CRUISE NEWS

Sail with bestselling authors, travel Canada and meet all the new ships making their debut.

READ BETWEEN THE LINES WITH CUNARD

Lovers 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 Ayers 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

NEW VIEW OF EUROPE

Avalon Waterways is introducing the newest ship in its fleet, with Avalon View due to be christened in Ybbs, Austria on 6 April, 2020. View’s godmother, acclaimed journalist Meredith Vieira, is sure to love the award-winning Panorama Suites, which are more than 30 per cent larger than the industry standard and have wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling windows that create an open-air balcony.

View has two decks of Panorama Suites, as well as an Adventure Centre for bikes and active gear, a state-of-theart fitness centre, the Observation Lounge and spacious Sky Deck. Guests on board can take advantage of Avalon’s flexible programs, meaning they can tailor an itinerary that works for them. avalonwaterways.com.au

ON DECK WITH LE BOAT IN CANADA – REVIEW

Le Boat is known for its luxury houseboats on the rivers of Europe. Yet its newest habitat is the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Rideau Canal, which is the oldest continually operating canal in North America. The canal runs from Kingston on Lake Ontario to Canada’s capital, Ottawa. We travel on a four-cabin Horizon Premier Class boat, which we drive ourselves after a detailed briefing.

For the next few days we cruise up the canal, stopping in gorgeous villages like Smith Falls, Merrickville and Manotick, all with history, artisans and gourmet foods such as the Gingerbread Man in Manotick and Mrs. McGarrigle’s Fine Mustard in Merrickville. At night we tie up in towns or by the locks, having a morning swim and enjoying the tranquil and beautiful surrounds. The experience on the canal is beautiful and relaxing. It came to an end all too soon as we motored up through the heart of Ottawa. leboat.com.au

AT HOME IN SHANGRI-LA

Staying in a village that consists of just 22 houses and has been untouched for centuries is what sets the Sunyata Hotel Meili experience apart. Created by revered hotelier Lai Guoping and a member of Design Hotels, this fourstorey property in Wunongding village in Yunnan Province, known as Shangri-La, overlooks the WorldHeritage-listed Meili Snow Mountains. It was designed using the Tibetan principles of architecture, and the Japanese philosophy of ‘wabi-sabi’, which utilises salvaged materials and reveres emptiness. The property has 19 rooms and suites, all with mountain views, with the rooftop lounge the best place to admire them. designhotels.com

CONGA INTO MIAMI

Small Luxury Hotels of the World will be adding a swag of luxury hotels to its books in 2020, with Miami, Florida first cab off the rank. February is huge in this lively city, hosting the 54th Super Bowl, and the opening of the Celino South Beach. This property was created by transforming three Art Deco buildings, one of which – the Park Central Hotel – is credited as being where the conga line first shimmied into existence. In a nod to those days, when Bogart and Hayworth were regulars, there are how-to conga guides, drums and cigars in the rooms. Mexico will also boast a new property, with the KASA Hotel Riviera Maya the perfect base from which to explore Mayan ruins, dive in cenotes and commune with sea turtles. slh.com

DIVE INTO MOZAMBIQUE

It may come as a surprise that the African country of Mozambique has spectacular island resorts off its coastline, with the sort of turquoise water that you expect to find in Tahiti, or the Maldives. Azura has two island resorts there: Azura Quilalea Private Island in the Quirimbas Archipelago marine sanctuary, and Azura Benguerra in the Bazaruto Marine National Park. Quilalea has just nine lavish villas, on an island dotted with 58 baobabs, some of which are 2,000 years old, and the house reef means easy snorkelling any time of day. Activities include sunset sailing on a traditional dhow, fishing, snorkel tours, diving, and a helicopter flight to nearby Ibo island, a fascinating place with centuries of seafaring history. A third resort, Azura Marlin Beach, will open on Benguerra Island this July. azura-retreats.com

IN SPACE AT THE KAMEHA GRAND

In the Space Suite at Switzerland’s Kameha Grand Zurich Hotel, guests can lie on the floating ‘zero gravity bed’ and watch a live stream of NASA’s Mission Control and TV channel. Designed by Michael Naijar, a German artist who wants to be the first contemporary artist in space, the suite is designed to replicate what it might be like at the space station. The steam bath features views out over neighbouring stars, there are spotlights inspired by rocket engines, space glove shelving and a library of all things space related. There are also other themed rooms including Workout. kamehagrandzuerich.com