An exciting schedule of stage performances, dancing and cruise enrichment has been announced by Crystal Cruises for this years Big Band cruise. 

This luxury transatlantic cruise is taking place onboard Crystal Serenity and will depart Lisbon on 21^st November for an 11 night crossing to Miami making calls to the Azores and the islands of Turks & Caicos.

The cruise will be headlined by the famous Tommy Dorsey Orchestra  who will be performing each night and who will also host a Big Band Afternoon Teatime. To ensure that all guests have a dance partner extra Ambassador Hosts will be present for each evenings dancing.

Prices for this luxury cruise will start from £2525 per person which will include scheduled economy flights, transfers, 10 nights in a deluxe room with window, all meals and soft drinks and port taxes.

Crystal Serenity is a fabulous ship that offers a superb luxury cruise experience in elegant surroundings

Luxury cruise line, Yachts of Seabourn have launched their cruise programme for 2009-2010.

Their 3 luxury cruise-ships, increasing to 4 in early 2010 with the introduction of the new Seabourn Odyssey, will between them visit 66 countries on 143 luxury cruise voyages and call at 220 different ports, some of which are either new to Seabourn or have not been visited by any of their ships for several years. Seabourn’s website has also taken on a new look with more port descriptions with cultural highlights. It will also allow guests, who already have a cruise booking, to extend their cruise and book hotel stays either pre or post cruise.  In addition they will be able to book shore excursions and overland Seabourn journeys, plus have a direct link to Seabourn’s concierge desk to arrange personal requests such as dining reservations and private car hire.

Ocean Village is offering some guests the opportunity to upgrade on their cruise. 

The upgrade is to ‘Club’ and costs £70 per guest per week. For this extra one-off cost they will get access to an exclusive VIP-style lounge beneath the ship’s bridge with superb ocean views plus free internet access, luxury continental-style breakfast, afternoon tea plus canapés and drinks (includes champagne) before dinner. 

This Ocean Village Club-lounge facility is available to passengers occupying suites and mini-suites on both Mediterranean and Caribbean cruise itineraries.

Luxury cruise line Crystal Cruises has managed to secure star guest chefs, together with experts on wine, for the stages and galleys of its Wine & Food Festival cruises in the Mediterranean and New England during October. Executive chef of the Dorchester Hotel Henri Brosi, whose techniques have won him critical acclaim throughout the world, will showcase them during a luxury cruise on the luxury liner Crystal Symphony which departs Montreal on October 19th  stopping at Quebec, Halifax, Saint John, Bar Harbor, Boston and Newport before terminating in the port of New York on October 29^th.  Brosi, who is also Three Michelin Star trained, will be joined by one of the world’s youngest Master Sommeliers and winner of the Krug Cup Trophy, Keith Goldston.  Crystal Cruises other luxury cruise ship, the Crystal Serenity, will welcome on board one of  Florida’s top chefs Michelle Bernstein and executive editor of Food & Wine magazine Lettie Teague, on a 12 day luxury Mediterranean cruise which departs Rome on October 18^th calling at Naples, Sicily, Gibraltar, Malaga, Cartagena, Valencia, and Palma before terminating in Barcelona on October 30^th.  On both of these luxury cruises there will be lectures, cooking demonstrations with tastings and dinners of signature dishes. 

Both of these luxury cruises are a must for food and wine enthusiasts and can be booked through luxury cruise experts Cruise Maestro.

I was fortunate enough a few days ago to visit the luxury cruise ship Regatta, one of  3 almost identical ships chartered by Oceania Cruises, whilst she was in the Port of Dover on turnaround day before embarking on a 14 day luxury Baltic cruise to Stockholm. The Regatta, built in 1998 and refurbished in 2007, is a medium sized luxury cruise ship with 9 passenger decks and, although capable of carrying many more, has a cruise passenger capacity of just 684. With 400 staff she has one of the best staff-guest ratio in cruising. The 2 other luxury cruise-ships from Oceania Cruises are the Insignia, also built in 1998 and the Nautica which was built in 2000. The first thing one notices upon entering this luxury ship is the stunning décor with lots of dark wood and leather panelled walls. It is just like being in an old country club. Public rooms are over 3 decks with deck 5 having a number of bars, the grand dining room, casino, boutique shops and entertainment lounge whilst decks 9 and 10 have a spa, hair salon and gym plus card room, Terrace café, Pizzeria, Polo grill and the Horizons Bar. We had a 5 course luncheon in the domed ceiling Grand Dining room which started with crushed baby new potato topped with chives and Molossol Caviar. Then followed Szechwan pepper infused Rock Lobster salad which was divine! Ricotta cheese with roasted garlic & tomato filled Ravioi came next before the main course of  Wellington of Veal tenderloin stuffed with Porcini and Foie Gras….mmmmmm!! After all of this scrumptious food we then had to ‘endure’ Oceania’s Chocolate Signature pudding (a velvet mousse tart) wow!! The food is fabulous, believe me! There are 3 other dining options at no extra charge and all offer open-seating dining. All of the staterooms have beautiful furnishings of elegance and the 6 categories start with insides at a generous 160 square feet, to the Owners suite at almost 1,000 square feet. The majority however are 216 square feet and have a private teak balcony. They come equipped with their exclusive Tranquility Bed, 24 hour room service, thick cotton robes and slippers, safe, 20 inch flat-screen TV with DVD, Internet Access Port, and a writing desk. Maid service is twice a day. To summarize, Oceania Cruises offers a luxury cruise with that little bit extra over and above what you get with a cruise from a mainstream company so the value outweighs the extra cost and tuxedos and ball-gowns are not required.   

Luxury cruise operator Crystal Cruises has launched a variety of extreme luxury adventure tours which feature luxury yachts and sports cars enabling passengers to explore destinations in a number of ways which many will already be accustomed to.
 
Included for example will be the use of a Ferrari in Italy, use of a private 50ft yacht to sail around the Greek Islands and a helicopter trip over the Cote d’Azur. Prices for the tours range from 1,000$US  to 9,750$US per person and they will be available on the majority of  luxury Mediterranean cruise itineraries until October 2008. 

Prices for a luxury cruise of 7 nights duration start from £2,239 per person based on two sharing a deluxe stateroom with picture window and includes scheduled flights and transfers to and from the ship.

Viking River Cruises has reported a big increase in sales in the last five years since launching its taster winter programme. 

Cruises to the Christmas markets in towns and cities along the rivers Rhine & Danube are becoming more and more popular amongst Brits as are those wanting to take Christmas cruises and cruises over the festive periods.  

The increase has prompted Viking Cruises to add another river cruise ship for their Christmas & New Year river cruise departures on the Rhine & Danube.  In addition, Viking has added a seven night cruise option to the existing three and four night Christmas Market cruise programme. 

The 2009 river cruise programme from Viking is now on sale where, for the first time, a number of river cruises featured include Eurostar travel from London to a number of European points of departure.

Norwegian Coastal voyage specialists Hurtigruten has recently launched its 2009/10 preview brochure to enable it to get next year’s itineraries on sale earlier. An early booking offer of up to 30% discount has been introduced to help agents attract early bookers. Prices are for cruise only with the option of adding flights, transfers and excursions. An example of this is the 12 night classic Round Voyage which leads in at £872 per person. Flights start at £245 pp and transfers £85. This early booking saving applies to all bookings made up to 30^th September 2008. Highlights of the Hurtigruten brochure are cruises to Norway, Spitsbergen, Greenland and Antarctica. Please contact Cruise Maestro if you are interested in a cruise to the polar regions and ask for your personal copy of the Hurtigruten brochure.

For the past six years the number of cruise passengers to the Baltic Sea region has shown a gradual increase. Regional destination organization Cruise Baltic says that following a recent market review a Baltic cruise is at or near the top of many a cruise passenger’s list. The review was produced from information received from port members of 26 destinations from 10 countries. Cruise Baltic said that cruise passenger numbers to destinations of its members had shown an average annual increase of 12 percent since 2000, a trend which is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. Out of the top five ports in Northern Europe, four that attract most cruise passengers are Baltic destinations. These ports, St.Petersburg, Tallinn, Stockholm and Helsinki are part of the reason why the Baltic area claims to have 50 percent of the cruise traffic to the Northern waters of Europe. Copenhagen comes first as the port with the largest number of turnarounds with 147 expected in 2008. Cruises from UK ports such as, Southampton, Dover, Harwich and Leith offer a number of Baltic cruises and cruises to the Norwegian Fjords and are ideal for those preferring not to fly.

Luxury cruise operator, Silversea Cruises, has officially added the new (to them) expedition ship Prince Albert II to their fleet after a naming ceremony in Monte Carlo attended by HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco on the 3rd June. The luxury expedition cruise ship  was also blessed by H.E. Monsignor Fabrice Gallo, Prelate of the Pope of Rome. As the speeches came to an end guests raised their glasses to toast the launch as the ribbon of red and white was cut by His Serene Highness Prince Albert II. It also marked the beginning of a new era in what could be called expedition cruising in luxury. Manfredi Lefebvre, chairman of Silversea Cruises, said that he was extremely honored that HSH Albert II, Sovereign Prince of Monaco, had personally dedicated the ship that will bear his name.   The luxury ship Prince Albert II has recently undergone a multimillion dollar renovationand has accommodations that are larger on average than any other expedition ship.Of these are 20 premium suites ranging from 350 ft square to 675 ft  square which have been designed with those discerning guests in mind. A selection of these have  French doors opening onto private balconies plus the services of a butler.There are 66 ocean view staterooms in total with all having marble bathrooms including bath. Prince Albert II makes its inaugural cruise on June 12th from London on an 18 night expedition voyage to the North Cape in the Arctic Circle and afterwards will continue on a series of cruises to Iceland and Greenland before cruising the Atlantic for a series of expedition cruises around South America and Antarctica. Silversea is a provisional member of the Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators (AECO), a body dedicated to the management of respectable, environmentally friendly and safe expedition cruising in the Arctic.  Silversea has also joined the IAATO (International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators).  This organization is important in the promotion and practices of safe and environmentally responsible travel to Antarctica. Silversea also has also made plans to take on and apply similar operating procedures to these in all of the destinations where the Prince Albert II will visit. Prince Albert II joins the four other luxury cruise ships of Silversea, the Silver Wind, Silver Whisper, Silver Cloud and Silver Shadow. All of these luxury ships offer luxury cruises of elegance and refinement and are recognized throughout the cruise industry as a company who always introduce new ideas to the luxury cruise segment.  

Prince Albert II is the latest of these great ideas.

The number of passengers taking a cruise has risen to such an extent that Southampton Port could need a fifth, and possibly a sixth, cruise terminal to cope with demand.

Ten years ago the port handled approximately 200,000 cruise passengers whereas now  it handles 950,000. Passengers are double counted as they embark and disembark. 

A fourth terminal is due for completion in April 2009 and will be the first-priority terminal for P&O Cruises, Cunard Line and Princess Cruises.