Holland America Line Debuts First Lipstick Blending Bar at Sea
You’ll have a bright lip for your stylish ship! Holland America Line’s new ‘Blend Bar’ onboard experience allows guests to design their own customized lipstick or gloss – the first aboard any cruise ship. So you’ll have the perfect shade to reflect your cruise vacation mood. The exclusive, hands-on lipstick lab is guided by an expert beauty consultant and offers a palette of premium pigments, luxurious finishes, and signature flavors to craft a custom lipstick or gloss. So if you didn’t...
Riviera Designates World First Solo Cruise Ship
Solo travel keeps growing, and now there’s a river ship just for singletons to enjoy cruising together for the whole season! Riviera Travel is launching the first-ever cruise ship dedicated to solo travelers in 2027. Now there’s no need to wait until friends or family can join you on holiday – at any time of the river cruising season. Lots of cruise lines, ocean and river, offer solo travel promotions and Riviera Travel itself even offers whole solo itineraries – more...
Sneak Peek at Celebrity Cruises’ New River Ships
How is Celebrity Cruises bringing their revolutionary, ‘Edge-class’ ocean ship design and lifestyle to the rivers of Europe? The cruise line has now revealed at least part of its vision with renderings of their first two river ships: Celebrity Compass and Celebrity Seeker, prior to their launch on the Rhine and Danube rivers in 2027. This comes just a week after the first advance pre-booking access sold out in 6 minutes! We don’t know how many people put down their refundable...
How to get Your Downton Abbey Travel Fix as its “Grand Finale” Hits Theaters
“Set-jetting” to locations in Britain means that you don’t have to say goodbye to the beloved characters of Downton Abbey, even if the final film has been released. The clever play on words has been coined by Visit Britain to reflect how popular visiting film and TV set locations is for visitors to the U.K. They say 87% of travelers to Britain are interested in walking in the footsteps of their favorite on-screen characters, and no wonder! The U.K. is the...
Cruising Gets a New “Star:” Royal Caribbean’s Latest Icon Class Ship Debuts
Royal Caribbean’s Star of the Seas has launched in a glittering ceremony. The line’s latest Icon-class ship’s christening event lit up Port Canaveral, Florida. You might say it was ‘written in the stars,’ as the mega-ship’s godmother, research astronaut Kellie Gerardi, named the ship and set it on its inaugural voyage. The ages-old tradition of bestowing safekeeping on a ship, its crew and guests “is close to my heart and a spirit that spans both sea and space,” says Kellie Gerardi,...
Tauck Launching Small Groups Just for Travelers in Their 40’s and 50’s
They say ’50 is the new 30!’ And now there’s a new brand of travel experiences - designed just for this new generation of travelers - with maturity, busy lives, high expectations, established tastes and as active as ever. Upscale guided travel company Tauck is tapping into the energy of travelers in their 40s and 50s looking for flexibility, soft adventure and one-of-a-kind experiences. “Roam by Tauck” launches in 2026 with a dozen itineraries across 6 continents by 2027. The high-end, small-group...
Scenic Enrich: The Exclusive Events that Take Scenic Cruise Luxury to New Heights
Private, after-hours Scenic Enrich cultural events, just for guests of Scenic ocean and river cruises, take a luxury voyage to next-level privilege. Here are my experiences of three Scenic Enrich events from recent ocean and river journeys. By: Lynn Elmhirst, cruise/ travel journalist and expert. Travel in any way makes us feel special and takes us out of our ordinary lives. A Scenic voyage makes you feel transported to a better world: your butler, onboard team, cruise director, restaurant servers, bar tenders...
Viking Launching First Ever River Cruises in India
Beginning in 2027, Viking will add another exotic river and destination to its global collection of cruises, which is good news for devoted Viking fans looking for new places to sail with the cruise line. Unlike a number of other cruise lines that offer cruises in India on the Ganges River, Viking’s new, purpose-built ship will sail on the Brahmaputra River. The aptly-named Viking Brahmaputra, with a modern design specifically built to navigate one of the largest rivers in the world...
VIDEO: The River Cruise Ship with the Most Restaurants
Foodies take note! The Riverside Mozart has broken the mould when it comes to river cruise dining! It has more restaurants than I've ever seen on a river cruise ship. And that's a game changer for the gastronomically minded, who believe that when it comes to cruise ship dining, variety truly is the spice of life. I'm often asked about dining by food-loving ocean cruise fans thinking about expanding their cruising repertoire into river cruising. They wonder if they'll have enough...
Is This the Largest, Most Expensive Cruise Ship Suite Ever?
Regent Seven Seas Cruises has revealed the Skyview Regent Suite on the upcoming Seven Seas Prestige… and it’s the biggest – and the priciest – suite in cruise ship history! Fares for the nearly 8,800-square-foot, 2-level suite start at (!) $25,000 – per night! Regent welcomes the 822-guest Seven Seas Prestige in late 2026. The new ship marks the ultra-luxury, all-inclusive cruise line’s first new ship class in a decade, so it’s pulling out all the stops. The new class of...