Tuesday 16 December 2014

Mystery and murder on the Seven Seas

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines and Saga Ocean Cruises are both planning murder mystery cruises for 2015 - with the involvement of the Duchess of Northumberland and the help of crime writer Ruth Rendell.

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines' Boudicca

Fred. Olsen Cruise Line’s Boudicca will embark on a Poison, Murder & Mystery Cruise on 10 July. Setting sail from Rosyth, Scotland, the vessel will call in at ports at Leixoes (for Oporto, Portugal), Funchal (Madeira), Santa Cruz (Tenerife), Las Palmas (Gran Canaria), Lisbon (Portugal) and Newcastle (UK). During the voyage a staged murder will occur and it is down to the passengers to piece together the clues to identify the perpetrator.

The themed cruise is the result of a creative collaboration between Mr Fred Olsen Senior and the Duchess of Northumberland. This event will be the largest participative murder mystery event ever held on a cruise ship, and will be officially witnessed by Guinness World Records.

The cruise will be themed around the subjects of poison and mystery with plays, talks and special tours on offer, besides the murder mystery that starts as soon as guests board the ship and culminates in a ‘Grand Finale’ at Alnwick Castle, home of the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland. Guest speakers include Peter Dean, Her Majesty’s Coroner for Essex and a former forensic medical examiner with Scotland Yard; Dr Dan Jones, a poison historian and archaeologist; and Dr Mark Siddall, curator of The Power of Poison’ exhibition at The American Museum of Natural History.

Meanwhile, Saga are also planning a murder mystery on a cruise sailing from Southampton on 6 May.  Saga Sapphire's Baltic Treasures itinerary has the ship call in to ports at Rønne (Denmark), Stockholm (Sweden), Helsinki (Finland), St Petersburg (Russia), Tallinn (Estonia), Saaremaa (Estonia), Riga (Latvia), Warnemünde (Germany) and Ijmuiden (The Netherlands) together with two transits of the Kiel Canal during the voyage.

On-board will be crime novelist Ruth Rendell who will be hosting a Q&A session. Undercover experts will also be on hand to show guests how to fight real-life villains in the tradition of Rendell's Detective Chief Inspector Wexford. This new-found knowledge will be put to the test with an interactive murder mystery to solve. Each passenger will receive a signed copy of Rendell’s most recent novel The Girl Next Door.

(Photo credit to Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines)

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