Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) reports its members are offering value on popular cruises for the holiday season – whether it’s Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or New Year’s Eve.
Increasingly, couples, families and extended families are choosing to combine the holidays with a vacation, including three- and four-night cruise getaways, CLIA says.
Numerous CLIA member cruise lines offer Eastern, Western and Southern Caribbean cruises from Port Everglades, Miami and other Florida ports, Galveston, New Orleans, Baltimore and New York.
Cruises departing from San Juan, Puerto Rico feature up to five different island nations during a one-week cruise. They can also visit the Bahamas on a three-, four- or five-night voyage from Florida.
Among the choices for cruises to the Caribbean and The Bahamas are Azamara Club Cruises, Carnival Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, and Princess Cruises.
CLIA offers a sampling of holiday cruises, including:
• Disney Cruise Line will have four ships celebrating the holidays in the Caribbean, making five- to eight-night voyages from such ports as Miami, Galveston and Port Canaveral.
• SeaDream Yacht Club’s two 110-passenger yachts will offer seven-night voyages departing December 22, from St. Thomas to Puerto Rico or Puerto Rico to St. Thomas, showcasing many of the Caribbean’s smallest and most exclusive islands, including St. Barts, Jost van Dyke, Montserratt, Saba, St. John and Virgin Gorda. Windstar Cruises also offers holiday voyages in the Caribbean on modern, elegant sailing ships, and the ultra-luxurious Yachts of Seabourn will pamper travelers.
• Cruise on the rivers of Europe: AMAWaterways, Avalon Waterways and the Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection all have holiday voyages on the Rhine, Main, Danube and other rivers that flow through Austria, Germany, France, Hungary, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
• The South Seas: Paul Gauguin Cruises features Tahiti and the Society Islands in the South Pacific where guests can save as much as 50 percent, including airfare from Los Angeles, on seven-night sailing to destinations as Moorea, Bora Bora, and Papeete.
• The Amazon: Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ all-balcony Seven Seas Mariner will make a 22-night cruise from Rio de Janeiro to Miami departing December 16. In addition to several Caribbean islands, the centerpiece of the voyage is the Amazon River. Regent also offers a 21-night South Pacific Secrets voyage from Bali to Auckland departing December 19.
• Australia: Crystal Cruises will treat passengers to a fireworks display from under the Sydney Harbor Bridge. The 16-day itinerary begins December 20 in Auckland, New Zealand. Crystal also offers a 14-day, port-intensive Caribbean holiday cruise departing December 21 from Miami and featuring seven islands as well as Key West.
• Antartica: Holland America Line’s Veendam departs December 20 from Rio de Janeiro for Antarctica, calls at Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Puerto Madryn, the Drake Passage, Cape Horn and Strait of Magellan before arriving on South America’s west coast in Puerto Montt, Chile.
Visit www.cruising.org