Cruise Luxury special
SUMMER IN THE BALTIC
St Petersburg is off the agenda,
but Baltic cruises are still
operating this summer. Saga’s
elegant Spirit of Discovery
explores the region on a
round-trip voyage from
Dover. You’ll visit arty Skagen,
Gdansk, Visby, Stockholm’s
forested archipelago, Tallinn
and Riga. Deep in the Gulf
of Bothnia, there’s a day in
the Finnish port of Kemi,
gateway to the sub-arctic
tundra, with a chance to
go salmon fishing. On board,
you’ll have a plush balcony
cabin and a choice of dining,
with seafood and Asian
speciality restaurants
alongside the elegant main
dining room.
Details 17 nights’ full board
on Spirit of Discovery from
£4,749pp, including drinksVisit Mykonos and listen to Jonathan Antoine with Seabourn
with meals, home pick-up
service and five excursions,
departing on July 31
(travel.saga.co.uk)CARIBBEAN CHRISTMAS
Celebrate Christmas and New
Year in the tropics on
Oceania’s sumptuous, 1,210-
passenger Riviera, fresh out of
a top-to-bottom refit, with
gleaming marble, polished
wood, sparkling chandeliers
and a staircase adorned with
Lalique crystal. You’ll spend
Christmas Day at sea, arriving
in the British Virgin Islands on
Boxing Day and continuing to
St Barths, Dominica, Grenada,
Barbados and Guadeloupe for
New Year’s Eve and a glittering
party on board. San Juan,
Puerto Rico and Puerto Plata
in the Dominican Republic
round off the voyage.
Details 12 nights’ all-inclusive
from £4,869pp, including
flights, departing on
December 23
(oceaniacruises.com)VIETNAM IN DEPTH
Much of Asia is reopening later
this year and French-owned
Ponant will be one of the first
luxury cruise lines back. The
sleek Le Lapérouse, which has
an atmospheric underwater
viewing lounge and an infinity
pool, will explore the
Vietnamese coast in depth.
From the limestone towers of
Ha Long Bay, you’ll work your
way south to Da Nang, the
beguiling old city of Hoi An,
Quy Nhon and lively Nha
Trang before sailing into
dynamic Ho Chi Minh City. Le
Lapérouse only carries 184 and
is done out in cool neutrals
and luxurious textures, with
cuisine supervised by the
French chef Alain Ducasse.
Details 10 nights’ all-inclusive
from £3,730pp, departing on
October 13 (uk.ponant.com).
Fly to HanoiDREAMY DOURO
Tour the fanciful baroque
Mateus Palace, join a guided
kayak trip and spend a day in
the ancient, golden-hued
university city of Salamanca
on this week-long voyage
along Portugal’s Douro river.
You’ll travel on the swish
96-passenger Scenic Azure,
starting and finishing with
overnights in the heart of
Porto. On board, there’s a
wellness area, a choice of
restaurants and a pool on
the upper deck, where you’llCELEBRATE IN BOSTON
Head across the Atlantic for
Independence Day and
celebrate in style on Cunard’s
majestic Queen Mary 2, which
sails round-trip from New York
to Bar Harbor, then Boston
(where the ship overnights for
July 4) and Halifax in Nova
Scotia. Upgrade to plush
Princess Grill class, which
gives you a smart balcony suite
and access to the fine-dining
Princess Grill restaurant.
What’s more, an exciting new
partnership with the Royal
Shakespeare Company means
you can enjoy performances
and Q&A sessions with the
actors on board.
Details Seven nights’ full
board in Princess Grill class
from £3,899pp, including
flights, departing on July 1
(cunard.com)OPERA AT EPHESUS
Join the ultra-luxurious
Seabourn Encore on a voyage
from Athens and you’re in for
a special treat. Jonathan
Antoine, the youngest tenor to
reach No 1 in the classical
album charts, will perform at
Seabourn’s exclusive, after-
hours Evening at Ephesus,
with pianist Dominic Ferris.
Musical delights aside, the
voyage visits Crete, Patmos,
Mykonos and Skiathos. On the
ship, expect unfettered luxury,
with all-inclusive drinks and
fine dining, including
steakhouse classics in The Grill
by Thomas Keller, the
superstar US chef.
Details Seven nights’ all-
inclusive from £3,499pp,
including flights, departing
on August 7 (seabourn.com)LUXURY LEVANT
Roam the historic sites of
Jordan, Israel and Greece on
this unusual cruise-tour
with Windstar. You’ll
fly to Amman and
stay at a Dead
Sea resort for a
night, followed
by two nights
in Petra, with
time to explore
the ancient city
when it’s free of
day-trippers and
bash through the desert
canyons of Wadi Rum in a 4x4,
above. You’ll then join the
all-suite, 312-passenger Star
Legend in Haifa for an eight-
night cruise to Ashdod (for
Jerusalem), Limassol,
Heraklion, Rhodes, and
Mykonos, on the trail of the
Crusaders in Cyprus and
Rhodes and visiting the Palace
of Knossos in Heraklion.
Details 11 nights’ full board
from £3,622pp, including
three nights in hotels and
eight nights’ all-inclusive on
board, internal flights and
excursions in Jordan,
departing on October 15
(windstarcruises.com). Fly
to AmmanGORGEOUS GRENADINES
SeaDream Yacht Club’s two
smart 112-passenger yachts
have undergone a complete
refit, upgrading the teakBOAT OUT
Sue Bryant has some of the world’s most luxurious cruises, from a
tour of the Caribbean to an archaeological odyssey around Greece
PUSH THE
decking and adding new hot
tubs, double-sized squashy
loungers, hammocks and
a spruced-up marina
platform from
which you can
dive straight into
the warm
Caribbean.
Thanks to
SeaDream’s
diminutive size
you’ll be able to
visit some of the
prettiest spots in the
region, from dreamy Bequia to
the uninhabited Tobago Cays —
where you can snorkel among
sea turtles — as well as Union
Island, Mayreau and Tobago.
Details 10 nights’ all-inclusive
from £5,235pp, including
flights and a night in
Barbados before the cruise,
departing on January 4, 2023
(mundycruising.co.uk)ALL-INCLUSIVE IBERIA
Regent Seven Seas’ luxurious
voyages include everything,
even excursions, so you can
put the purse away for this
seven-night meander from
Lisbon to Barcelona. You’ll
stop at Portimão and Cadiz
before nipping across to
Casablanca. There’s a call at
Gibraltar and a day in Motril,
which is the jumping-off point
for the wonders of Granada’s
Alhambra palace. In Alicante,join one of Regent’s new eco-
tours, working with an
environmentalist to plant
indigenous pine, cypress, and
mastic trees in an area that’s
suffered deforestation.
Details Seven nights’
all-inclusive on the Seven
Seas Voyager from £5,779pp,
including flights and
excursions, departing on
September 14 (rssc.com)ARABIAN ADVENTURE
Explore the Gulf in style on
Emerald Cruises’ sleek new
yacht, Emerald Azzurra, which
carries just 100 passengers
and features a water sports
platform and an infinity pool.
You’ll sail from Doha to the
beach retreat of Sir Bani Yas,
followed by a day in Abu
Dhabi. There’s a
call in Khasab, on
Oman’s sub-tropical
Musandam Peninsula,
for 4x4 expeditions into
the mountains, and a
day in Fujairah for
dune-bashing in the
desert before arriving
in glitzy Dubai.
Details Seven nights’
all-inclusive on
Emerald Azzurra from
£4,530pp, including
flights, departing
on January 2
(emeraldcruises.
co.uk)PETER PHIPP/ALAMY; GIANLUCA FAZIO, SVEN HANSCHE/GETTY IMAGES; LARRY MARANO/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK