More Big Savings With Oceania

Oceania Cruises is offering savings of up to 57% off selected cruise departures in spring and summer, including sailings on board new Marina, with an onboard credit of $1,000 per stateroom. All prices include all meals and complimentary bottled water and soft drinks but exclude flights.

Route of the Vikings: 14 nights from £1,399 saving £1,829 PLUS $1,000 on board credit.

Departing July 1, Oceania has a 14-night sailing from Copenhagen to London on Marina, crossing the North Sea and Atlantic through Norway, the Shetland Islands, Faroe Islands, Iceland (above) and Ireland before disembarking in London.

Greek Isles Odyssey: 12 nights from £1,499, saving up to £1,235pp PLUS $1,000 on board credit.

Departing July 9, this cruise sails from Istanbul to Athens through some of the Greece’s most beautiful and historic islands on board the mid-sized Nautica, with with savings up to £1,235 per person for an Outside ocean-view stateroom, based on two sharing.

Myths and Legends: 12 nights from £1,199, saving up to £1,160pp PLUS $1,000 on board credit.

Departing July 21, this magnificent sailing from Athens cruises the Greek Islands, Montenegro and Croatia before disembarking in Venice on Nautica, now from £1,199 per person for an Inside stateroom.

Majestic Inspiration: 14 nights from £1,399, saving up to £1,529pp PLUS $1,000 on board credit.

Departing August 2, cruise through the magical Aegean Sea on a 14-night cruise on board Nautica and save up to £1,529pp for an Inside Stateroom, based on two sharing, with a $1,000 credit/stateroom. The sailing departs from Venice and continues into the Aegean Sea cruising through Croatia, Greece, Italy, Monaco and France before disembarking in Barcelona.

For more info, visit www.oceaniacruises.co.uk or luxury cruise specialists The Cruise Line Ltd.

Zegrahm Expeditions Offers a New Take on Ireland

Zegrahm Expeditions has become a leader in small-ship island circumnavigations and, this August, the adventure travel company will circumnavigate Ireland on an expedition that is not being offered by any other tour operator. Linking together a combination of places in the country that independent travellers couldn’t easily access on their own, this 14-day voyage combines charming villages, wondrous birdlife, historic landmarks and incredible geologic features. This trip is led by a team of experts, including two of the company’s directors along with several Irish and United Kingdom natives, two of which hail from the Emerald Isle itself.

Among the many highlights of this expedition, travellers will:

Explore the geological masterpiece of Giant’s Causeway—40,000 closely-packed hexagonal columns of varying heights that line the coast and descend like a staircase into the sea.

Embark on an iconic drive that encompasses some of the world’s finest scenery from Sneem to the market town of Kenmare, best known as the Ring of Kerry
Zodiac cruise to the private island of Skellig Michael, once home to 9th-century Irish Christian monks, and now home to one of Europe’s best-known, but least-accessible monasteries—also a World Heritage Site.

Tour (and taste!) the Old Bushmills Distillery for a look into region’s best-known elixir.

Visit to Donegal’s Belleek Pottery studio to view artisans hard at work on traditional and contemporary tabletop, decorative, lighting, and jewellery pottery pieces.

Admire the skill and mastery of blowing, cutting, and engraving crystal ware at the renowned Waterford Crystal Gallery.

Raise a pint with fellow travellers and locals alike at several of the many pubs that dot the country.

“We pride ourselves as a leader in small-ship cruising and this expedition is the perfect example of how we can tie together so many unique stops into one itinerary. Plus, with all the activities offered on this voyage, there really is something for every traveller,” says Zegrahm Expeditions’ President, Jon Nicholson.

This expedition, aboard the 110-passenger Clipper Odyssey, departs August 14, 2011. Ideally timed for a summer vacation, Zegrahm offers family and friends travelling together a savings of 10% for four or more people and 15% when you travel with eight or more. To learn more about this itinerary, visit: http://www.zeco.com/ or contact the adventure cruise specialists of The Cruise Line Ltd.

Azamara's All-Inclusive Golf & Cruise Package

Azamara Club Cruises has announced a new relationship with PerryGolf, the luxury golf tour operator. Azamara Club Golf Cruises will offer escorted and all-inclusive golf tours and cruise programmes that feature some of the world’s premier golf courses.

The Golf Cruises will combine a range of itineraries with the full golf experience. The golfing add-ons are available through travel agents and Azamara Club Cruises directly, starting at $2,682 per person, as well as non-golfing companion rates starting at $669 per person. Also included in the programme are green fees, golf cart rental, ground transportation, golf bag delivery to the first tee as well as return to hotel or ship and storage after the round and overnight golf shoe shining.

Onboard, Golf Cruises guests enjoy an inclusive drink package, post-game cocktail receptions and two group dinners, one in a speciality restaurant. Single supplements starting at $263 also apply for the pre-voyage portion of the programme.

All golf programmes commence with a one or two-night pre-voyage golfing land stay, which includes luxury hotel accommodation, a welcome cocktail reception and dinner to meet fellow guests, as well as optional sightseeing tours for an additional charge. During their voyage, guests will play at four or five of the world’s most heralded courses, such as Old Head and Portmarnock, Ireland; Oitavos Dunes, Portugal; Montgomerie Links, Vietnam; Mission Hills, China; Four Seasons Provence, France; and Sperone, Corsica, depending on the itinerary.

Azamara Club Cruises is a destination-immersive cruise line for upmarket travellers who want to not only see the places and cultures they visit, but to live them. The two intimate, 694-guest ships, Azamara Journey and Azamara Quest, offer a boutique European hotel ambience with extraordinary service, fine cuisine and wines from around the world, while sailing to a host of destinations larger ships can't reach, with more overnight and late-night stays in every region.

For more information on Azamara Club Cruises, visit http://www.azamaraclubcruises.co.uk/ or contact the luxury and adventure cruise specialists of The Cruise Line Ltd.

A Corking Offer

By guest blogger Steve Newman

Head to the Emerald Isle next year with Celebrity Cruises' Celebrity Eclipse (above) from just £439 per person (based on two people sharing an inside cabin).

Eclipse's great range of onboard features include a hot glass-blowing show and studio developed with The Corning Museum of Glass, a real grass ‘Lawn Club’ and the Celebrity iLounge, the Apple-only internet café and Apple reseller.

Price includes a four-night Cork cruise-only departing from Southampton (England) and calling at Cork (Cobh, Ireland), before returning to Southampton (England); meals and entertainment onboard and all relevant cruise taxes/fees. Price based on May 3, 2011, departure.

For more information, visit http://www.celebritycruises.co.uk/ or call cruise specialists The Cruise Line Ltd on 0800 008 6677.

Circumnavigate with Zegrahm!

Zegrahm Expeditions Embarks on Five Hallmark Circumnavigations in 2011

SEATTLE, WA, OCTOBER 20, 2010—In addition to their expert leaders and unique expeditionary style of travel, Zegrahm Expeditions has perhaps become best known for their circumnavigations of some of the world’s most interesting, and, often times, obscure, archipelagos. In fact, the 20-year-old company was the first to circumnavigate Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic and New Guinea in the western South Pacific. Zegrahm believes linking together all the fascinating locales within a single destination by small-ship offers travellers an in-depth and uncompromised view of the local culture, history and natural environment. Plus, many of the areas that Zegrahm visits have little to no infrastructure in place, so travelling by small ship is the only way to go.

And, 2011 is no exception. Zegrahm’s travel year commences with the first of the following five highly-anticipated circumnavigations, two of which are brand-new itineraries for Zegrahm:

· Circumnavigation of Sumatra: Zegrahm celebrates the start of the New Year with an inaugural 18-day sojourn around Western Indonesia’s equator-straddling island of Sumatra. Travellers will be amazed by orangutans in Gunung Leuser National Park (above), spectacular Krakatoa Island and stone-jumping super-humans on Nias Island, plus the region’s incredible array of wildlife, unspoiled wilderness and more than a dozen ethnic groups.

· Circumnavigation of Sicily: Zegrahm’s first-ever April expedition circling the Mediterranean’s largest island combines visits to amazing archaeological wonders — from the Roman theatres and villas of Taormina and Lipari to the ornate Norman-Arab castles and cathedrals in Cefalu, Palermo and Monreale — with a tasty immersion into the region’s famed viticulture and cuisine.

· Circumnavigation of Iceland: This 14-day expedition reveals the element-sculpted landscapes and volcanic wizardry that have made the Land of Fire and Ice famous. Travellers search for breeding whooper swans; ride snowmobiles across Europe's largest glacier; walk among ruins that recall the heyday of Viking exploration; and explore the fabled Golden Circle — Thingvellir National Park, Gullfoss Waterfall and the Geysir Center.

· Circumnavigation of Ireland: The Emerald Isle truly sparkles on this fascinating August voyage that brings history to life as Zegrahm explores the Neolithic burial site of Newgrange; the Viking legacy of Waterford; and the 18th-century English architecture in Dublin, Cork and Killarney. No less spectacular are the rolling green glens of the Ring of Kerry, Dingle Peninsula's dramatic cliffs and Northern Ireland's Giant's Causeway.

· Circumnavigation of the Black Sea: Eurasia’s most intriguing destinations are revealed —Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria — on a 15-day expedition where beautiful landscapes are enhanced only by the stunning architecture and archaeological sites that travellers experience on one of two September departures. This itinerary is a long-time favourite among Zegrahm travellers.

To learn more about each of these itineraries, plus read accounts of past circumnavigation expeditions, visit http://www.zeco.com/. To book in the UK, be sure to contact specialist agents The Cruise Line Ltd on 0800 008 6677.