FTI Cruises completed its Red Sea season March 10 when the Berlin sailed 15 days from Safaga to Venice. This concluded a winter of 17 cruises, departing every Saturday, calling at Aqaba, Ain Sukhna and Sharm el Sheik. Passengers could begin or end their cruises in either Safaga or Sharm el Sheik.

Starting March 24, the Berlin will sail four Mediterranean cruises, including a sailing into the Black Sea calling at Nessebar, Odessa, Yalta and Sochi, before heading to Northern Europe. There is a 14-day cruise of Western Europe – from Nice to Ijmuiden.

Using Bremerhaven and Kiel as turnaround ports, the Berlin will sail three cruises to Northern Norway, Spitsbergen and the British Isles during July and August.

Four more Mediterranean cruises are scheduled for the fall – mainly in the Western and Central Mediterranean – with “occasional side trips to Lisbon, Cadiz and Casablanca,” according to a company spokesperson.

At press time, FTI had not yet published its itineraries beyond October.

FTI Cruises is owned by the German tour operator FTI Touristik. The company launched its own cruise brand last year with the 9,570-ton, 412-passenger Berlin, which had previously sailed as the Spirit of Adventure for Saga Cruises. She was built in 1980 as the Berlin at HDW in Kiel for Peter Deilmann Cruises.