A perfect present to float your boat
CHRISTMAS presents for everyone else wrapped up? Now’s the time to treat yourself – by booking a cruise to look forward to. Here are some great ideas for ocean and river cruises to grab now and enjoy next year, and even one for 2023.
THERE are few things more relaxing than watching jaw-dropping scenery float past on long, light evenings on the Norwegian fjords. New resort ship MSC Virtuosa (msccruises.co. uk), packed with restaurants, bars, pools and entertainment, will be based in Southampton next summer and will make six no-fly voyages to Norway. A one-week cruise departing on June 11, 2022, starts at £749pp, including gratuities.
If seeing the Northern Lights is on your must-do list and you can’t wait until next summer to get away, look out for them in style at the top of Norway on Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth. Overnight stays at Narvik and Tromso, inside the Arctic Circle, maximise the chances of spotting this natural phenomenon. The round-trip cruise from Southampton departs on March 18. Book with cruise.co.uk for fares with five per cent off, from £949pp.
A new partnership between A-Rosa and Just Go! Holidays (justgoholidays. com) means you can join a cruise on the Danube without setting foot in an airport. Instead, take a coach from a choice of pick-up points in England and Wales, followed by a ferry, then the trip to Austria will be broken with a night in a hotel in Germany. On the seven-night cruise on A-Rosa Donna you’ll visit Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest and sail through the lovely Wachau Valley. Departures are on June 10, September 9 and 23, 2022, with prices starting at £1,599pp.
CroisiEurope (croisieurope.co.uk) has announced a six-night cruise on the Seine for 2023 and is celebrating with a 15 per cent discount. While most cruises from Paris go downstream to Normandy, small hotel barge MS Deborah, with just 11 cabins, can sail through the centre of Paris in the opposite direction as far as Sens on the Yonne river. Fontainebleau Palace, Barbizon – a 19th Century centre of art – and medieval Provins are on the itinerary.
There are six sailings from April to October, with early-booking fares from £2,110pp (brochure price £2,479), including drinks and excursions but not travel to Paris.