ALL ABOARD
School’s out deal
SAIL into the sparkling norwegian fjords during the school summer holidays from £755pp on Sapphire Princess. There are clubs to entertain children in between calls to Stavanger, Olden, Hellesylt, Bergen and geiranger. The seven-night Southampton round-trip departs on August 10 (cruise1st.co.uk, 0808 159 2653).
Christmas at the Pyramids
SPEnD Christmas Eve at the Luxor Temples and new Year’s Eve viewing the Pyramids of giza on One Traveller’s cruise for solo over 50s. Sail down the nile for seven nights on the five-star MS Jaz Regency, which also includes a four-night stay at The Cairo Marriott Hotel. Departs December 22, from £3,990pp (onetraveller.
co.uk, 01760 722011).
Song and Dance
EVERY five years the Hanseatic city of Tallinn hosts Estonia’s Song and Dance Festival and 850-passenger Boudicca’s 14-night Baltic Capitals with St Petersburg cruise includes a late-night mooring, so guests can hear one of the world’s largest amateur choral choirs. Price from £1,699 pp departing Dover on July 1 (fredolsencruises.com, 0800 0355 242).
Mind, body, sail
WELLBEIng expert Dr Andrew Weil will be giving mindful-living lectures and hosting natural medicine workshops on board Seabourn Encore’s Wellness in Australia and new Zealand cruise on February 21, 2020. A yoga and meditation practitioner joins the 16-day sailing from Auckland. Cruise-only price from £5,999 pp
(seabourn.com, 0344 338 8615).
Polar class
LE COMMAnDAnT-CHARCOT, Ponant’s new hybrid electric ship — powered by Liquefied natural gas — will reach the north Pole using routing software to navigate through the ice. The 12-night Discovering the northeast greenland national Park cruise, in partnership with national geographic, departs Reykjavik, in Iceland, on June 24, 2021. Price from £13,897pp (ponant.
com, 0808 2343 802).
Tour ‘Downton’
DOWnTOn Abbey premieres on the big screen in September and guests on hotel barge Magna Carta can visit Highclere Castle, where filming took place, and meet members of the ‘real’ household including Lady Carnarvon. Seven-night sailings along the River Thames, from April 2020 start from £3,190pp or from £23,800 for a full charter (europeanwaterways.com, 01753 598555).