Forbes Travel Guide – the only independent, global rating system for luxury hotels, restaurants, spas, ocean cruises and ocean cruise restaurants – has announced it will begin rating river cruises, a cruise industry first. The inaugural river cruise ratings will be released in 2027, when the respected publisher unveils its annual Star Ratings in more than 100 countries.
By Wallace Immen/ What to gondoliers do in their time off? I had a unique chance to glimpse behind the scenes of the daily lives of those ultra-fit boat jockeys from my quintessential room with a view in Venice.
Royal Caribbean has opened bookings for the first-of-its-kind beach club experience in The Bahamas. The all-inclusive Royal Beach Club Paradise Island will be available to guests visiting Nassau beginning late December with day passes now available to be purchased on the company’s website.
Cunard has “come together” with Abbey Road Studios to bring a new and exclusive Listening Lounge experience to music lovers on board Queen Elizabeth. The luxury cruise line has partnered with the famed recording studio of The Beatles to create a series of curated playlists packed with iconic recordings, each specially handpicked by the Abbey Road team.
A long-running experiment in green roofs is coming to an end. Like a growing A-list of Hollywood celebrities who have ripped out real grass and gone to synthetic greenery around their homes, Celebrity Cruises is phasing out the half acres of lawn on upper decks of its Solstice Class ships to install a high-tech artificial turf.
A new international study of prospective cruisers reveals the segment’s prioritization of iconic destinations, bundled value and wellness-focused experiences. The comprehensive report examines the attitudes, motivations and behaviours of these travellers from Canada, the U.S., U.K., and Germany – countries that together represent more than two-thirds of the global cruise market.
By Wallace Immen/ U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents have removed and apparently plan to deport crew members from at least four ships cruising the Great Lakes and others on ships sailing from U.S. ports, even though they held valid work visas, according to industry sources.
On Saturday, government officials, community leaders and local residents of Grand Bahama received an exclusive preview of Celebration Key, Carnival Cruise Line’s new destination. The special preview event showcased the fun Carnival guests will experience and took place in tandem with the embarkation of Carnival Vista, which will make the first official visit to Celebration Key for its July 19 grand opening.
How’d you like to design your dream cruise ship? Take this simple quiz: Would you rather your surroundings include colorful natural greens and blues or vibrant tropical reds and yellows?
A crowd on shore waves and cheers as we sail out of the Welland Canal into Lake Erie. This ship that’s cruising to all five of the Great Lakes is rare sight in itself. And our Victory1 has the retro lines of a passenger ship that might have plyed these inland seas a century ago.
The French Riviera resort of Cannes is imposing what its city council calls “drastic regulation” on cruise ships, banning any vessels carrying more than 1,000 people from its harbor starting next year. The home of the world’s premier film festival is joining a growing global backlash against overtourism, which recently saw uproar over Jeff Bezos’ and Lauren Sanchez’ Venice wedding last weekend, water-gun protests in Spain, and a surprise strike at the Louvre Museum.
Add Greece to a growing list of destinations charging fees for cruisers to visit on a day in port. Mykonos and Santorini are charging 20 euros per passenger for the summer season from July 1 to Sept. 30. The tax goes down to 12 euros in October and just 4 euros in the winter months.
Margaritaville at Sea says it is implementing a series of “impactful initiatives” designed to strengthen its commitment to the trade, including a full-scale push to reward, engage and empower travel advisors through an expanded Travel Trade team, improved sales tools, and exclusive perks, including FAMs and advisor rates.
“I have a friend who just returned from a month in Thailand, China and Vietnam and she dealt exclusively with cash. Brought a wad of C-notes and paid on the spot. Used safes in the hotels for passport, and a belly bag for the day’s cash. Is this something I should do on my coming river cruise on the Rhine?”
Viewing the vast arrays of food on offer in buffets on Carnival Cruise Line ships, you may not realize the world’s largest cruise company has managed to cut food waste by 44 per cent in the past five years.
Celebrity Cruises is investing more than $250 million to completely modernize a well-loved class of ships. Guests can look forward to eight new experiences, including four new-to-sea spaces, and many redesigned favorites which elevate everything that makes these ships unique.
Viking’s got good news and that could mean you’ll have a tough time finding available space on one of their ships. But there are many more ships on the way and its fleet will soon top 100 ships.
By Wallace Immen/ First-time cruisers are driving fast growth in cruising, with 31% of passengers in the last two years being new to cruise. But there’s also a rising tide in repeat cruising, the latest annual report of Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) finds.
Streamlining the guest experience for cruisers joining excursions ashore, Carnival Cruise Line announced plans today to bring an innovative digital platform to its tour operator partners that eliminates physical tickets and provides enhanced functionality.
Bigger, badder, bolder. Those are the lofty goals Royal Caribbean wants to hit with its massive new destination for its cruises to Mexico. Perfect Day Mexico in Costa Maya will be Royal Caribbean’s largest private water park development, featuring the tallest water slides in the Americas, a river more than a mile long and six enormous pools. They’re promising 12 eateries and 24 drinkeries — including six swim-up bars.
Emirates and MSC Cruises have extended their long-term strategic partnership aimed at enhancing the air-sea traveller experience, supporting Dubai’s cruise ambitions to become a major cruise hub, and exploring future opportunities for joint growth across the airline’s extensive network.
Ponant Explorations and Paul Gauguin Cruises are celebrating the “indispensable role of travel advisors” during Travel Advisor Appreciation Month in by offering a special booking incentive that gives agents the opportunity to earn up to US$1,000 in gift cards per new booking made in May.
They call the atrium Starlight and its design swirls into the heavens. Regent Seven Seas Cruises is taking inspiration from the past and looking to the future with the showy interiors of its newest ship Seven Seas Prestige.
MSC Cruises Canada is expanding ‘Fly&Cruise’ program for the summer and winter 2025-26 seasons. Designed to let Canadian guests seamlessly book both their flights and cruises together, the package solution aims to provide stress-free and flexible vacation experience for clients while also adding commissionable air rates for travel advisors. The program is supported by airline partners including Air Canada, Air Transat and WestJet and includes cross-Canada gateways.
Proclaiming a “bold new chapter of polar exploration,” G Adventures will introduce a new expedition vessel for the upcoming Antarctica season. Currently chartered through Danish maritime company SunStone, the presently named ‘Ocean Adventurer,” will replace G’s ‘Expedition’ ship and take its name in tribute to the signature “little red ship.”
Known for decades for its land/coach tours, Trafalgar has announced that it is expanding into river cruising, starting in 2026. The company will debut in Europe with two river cruise journeys along the Rhine and Danube, with travel advisors now able to book the trips (ahead of the general public).
A surf and turf burger in the Waves Grill tops a thick patty of wagyu beef with medallions of lobster. A spicy salad in Red Ginger stacks strips of crispy duck with succulent cubes of watermelon and cashews. And wherever you go there are decadent pastries that are tiny works of art.
Who’s number one? It depends who you ask as Florida’s big cruise ports keep going for records. Greater Miami and Miami Beach have just branded the city the ‘Cruise Capital of the World’ to celebrate milestones that include the opening of the world’s largest cruise terminal and the arrival of several huge new cruise ships.
Ponant Explorations is planning a world-first circumnavigation of Antarctica aboard the cruise company’s luxury icebreaker, ‘Le Commandant Charcot’ – a journey the company calls an “unprecedented feat” that will take place between January and March 2028.
By Wallace Immen/ While Champagne’s traditional, it was premium Canadian whisky anointing the Great Lakes cruise ship Victory 1 in a recent christening ceremony at the Port of Toronto, where Godmother Emily Coleman broke a bottle across the bow of the first of two ships offering round trips between Toronto and Chicago.