Tauck has announced details of its 2019 small ship cruising plans, and the Connecticut-based company says that it is set to increase its passenger volume by 40 percent next year. To realize its goal, Tauck is adding five new small ship itineraries, increasing the number of ships featured in its fleet, and sailing more charters with its partner cruise lines. Last spring Tauck disclosed plans to double its small ship cruising capacity over the next several years, and in this latest announcement Tauck said it is looking to achieve much of that growth in 2019.
Among the new cruises in Tauck’s 2019 lineup are the nine-day "Arctic Allure: Spitsbergen and the Midnight Sun" (with a seven-night cruise aboard the Ponant ship Le Boréal), the 11-day "Legendary Scottish Isles, Edinburgh and Glasgow" (with a seven-night cruise aboard Ponant’s Le Champlain), and the 20-day "Cruising Down Under," which combines a six-night land exploration of Australia with a pair of two-night hotel stays (in Queenstown and Auckland, New Zealand, both with guided Tauck sightseeing) and a nine-night New Zealand cruise aboard the Ponant ship Le Lapérouse.
Tauck is also adding North America to its cruise portfolio, with an eight-day "Alaska’s Inside Passage" itinerary aboard the Ponant ship Le Soléal and a 12-day "Cruising the Great Lakes: Chicago to Toronto" journey that includes an eight-night cruise aboard Ponant’s Le Champlain bookended by two-night hotel stays in both cities.
Next year will see Tauck further expanding its partnership with the French line Ponant. Tauck currently operates itineraries aboard six different Ponant ships, including the soon-to-launch Le Lapérouse, which will be featured this summer on Tauck’s "Iceland: Land of Fire & Ice" cruise. Le Lapérouse is the first of four new Explorer series expedition ships being launched by Ponant in 2018 and 2019, and Tauck will feature three of the four (Le Lapérouse, Le Champlain and Le Dumont-d’Urville) in 2019.
Each Explorer ship will have a unique Blue Eye lounge. Located beneath each ship’s waterline, the underwater lounge will offer a true multi-media experience with the surrounding environment.
In addition, Tauck is also expanding the number of charters it will operate with its partner cruise lines by approximately 50 percent, and increasing its total number of small ship cruise departures by 12 percent. In all, Tauck will offer 22 itineraries next year aboard a fleet of 13 ships.
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