As Wave Season continues this month, more great deals and new programs are surfacing to entice consumers to book a cruise vacation. First, Virgin Voyages has enhanced its group booking options with a new “Circles, Groups and Weddings" program. Both consumers and travel advisors can use it to book group trips, and it provides greater flexibility, more benefits and improved offers, based on travel advisors’ feedback. Even better, Virgin will do much to reward consumers who book through their travel advisor. Clients will receive up to a 10 percent travel discount, up to $300 in free drinks and a group dinner at one of Virgin’s six restaurants. Separately, Virgin Voyages also introduced new entertainment on Brilliant Lady.
Other deals? Paul Gauguin Cruises announced a "Kids Sail & Fly Free" offer on summer and holiday voyages. It provides a strong incentive for advisors to chat with their clients about the offer. For every new booking that's made with a deposit paid, the boutique luxury line will reward advisors with a $500 gift card. Separately, Regent Seven Seas Cruises unveiled a new "Enhance Your Escape" offer for 2025 voyages, according to sister site Luxury Travel Advisor.
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The Dominican Republic, which welcomed 2.6 million cruise visitors in 2024, has begun work on another new cruise port, the Port of Barahona along its southern coast, according to Cruise Hive. The new cruise terminal will cost $11.4 million and also include a plaza and gazebo area for parked cars and motorcoaches.
During the past week, Cruise Lines International Association’s 2025 RiverView Conference and ASTA’s River Cruise Expo, river cruises unfolded in Budapest, Hungary, and Vienna, Austria, respectively. On site at the conferences, Marilyn Conroy, executive vice president, business development, Riviera Travel North America, spoke with travel advisors, some of whom also inspected or sailed on the company's William Wordsworth. She also chatted one-on-one with us about the company's North American expansion and positioning within the European river cruise industry. Prior to its recent rebranding as Riviera Travel, the company was known as Riviera River Cruises.
Also on the branding front, ultra-luxury Silversea has unveiled new positioning "To Finding More," which is now live across various channels and platforms. This new branding will prioritize emotion, authenticity and guests as creators of their own stories.
Oceania Cruises has opened bookings for its 2027 World Cruise, while Celebrity Cruises has opened sales for its 2027 mega-yacht, eco-discovery voyages in Ecuador's Galápagos Islands. The 100-passenger Celebrity Flora will offer seven-, 10-, 11- and 16-night sailings. As for polar region expedition cruises, Swan Hellenic has revealed its lineup of experts for upcoming Arctic cruises.
As for executive moves, AmaWaterways promoted Alex Pinelo to chief sales officer and Michal Maguire to chief marketing officer. Both bring significant experience to the upscale river cruise brand. The two leaders have served the global river line in other roles since 2016 and 2019, respectively.
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