ALL ABOARD FOR 2021

The main UK cruise lines will not start sailing until the spring, but there will be some mouth-watering bargains when they do. No ship will sail without the strictest testing and safety measures in place, with booking conditions that are more flexible than they have ever been.

New launches

LOOK out for Virgin Voyages’ Scarlet Lady, complete with a tattoo parlour and Rockstar suites; P&O Cruises’ new liquefied natural gas (LNG) ship Iona will have its own gin distillery and the revival of expedition ship Swan Hellenic starts with 152-guest Vega 1 in November 2021.

Bumper cars, laser tag and skydiving await on Royal Caribbean’s Odyssey of the Seas which launches in 2021. The 4,180- guest ship’s sevennight Greek Isles cruise from Rome on July 4, 2021, starts at £1,021 pp ( royalcaribbean.co.uk, 0344 493 4005).

Adventure ahoy!

EXPEDITION cruising into remote regions on small, luxury ships is a growing market. New Polar-class ships, which can cut through ice, include Seabourn Venture ( seabourn. com) which debuts in December 2021 with voyages from Norway for adventures in two six-seat submarines, kayaks and zodiacs. Travel agents are reporting huge interest in Antarctica, the Arctic and Alaska.

Europe’s rivers

AMAWATERWAYS is repositioning ships to France for the new season, with AmaKristina on the Rhône and AmaDante on the Seine. Cosmos 2021 river cruises start from £224 pp with the eight-night Edelweiss Flowers Of The Rhine sailing from Basel calling at Strasbourg, Koblenz, Amsterdam, Düsseldorf and Baden. 90-cabin MS Edelweiss departs on December 19, 2021 ( cosmos.co.uk, 0330 0588 237).