flag-USA
Sign up to our newsletter
Novel stuff

Princess Cruises’ newest ship, P&O’s celeb entertainment & Arctic adventures – cruise news

Cruise fans have plenty to look forward to when it comes to new ships in the next couple of years – and the latest cruise news offers a wealth of exciting details about what’s to come.

Cruise lines have announced a number of thrilling updates to new ships and itineraries over the past week.

Princess unveiled its brand new ship, both P&O Cruises and MSC Cruises shared details of entertainment options onboard their new vessels and Hurtigruten revealed new voyages.

We’ve rounded up the latest key cruise news for you to help keep you up to date.

Princess Cruises

Starry eyed

Princess Cruises has unveiled details of the newest ship to join its fleet. Sun Princess will be the brand’s largest-ever ship, accommodating 4,300 guests and weighing 175,500 tonnes.

The Princess cruise ship is currently under construction at the Fincantieri shipyard and is scheduled to debut in February 2024.

Sun Princess will sail an inaugural spring/summer season of Mediterranean cruises followed by Western and Eastern Caribbean voyages out of Port Everglades, Florida in fall 2024.

It will boast the brand-iconic Piazza spanning three storeys, and new feature ‘The Dome’, a cutting-edge entertainment space inspired by the terraces of Santorini complete with a multi-level covered deck and first-of-its-kind glass-enclosed dome to ever be constructed on a cruise ship.

The Dome features an indoor/outdoor pool and a unique water feature in a comfortable and relaxed space. At night, the pool becomes a stage, and The Dome completely transforms into an entertainment venue with a South Beach vibe, state-of-the-art lighting effects and the ability to deliver stunning aerial performances.

Sun Princess will house 29 dining and bar options. Piazza atrium will be home to a new coffee shop, Coffee Currents, along with Princess favourites such as Crooners Bar, Bellini’s Cocktail Bar and Alfredo’s Pizzeria.

Onboard there will be 2,157 total staterooms, including 50 suites and 100 connecting rooms. In fact, the 21-deck Sun Princess features more outdoor balcony space and all the balcony cabins will have an in-room sofa.

Also launching exclusively on Sun Princess will be a new level of suite accommodations, the Signature Collection. In addition to premium stateroom amenities, Signature Collection suites include access to the Signature Restaurant, Signature Lounge and Signature Sun Deck, a private area of The Sanctuary.

The ship also performs well on the sustainability front and will be powered by Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) technology.

Virgin Voyages

Load up on your greens

Virgin Voyages this week also announced the important sustainability steps it has taken.

The cruise line has partnered with independent sustainability experts, the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB), along with three leading waste-based sustainable fuel providers to deliver low-carbon fuels to the marine industry.

Argent Energy, GoodFuels and Twelve are collaborating with the cruise line to further advance Virgin Voyages’ commitment to reaching net zero by 2050.

Adopting drop-in sustainable fuels, such as those made from abundant, problematic waste or direct air capture of CO2, is paramount for reducing emissions and reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Virgin Voyages estimates that by switching to sustainable marine fuels, the line will reduce its life-cycle carbon emissions from fuel by 75 percent or more.

P&O Cruises

Question time

P&O Cruises revealed an update about its newest ship, announcing further entertainment options on Arvia.

It will offer guests a range of entertainment firsts, including WaveLength, a new interactive gameshow, virtually starring presenter and game show host Ben Shephard.

Created exclusively for P&O Cruises and hosted in The Headliner’s Theatre, WaveLength will allow guests to find out how well they know each other as they try to match their partner’s answers.

Also new onboard will be the Greatest Days Take That musical, adventure zone Altitude and immersive multimedia experience Mission Control.

MSC Cruises

Let me entertain you

MSC Cruises has launched new 2023 itineraries for MSC Virtuosa which will be based in the UK for the 22/23 season.

The ship will carry out a 21-day cruise taking travelers across Europe from Southampton to Hamburg, Lisbon, Casablanca and beyond, or there’s an early summer sailing to the Norwegian fjords to name just two of the new voyages.

The cruise line also unveiled the entertainment onboard new cruise ship MSC World Europa.

There will be three new concert-style shows in the multipurpose 300-seat Luna Park Arena – while during the day activities will include a new VR Drone Academy, a Digital Dance Academy and two new interactive gameshows.

MSC World Europa will boast five new full-scale theatre productions in the World Theatre focused on exploration, travel, the sea, theatre and sustainability.

There will be four music-themed experiences in the Panorama Lounge complete with an interactive floor featuring designs that will transform the space and changing screens that reflect the theme of the night.

Cruisers can also expect pop-up live exhibits throughout the ship, including two different living exhibitions focussing on Instagrammable content on the themes of Earth and Ocean.

What’s more, there will be state-of-the-art facilities for kids with a dedicated area of the ship as well as a range of kids’ clubs and tailor-made programmes designed for each age group.

Other onboard attractions include the Aurora Borealis Aquapark – home to four water slides it’s the fleet’s largest waterpark with VR technology – as well as six stunning pools, MSC’s iconic LED Dome and 90-metre-long outdoor promenade, and The Venom Drop @ The Spiral – an 11-deck state-of-the-art architectural dry slide.

Hurtigruten

Frozen planet

Expedition cruise line Hurtigruten has expanded its 2023 Arctic Summer season with seven brand-new adventures.

Spanning 11 to 19 days, the new departures from June to September 2023 will take in some of the most spectacular areas beyond and above the Arctic circle on board the small-size expedition cruise favourite MS Maud.

These new itineraries will depart from either Dover, United Kingdom, or Reykjavik, Iceland, and will take guests to Greenland, Svalbard, the British Isles, the Faroe Islands, and Iceland.

With the addition of MS Maud to the Arctic region in the summer of 2023, Hurtigruten Expeditions will offer a wider than ever selection of Arctic expedition cruises – with five different ships exploring the region.

Set sail

Island Hopping in the North Atlantic with Hurtigruten Expeditions

Duration: 11 nights

Where: Dover | Edinburgh | Kirkwall, Orkney Islands | Fair Isle, Shetland Islands | Lerwick, Shetland Islands | northern Shetland Islands | Tórshavn, Faroe Islands | Faroe Islands | Heimaey, Iceland | Reykjavik, Iceland

Ship: MS Maud

Find out more
Book Cruise
Published 09.22.22