepair Brest completed an 11-day program of scheduled maintenance and refurbishment on the Norwegian Breakaway in April and May as the 146,000-ton ship drydocked.

Laurent Salou, Project Manager at Damen Shiprepair Brest, commented: “I truly believe that all the personnel at Damen Shiprepair Brest really appreciated the opportunity to work on Norwegian Breakaway as the collaboration with the ship’s staff was more than excellent during the entire dry-docking period. I’m personally really proud of the work which has been achieved by my colleagues and honoured to have worked on such a notable project.

“The client chose us for this project not only because we are capable of handling a ship of this size, but also because we are close to the major cruise terminal at Southampton, which was its last port of call. They were also very satisfied with the works that we performed on the Norwegian Epic in 2015 and I am pleased to be able to report that the client was very happy with the performance of the DSBr workers and the yard on this project as well.”

The primary objective of the visit was mechanical workson the ship’s two ABB azipods, Damen said.

The shipyard's team worked alongside ABB service engineers on both azipods to repair the shaft bearings and replace the slewing seals. This work required the removal of both propellers and took place in very close coordination with the other teams working on the vessel to ensure that no dust and other contaminants entered the complex systems within the azipods.

At the same time, technicians worked with personnel from Brunvoll on the ship's bowthrusters, as well as dismantling, maintaining and then refitting the two Fincantieri stabilizers. The hull was also repainted.

While the Norwegian Breakaway was in Damen's 420-meter drydock, large quantities of the carpets inside the cruise ship were removed and replaced by a specialist contractor as part of a rolling program. The yard managed the 24/7 logistical flow, ensuring that old carpets were removed on time and the new rolls available for fitting. 

The Norwegian Breakaway left Damen Shiprepair Brest on May 8 at 12:00 p.m. local time, six hours ahead of schedule.