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These Cruise Lines Will Give You A Full Refund (And Fly You Home!) If You Don’t Enjoy It.

Some cruise lines offer a money-back guarantee. You can ask for a full refund if you don’t love your cruise!

As you would expect, many terms and conditions apply to these refunds – but booking a cruise with these lines can offer you greater peace of mind.

Maybe consider the cruise lines below for greater peace of mind if you are booking your first cruise.

Fred Olsen Bolette

Fred Olsen

Who Are Fred Olsen?

Fred Olsen are a Norwegian-owned cruise line, based in the UK.

They have three ships:

  • Balmoral – entered service with Fred Olsen in 2007
  • Borealis – entered service with Fred Olsen in 2020
  • Bolette – entered service with Fred Olsen in 2020

All of these ships had previous lives, sailing for other cruise lines before being refurbished and entering service with Fred Olsen.

Balmoral was built for Crown Cruise Line. She has also sailed for Norwegian Cruise Line as Norwegian Crown, and Orient Lines as Crown Odyssey.

Bolette and Borealis were both previously Holland American Line ships – Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

THE OLSEN WAY PROMISE
Everything we do is carefully considered to ensure our guests have the most wonderful cruise experience possible. We are so confident you will enjoy the way we cruise, that we make you a promise. If after a couple of days on board you find that it is not right for you, we will fly you home at our expense from the next available port and your cruise fare will be refunded in full.

Fred Olsen

I took a trip with Fred Olsen from the UK “In Search Of The Northern Lights.”

They offer a very traditional cruising experience. Find out what I thought of that here:

Find out more about Fred Olsen’s “Olsen Way Promise” here:

Saga Cruises

Who are Saga?

Saga are a British company, founded in the 1950’s. They offer package holidays and tours across the world for passengers over fifty.

They moved into the cruise market in the 1990s, offering both Ocean and River Cruises.

Saga has two Ocean Cruise ships – Spirit of Adventure and Spirit of Discovery, built in 2019 and 2020 respectively. Both accommodate around a thousand passengers.

They only offer balcony cabins on these Ocean Cruise ships.

Saga has four river cruise ships, three of which they own, and one which is chartered exclusively for Saga passengers. They accommodate around 182 passengers.

The River Ships are:

  • Spirit of the Danube
  • Spirit of the Rhine
  • Spirit of the Douro
  • Amadeus Elegant (Chartered)

Saga cruise fares include far more than your average cruise.

Saga River Cruise Dress Code
Enjoying my Saga River Cruise from Budapest back in 2019

Saga Ocean Cruises Include:

  • Return UK Travel Service from home to the port including a private chauffeur service
  • All balcony cabins
  • Travel Insurance
  • All onboard meals, daily afternoon tea, snacks
  • All-inclusive drinks including a choice of wines, spirits, cocktails, draught beer and lager, non-alcoholic cocktails, all mixers, hot drinks and soft drinks.
  • An unlimited luggage allowance, and included porterage from the port to your cabin
  • Sightseeing excursions in selected ports of call
  • Free Wi-Fi in your cabin and around the ship
  • All onboard gratuities and service charges
  • Complimentary 24-hour room service
  • A choice of dining in five speciality restaurants on each ship
  • Entertainment
  • Fitness Classes

River Cruises Include Slightly Less…

  • Return UK Travel Service from home to the port including a private chauffeur service
  • Travel Insurance
  • A choice of cabins
  • Included excursions
  • Dining on board
  • A selection of wines, beers and soft drinks with lunch and dinner and a extra free bar (opening hours vary from ship to ship)

The money-back guarantee is only available for first-time cruisers with Saga,

Love your first cruise with us, or your money back!
We understand that trying something new can be a bit daunting. That’s exactly why we created our ‘Love It First Time’ guarantee. But what it is?
It’s an exclusive promise we make to all our guests when trying their first Saga cruise. And it’s available on all our Ocean and River cruises.
We guarantee you’ll love your cruise, or we will happily give you your money back!

SAGA

I am far too young to sail with Saga – they are a 50+ cruise line. I have only been able to try out their ships when invited onboard by the cruise line.

I was invited on to Saga’s Spirit of Discovery when she was first launched – I was very impressed! Find out more about that trip here:

When Saga invited me to take a River Cruise they asked me to bring along someone in their target age range – I brought my Mum, and we had a fantastic time!

Saga really takes great care of their passengers.

Find out about the river cruise I took along the Danube with Saga here:

Find out more about the terms and conditions of their “Love it first-time” money-back guarantee here:

Saga Guarantee

Ambassador Cruise Line

Ambassador are British Cruise Line established in 2021.

Ambassador sails for the British market from eight regional ports. They are a budget-friendly cruise line.

Ambassador Cruise Line’s first ship, Ambience, set sail from Tilbury in April 2022. Ambassador’s second ship, Ambition, entered service in May 2023.

They operate itineraries from London Tilbury and seven UK regional departure ports – including Edinburgh, Newcastle, Dundee, Liverpool, Belfast, Bristol and Falmouth.

Both of the Ambassador ships were built for other cruise lines.

Ambience previously sailed as Regal Princess for Princess Cruises and Pacific Dawn for P&O Australia.

Ambition was built as Mistral for Festival Cruises, before becoming Costa neoRiviera for Costa Cruises and finally, AIDAmira for the German Cruise Line AIDA.

We’re so confident you’ll experience the warmest welcome at sea on your first cruise with us, that we’re happy to make a special guarantee. We’re so proud of the amazing entertainment, outstanding cuisine and exceptional service we offer on board that we’ll give you your money back if you don’t enjoy yourself on your Ambassador sailing! It’s just one more reason why you can book now with confidence.

Ambassador Cruise Lines

I did try to cruise with Ambassador, I booked a pre-Christmas “Christmas Markets” cruise from London Tilbury. Unfortunately, they cancelled the cruise during dinner the night we boarded!

Find out more about that here:

Find out the details of Ambassador’s money-back guarantee here:

Ambassador Guarantee

Before You Go

Find out about the things to avoid if you want to have a very cheap cruise below:

5 Things You Should Avoid if You Want a VERY CHEAP Cruise (I Do All These)

Find out why you shouldn’t avoid sailing on smaller, older cruise ships here:

9 Reasons You Shouldn’t Avoid Cruising on Older, Smaller Cruise Ships

Free Insiders Cruise Line Guide

Ever wondered how the mainstream cruise lines compare? Cruise lines won’t tell you this, but I will.

This FREE guide shows you everything you need to know to find your perfect cruise line.

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Custom Cruise Maps

Whenever I take a cruise I order a print of my trip. It uses the real satellite data from the cruise and is always a great conversation starter!


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Code EMMACRUISES will get you 10% off

The maps are available to buy for cruises back to 2015 and for any future cruises. They come in different sizes and colours. All you need to know if your cruise dates and where you started and ended, the team will work out the rest.