By Jason Leppert, Jan 11, 2021 Shared from Travel Age West
Credit: 2021 Sea Cloud Cruises
As cruising begins to return, mega ocean ships will surely be among the many options available to travelers, but clients may alternatively be drawn to smaller ships featuring fewer people onboard and more intimate adventures.
Here are the latest itineraries to consider for your customers in time for the 2021 wave season.
Abercrombie & Kent
Abercrombie & Kent (A&K) is preparing to celebrate 30 years of luxury expedition cruising with new sailings for its 2021/2022 season. Chartering Ponant vessels with a maximum of only 199 guests onboard, A&K has scheduled 12 voyages to six continents including polar and cultural outings.
Particularly interesting is “The Northeast Passage: Across the Russian Arctic with Geoffrey Kent,” hosted by the eponymous A&K founder and sailing from Tromso, Norway, to Nome, Alaska, on Aug. 27, 2021.
Atlas Ocean Voyages
Atlas Ocean Voyages is the newest line to make the biggest waves upon entry, offering advisors the ability to “Get Paid Now” and clients the perks of “All-Inclusive All the Way.” The brand will conveniently include adventures closer to home in fall 2021 with routes in the Caribbean as well as South America.
On Oct. 19, the World Navigator is set to depart Bridgetown, Barbados, on a 10-night journey down to Recife, Brazil. The luxury expedition ship will then spend 13 nights on its way to Montevideo, Uruguay, and another eight nights in transit to Ushuaia, Argentina, to start its first season in Antarctica.
Atlas Ocean’s 2021/2022 Antarctic season will begin on Nov. 19, with 15 departures visiting the southernmost continent, Patagonia and the South Georgia and Sandwich Islands. Making Ushuaia arrivals even easier, itineraries will include nonstop complimentary chartered flights from the U.S. to the Argentinian embarkation port.
RELATED: Wave Season, Part One: New Ocean Cruise Itineraries to Book for 2021-2023
Crystal
Crystal is planning on introducing its new “Iconic Passages: Corinth & Suez” voyage onboard its Crystal Esprit yacht on April 1, 2021. The 62-guest luxury vessel is scheduled to embark in Dubrovnik, Croatia, and head to Aqaba, Jordan. In between, guests will transit the Corinth and Suez canals and visit the likes of Dubrovnik’s Walled City, St. Catherine’s Monastery, Luxor and the Valley of the Kings on a night-night cruise. There will even be the option to see Petra, Jordan, on a post-cruise extension.
Lindblad Expeditions
For its first time ever, Lindblad Expeditions will travel to Japan in 2021. The line’s 102-guest National Geographic Orion will offer a pair of inaugural itineraries featuring a world-renowned expedition team befitting the vessel’s name.
A 14-night route will begin in Tokyo on Sept. 15 and head to Niigata, Kanazawa, Matsue, Hagi, Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Hiroshima, Kobe, Osaka and more. Then, on a 13-night cruise departing Sept. 28, Orion will sail farther south into the East China Sea and visit Naoshima and Shodoshima Island, Shikoku Island, Yakushima Island, Amami Oshima Island, the Kerama Islands, the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands and more on its way to Taipei, Taiwan.
Ponant
Ponant is promoting its upcoming new ship — Le Commandant Charcot — launching in summer 2021 on a 14-night inaugural cruise between Iceland and Greenland scheduled for May 31.
The line will also return to the Arctic, Northern Europe and the Mediterranean next year. Starting in June, Le Jacques-Cartier will depart on 30 Arctic sailings including circumnavigations of Iceland. Le Champlain will feature the brand’s partnership with Relais & Châteaux, beginning with a culinary London departure on May 11. And two Ponant ships will traverse the coastlines of Croatia, Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Malta between May and September.
What’s more, the expedition line will take Le Commandant Charcot on a special solar eclipse sailing on Dec. 4. The ship will depart from Ushuaia, Argentina, to witness the natural event from the Weddell Sea, the only place in the world where the eclipse will be 100% visible, according to the line.
Credit: 2021 Atlas Ocean Voyages
Poseidon Expeditions
Looking ahead to 2022/2023, Poseidon Expeditions is already scheduling its Arctic and Antarctic cruises. Among the Sea Spirit’s highlights will be a return to West Greenland in May and June. By October, the expedition ship will switch poles to Antarctica on voyages ranging in length from 11 to 23 days.
Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours
Still relatively new to the expedition market, Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours has announced its 2022/2023 schedule for the Scenic Eclipse, which is quite expansive for one ship — covering six continents.
RELATED: Wave Season, Part Two: New Ocean Cruise Itineraries to Book for 2021-2023
On 48 cruises, the young ship will visit 35 countries. Among its destinations and trip durations will be 16 days in Antarctica in December, 12 days in Japan in June, 13 days in Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula and Kuril Islands in June and July, and a whopping 26 days in the Northeast Passage in August.
Seabourn Cruise Line
In anticipation of the luxury line’s first dedicated expedition ship — the Seabourn Venture — the brand has opened sales on its inaugural 2021/2022 sailings. The ship will spend its maiden winter in Norway, featuring Alesund, Svolvaer, Narvik, Alta, Honningsvag and the Norwegian Fjords, North Cape and the famed northern lights.
The initial Dec. 11 sailing is already sold out, but the following 14-day holiday cruise leaving on Dec. 23 from Tromso, Norway, to Copenhagen, Denmark, is still available.
Sea Cloud Cruises
Not only is Sea Cloud Cruises planning to resume sailings in March 2021, but the sailing ship line is expecting a brand-new vessel not long after. Sea Cloud Spirit’s maiden voyage is scheduled for April 22, while Sea Cloud is set to return beforehand in the Aegean Sea on April 2. Sea Cloud II is set to arrive in the Canary Islands on March 17. The Spirit will debut on a 10-day “Tour of Spain.”
SeaDream Yacht Club
SeaDream Yacht Club plans to return to the Mediterranean in 2022 with several new offerings, not the least of which are two Black Sea cruises. The line will also revisit Israel as well as recreate some 2020 sailings that had to be cancelled due to the pandemic. Overall, the line’s two ships will embark on 47 cruises during the season from April through November.
Silversea Cruises
Silversea Cruises is another luxury line well known for its adventures, and it is planning big for a 2021/2022 return to operations — including 12 maiden calls across the fleet of four expedition ships.
Highlights will include the Galapagos Islands onboard the brand-new Silver Origin, Silversea’s 20-day Antarctica exploration on Jan. 27 and convenient fly-cruise options to skip the Drake Passage. Or, for the longest of expedition cruises, Silversea is offering a 63-day “Grand Arctic Voyage” on July 16 and a 167-day “Uncharted World Tour” on Jan. 25.
Star Clippers
New from Star Clippers is a brochure listing all of its sailing ship itineraries from April 2021 through March 2023 for the namesake Star Clipper, Royal Clipper and Star Flyer.
For example, all three ships will be in the Mediterranean for the 2022 season. Royal Clipper and Star Flyer will also cover the Caribbean, and Star Clipper will extend into Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Borneo and Cambodia. And unique to the Royal Clipper will be Grand Prix sailings heading to Monaco in 2021 and 2022.
