What’s new river cruising 75
increased freedom of choice, allowing passengers to choose activities or onboard restaurants at no extra cost. Options include truffl e hunting in France and
a visit to the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. APT is also waiving single supplements across selected 2016 Royal Collection cruises, a saving of up to £2,550 for solo passengers. Meanwhile, for 2016 AmaWaterways is debuting 22 Taste of Bordeaux sailings on France’s Garonne and Dordogne rivers. It is also doubling its number of special wine- themed itineraries, with eight of these on new Bordeaux cruises. Wine experts will host lectures, tastings and dinners featuring gourmet cuisine paired with selected fi ne wines. Five cruises exploring the artistic heritage of
northern France are also being introduced, with painting workshops in picturesque landscapes that inspired artists such as Renoir and Monet. Also in France, European Waterways is launching the intimate eight-passenger luxury hotel barge Finesse, which will sail on a new cruise route for the line in southern Burgundy. The six-night fully- inclusive cruises from St-Jean-de-Losne to Montchanin will include a private wine tasting at Domaine Bouchard Pere et Fils in Beaune, one of Burgundy’s oldest wine estates, plus a private Michelin-starred chef-prepared lunch. French-owned CroisiEurope is adding four new
ships to its 43-strong fl eet. The 80-passenger Princesse Elbe, an innovative paddlewheeler and sister ship to the Loire Princesse, will sail on the Elbe and Moldau, and the modern 24-passenger hotel barges Daniele and Deborah will operate respectively between Burgundy and the Loire Valley and on the Garonne Canal. Two new 130-passenger vessels are being introduced by Tauck. MS Grace, launching in April 2016, will sail on the Rhine, including the new nine-night Rhine, Swiss Alps and Amsterdam
TOUR OPERATOR NEWS
RIVERIA TRAVEL’S (
rivieratravel.co.uk) new five-star MS Charles Dickens first cruise, along the Rhine to Switzerland, is sold out for 2015, but in 2016 she will be operating the 14-day Heart of Europe cruise, priced from £2,199pp and the eight-day Blue Danube cruise from £1,299pp.
“River cruising is growing at a tremendous pace. We want to ensure agents are best placed to take advantage of the opportunities this brings” ANDY HARMER, DIRECTOR, CLIA UK & IRELAND
cruise featuring an exclusive private dinner with musical entertainment at Germany’s Ehreshoven Castle, normally closed to the public. From June 2016 sister ship MS Joy will sail on three Danube itineraries. Avalon Waterways is also adding two all-suite ships to its fl eet. The 128-passenger Imagery II will sail on the Rhine and the 166-passenger Passion will cruise on the Danube. New cruises for the 2016 season include the eight-night First World War-themed Pride of Belgium itinerary in April,
featuring battlefi eld tours, and a Danube cruise in the same month, the latter focusing on the history of the ruling Hapsburg dynasty. Refl ecting increased interest in Asia, Uniworld
is featuring India from next January with the 12-night India’s Golden Triangle and Sacred Ganges itinerary. Seven nights will be spent on its new 56-passenger, all-suite vessel Ganges Voyager II and fi ve nights at hotels in New Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. Closer to home, there will be three new cruises: an 11-night Budapest to Istanbul itinerary, 20-night Prague to Istanbul voyage and the Ultimate European Journey, a 25-night cruise from Amsterdam to Istanbul. Due to increased demand from grandparents and parents travelling with children, the line has eight family-friendly cruises for 2016, with a 50% discount for youngsters between the age of four and 18. They include a Christmas market cruise from Frankfurt to Nuremberg. Viking Cruises has published its new River
Cruise Atlas, launching the start of 2016 sales. The brochure includes early booking discounts that enable customers to save up to £1,000 per person on every river cruise when booked by June 30, 2015. The line broke the Guinness World Record for the most ships launched in a single day this March, when they christened 12. Ten of these are new-style Viking Longships which are featured
TITAN’S (
titantravel.co.uk) new 2016 river cruise preview brochure includes a new cruise from Prague along the Vltava, in the Czech Republic, before joining the Elbe and cruising through Germany.
SAGA (
saga.co.uk) has four new river cruises for 2016 with two ships, the Rex Rheni (below) and Filia Rheni II, exclusively hosting Saga guests. The six to 12-night itineraries include In the Wake of the Ottomans, a round-trip from Budapest that includes two lesser- cruised tributaries of the Danube, the Sava in Serbia and the Drava in Croatia.
VACATIONS TO AMERICA (vacationstoamerica. com) is selling Haimark Luxury Cruises’ new nine-night itinerary on the 210-passenger MS Saint Laurent which sails along the St Lawrence River to the five Great Lakes.
INSIDER JOURNEYS (
insiderjourneys.co.uk) will launch a new luxury cruiser this autumn. Anawrahta will sail 11-night itineraries on Myanmar’s Irrawaddy River.
AURORA EXPEDITIONS (
auroraexpeditions.com. au) will launch a 14-night African land and river safari next May, heading from Cape Town to Zimbabwe and Botswana, including three nights on the Chobe River on the 28-passenger Zambezi Queen.
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