Cunard Promises The World in 2019

Posted on 28 March, 2017 by Spacejunkie2

PHOTO: Queen Victoria will see the world in 2019

Cunard is throwing one amazing opportunity at your feet: The chance to tour the world at a leisurely pace.

Cunard recently announced (h/t USA Today) its Oceans of Discovery program, which is an apt title for a set of voyages that will take myriad travelers to grand destinations.The downside is that you will have to be a bit patient, as the party doesn’t kick off until 2019.

That’s when The World Voyage aboard Queen Victoria launches.

This particular ship is no stranger to wading past some of the most spectacular landscapes in the world. This past January, it became the largest passenger ship to have traversed the Amazon. 2019 will see it help Cunard once again offer a circumnavigation journey that will take several months and see 24 countries over the course of 107 nights.

Voyagers have a wealth of options when it comes to the 2019 program. Boarding the Queen Victoria alone will have you selecting from 37 voyage possibilities.

As the website states, Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth will also embark on some truly remarkable adventures.

Josh Leibowitz, Senior Vice President, Cunard North America, states, via Cunard: “Across the fleet, Cunard’s Winter 2019 program covers the globe, including places that we have not visited for years. Our itineraries have been designed to offer enriching days in port as well as plenty of time on board for our guests to relax and enjoy all that our ships have to offer.”

While Queen Victoria sets sail to conquer the world, its sister ships will concentrate on “exotic voyages that offer richer, deeper and more regionally-focused itineraries than ever before.”

In the case of Queen Mary 2, this means a few fabulous firsts as it calls at Doha, Qatar; Mormugao, India; Seogwipo, Jeju Island, South Korea and Chennai, India.

Queen Victoria’s world journey starts at $17,579 per person. So at just under $20,000, you are getting the absolute trip of a lifetime.

But if you want to save some bucks and are on this side of the pond, you can skip the trip to Southampton and start the journey on this side of the Atlantic. USA Today puts the price of a voyage from Fort Lauderdale at $15,799.

MSC says world cruise generating buzz, but will it fill up?

Posted on 30 November, 2016 by Spacejunkie2

MSC Magnifica

Filling the 2,250-passenger MSC Magnifica for its first world cruise could pose a challenge for MSC. Most world cruises are on luxury lines such as Silversea Cruises or Cunard Line, not contemporary lines.

None of the U.S.-based contemporary cruise lines, such as Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean International or Norwegian Cruise Line, offer a 119-day cruise like MSC’s.

However, Costa Cruises, which competes closely with MSC in the Mediterranean, does offer a world cruise in 2017 on the 92,700-gross-ton Costa Luminosa, which carries about the same number of passengers as the 95,128-gross-ton Magnifica.

Roberto Fusaro, president of MSC Cruises North America, said the Magnifica was picked for the world cruise because it is the right size for the ports included on the itinerary.

“The pool has a magrodome — making the ship ideal for all weather — and the ship has a high proportion of balcony staterooms,” he said.

Image result for MSC Magnifica

Fusaro said adding a world cruise will help MSC gain attention.

“We’ve already heard a ton of buzz and excitement from our travel agent partners,” he said. Clients like the wide range of activities and entertainment and multiple dining options a ship the size of the MSC Magnifica affords, he said.

Another feature that might help MSC fill the Magnifica is a relatively low price. MSC lists a lead-in price for the cruise of $16,999. A 120-day cruise on Cunard Line’s 2,014-passenger Queen Elizabeth departing in January has a starting price of $19,998. MSC’s price also includes 15 shore excursions.

The 7-year-old MSC Magnifica is scheduled to set off from Genoa, Italy, on Jan. 5, 2019, and sail west until it arrives back in Genoa 119 days later.

Along the way it will stop at 49 destinations in 32 countries and stay four days in French Polynesia, three days in both Hawaii and San Francisco and two days in Los Angeles.

Following a week in the Mediterranean, the Magnifica will spend five days at sea before reaching the Caribbean in mid-January. It will transit the Panama Canal on Jan. 25 and proceed up the coast of Central America, Mexico and north to San Francisco.

The next month will be spent crossing the Pacific with stops in Hawaii, French Polynesia and Fiji before arriving in New Zealand in mid-March. Australia, Singapore, Thailand and the Maldives precede an April 15 arrival in Dubai. The ship transits the Suez Canal in late April to arrive back in Genoa on May 3.

MSC and its predecessor company, Lauro Lines, have been in the cruise business since 1960, but had never entered the world-cruise derby.

“As one of the world’s truly international cruise companies, making available to our guests and travelers from around the globe a product such as a world cruise is a natural progression,” said Gianni Onorato, CEO MSC Cruises.

P&O Cruises unveils itineraries to mark 180th anniversary

Posted on 25 August, 2015 by Spacejunkie2

By Phil Davies, Travel Weekly

P&O Cruises is to run two full world cruises in 2017 to mark its 180th anniversary.

Aurora’s 104-night eastern circumnavigation from Southampton echoes the trade routes of the British Empire, calling at 35 destinations in 21 countries and sailing almost 30,000 nautical miles.

Departing on January 9, 2017, the cruise features 23 new ports of call, overnight stays in Dubai, Singapore, Sydney and San Francisco, seven evening calls and transits of both the Panama and Suez canals.

Arcadia’s 114-night western circumnavigation from Southampton calls at 37 destinations in 21 countries, sailing more than 36,000 nautical miles.

The voyage, departing on January 2, 2017, includes 22 new ports, overnight stays in San Francisco, Auckland, Sydney, Hong Kong and Singapore and nine evening calls.

Prices lead in at £10,299 per person on a Select Price rate for Aurora’s world cruise, including onboard spending money of between £350 and £1,000, depending on cabin grade.

The sailings feature in a 2017 World Cruise Collection brochure which goes on general sale on September 9.

The programme also includes a 50-night Oriana cruise to the Caribbean and Amazon departing from the UK on January 3, 2017 and a 12-night Northern Lights itinerary including an overnight stay Alta and a late evening in Tromso. Prices start at £3,999pp and £899pp respectively.

The line’s marketing director, Christopher Edgington, said: “P&O Cruises has a reputation for offering original and appealing world cruise itineraries which we spend a lot of time planning, based on extensive research and trends.

“Our round the world cruises are not a once-in-a-lifetime dream but a truly affordable and realistic holiday for empty nesters looking for long haul adventure and ‘this is the life’ memories.”