CRUISE NEWS
Sail with bestselling authors, travel Canada and meet all the new ships making their debut.
READ BETWEEN THE LINES WITH CUNARD
Fans of the books of bestselling authors Ian Rankin (above), Alexander McCall Smith and Prue Leith will want to join the three headliners on board Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 for the seven-day ‘Cunard and Cheltenham Literature Festival at Sea with The Times and Sunday Times Event Voyage’. Returning for the second year, the festival will also feature Joanne Harris, Simon Armitage, Kate Mosse and Pam Ayres among others for the Atlantic crossing from Southampton to New York. McCall Smith said: “On the great liners of the past, people had time to read books and talk about them. What a magnificent thing it is that Cunard has decided to recreate this. I look forward immensely to meeting readers, talking about books, and watching the broad Atlantic go by.”
The festival cruise will depart 1 December, 2020. cunard.com/en-au
VIKING’S NEW STAR
From January 2022, there’ll be a new star on the oceans, with Viking Expedition’s Viking Octantis taking to the seas. Named after the South Star, Octantis will carry explorers on voyages to Antarctica and North America’s Great Lakes. Octantis will be the newest and most modern vessel to this part of America, visiting Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, as well as Ontario in Canada.
A second vessel, Viking Polaris will make her entrance in August 2022, sailing to Antarctica and the Arctic.
Torstein Hagen, chairman of Viking, said: “Now, in creating ‘the thinking person’s expedition’, we are perfecting polar expedition cruising, and we will usher in a new era of comfortable exploration in the heart of North America.”
In an industry first, they will have an enclosed in-ship marina called ‘The Hangar’. This will make it much easier and safer to get in and out of the RIBs (rigid inflatable boats) for loading and offloading. vikingcruises.com.au
CRYSTAL HITS THE RIGHT NOTE
During 2022, the award-winning Crystal River Cruises fleet will take guests on journeys of cultural and historical discovery, with several new itineraries. Crystal Bach, Crystal Debussy, Crystal Mahler and Crystal Ravel will offer cruises from seven to 10 nights, with guests enjoying the finest of service in the all-suite vessels. Itineraries include ‘Treasures of Southeast Europe’ and the ‘Joyous Danube’ round-trip from Vienna. crystalcruises.com.au