The Shipping News: Cruises are filling up quicker

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This was published 6 years ago

The Shipping News: Cruises are filling up quicker

By Brian Johnston
Havana in Cuba with Azamara Club Cruises Cuba.

Havana in Cuba with Azamara Club Cruises Cuba.Credit: Roberto Chile

EARLY DOES IT

Holidaymakers thinking of cruising Australia or the Pacific this summer are urged to plan now. "With more than 1.2 million Australians cruising every season, we're seeing summer cruises filling up earlier, particularly over peak holiday periods," warns Adam Armstrong, managing director of Royal Caribbean Australia & New Zealand. The advice? Don't wait too long to book, especially if you're keen on a particular cabin type. Sign up with a cruise line or travel agent for alerts on special deals, and book shore excursions early. Hop to it by June 30 for a buy one, get one half price offer to guests on Royal Caribbean cruises.

Phone 1800 754 500. See royalcaribbean.com.au

A Star Clipper ship under sail.

A Star Clipper ship under sail.

CUBA EXPANDED

Interest in cruising to Cuba is going full steam ahead, and Azamara Club Cruises has added four additional sailings to its Cuba voyages. Departing from Miami, the sailings on Azamara Quest feature overnights in Havana and visits to two maiden ports of call, Cienfuegos and Santiago de Cuba. Shore excursions feature experiences such as a visit to open-air cabaret Tropicana, a Nelson Dominguez art gallery tour, Havana by classic car and an exploration of the Havana of Hemingway. Azamara offers six different Cuba itineraries between November 2017 and March 2018.

Phone 1800 754 500. See azamaraclubcruises.com

Passengers in a yoga class on Star Flyer.

Passengers in a yoga class on Star Flyer.

BREATHE DEEP

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Star Clippers has announced new yoga cruises this year in destinations as diverse as the western Mediterranean, Grenadine Islands and Windward Islands in the Caribbean and Thailand. Star Clipper will also sail yoga cruises in Indonesia between July and September this year. Yoga classes will be held twice daily on these themed cruises, with yoga teachers offering insights into the philosophy of yoga and advice for practice at home. The Ashantga or "power yoga" classes feature various breathing and movement techniques with a focus on controlled breathing, posture, concentration and meditation.

Phone 1300 295 161. See starclippers.com

Seabourn Odyssey in Venice.

Seabourn Odyssey in Venice.Credit: Michel Verdure

UKRAINE REVISITED

For those who think they've done Europe's rivers, here's an unusual route. Viking River Cruises is returning to the Ukraine, offering cruises on Viking Sineus for the first time in several years. The cruise runs from Kiev along the Dneiper River to Odessa on the Black Sea through the former heartland of Tartars and Cossacks. The cruise spends several nights in Kiev and also stops at historic trading town Kremnchug, fortress settlement and former imperial summer destination Dnipro, and Zaporozhye for a demonstration of Cossack horsemanship.

Phone 138 747. See vikingcruises.com.au

INSIDE STORY

Seabourn has new tours from this northern summer at World Heritage sites in Europe in conjunction with UNESCO, with which it has partnered since 2014. The tours will offer guests privileged access with expert guides. Among them is a walk beyond the ropes at Stonehenge in England, a visit to the gothic Silk Exchange Building in Valencia in Spain, and a visit to Gorham's Cave and the Gibraltar Museum in Gibraltar for an archaeological experience not available to the general public. More than 170 of the ports visited by Seabourn worldwide have World Heritage sites.

Phone 13 24 02. See seabourn.com

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