This Week in Cruise: New Itinerary Info From Oceania and Hapag-Lloyd

Oceania Cruises will be offering a new Insignia itinerary during the 2015 season. The 684-guest ship will embark on a 180-Day World Odyssey sailing roundtrip from Miami July 8, 2015. Reservations for the second 180-day voyage open on December 4 at 8:30 a.m. (EST). Insignia will sail north to Canada and New England and then cross the Atlantic to Greenland and Iceland. She will stay multiple days in Asian cities including Mumbai, Rangoon, Singapore and Hong Kong. Guests will explore Africa from Kenya to Cape Town and the continent’s western shores before concluding the voyage with a holiday season of island-hopping in the waters of the Caribbean.

Compagnie du Ponant appointed Australian luxury expedition cruise pioneer Sarina Bratton to head its local operations in the Australian and Asian markets. Bratton created Orion Expedition Cruises a decade ago, and was recently named Compagnie du Ponant's Australasian chairman and special advisor to the company's Marseilles-headquartered executive team. She sold her remaining shares in Orion earlier this year, and in her new role she will spearhead Compagnie du Ponant's international development, with a focus on the Asia Pacific region, as both key destinations and source markets.

Compagnie du Ponant is planning on positioning a new expedition ship in and around Australia starting late 2015, sailing to Australia, Asia and the Pacific islands. The company is also going to promote accessibility to other expedition destinations worldwide aboard existing ships L'Austral, Le Boréal and Le Soléal, as well as the sailing ship Le Ponant.

Speaking of expedition ships, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises' Hanseatic is offering two new voyages in the 2014 season. The Hanseatic will set out to explore Siberia, cruising to the region of Primorye in South-East Siberia; and at the end of July 2014, the Hanseatic will be heading towards the Wrangel Island and the Chukchi Peninsula.

The 17-day Siberian expedition sets sail May 10-27, 2014, from $9,360 per person. The 18-day expedition to Wrangel Island and the Chukchi Peninsula sets sail July 28 to Aug. 15, 2014, from $11,280 per person.