Adventures By Disney To Charter Small Ships – Other Cruise News: Princess Cruises Adds Short Cruises From Southampton – Hurtigruten To Add Portsmouth And Liverpool Cruises
by Kevin Griffin
Big and small ships feature this week, with an arm of Disney chartering two 264-berth Ponant ships for Antarctica sailings from Ushuaia and a third vessel for the Galapagos. Princess Cruises has meanwhile announced the addition of two larger 3,560-berth ships to the UK short cruise trade out of Southampton, while Hurtigruten have announced more plans for 2022.
THIS WEEK’S STORY
Adventures By Disney To Charter Small Ships
Family travel giant Disney plans its first cruises to Antarctica later this year, using chartered vessels.
Le Boreal in London
Two Antarctica sailings will take place on Ponant’s 264-berth Le Lyrial and Le Boréal, but with reduced capacity for Antarctic sailings.
Disney also plans to add cruises to the Galápagos Islands, starting in 2022 on board the chartered Galapagos Legend.
Offered by Disney’s touring arm, Adventures by Disney, the voyages will be the first expedition cruises to be offered by Disney.
Disney has until now offered traditional cruises through its large-ship Disney Cruise Line.
Adventures by Disney is primarily known for upmarket, family-friendly land tours, but it has offered cruises before — on Europe’s rivers.
Ushuaia, Argentina (Photo above credit Jerzy Strzelecki at Wikipedia)
For each voyage, Disney plans family-focused activities by Disney travel experts. Disney-trained guides and naturalists will lead landings to see wildlife and offer onboard discussions about wildlife, animal conservation, photography and more.
Disney initially will offer just two Antarctica voyages, both 11 nights in length. The trips will include an overnight stay in Buenos Aires, before a flight to Ushuaia, at the very southern tip of Argentina, to board the Ponant vessels.
Before boarding, passengers will spend two days exploring the area around Ushuaia, part of Patagonia. Sightseeing will include a visit to Tierra del Fuego National Park and a ride on the world’s southernmost functioning railway.
For an extra charge, travellers can also add a three-night, pre-tour guided stay in Buenos Aires.
The Galapagos Islands (Graphicmaps.com – WorldAtlas)
The Antarctica cruises will be aimed at families with older children. The tour company recommends that kids be at least 12 to sign up and won’t allow those younger than 10 to book it due to the duration of the trip.
Fares for the Antarctica voyage start at $12,800 for adults and $11,500 for children.
The Galápagos trips will focus heavily on the wildlife of the Ecuador-controlled islands made famous by Charles Darwin, and will start at $6,300 for adults and $5,600 for children.
In addition to encounters with iconic Galápagos wildlife, passengers can expect opportunities to snorkel, kayak and hike during the trips.
AmaKristina at Vilshofen on Danube in Germany (Courtesy AmaWaterways)
Adventures by Disney initially is offering five departures on three different Galápagos itineraries for 2022.
Adventures by Disney will also continue to offer river cruises in Europe in 2202, with itineraries along the Danube, Rhine and Seine rivers. The trips take place on river ships chartered from AmaWaterways.
OTHER CRUISE NEWS
Princess Cruises Adds Short Cruises From Southampton
Princess Cruises is the cruise latest line to revise their 2021 Summer season to focus on a shorter, no-fly cruises from the UK. Regal Princess and Sky Princess will offer short breaks and week-long no-fly sailings from Southampton. The cruises are only available to UK guests.
Sky Princess
The 3,560-berth “Medallion” class ships Regal Princess and Sky Princess will offer ‘Truly Touchless’ experiences through the line’s Medallion Class experience and Ocean Medallion wearable devices.
Features include streamlined check-in, simplified safety training, reductions in queueing as well as the ability to order food and drink to anywhere on the ship.
The line is citing positive news on the easing of lockdown and the anticipation if travel within the UK as restrictions are lifted. As with other announcements the new programme comes at the cost of an original schedule of ex-UK cruises that would have left UK waters.
Hurtigruten To Add Portsmouth And Liverpool Cruises
Norwegian expedition operator Hurtigruten has announced additional UK no-fly cruises to sail in 2022. The two voyages, departing from Portsmouth and Liverpool will bring to thirty the number of no-fly cruises from the expedition line in 2022. A significant increase on previous years.
Hurtigruten’s Fridtjof Nansen at Dartmouth, Devon, March 2020 (Photo credit: theviewfromthedartmouthoffice.com)
The new voyages will explore ”the beauty and nature of the British Isles and Iceland” and will operate aboard state-of-the-art hybrid powered ship, the MS Fridtjof Nansen.
The first voyage, scheduled for May 7, 2022, is just 4 days in duration, making it the ideal taster cruise for guests interested in exploring Hurtigruten or the concept of cruising itself. The voyage is priced from £590 per person and will visiting the wonderful Cornish port of Fowey as well as Waterford in Ireland.
The second voyage is a round trip, 15-day journey from Liverpool to Iceland and back, visiting ports such as Stornoway, Haimeay, Reykjavik, Akureyri and Kirkwall. Starting from £4,921 per person this voyage departs on May 10, 2022.
(Kevin Griffin is managing director of The Cruise People Ltd in London, England. For further information concerning cruises mentioned in this article readers can visit his blog)
