Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines encourages guests to “bring their own bottles” as part of Refill Campaign

It said it was the first cruise line to sign up to work with environmental campaign group, City to Sea, as part of its Refill Campaign which urges people to use refillable water bottles instead of single-use plastic bottles. 

Plastic water bottles that were previously supplied in guests’ rooms on board FOCL’s ships have been removed and replaced with glass carafes of drinking water, which are replenished daily.

Passengers will be able to take their refillable bottles to any bar on board and in addition are being encouraged to bring along reusable tea and coffee cups for use in the Bookmark Cafés and hot drinks stations across the fleet.

Thomas Rennesland, hotel operations director at Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, said: “Protecting our oceans is something that is of paramount importance to us. As a cruise line, we make our living out of the sea, so we need to do all that we can to conserve this precious environment and make sure that it is safeguarded for marine life and the enjoyment of generations to come.

“We are making great efforts to reduce and, where possible, eliminate single-use plastics across our fleet, and removing single-use plastic water bottles is one of the biggest changes that we can make. Our guests joining us on their holidays want to do their bit, too, and we wouldn’t be able to make such big changes without their support.

“Joining the Refill campaign, and making water stations available across our ships, so that people can refill their own bottles, is an important step forward, and we are pleased to be leading the way on this initiative across the cruise industry.”

What else has Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines done to become more environmentally friendly? 

• Removing single-use disposable tea/coffee cups and plastic cutlery. 
• Replacing single-use plastic jam and butter portions with refillable options. 
• Replacing plastic laundry bags with linen ones. 
• Reducing the use of cling film. 
• Using ropes to secure items during rough seas, rather than plastic. 
• Removing plastic pens from guests’ rooms and replacing them with wooden pencils.