New Ships, New Food And New Perks On Cruises For Late Summer 2023

Gunta and Greg Larsen were looking for an expedition cruise that colored outside the lines when they found a 15-day coastal Japan cruise offered through Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic. And that's exactly what they got.

Oceania Cruises, known as one of the foremost cruise lines focusing on culinary excellence and destination experiences, has unveiled the inaugural season itineraries for their upcoming vessel, Allura, set to become part of the fleet in the summer of 2025. These 26 inaugural season journeys span over 92 destinations, ranging from seven to 34 days in duration, and will be available for booking starting on September 13, 2023. This luxurious new ship will feature standard staterooms with an impressive size of 291 square feet, surpassing the dimensions of many entry-level suites found on some ultra-luxury cruise lines.

Traditionally, Alaska cruises have been seven days in length—either a weeklong loop of the Inside Passage roundtrip from Seattle or Vancouver, or a similar transit across the Gulf of Alaska sailing one way between Vancouver and Seward or Whittier.

Air Canada is expanding its international flying schedule for the summer of 2024, especially to destinations across Europe, including a new year-round route between Montreal and Madrid. 

Norwegian Cruise Line has docked two ships in Baltimore, calling the Maryland city a long term home for the first time ever.

Imagine blocks of ice floating past as you come face-to-face with an imposing blue-tinted glacial wall. A puffin’s zany flight path draws your eye, before you spot the distinctive white bulge of a beluga whale breaking the water.

Recently, I went on a week-long Eastern Mediterranean cruise for $1,500 and visited four countries in seven days. 

I’m a 68-year-old solo traveler who was on a tour of Sicily in June 2022, when I fell getting off a bus, breaking multiple ribs, vertebrae and a pelvic bone. I had purchased the RoundTrip Choice plan from Seven Corners Travel Insurance, so I called, expecting they would help coordinate my medical care with Italian-speaking doctors. But they told me to seek help on my own, save the receipts and file a claim when I got home. Our tour guide was an angel, arranging drivers to take me back and forth to the hospital and even interpreting by speakerphone with doctors. Days later I got a doctor to fill out a form (which I had to Google Translate for him) saying I could travel home, as long as I was in a reclining position. My family chipped in to buy a business-class seat for the return flight, a day-and-night trip from Palermo to Munich to New York to Jacksonville. Seven Corners finally paid $5,772 for my bills and missed trip, but refused to reimburse me for most of my business-class fare. Far worse, I believe they failed to provide me the assistance they promised, essentially leaving me to fend for myself and leaving me unable to communicate with hospital staff. I have registered complaints with the Better Business Bureau and the state insurance agencies of Florida and Indiana (where Seven Corners is based), but I’ve gotten nowhere. Can you help?

Huddled in the North Atlantic between Iceland, Scotland and Norway, the Faroes — an 18-island archipelago and self-governing nation within the Kingdom of Denmark — captivates visitors the instant they land at the airport on the island of Vágar. Silence saturates the emerald green slopes and basalt cliffs. Sheep roam the grassy expanses that are sliced vertically by dark rocky threads caused by the erosion of streams. It’s hard to keep your eyes focused on the road as you behold a gauzy mist swirling around the mountains, veiling deep gorges, wide fjords, occasional turf-roofed dwellings and waterfalls.

WHY IT RATES: Pleasant Holidays and its luxury brand, Journese, has added new Egypt, Jordan and Nile river cruise itineraries that can be customized to include such iconic destinations as Cairo, Luxor, Amman, Petra and the Dead Sea. — Laurie Baratti, TravelPulse Associate Writer

One of the best ways to see Norway's jagged coastline is by boat, so I spent two nights traveling up the coast with Hurtigruten last fall. 

BIO Habitat Hotel is comprised of 28 habitats, or rooms, in eight distinct categories – from Montaña Grand Master Suites, featuring sweeping mountain views, and their own hot tubs and infinity pools, to Nidos, glass-enclosed respites with suspended nets located deep in the forest.