Fred Olsen Cruise Lines has unveiled 2019 shore experiences that it says will help guests get “closer to the real Caribbean”.

Called ‘voluntourism’ experiences, the programme follows on from Fred Olsen’s fundraising across its fleet in support of the Caribbean hurricane relief effort.

Hurricanes Irma and Maria caused severe damage to much of the Caribbean in September 2017.

Clare Ward, director of product and customer service for Fred Olsen, said: “Our new ‘Closer to the Real Caribbean’ concept is aimed at helping our guests to provide support and assistance to communities in the Caribbean, a destination that they cherish and care about a great deal.

“We know from our pre-cruise surveys that our guests look forward to our Scenery & Wildlife and Community & Way of Life shore experiences the most on the majority of our Caribbean cruise calls, and we therefore felt that we should offer our guests the opportunity to be able to work together and give something back to the destination.”

Example experiences include:

St Lucia school visit

• Make a valuable contribution to a Caribbean community with this unique opportunity to visit a local school
• Spend time interacting with the children of the Babonneau community
• ‘Go back to school’ and participate in lessons
• Enjoy a scenic drive through the island’s countryside

Dominica trail clean-up and ‘Keepin’ It Real’ experience

• An opportunity to contribute to Dominica’s post-hurricane recovery
• Assist in the restoration of hiking trails on the island’s tallest mountain

Fred Olsen has a wide variety of Caribbean fly-cruises in 2019 on board Braemar, ranging from a 31-night Transatlantic Crossing & Caribbean Christmas sailing, departing from Southampton in January, to a 14-night itinerary in the Eastern Caribbean, via Bridgetown, Barbados, in December.