Viking Sky’s maiden voyage

VIKING Ocean Cruises’ Viking Sky has set sail on its maiden voyage, departing from Rome’s Civitavecchia port to Barcelona. The third ship in Viking’s Ocean Cruises’ fleet carries 930 passengers and is nearly identical to sister ships Viking Star and Viking Sea.

The 47,800 tonne ship Viking

Sky begins her season by sailing throughout the Western and Eastern Mediterranean, before making her way to be officially christened under Norway’s midnight sun on 22 Jun in Tromsø as a nod to Viking’s Norwegian heritage.

Strand theme cruises

THE Strand Cruise has announced dates for new themed cruises in Myanmar.

Following on from its first classical music voyage along Myanmar’s Irrawaddy River last month, The Strand will host a series of cruises on its four-night Bagan-Mandalay itinerary.

Themes include culinary, a photography cruise and classic music sailings with musicians from Opéra de Paris and Orchestre de Paris.

She will then spend the European summer sailing Scandinavian and Baltic itineraries before crossing the Atlantic in Sep, and finishing the year in the Americas and the Caribbean.

Wildlife cruise lecture

PAUL Gauguin Cruises has announced a partnership with Wildlife Conservation Society for a lecture series as part of the new Wildlife Discovery Series program aboard The Gauguin, which will allow guests to learn about marine wildlife and habitats.

The lecture will be presented by scientists Emily Darling and Sangeeta Mangubhai.

Growth for Cruises

RESEARCH from the US shows solid growth for cruise bookings in 2017 according to Travel Leaders Group Survey.

Nearly 87% of travel agents who book cruise vacations stated that their 2017 cruise bookings were equal to or higher than the previous year.

For US travellers, Caribbean, Alaska and European cruises were the most popular destinations.