This Week in Cruise: Renovation and Itinerary News From Crystal, Royal Caribbean and Compagnie du Ponant

crystal serenityRenovations and new itineraries topped this week in cruise news. Crystal Serenity emerged from a $17 million makeover. The redesign includes new Crystal Penthouses and transformed indoor/outdoor casual dining spaces, including the Trident Grill, Scoops ice cream bar, Tastes Bar, Lido Cafe and Tastes restaurant, with a brand new evening menu.

Cruise industry-firsts include a chef’s herb garden as part of vibrant “vertical walls” of greenery and 70 new Pure hypoallergenic staterooms.

In itinerary news, Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas arrived in the Port of New Orleans' Julia Street Cruise Terminal Dec. 12 to sail weekly itineraries through April. The 965-foot cruise ship was completely refurbished in December 2012 and replaces Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas, which was home-ported in New Orleans during the 2012-2013 cruise season.

The ship’s regular itineraries will have seven-night Bahamas cruises to Key West, Fla.; Nassau, Bahamas; and CocoCay, Bahamas, as well as seven-night western Caribbean cruises to Falmouth, Jamaica; George Town, Grand Cayman; and Cozumel, Mexico.

Compagnie du Ponant had some big itinerary news of its own this week: the company launched its new 2014 / 2015 brochure for its Antarctica voyages

From November 2014 to January 2015, Compagnie du Ponant offers three different Antarctic itineraries, including nine Ushuaia-Ushuaia departures. These protected sites can only be reached by small ships, which in this region must limit their onboard guests to 200 maximum.

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