Expedition and Traditional Cruising Combine for an Experience That Appeals to…Everyone! I am luxuriating in the steamy, bubbling waters of Viking Polaris’ thermal pool, a powerful jet trained on the sore hip that I woke with after dancing a bit too enthusiastically at the ship’s Living Room last night. On the opposite side of the deck, at Expedition Central, a group of my shipmates are huddled around an extensive collection of wildlife skulls, listening as one of …
” It feels as though all the beauty, wonder, charm and history of this largely undiscovered area are ours alone” Hebridean Princess sails gracefully beneath a sunset streaked with orange, purple and gold. I stand on deck and am captivated by the awe-inspiring beauty of the Hebridean Islands, one of the most remote outposts of the British Isles. Mountains, carved from Lewisian gneiss, the most ancient rock in Britain, reach to the sky while in the crystal blue …
I arrive in Civitavecchia to find it bustling with cruise ships but easily spot the newcomer among them: Oceania Cruises’ Vista, the first ship of the line’s new Allura class vessels. At 67,000 grt and holding 1,200 passengers and 800 crew, she is smaller than the behemoths that surround her, a streamlined picture of elegance. Yet, as I board the all-balcony newbuild, I find myself fearing change. I worry that, like so many other cruise lines, Vista …
Battlefields, Blues and Biscuits…A Beauty of a Riverboat “My mailing address might be elsewhere, but this is where I call home.” Those words were among the first I heard from my American Queen shipmate, Bill, a jolly Ohioan who has more than 20 voyages on the steamboat booked through the end of 2023. And he’s not alone in his devotion. From the moment I board American Queen in New Orleans for a 7-day “President’s Cruise” up the …
New Orleans Comes to the High Seas! Imagine experiencing the music, culture, cuisine and spirit of New Orleans on a 7-day voyage from Fort Lauderdale aboard Holland America’s luxurious Nieuw Amsterdam! On November 4th, the 2,106-passenger Nieuw Amsterdam hosts its first-ever Big Easy Cruise, a celebration that includes some of the biggest names in American music, including Little Feat, Tab Benoit, Samantha Fish, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Leo Nocentelli from The Meters, Anders Osborne, Jon Cleary & …
At Queen Mary 2’s Royal Court Theater, three of my favorite crime fiction novelists–Ian Rankin, Mark Billingham and Mick Herron—are on stage debating the best TV sleuths. “Without question, it’s Columbo. We can all go home now,” declares Billingham, the stand-up comic-cum-author whose popular Thomas Thorne novels have sold millions of copies worldwide. But not so fast: Ian Rankin—Sir Ian Rankin, actually—who, in 1987 created the legendary Inspector John Rebus, counters with Jane Tennison, the hard-drinking detective …
Even the weather seemed to be participating in the 12-day Atlantic crossing that recreated Holland America’s very first sailing 150 years ago. Moody skies, rain and a couple of days of rough seas followed Rotterdam VII from the port of Rotterdam until New York City welcomed us with blue skies and blinding sunshine. It seemed to mirror the long, arduous passage of millions of emigrants carried to the New World by Holland America ships and the bright …
First of two historic sailings underway! There’s nothing like being a part of history…particularly when being a part of that history includes a transatlantic sailing aboard Rotterdam VII, Holland America’s recently launched 2,668-passenger flagship. On October 15, 1872, the steamship Rotterdam departed the city of Rotterdam for a crossing that called at Honfleur, France and Plymouth, England before continuing on to New York City. To celebrate the line’s anniversary, Holland America is recreating this exact itinerary with …
It’s the first sailing of Windstar Cruises’ new Star Pride. “New” might be a misleading term to apply to this luxury vessel that first sailed under the Seabourn banner, but the ship I’m aboard right now bears little resemblance to the one that sailed out of the shipyard in 1989. Initially, Windstar Cruises’ acquisition of Seabourn’s sister yachts baffled me. In 2014, when the ships first joined the Windstar fleet, the line was synonymous with tall ships …
What I’ve Always Loved…Only Better! I wake to a gentle breeze and see a palette of orange, pink and gold spread across the sky. Beneath the flutter of the whisper-soft comforter that embraces me, I stretch, lift my head from the pillow and survey the endless emerald sea before me. I am clad in a pair of navy and white pajamas, personalized with my first name, that I discovered neatly folded on the bed in my suite …
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