52 | CRUISE NEWS
Scenic Luxury Cruises and Tours Enhances Australia and New Zealand Land Programme for 2024
SCENIC Luxury Cruises and Tours has added two options to their handcrafted luxury Australia and New Zealand land journey programme, underlining their place as the best holiday option down under for UK guests. Starting with coach tours to Great
Ocean Road in the late 1980s, the Australian-founded luxury tour operator expanded into extensive
land throughout journeys Australia and
New Zealand in 1992 and has continued to enhance its programme ever since. This year (2024), new
excursions and activities have been added to both its 24-Day Ultimate New Zealand and 23-Day Very Best of Australia and New Zealand, providing a more immersive experience down under.
Strong Bookings as Swan Hellenic Opens New Horizons
in South and Central America SWAN Hellenic’s six early 2024 Americas cultural expedition cruises have met with an enthusiastic response. Offering in-depth exploration on SH Diana up the West Coast of South and Central America through the Panama Canal to the Bahamas, highlights include the Chilean Fjords, Atacama Desert, Moche culture,
Darien Jungle, Panama,
Cartagena and a Caribbean odyssey. Swan Hellenic has turned up the dial with an
exclusive series of six cultural expedition cruises up the West Coast of South America and through the Panama Canal to the Caribbean between February and May 2024.
Multi-Million Initiative Begins for Windstar Cruises
AFFICIONADOS of Windstar Cruises’ original three classic sailing yachts – 148-guest Wind Star and Wind Spirit and 342-guest Wind Surf – will be happy to learn the award-winning small ship cruise line is embarking on a multi-million dollar initiative to redesign and update all three yachts. The multi-year initiative kicks off today, with Wind Star completing phase one of her
renovations. “Our sailing ships are beloved by Windstar guests,”
says Windstar’s President Christopher Prelog. “Being on the ship under sail is unforgettable and brings an element of freedom and romance to every voyage.” Wind Star is the first sailing ship to start the process and is
currently in Lisbon, readying to welcome guests onboard. A second phase will include remaining staterooms and dining venues in 2026. Wind Spirit will be fully re-modelled and complete her renovations in 2025, while Wind Surf will be in two phases – 2024 and 2026. The project encompasses a full redesign of all public spaces with new layouts, furniture, wall and floor coverings, lighting and custom art. Guest staterooms, Premium Suites and Owner’s Suites will be fully refurbished including new furniture, interactive televisions and décor. “This multi-year, multi-million-dollar initiative is all about
providing guests with updated spaces that inspire relaxation, foster connection and offer multifunctional needs of an intimate sized sailing yacht,” says Stijn Creupelandt, Windstar’s vice president of hotel operations and product development. “Spending time on our yachts is all about moments of connection, whether that be guest to guest or guest to crew, and we want to make sure our spaces reflect that desire.”
MSC Cruises has officially opened sales for the MSC World Cruise 2026 with an exciting new itinerary onboard the beautiful MSC Magnifica including embarkation options from four European ports – Civitavecchia for Rome, Genoa (Italy), Marseille (France), and Barcelona (Spain) on 4, 5, 6 and 7 January 2026 respectively. The new 119-day route will visit 47 stunning destinations in 32 countries, with seven overnight stays in must-visit places and full day stays in all other calls along this journey of a lifetime.
MSC Cruises Updates Summer 2024 Programme
MSC Cruises has announced updates to its summer 2024 itineraries,
including an entirely
new programme for MSC Musica in the West Mediterranean, and an enhanced Greek Island itinerary for MSC Opera. From 13 May to 28 October 2024, MSC Musica will offer 7-night sailings out of Civitavecchia for Rome to guest-favourite destinations in the West Mediterranean including Genoa (Italy), Cannes (France), Barcelona, Ibiza (Spain) and Cagliari (Italy) before returning to Civitavecchia. This new programme has replaced the cancelled sailings that included Haifa, Israel, due to the ongoing geopolitical situation.
MSC Opera’s existing 7-night sailings between 12 May 2024 and 05 October
www.nitravelnews.com
January 2024
Embark on an Epic Sailing
Around the Globe!
The journey begins among some of
Europe’s most renowned cities in Italy, France, Spain and Portugal before crossing to the Caribbean and Central America where guests will experience colourful, vibrant cities and captivating landscapes. From there, MSC Magnifica will make her way to the U.S.A West Coast and spend more than a month in the Pacific Ocean with overnight stops in San Francisco, Honolulu, Auckland and Sydney – areas known for their magnificent natural beauty, fashionable yet laid-back cities and incredible beaches. Guests will then
spend over three weeks exploring the wide variety of cultures in Asia with stops in world-renowned vibrant cities including Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Finally, guests can experience further
culturally-rich destinations including Dubai and Oman, before returning home via Greece.
2024 have been enhanced with additional Greek Island destinations, the new itinerary includes Bari (Italy), Piraeus for Athens, Santorini, Katakolon, Corfu, and Kefalonia (Greece) before returning to Bari.
Belfast Harbour named best UK & Ireland Port of Call
BELFAST has been recognised as the Best UK & British Isles Port of Call at this year’s Cruise Critic UK Editors’ Picks Awards. Cruise Critic, a subsidiary of TripAdvisor,
is the world’s leading cruise reviews site and online cruise community and each year it names the winners of its Editors’ Picks Awards, chosen by the site’s international team of cruise experts.
Guided by the Cruise Critic editorial
team’s impartial cruise expertise – based on first-hand experiences and industry knowledge – the awards name the best- in-industry while also helping travelers select the best cruise for their specific interests and needs. At the 15th annual awards Belfast took home the prize for Best Port Call in a year when the city enjoyed a record cruise season, with 159 cruise calls from 57 ships from 32 different cruise lines in 2023. That was an 8% increase on the pre-pandemic record set in 2019. Michael Robinson, Port Director of Belfast Harbour said: “This award is recognition of the fantastic job that everyone connected with the cruise industry has done to create a product that gives visitors to Northern Ireland a brilliant experience. Significant investment has gone into the cruise facilities in Belfast and we continue to receive positive feedback from passengers, crew and cruise line management on both the high levels of service provided and the quality of NI’s tourism offering. “A lot of work has been done through Belfast,
Cruise our partnership with
Visit Belfast, to promote the region and bring visitors here. But, crucially, working collaboratively with tourist attractions, the hospitality sector and industry bodies, we have helped create a compelling offer that gives the cruise lines the confidence to come back to the region and expand the number of calls they make every year.” Gerry Lennon, Chief Executive of Visit Belfast, said: “Belfast is a compelling, unique destination steeped in history, culture, heritage and intrigue that boasts great hospitality, a big retail offer and a wealth of world class attractions and
I’m delighted that its success is officially recognised this year by Cruise Critic as the Best UK and British Isles Port of Call. “Welcoming record numbers every year,
we’re really grateful for the support of our award-winning team, Belfast Harbour, and many other important stakeholders across the city, who work hard to deliver an exemplary experience for our cruise visitors and to Cruise Critic for shining the spotlight on this increasingly popular and exciting cruise destination.” Cruise Critic is the world’s largest cruise reviews and information site,
offering
a
comprehensive
resource
for
cruise
travelers, featuring more than 50 million opinions, reviews & photos and hosts the world’s largest online cruise community. “This was a phenomenal year for the cruise industry”,
said Adam Coulter,
Executive Editor of Cruise Critic UK & AU. “Between record-breaking sales and capacity numbers exceeding 100 percent, we saw travellers flock to the seas for high- value holidays. And for UK-based travellers, the introduction of ground-breaking new ships helped to drive interest in cruising even more.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72
