Get your nose close enough to this and you’ll almost smell the open seas. Plus, you’ll look incredibly silly in the process.

Cunard Unveils World Class Design Team for New Ship

Luxury cruise line Cunard has announced the world-class team of designers recruited to create the interiors for its eagerly anticipated new ship.

Award-winning designers Simon Rawlings (David Collins Studio), Terry McGillicuddy (Richmond International) and Sybille de Margerie (Sybille de Margerie Paris) are already working with the ship’s globally renowned Creative Director, Adam D Tihany.

Cunard’s fourth ship, which is set to join the fleet in 2022, is yet to be named but will be built at the Fincantieri shipyard in Italy.

Norwegian Cruiseline reveals Footloose as headline of entertainment line up on Norwegian Joy

Norwegian Cruise Line, the innovator in cruising, has announced that the Tony Award^®-nominated musical Footloose, along with the classic aerial acrobatics show, Elements, and the wine-tasting comedy, Wine Lovers: The Musical, will be featured on Norwegian Joy, the 15^th ship in its fleet which will begin sailing to Alaska this May.

Debuting for the first time at sea, Footloose, based on the wildly popular movie, follows the story of a Chicago teen with a love of dancing, who moves to small town with a ban on Rock n’ Roll. Although he finds himself at odds with most of the town, including the influential local reverend, he and his friends eventually convince local leaders to lift the ban and allow the town to heal from a tragedy that affected them all. Featuring the hit music of Grammy Award®-winning artist, Kenny Loggins, Footloose celebrates warm and open minds.

World’s first hybrid cruise ship completes sea trial

MS Roald Amundsen undergoing sea trials in the waters off Kleven Yard in Norway. Photo: UAVPIC.COM/Tor Erik Kvalsvik/Kleven/Hurtigruten

Hurtigruten’s MS Roald Amundsen is nearing completion at Kleven Yard. This weekend the world’s first hybrid-powered cruise ship completed her first sea trials in the fjords along the western coast of Norway.

With Norwegian fjords as testing ground – and the famous Sunnmøre alps as a spectacular backdrop – MS Roald Amundsen’s advanced, green technology was put to a test in the waters off Kleven Yard in Ulsteinvik, Norway, over the weekend.

Custom built for some of the most extreme waters on the planet, MS Roald Amundsen is currently undergoing final outfitting alongside her sister ship MS Fridtjof Nansen at Kleven Yard in Ulsteinvik, Norway.

The advanced hybrid powered expedition cruise ships, accommodating 530 guests, feature groundbreaking green technology such as battery packs and specially designed ice-strengthened hull. Both ships are designed and constructed with sustainability at core of every detail.

Three new Viking River Cruises announced for Oberammergau the Passion Play 2020

Viking has released three new 2020 Danube River cruise itineraries that will allow guests to experience the world-famous Passion Play in Oberammergau, Germany — an opportunity that comes along only once a decade.

These itineraries are variations of Viking’s three existing 2020 Oberammergau itineraries — the 10-day Oberammergau, The Passion Play, the 12-day Oberammergau with Salzburg and the 10-day Oberammergau & Danube Waltz — all of which are almost completely sold out.

As part of Viking’s popular Explorer Sale, guests who book a Viking 2020 Oberammergau river cruise before 31 March 2019 can fly to Europe for just $995 per person.

Uniworld releases first look at new super ship on the Mekong

Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection is giving guests a sneak peek of the brand-new S.S. Mekong Jewel debuting 3^rd January 2020 as the newest and most luxurious ship on the Mekong river.

The S.S. Mekong Jewel’s 13-day itinerary will take guests from Ho Chi Minh City to Siem Reap, with visits to Phnom Penh, Angkor Wat and more.

The newly-built ship will feature all-suite accommodations, an indoor swimming pool and two restaurants: a main dining room and an al fresco eatery on the upper deck.

The S.S. Mekong Jewel will be 10 metres longer than the Mekong Navigator, but with the same capacity of 68 guests, offering guests more space and amenities with one of the highest staff-to-guest ratios on the river.

Regent Seven Seas Cruises^® and Shipbuilder Fincantieri Float Out Seven Seas Splendor ^TM

With a ceremonial good luck champagne bottle shattered against the freshly-painted Seven Seas SplendorTM hull, the highly anticipated new Regent Seven Seas Cruises® luxury ship celebrated a major construction milestone on the 9th of February, as she floated from the building dry dock to touch the sea for the first time.

Now buoyant at Fincantieri’s shipyard in Ancona, Italy, final-stage construction on Seven Seas Splendor will focus on her interior spaces including 375 lavish suites, elegant lounges and gourmet restaurants that will all represent luxury perfected. The fifth ship in Regent’s fleet sets sail in February 2020.

Upgrade from Tourist to Explorer on National Geographic’s Expert-Led Ocean Cruise Expeditions

You can now travel across the world’s oceans the only way a National Geographic explorer would; in the spirit of adventure, education and in style. National Geographic’s Ocean Cruise Expeditions, in partnership with luxury cruise provider, PONANT, give travellers the opportunity to uncover some of the most beautiful and remote destinations across all seven continents.

Bringing to life National Geographic’s belief in the power of science, exploration, education and storytelling to change the world, each all-immersive ocean expedition features a unique travel itinerary with world-renowned National Geographic experts and photographers on board to provide guided tours and seminars at sea and at ports.

Naturalist guides educate passengers on the wildlife, history, geopolitics, great explorers, climate and environmental protection measures at each destination, whilst award-winning National Geographic photographers capture the experience and teach photography techniques along the way.

Chance to win cruise onboard new ship Sky Princess sees record-breaking increase in “commodores”

Travel agents achieving “Commodore” status in Princess Cruises’ Princess Academy program have soared by 52 per cent during the “Aim High to Reach the Sky” engagement drive.

The three-month campaign launched in October 2018 and called for registered agents to achieve “Commodore” status before the end of the promotion period for their chance to win a Balcony cabin for two on a 7-night Mediterranean cruise onboard the newest ship to join the Princess fleet, Sky Princess.

The prize also included $5,000 AUD in EZair credit.

Zully Sepulveda, from Helloworld Travel in Queensland, took home this year’s major prize – a major achievement as this year a record-breaking number of agents achieved “Commodore” rank (a 52 per cent increase on last year’s engagement drive). Fifteen $200 AUD Visa gift cards were on offer as runner up prizes.

Crystal Endeavour to transit Northeast Passage in 2021

Crystal Expedition Cruises’ luxury yacht, Crystal Endeavor, will travel a route that has captivated travellers for centuries when she embarks from Anadyr, Russia for Tromsø, Norway on August 18, 2021.

On the 28-night expedition, the 200-guest, German-built vessel will visit some of the world’s most remote islands, archipelagos and coastlines, allowing adventurous guests to explore terrain few others ever have, all in luxurious comfort.

The voyage departs August 18, 2021 and will visit places that are only sparsely occupied since legendary polar explorer Nils A.E. Nordenskjöld first successfully made the passage in 1878-79.

Before that time and since, polar bears, Arctic foxes, walruses, whales and hundreds of species of seabirds are the primary local residents in the region, which is a Russian-controlled trade route in the summer months.