Shirley Linde's Cruise Letter
Cruise News

Well-known travel journalist Shirley Linde writes
 of unique voyages and special offers of ships all over the world. 

You can see cruise information every day at www.SmallShipCruises.com

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VICTORIA CRUISES – In honor of the Beijing Summer Olympics they are offering 50% off bookings for Aug. 8 to 24 departures of Yangtze River cruises. Rates start at $338 per person double for a 4-day Yangtze cruise. Shore excursions cost an additional $80 to $225 per person.

FRANCE CRUISES -- Through August get 2 hotel nights free in Paris with a cruise.

HURTIGRUTEN -- Book by July 31 for their 67-day Arctic to Antarctica voyage and receive 50% off for your companion. Offer is also available when booking selected segments. Other cruises have 50-100% off for companion when booking certain 12, 7 and 6-day Norwegian Coastal voyages.

FRENCH COUNTRY WATERWAYS -- They offer 30-40 % off select departures of barge cruises in July and August. Example: the 18-passenger barge Esprit in Burgundy's C?te d'Or wine-growing region is $2,995 per person.

DO YOU LIKE TO JOURNAL?  Motivational coach Frank Shapiro has published Cruise Ship Journal for keeping a personal record of your cruise and including daily inspirational messages.  The journal is designed to make your cruise more fulfilling. More info at www.completeperson.com

NEW SHIPS

NEW RIVERBOATS IN EUROPE -- A new cruise company, Jewel River Cruises, has the 80-passenger Jewel Imperial Blue.  Amadeus Waterways, now AMA, launches Amacello and the Amadante.  Tauck has its second new-build, the Swiss Sapphire, 118-passengers.

SILVERSEA -- The new expedition ship Prince Albert II will sail the Arctic, Svalbard, Iceland and Greenland for the summer, then reposition to South America and Antarctica for fall and winter voyages

OTHER NEW VESSELS --The new Victoria Jenna will be the largest vessel to ply the Yangtze. In Egypt, the new Oberoi Zahra is cruising the Nile and includes a full-service spa.  Seabourn’s newest vessel, the 450-passenger Seabourn Odyssey, is scheduled to enter service in June 2009 and will have a World Cruise from Fort Lauderdale in January 2010, the first time that any of the Yachts of Seabourn has undertaken a world cruise.

PANDAW -- The new Orient Pandaw has launched in Saigon. It has 30 staterooms.

NEW BOAT ON THE MEKONG -- Value World Tours will have a new 48-passenger river vessel to sail the Mekong River between Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and Siem Reap, Cambodia beginning  Oct. 10. A two-week land-cruise package includes one night in Ho Chi Minh, three nights in Siem Reapl, and a nine-night sailing. Rates begin at $2,499 for the 14-day package. To promote this new service, Value World Tours is offering a $1,000 per couple discount on the Dec. 1-15 land/cruise package.

LINDBLAD EXPEDITIONS -- Lindblad has a new polar expedition vessel, named National Geographic Explorer. It will go to Greenland, Iceland, the Arctic, then down the east coast of the U.S. and the west coast of South America to Antarctica. They also announce new four-night itineraries with in Baja, the Pacific Northwest, and San Francisco Bay. The four-night getaways begin this fall and winter and will be offered on the 62-passenger National Geographic Sea Bird.

TRAVEL DYNAMICS -- They bought the 100-passenger Clelia II, formerly Renanaisance IV. It will operate in the Arctic, Antarctic, Great Lakes and on the South America, U.S. and Canada east coast.

GOLF CRUISES

SILVERSEA CRUISES – They offer golf on 35 courses in 16 destinations including on a 15-day Panama Canal crossing from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles, 7-day Mediterranean cruise, an 11-day Mexican Riviera voyage from Los Angeles to Costa Rica, Caribbean and South Pacific cruises.  

NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE GOLF -- NCL has launched a new Golf Bermuda program, giving its golf-loving guests more opportunities to hit the links in Bermuda, where there are more courses per square mile than anywhere else in the world.

CRYSTAL CRUISES GOLF -- Crystal Cruises has 11- and 12-day golf cruises in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands and the maritime coast of Canada and New England. 

DEILMANN GOLF -- On Peter Deilmann Cruises’ river sailings guests can play courses in Austria, Germany, France, and Hungary.
 

Note that fares quoted come from the cruise companies and are for limited times and certain dates.s.

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