New Ex-UK Cruise from Celebrity

Celebrity Cruises has announced their bumper summer 2012 itineraries for UK-based Celebrity Eclipse. Be one of the first to sign up for the brand new 14-night Iceland & Fjords cruise from just £1,599 per person (based on two people sharing an inside stateroom).

The price includes a 14-night Iceland & Fjords voyage (cruise-only) departing from Southampton and calling at Reykjavik (Iceland), Akureyri (Iceland), Klaksvik (Faroe Islands) and then Geiranger (above), Alesund, Olden and Bergen (all Norway), before retuning to Southampton; meals and entertainment onboard and all relevant cruise taxes/fees. Price is based on July 7, 2012, departure.

For more information, visit www.celebritycruises.co.uk or contact the cruise agent specialist of The Cruise Line Ltd.

The Land of Ice and Fire

By guest blogger Steve Newman

You can now visit the Northen seas with Saga for 14 nights, departing from Dover on June 28, 2011 from just £2264 per person.

Enjoy a thrilling two-week voyage absorbing the breathtaking landscape of Iceland and returning via Norway. Discover beauty and be mesmerised by the freshness and colours of nature, taking in the puffin colonies and the spectacular Godafoss Falls.

The journey reveals the dramatic geological treasures of Iceland with its frozen coastline, bubbling geysers and beautiful fjords, as well as discovering the thriving capital of Reykjavik. You also call at the Orkney Islands, with their fascinating ancient heritage, and remote Faroe Islands.

Highlights:

• Discovering Iceland’s hot bed of geothermal activity, eerie lava formations, hot springs and glaciers
• Visiting the Laufas Farm Museum and gain an insight into early Icelandic farm life
• Visiting the amazing Godafoss Falls – Europe’s most powerful waterfalls, punctuated with dozens of rainbows.
• The Orkney Islands archaeological sites, including the Stone Age Ring of Brodgar and the Neolithic village of Skara Brae (above)
• Exploring Norway’s cultural city of Bergen, with its colourful gabled houses

Ports of call:

Dover, England – Kirkwell, Orkney Islands – Heimaey, Iceland – Reykjavik, Iceland - Grundarfjordur, Iceland – Isafjord, Iceland – Akureyri, Iceland – Seydisfjordur, Iceland – Torshavn, Faroe Islands – Bergen, Norway – Dover, England

Price Includes:

• Travel insurance
• All on-board gratuities
• Entertainment and activities
• Welcome cocktail party and Captain’s Dinner
• All meals onboard, including 24-hour room service
• All port taxes and visas
• UK mainland travel service to your departure point

For further details, look up http://www.sagacruises.co.uk/

In the Wake of the Vikings

By guest blogger Steve Newman

Scotland and adventure travel may seem like an unexpected pairing. Yet, Zegrahm Expeditions combines Scotland with the unspoiled islands of the Faroes and the volcanic wonders of Iceland for a 14-day expedition from July 13-26, 2011, aboard Clipper Odyssey that is sure to transform your view of Northern Europe from well-trodden to well-off-the-beaten-path.

Travelling in the wake of true expeditionary travellers — the Vikings — be amazed by the dramatic scenery that sets the stage for Zegrahm's expert team of lecturers to bring the region's natural history and culture to life. Voyage highlights include:

• Tour (and taste!) Scotland's best-known industry: whisky
  
• Storm the beach (via Zodiac) at Dunrobin and explore this 13th-century castle and its Versailles-inspired gardens
  
• Sail past seabird colonies perched on cliffs along the region's dramatic fjords
  
• Take a cliff-side hike and enjoy stunning views while learning about the volcanic geology below your feet
  
• Visit picturesque coastal villages still steeped in Viking tradition
  
• Embark on a thrilling snowmobile ride across Europe's largest glacier
  

For further information about Zegrahm Expeditions’ cruises, visit http://www.zeco.com/ or call the adbenture cruise specialists at The Cruise Line on 0800 008 6677.

Iceland, Dublin, Faroe Isles and St Kilda

By guest blogger Steve Newman

To many of us, a cruise is made by the amount of wildlife we see from the deck or on land when taking organised excursions. To this end, Swan Hellenic has partnered with Marinelife, the marine conservation research charity, to bring a daily wildlife image blog to cruise passengers and the public alike.

The Marinelife team has been recording all sightings and engaging with passengers on board the Minerva throughout her visit to Iceland with a programme of presentations and deck watches. Marinelife’s team is writing a daily blog on the Swan Hellenic website to keep the general public up to date with a range of spectacular encounters, which include many hundreds of dolphins of multiple species, a Humpback Whale mother-and-calf pair and sightings of the infamous Eyjafjallajokull volcano.

Minerva will be returning to Iceland sailing on a round trip from Portsmouth from 21 July - 05 August 2011. She will be visiting four ports on the “Land of Fire,” including the capital Reykjavik. Iceland is place renowned for its ice fields, volcanic springs and thundering waterfalls. The ship will also call at Dublin and Torshavn in the Faroe Isles.

Apart from elation at the coastal scenery and the wildlife, there is sadness on this trip, too. It rather depends on how it affects you, but I defy anyone not to be moved when you’re on St Kilda. Fifty miles out from the Western Isles, even as you start to approach you wonder how people could have lived here. This feeling is enhanced when you pass where the young men climbed the cliffs to collect seabird eggs in swells they would have regarded as nothing but have many visitors clinging to the rail.

Surviving until the 1930s, when they asked to be evacuated, you wander among their stone houses (above) now numbered and marked with the occupants' names, trying to imagine how they eked out a living here and marvelling at their dry-stone walling skills. The sadness comes when you discover that in just one egg collecting trip, almost half the young men of the island were lost in heavy seas.

Having visited both here and Iceland, I can assure you you’ll be left with memories that will stay with you for ever.

For those wishing to know more, Swan Hellenic will be exhibiting at the Cruise Show in Birmingham in October.

For more info in the meantime, go to http://www.swanhellenic.com