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USACruise news concerns celebrities, brand new ships, thrilling itineraries and fun tech updates this week – here’s what you need to know.
Cruise news concerns celebrities, brand new ships, thrilling itineraries and fun tech updates this week – here’s what you need to know.
Virgin Voyages has unveiled that a very exciting celebrity will be joining one of its spring cruises – Jennifer Lopez. The singer, actress and all-round wonder woman is the adults-only cruise line’s Chief Entertainment & Lifestyle Officer.
The partnership is now presenting a special-edition, five-night sailing inspired by Jennifer known as the “Limitless Voyage.”
It will take place from April 14-19, 2023, and is curated by J.Lo herself and her philanthropic organization, Limitless Labs.
The specially curated programming, which aims to empower, educate and inspire, includes J.Lo-inspired experiences, panel sessions with female entrepreneurs, boundary-breaking shore excursions, exclusive events that balance personal and professional growth and more.
Windstar Cruises has announced the launch of its Starlink Maritime high-speed, advanced broadband satellite internet capabilities in its latest cruise news.
The clever tech will provide travellers with the most developed high-speed connections in the world both while sailing and when in port.
Windstar launched the new Wi-Fi technology on Star Pride during a recent Caribbean voyage and plans to implement Starlink across most of its global fleet by mid-2023.
Star Legend will offer the service this spring, followed by Wind Surf, Wind Star, and Star Breeze. Wind Spirit will activate the new technology as soon as it’s available in French Polynesia.
Foodies get salivating! Marella Cruises has revealed an exciting new insight into its new upcoming ship Marella Voyager. The TUI cruise line will be plating up 150 new dishes across the vessel’s 17 eateries.
What’s more 25 percent of the new menus will feature veggie dishes and 15 percent will account for vegan options. Think speciality vegan ice cream and lemon tarts plus a spin on a Sunday Roast, with a full vegan roasting joint derived from oats.
It was no easy feat – more than 250 hours of recipe development went into creating the unique menus, including a four-day tasting experience undertaken by a highly skilled team of seven chefs and 10 front-of-house staff (lucky them, we say!).
Culinary highlights onboard Voyager include Voyager’s exclusive Silver Fork restaurant which will offer a surprising twist on UK classics and The Kitchens, a new concept which boasts eight different eateries including British classics and showcasing Indian, South Asian, Greek and Arabic flavours.
In further Marella Cruises news, TUI has pledged to offer climate-neutral cruise holidays by 2030 at the latest. Concurrently, the Group’s cruise business will reduce the CO2e emissions of its fleets by more than a quarter in absolute terms by 2030 – a commitment no other cruise line has made so far.
The cruise news from Princess Cruises is its ‘Love Boat Sale’ all-inclusive offer which this year allows guests to upgrade from Princess Plus to Princess Premier for free.
The Princes sale is running until February 28, 2023, and is available across cruises departing in 2023 and 2024.
Guests will be able to add the ‘Princess Premier’ package, which is usually £65 per person per day, to their bookings for just £50pp a day, the same price as for ‘Princess Plus’, offering a saving of 23 percent.
Princess Premier includes the ‘Premier’ drinks package, bottomless fresh juices and smoothies, unlimited Wi-Fi for four devices, gratuities, two speciality meals per cruise, a photo package, unlimited fitness classes and reserved theatre seating.
The offer is combinable with Princess’ current low deposit promotion, meaning guests can secure their cruise for just £50pp, which is usually 15 percent of the cruise fare, if booked before February 28, 2023.
A-ROSA River Cruises has revealed two new Rhine River cruise and stay itineraries.
The trips combine a three-night pre or post-land-based stay and a bucket-list train journey on the Bernina or Glacier Express, with a seven-night cruise, travelling the length of the river Rhine from Switzerland to the Netherlands or vice versa.
The new 11-day ‘Bernina Express & The Rhine’ itinerary includes three nights pre-cruise that combines a stay in Lake Lugano with the opportunity to travel on the Bernina Express, through the Swiss Alps from Tirano to Chu – private transfers will be included at every point for added peace of mind.
Also new is the ‘Amsterdam to Basel & The Glacier Express’ itinerary which combines cruising the length of the Rhine, this time south from Amsterdam through Germany’s cities and towns to Basel, with a three-night post-cruise stay including an unforgettable journey on the Glacier Express.
Offering up a different selection of ports, the cruise element departs from Amsterdam and calls at Hoorn, Emmerich, Cologne, Rudesheim, Germersheim (for Speyer), Breisach and Basel.
MSC Cruises’ sales for the line’s 2025 World Cruises are now open. The sailings include a brand-new itinerary on board MSC Magnifica which guests are able to join from four different European ports – Rome, Genoa, Marseille and Barcelona.
The itinerary lasts for a whopping 116 nights visiting 50 destinations in 21 countries and includes 22 destinations which have never been part of an MSC World Cruise before.
The voyage begins with world-famous cities and ports in Italy, France, and Spain before sailing to Casablanca in Morocco. One week into the trip, guests will spend their first days at sea, followed by a day trip to Cape Verde’s capital – Mindelo.
After crossing the Atlantic Ocean, guests will spend ten days exploring South America including overnights in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Buenos Aires, Argentina and Valparaiso, Chile as well as a visit to the Falkland Islands and Ushuaia.
Following this, the ship then makes its way across the South Pacific Ocean visiting Easter Island (Chile), Moorea (French Polynesia) and Aitutaki and Rarotonga in the Cook Islands.
Then begins an extended discovery of New Zealand and Australia starting with the Northern Islands of New Zealand. In eight days, guests visit the cities of Auckland, Tauranga, Napier, Christchurch and Dunedin, followed by cruising the Milford Sound fjord in southern New Zealand.
Marking the second month of sailing, MSC Magnifica will call in Sydney, Australia and spend 19 days sailing around the rugged and beautiful Southern and Western coasts of the country.
Arriving in the lush tropical climate of Asia, the ship will first call port in Benoa on Bali, Indonesia then Singapore. To complete the Asian itinerary, guests will visit Port Klang and Penang in Malaysia, followed by the idyllic island of Phuket in Thailand.
During the journey across the Indian Ocean, guests can enjoy a visit to the capital of Sri Lanka, Colombo. Following this, the port of Aqaba in Jordan awaits and the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheik. The ship then transits through the Suez Canal and then on to Alexandria.
To round up MSC Magnifica will sail back to Europe, visiting four iconic cities in Italy.
Explora Journeys has announced details of its inaugural set of destination experiences for Explora I.
The luxury lifestyle hospitality brand will offer eight individual sailings as part of its debut Northern European Inaugural Journeys Collection, showcasing a balanced blend of well-known destinations such as Copenhagen or Edinburgh, and lesser-known, rarely visited ports, such as Leknes in Norway’s Lofoten Islands and Ísafjörður in Iceland.
Also on the itineraries are the Norwegian fjords, Skagen and the Faroe Islands in Denmark, Reykjavik and Akureyri in Iceland, Goteborg and private Hamneskar Island in Sweden, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Lerwick in the Shetland Islands and Liverpool in England, and Qaqortoq and Nuuk in Greenland.
Experiences are tailored to small, intimate groups, from two to 25 guests; always with an emphasis on exclusive, off-the-beaten-path encounters and focused on a slower pace of travel to allow guests to fully immerse themselves in each destination, whilst not leaving their footprint on the places they explore.
Explora Journeys Northern European Destination Experiences can now be booked as part of the Inaugural Journeys collection with departures starting from July 17, 2023. Additionally, guests can enhance their journeys with pre- and post-luxury hotel stays. The ship will set sail on her maiden voyage on July 17.
Royal Caribbean has begun construction of its newest ship. The start of the seance icon class ship’s production was marked in Turku, Finland, when the first piece of steel was cut.
The soon-to-be-named ship will set sail in 2025, following the debut of Icon of the Seas (pictured) in January 2024.
More details about the ship, including its name, will be revealed at a later date.
