This was published 7 years ago
The Shipping News: Adventure Canada explores Newfoundland
Exporing Newfoundland with Adventure Canada.Credit: Dennis Minty
Cruising Canada
Adventure Canada is offering a "Newfoundland Circumnavigation" cruise in June 2017 timed for whales, icebergs and breeding seabirds. The itinerary explores remote reaches of Newfoundland and Labrador, and includes a visit to the reconstructed Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows, Gros Morne National Park, and Mi'kmaq native community. Also on the itinerary are the town of St John's and the French island of Saint-Pierre. Passengers travel on expedition vessel Ocean Endeavor, which carries 20 Zodiacs and whose shallow draft is ideal for exploring isolated bay and fiords. The cruise is accompanied by expert naturalists and historians.
Queen of the West on the Columbia River.
Double delight
Oceania Cruises has two special celebration voyages in 2017. A 10-day "Regal Routes" cruise aboard Marina between London and Copenhagen in June is a culinary voyage hosted by legendary master chef (and Oceania culinary director) Jacques Pépin; passengers will enjoy specially designed signature menus, lectures and culinary demonstrations. Meanwhile Riviera sails on a 10-day "Sacred Sanctuaries" cruise round-trip from Athens in April, highlighted by exclusive cocktail receptions, wine pairing events and special shore excursions. The Ocean Club reunion cruise also visits seven ports in Greece, Israel and Cyprus.
Phone 1300 355 200. See oceaniacruises.com
Heritage Expeditions' Across the Top of the World cruise visits Russia's Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean.Credit: Ewen Bell
Remote Russia
Heritage Expeditions has a series of cruises next year to the Russian Far East, a vast region of spectacular wildlife such as polar bears, reindeer, musk ox and walrus. Among the cruises is a reprise of its "Across the Top of the World" expedition to Wrangel Island, across the Arctic Circle and along the north-eastern Siberian coastline, a journey only recently possible thanks to both thawing politics and summer pack ice. The island has a 3400-year-old history, presented by a team of expedition specialists who take passengers on guided walks and Zodiac excursions.
Phone 1800 143 585. See heritage-expeditions.com
Go west
American Cruise Lines has already expanded its cruises in the US on the Columbia and Snake rivers aboard paddle-steamer Queen of the West, and looks set to continue with more departures next year. A five-day "Highlights of the Columbia River" itinerary departs round-trip from Portland in Oregon for the first time. It takes in scenic highlights such as the Columbia River Gorge, Multnomah Falls and Mount St Helens, as well as historic Fort Clatsop, where explorers Lewis and Clark spent the winter of 1805-06. There will also be more departure dates on the company's eight-day "Columbia and Snake Rivers" cruise.
Reefs and ruins
Lindblad Expeditions is tempting passengers to relatively un-cruised destination Belize, wedged between Mexico and Guatemala, with a nine-day itinerary on the newly refurbished National Geographic Quest. The "Belize to Tikal" cruise, which has various departures in February and March 2018, provides an unusual land and sea expedition to the Mayan ruins of Tikal, surrounded by tropical rainforest, and to a spectacular, seldom-visited stretch of the 300-kilometre-long Belize Barrier Reef, where guests can snorkel among some 65 species of stony coral and 500 species of fish.
Phone 1300 361 012. See expeditions.com
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