Save Big With NCL This Winter

Norwegian Cruise Line is launching its new “Norwegians set SALE in Europe” promotion where customers can save up to £400 per stateroom on European and Atlantic crossings. The sale launches today (Dec 7) and is valid on sailings of six nights or more, including in peak holiday periods. Customers can make savings on bookings made until February 29, 2012.

Guests will be able to enjoy savings from a choice of four ships as Norwegian’s largest ever European deployment arrives in 2012. Sailings included in the offer are Norwegian Epic’s ‘Western Mediterranean from Barcelona’, Norwegian Spirit’s ‘Grand Mediterranean from Venice or Barcelona’, Norwegian Sun’s ‘Baltics from Copenhagen’ and Norwegian Jade’s ‘Greek Isles from Venice’.

A seven-night Western Med voyage from Barcelona, fly-cruise, on Norwegian Epic departs on various dates between April and October, sailing from Barcelona, to Naples, Civitavecchia (for Rome), Livorno (for Florence/Pisa), Villefranche (for Nice/MonteCarlo), Marseille and back to Barcelona. It is priced from £849 per person based on an October 14 departure.

A 12-night Grand Mediterranean cruise from Barcelona fly-cruise on Norwegian Spirit also departs on various dates from April-October, sailing from Barcelona, to Toulon (for Provence), Livorno, Civitavecchia, Naples, Mykonos, Istanbul, Izmir (Ephesus) and Venice. It is priced from £1,176 per person based on an April 28 departure.

A nine-night Baltic Capitals from Copenhagen fly-cruise on Norwegian Sun departs on various dates from May-September, sailing from Copenhagen, to Warnemunde (for Berlin), Tallinn, St Petersburg (overnight), Helsinki, Stockholm and back to Copenhagen. It is priced from £1,339 per person based on a May 13 departure.

For more info and booking details, be sure to check out this link with the UK's leading cruise agent specialists, The Cruise Line Ltd.

Crystal Expands World Jewish Culture Exploration

With increased participation in Jewish heritage tours, luxury cruise operator Crystal Cruises is expanding its related programming in 2011. Scheduled are over a dozen Crystal Adventures that explore Jewish life, past and present, around the world in or near Mumbai, Miami, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Berlin, Hamburg, St Petersburg, Rome, Dublin, Jerusalem/Ashdod and Odessa.

Each tour gives an overview of a culture within a culture, while also providing intimate connection with spaces, exhibits, artefacts, traditions and people that bring the international Jewish narrative to life. Among the highlights:

· St Petersburg: Discover how this resilient Russian Jewish community survived Communist oppression, war and hardship to flourish today, as demonstrated through its people, community centres, musi, and an intimate home visit.

· Mumbai: Visit three synagogues ranging from Baghdadi to Bene-Israel congregations.

· Copenhagen: Learn how 99% of Denmark’s Jews survived the Holocaust at the Museum of Danish Resistance.

· Dublin: Take in the social, legal and political contributions of the Irish-Jewish community; see the first dedicated day school and home of Israeli ex-President Chaim Herzog.

· German Concentration Camps: Explore Neuengamme, which housed 100,000 prisoners outside Hamburg, and Berlin’s Sachsenhausen, which became the blueprint for all other camps.

· Rome: Walk through the 2,000-year-old Jewish Quarter of Rome.

While most 2012 excursions are still in development, Crystal is planning a Jewish heritage tour of Shanghai for its 2012 World Cruise.

For reservations, visit http://www.crystalcruises.co.uk/ or contact the UK's leading luxury cruises specialist of The Cruise Line Ltd.

Crystal's Northern Europe Sensory Adventures

Feel perfectly-chilled vodka slide down your throat while sitting snugly inside a Scandinavian "ice bar"; smell fresh-cut grass while swinging your 9-iron across championship golf courses in Ireland; hear the Russian Imperial Guard march to symphonic crescendos while welcoming you to the Royal Catherine Palace; taste homemade goat caramel among Norwegian fjords; and view Stockholm by hot-air balloon.

These are but a sampling of the extraordinary "sensory adventures" guests can savour as part of Crystal Cruises’ Northern European voyage collection that begins this May. Other shore-side excursions include:

Pop culture-related destinations such as Stieg Larsson’s Stockholm; the Beatles’ Liverpool; Belfast’s Titanic shipyard; St Andrews University, where Prince William and Kate Middleton met; and the Da Vinci Code’s Rosslyn Chapel in Edinburgh

Historical journeys related to Vikings in Stockholm, Dublin and Roskilde (near Copenhagen); genealogical emigration and the Cold War in Hamburg; and life behind Berlin’s Iron Curtain

Architectural tours spanning the Art Nouveau in Ålesund, Norway to the Modern in Berlin, plus eco-conscious trips like bird-watching in Runde Island (near Ålesund) and Shetland; kayaking the Finnish Archipelago (Helsinki); and exploring the wind-powered town of Paldiski (near Tallinn) by 4x4.

Adrenalin-fuelled adventures such as racing rally cars in Estonia; cosmonaut training, including zero-gravity weightlessness, near Moscow; and, in Crystal’s most over-the-top excursion of 2011, flying a MiG fighter jet over Russia - for $39,300.

Expanding on its “You Care, We Care” voluntourism initiative, Crystal is also offering a couple of excursions where guests can “give back” by packing and donating food at the Estonian Food Bank or volunteer at the Rostock Zoological Garden. These excursions are complimentary with Crystal Cruises, covering all logistical arrangements and costs.

Prices for Crystal’s Northern European voyages start from £4,207 per person (based on a May 22 departure), including free return economy flights, 11 nights in a deluxe stateroom with picture window, with all meals, soft drinks and port taxes.

In addition, as part of Crystal's "All Inclusive - As You Wish" promotion, guests on this voyage will also receive onboard spending money of $1,000 per person, which can be spent on shore excursions, spa treatments, alcoholic beverages, purchases in the onboard boutiques, gratuities or Vintage Room experiences.

For reservations, see www.crystalcruises.co.uk/ or contact the UK's leading luxury-cruise experts of The Cruise Line Ltd on 0800 008 6677.