Evergreen Cruises & Tours Celebrates Third Star Ship Christening for 2017 with Emerald Liberté in Lyon

Evergreen Cruises & Tours’ sister brand Emerald Waterways held its final launch for 2017 with Emerald Liberté, the third in the trio of new ‘Star Ships’, officially christened on Sunday October 1 in Lyon, France.

Australian travel industry veteran and long-standing cruise and tour director Maxine Collins took the honours as Godmother during the official christening ceremony.

Emerald Liberté’s christening follows the official launch of Emerald Radiance in Porto in June with top UK travel agent Gill Williams as godmother. Emerald Destiny, the first of the new 2017 ‘Star Ships’, was christened in Vienna in May by godmother Coleen Christie, the award-winning Canadian newscaster.

The fleet of ‘Star Ships’ now totals seven since the Emerald Waterways brand launched in 2014. This year alone the river cruise line has welcomed over 17,000 guests onto the Rhine, Main and Danube, Portugal’s Douro, and the Rhône and Saône rivers in France.

Royal Caribbean Celebrates 10^th Birthday with Big Surprises for Travel Agents

Royal Caribbean celebrates its 10^th Birthday down under this season, and to thank its Australian and New Zealand travel agents for their never-ending support the cruise line is inviting them to win big in its Biggest Giveaway Ever.

Agents who make a booking for themselves or their clients on any Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises or Azamara Club Cruises voyage by 31 October 2017 can visit  www.clubroyal.com.au  and enter the booking reference number to instantly win a wine voucher.

To play on, agents can pop a balloon on the website to reveal if they’ve won an additional prize. Instant win prizes include movie tickets, $50 Eftpos cards, two eight-night South Pacific Cruises for two and 10 invitations to play for the chance to win AUD$100,000 at Royal Caribbean’s birthday celebrations in December.

Azamara Club Cruises releases over 100 new shore excursions for Australia and Asia

Azamara Club Cruises, the boutique cruise line famous for its destination immersion philosophy, has launched a brand new range of over 100 ‘Cruise Global, Connect Local’ shore excursions in Australia and Asia, allowing guests to truly connect with the people and cultures of the destinations they visit.

As the cruise line counts down to its third and biggest season yet down under, the 690-guest ship, Azamara Journey, will spend October, November and December sailing exotic Asian itineraries from ports like Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai, with calls to a number of alluring destinations, including Celukan Bawang in Indonesia, Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia and Goa in India, famous for its spicy seafood curries and golden-sand beaches.

Azamara Journey then arrives down under for the line’s third season in Australia via the west coast in January 2018, making maiden calls to a number of ports, including Albany, Esperance, Fremantle, Kangaroo Island and Adelaide; and all with exceptional shore excursions to match.

In the Wake of Ponant: Ultima Thule

On board Le Soléal, in the Arctic, immersive polar expedition experiences are encountered by passengers.

Two spectacular moments took place during the recent Ultima Thule cruise: an exceptional landing on the ice floes off the coast of Ellesmere Island and a big barbecue on a beach, during which the passengers mingled with the inhabitants of Kullorsuaq.

From the mountains softened by the glaciers of Greenland’s west coast to the tundra in the High Arctic Thule region, this itinerary takes in the most grandiose landscapes of the polar regions.

Cruise Month sets sail with deals galore down under

With a whole month of cruise deals on the horizon, Australia is preparing to enter a holiday booking frenzy as part of Cruise Lines International Association’s (CLIA) annual Plan a Cruise Month promotion.

In its second year, the global industry-wide promotion is the largest cruise sale in the world with local and international cruise lines offering a range of deals and discounts to encourage holidaymakers to make their next holiday a cruise.

Plan a Cruise Month takes place each October with CLIA offices around the world working with CLIA accredited agentsand CLIA member cruise lines to promote cruise holidays.

Ensuring October is officially becoming known as ‘cruise month’ down under, the month also marks the start of the cruise season in Australia with the first international ships arriving for the summer. This season Australia will see around 60 ships cruising local waters.

Silversea’s 2019 collection now open for reservations

Silversea Cruises, known for its luxury yet elegant, boutique ships and exotic destinations, has unveiled an inspired collection of 160 voyages for 2019, which can now be reserved.

The 2019 Collection features a rich diversity of itineraries visiting over 400 destinations in 64 countries, spans the globe from the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, Alaska and Canada to the Arctic, South Pacific, Galápagos Islands, and Australia’s Kimberley Coast.

This amazing collection also includes Silver Cloud’s early 2020 expeditions to Antarctica. Highlights of the Collection include a range of fascinating new destinations, such as Milos, Greece; Corsica’s L’Ile Rousse and St. Florent; Porto Santo Stefano, Italy; St. Mary’s (Isles of Scilly), U.K.; Rudyerd Bay (Misty Fjords), Alaska; Alert Bay (Cormorant Island), British Columbia; and Little Bay, Montserrat.

Coral Expeditions announces anthropologist Dr Bruce Pohlmann as guest lecturer on Papua New Guinea sailings

Coral Expeditions, Australia’s pioneering cruise operator, announces anthropologist Dr Bruce Pohlmann as guest lecturer on the Sepik River Scouting Expeditions which depart in February 2018.

A well-respected Anthropologist and University of California alumni Dr Pohlmann will draw on his experience living, studying and working in New Guinea to take guests on a journey through the Sepik River’s fascinating cultures.

There is no better place on earth in which the study of Anthropology is quite so fulfilling as the region is home to an astonishing variety of cultures, speaking over 800 languages and each having unique traditions inspired by the river system, passed down through thousands of years. Under Dr Pohlmann’s expert guidance guests will be given a rewarding opportunity to learn about the interplay between culture, language and society across the Sepik’s past and present.

P&O Cruises at the centre of Grand Final Fun Fan-day at Sydney’s Luna Park

With the build up to this weekend’s Rugby League Grand Final on in earnest, the NRL opened the gates of Luna Park in Sydney for an action-packed super fan day and P&O Cruises was part of the fun.

P&O Cruises is proud to be NRL’s official cruise partner and the cruise line had its own pop-up area to celebrate the partnership with Sydney’s footy fans.

It mattered little whether fans were North Queensland Cowboys or Melbourne supporters as the interstate teams prepared for the biggest game of the year.

All the NRL teams were represented on the day and the fans had a great time replicating the P&O Edge Titanic moment.

Cathay Pacific increases services to Barcelona, Tel Aviv and Fukuoka

Cathay Pacific will operate the most non-stop flights to Spain from Asia with launch of year-round service to Barcelona, while popular Japanese and Israeli hotspots set to receive additional frequencies.

Cathay Pacific today announced that its seasonal operation to Barcelona during the summer peak will become a year-round service from 15 April 2018. Starting with three weekly services from Hong Kong, it will become a four-times-weekly service from 1 July 2018.

The new flights, which will be operated by the technologically-advanced Airbus A350-900, will complement Cathay Pacific’s existing four-times weekly service to Madrid (which increases to five times a week from 29 October 2017), meaning the airline will provide more non-stop flights to Spain from Asia than any other carrier.

Customer demand and satisfaction for Cathay Pacific’s services between Hong Kong and Tel Aviv are also reasons behind the airline’s decision to announce additional frequencies between the two cities from next summer.

Kimberley wet season cruise offer

Thundering waterfalls and vast, empty coastal waters will greet passengers on Ahoy Buccaneers’ first two cruises for 2018 along the Kimberley coast in February and March, with bookings made by 31 October 2017, receiving a complimentary night’s accommodation before and after the cruise.

The low-cost cruise operator’s 19-guest motor yacht, ‘Oceanic’, will offer a special 13-day wet season cruise from Broome to Wyndham on 26 February 2018, and another from Wyndham back to Broome on 12 March 2018.

Every year, the monsoonal wet of the far north transforms the famous Kimberley coast waterfalls like King George Falls, Kings Cascades and Casuarina Falls into spectacular, thundering jets of water, enabling adventure-seekers to see and feel nature at its raw and powerful best.

Viking launches river and ocean spring offers

Viking Cruises has launched its spring offers across ocean and river cruises, valid from 1 October to 31 December 2017.

River cruise offers:

Save up to $6,400 per couple on selected 2018 river cruises. Fly free to Russia on the most popular 13-day Waterways of the Tsars itinerary.

Fly for $495 per person on river itineraries of 13-days or more including the Grand European Tour, France’s Finestand European Sojourn.

Fly for $995 per person on Viking’s shorter river itineraries of 8-12 days.

Ocean cruise offers:

Save $1,000 per couple on selected 2017-2019 Viking ocean cruises, including some of Viking’s most popular itineraries like the 15-day Viking Homelands, the 13-day In Search of the Northern Lights and the 15-day Into the Midnight Sun.

Fly to Europe return for $995 per person when booking the 15-day Majestic Mediterranean or the 15-day Mediterranean Explorations in January and February 2018.

Enjoy a free flight between Sydney and Bangkok when booking the magnificent 29-day South Pacific Sojourn, pre or post cruise depending on chosen cruise direction.