Expanding the increasingly popular Dry January theme into the new year, Princess Cruises is rolling out the Amore Princess Zero Alcohol Drinks collection, a “curated menu of premium non-alcoholic elixirs and spirits alternatives.” The curated alcohol-free drinks will be included in Princess Plus and Princess Premier Packages.

The first standalone non-alcoholic menu at a major cruise brand, it will feature 10–20 craft cocktails, developed in collaboration with the team behind Sips, Barcelona, as well as an exclusive selection of craft non-alcoholic beers and white, red, rosé, and sparkling wines. Offerings will include drinks like Blake’s Breeze, a blend of Betty Buzz Sparkling Grapefruit, a splash of soda, and a twist of citrus; Kylie Minogue’s Non-Alcoholic Sparkling Rosé; mocktails featuring Lyre’s No-Jito Royale, mojito made with Lyre’s White Cane Spirit, fresh mint, and lime; and the 24K Margarita, featuring Almave tequila by Lewis Hamilton.

The Amore Princess Zero Alcohol Collection will debut fleetwide by the end of March.

Travel advisors with whom TRO spoke were overwhelmingly positive about the new product.

”I think it’s awesome!!” said Gretchen Machnik Soares, owner of Gulls Way Travel in Old Lyme, CT.

“Yes I think it would make many guests happy as many people in Los Angeles don’t drink and you see this on many bar menus now,” said Melissa Curtin McDavitt at Fora Travel.

“I drink minimally, so I mostly stick to fruity drinks that mask the taste, or non-alcoholic drinks that actually taste good,” said Mollie Knowles Ward at Troubadour Travel in Austin. “I personally am HERE for this new menu option, as will be friends and family in recovery! Previously I got Princess Plus mostly for the WiFi and so my family could enjoy the benefits. This one is all for me!”

Most of my clients are non-drinkers, so I definitely think that this would be something that would interest them. I hope it catches on and eventually goes industry wide,” agreed Mary Barrett, an Outside Travel Agent at Cruise Brothers.

Travel With Shelly Eden owner Michelle Feit Eden noted that “people going alcohol free seems to be a new trend—not because of an alcohol problem but more because they don’t like how they feel and for their health. Many local bars/breweries/restaurants are expanding their offerings to this. I think it’s a great idea.”

At The Bee’s Knees Travel by Heather Bannon, Bannon sees the new option as a selling point for Princess. “Many clients are focusing on health and wellness. And the Millennial and Generation Z clients tend to drink a lot less than the previous generations,” she said. “This is a great offering from Princess and I can think of many clients that would be swayed with this option.”

“Clients often say, ‘my partner doesn’t drink, so we won’t need the Plus package.’ They still struggle with justifying the upgrade even after I explain all the benefits of the package to them,” says Julie Vowell-Ramirez, owner of Dream Vacations franchise Sunny Days Vacations. “This is a great idea!”

“I, personally, love my booze but I am glad to see this trend,” says Phillip Archer, Chief Experience Designer at Roaming Richly Travel. “So many of the younger generations prefer mocktails and this is a great way for Princess to reach a younger audience, which makes great sense for the future of the line.

And Kay Sanderford owner of A+ Cruises and Tours in Kerrville and Waco, TX, just plain likes it for herself. “This is fabulous!” she said. “Due to recent health concerns, I’ve had to mostly shelve the alcohol myself. I really miss an occasional martini especially, even though I’ve never been a heavy drinker. If some of these non-alcoholic drink options are also low or no-sugar, many of my clients and I will be super excited about this new direction. And hope many other cruise lines will follow this trend!”

“Out of successful partnerships come wonderful friendships,” says AmaWaterways EVP Kristin Karst—and many travel advisors would agree that their relationships with her go a step beyond just business. So when I sat down to chat with Karst about how travel advisors might build relationships with her and the river cruise company she co-founded, neither of us was surprised when Mara Hargarther stopped by to give her a hug. Soon she joined us in a three-way conversation about how travel advisors and suppliers can best work together. Read the rest of this entry »

Focusing on the highly successful travel advisor channel, Celebrity Cruises in February will launch a new—and gamified—version of its training program and add a position dedicated to serving the trade.

In an exclusive interview onboard Celebrity Ascent, Katina Athanasiou, Celebrity’s senior vice president of sales & services for The Americas, told TRO that the Celebrity Learning program is currently in drydock—but when it emerges in 2025 it “will offer amazing opportunities to learn much more about our ships and brand.” The site’s “facelift” will add content and functionality, gamification elements, and elevated awards when travel advisors finish the courses.

“We’re going to leverage it more to be a site for resources and webinars, where you can see all the previous trainings we’ve done, as well as learn about our systems and our new initiatives,” Athanasiou said. “I’m very excited – it’s a huge investment, but it will ultimately deliver better content and ability for our agents to engage more often with the brand.”

Over the past months, she noted, Celebrity has been “watching the growth in the home-based and IC communities, and we’re working to be very intentional in building a strategy and then a structure” to work with them. “Nearly two-thirds of advisors are either home-based or ICs, and many are new to the industry. How we partner with those advisors, how we engage, and how we train is a little different from pre-pandemic.”

Also on the agenda is more collaboration among the three Royal Caribbean sister brands—Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Silversea—and “a big media push on national TV,” including new markets like professional and college sports.

With the holiday season upon us, Tauck has announced a new 2025 river cruise celebrating the traditional Christmas markets and other holiday happenings along the River Seine in France.

The Seine: Holiday Magic begins in Paris, where guests will board Tauck’s ms Sapphire riverboat and enjoy three nights and two full days in the city.

Read the rest of this entry »

Facing strong pushback from the travel industry in general, and the cruise lines in particular, Mexico has postponed a new $42 tourist tax on cruise passengers by six months, from January to July 1.

Mexico has long taxed hotel guests but exempted cruise passengers, who sleep on their ship. But a new bill that passed the Mexican Congress in December calls for a $42 tax on every cruise ship passenger entering Mexican waters, whether they disembark or not.

According to a statement issued by The Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association, which represents 23 cruise lines including Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Norwegian, Mexican officials have agreed to delay the new Federal Law of Rights tax on cruise passengers from January 1 until July 1, 2025. Among other things, the cruise lines had argued that just a 15% drop in calls to Mexico would result in a financial impact that would offset any gains from the tax.

In a statement, FCCA CEO Michele Paige emphasized that the temporary delay is helpful, but does not go far enough. “We thank the Mexican government for listening to our concerns and proposing a delay in the implementation of the tax that will fall mainly on American citizens. However, the removal of the in-transit tax exemption – which was provided to our industry over a decade ago for valid reasons that still apply today – was done without our prior input and after the legislation was passed. It is ironic that until this law was abruptly announced the industry was looking to grow business in Mexico, and now the opposite will occur.”

Designed to address Mexico’s enormous debt—and, some argue, to support its military rather than its tourism infrastructure—the tax will affect the more than 10 million passengers on 3,300 ships arriving in the ports of Cozumel—one of the world’s busiest ports, with 4 million visitors—as well as Costa Maya and Cabo San Lucas.

The cruise industry had strongly lobbied against it. The FCCA said in December that it was “completely caught off guard with last week’s unilateral decision to eliminate the long-standing in-transit exemption and efforts to fast-track this policy change without any dialogue with the industry.”

The group noted that the tax was a “staggering more than 213% increase over the average cost of a Caribbean port” that “could also jeopardize the cruise industry’s investments in the country, including billions in planned developments and other projects”—a serious threat given such planned projects as Royal Caribbean’s new private beach club in Cozumel and Perfect Day Mexico, for example.

Viking this week placed a bet on the Middle East, officially naming two new river ships, the Viking Hathor and the Viking Sobek, in Luxor, Egypt.

Following its cost-conscious tradition, Viking repurposed the design of the existing Viking Aton and Viking Osiris, following the pattern exactly in these two new ships. All four vessels will carry a maximum of  82 guests in 41 staterooms, on a 12-day Pharaohs & Pyramids itinerary.

Despite troubles in the Middle East, the neutral Egypt expects about 15.3 million tourists in 2024, up 5% over 2023, according to Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathy. And it’s a fascinating destination for tourists. Just this week, an Egyptian-American mission unearthed a 4,000-year-old tomb near the Temple of Hatshepsut on the West Bank of the Nile in Luxor.

Viking’s itinerary begins with three nights in Cairo and a flight to Luxor before the eight-day roundtrip cruise on the Nile, including visits to the tomb of Nefertari in the Valley of the Queens and the tomb of Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings, plus excursions to the Temple of Khnum in Esna, the Dendera Temple complex in Qena, the temples at Abu Simbel and the High Dam in Aswan, and a village elementary school.

Guests can add Pre and Post Extensions, such as a five-day British Collections of Ancient Egypt extension that begins in London, where guests will visit the British Museum’s Egyptian Collection before it opens to the general public, and then the collection of Egyptian antiquities in the home and personal museum of Sir John Soane.

Viking plans to add four more ships—growing its Nile fleet to 10 altogether—over the next two years. Viking Amun and Viking Thoth will debut in 2025, and Viking Sekhmet and Viking Ptah in 2026.

As airfares continue to rise, travelers are seeking ways to maximize their experiences by extending their stays in their chosen destination. Award-winning luxury river cruise line AmaWaterways is catering to this trend with its 14-night “Grand River Cruises,” combining some of Europe’s most popular itineraries into a single voyage. The 2025 season sees three new combinations – Grand Seine & Bordeaux, Grand Seine & Rhône and Grand Rhine & Dutch Canals, adding to the existing Magnificent Europe and Grand Danube. Read the rest of this entry »

AmaWaterways, the first major river cruise line to navigate the Magdalena River in Colombia, shared its latest updates in preparation for the inaugural sailing of its first ship in Colombia, AmaMagdalena, set for 2025. The company is focused on enhancing the luxury cruising experience along this river, a new destination for river cruising, ensuring guests enjoy authentic and enriching connections to the region’s culture and heritage. Read the rest of this entry »

For the 2025 travel season CroisiEurope, the France-based river cruise operator, is offering some new destinations and itineraries, as well as some exclusive departures for the U.S. market. The company is introducing new cruise itineraries in Belgium, the Netherlands and India.

These three new entries are added to CroisiEurope’s roster of some 170 itineraries on 50 ships in 37 countries, stretching across Europe, the Mediterranean, Northern and Southern Africa, and South and Southeast Asia. Read the rest of this entry »

For 2025, AmaWaterways is making a leap into South America, launching a pair of cruise itineraries on the Magdalena River in Colombia. It’s breaking into a new continent for the company, and it’s the first major river cruise operator to offer cruises on the Magdalena River on the Caribbean side, with two seven-night voyages between Cartagena and Barranquilla.

AmaWaterways co-founder and executive vice president Kristin Karst told me, “It’s one of our most exciting ventures yet.” She assured me that the company intends to keep “pushing the boundaries.”

The company is seriously on the move. AmaWaterways is currently operating 26 ships in Europe and Asia. It will be adding several new ships over the next two years Read the rest of this entry »

Nestled at the confluence of the Rhine and Lahn rivers, Lahnstein offers a gateway to captivating historical sites and natural beauty. In Lahnstein, you’ll have to opportunity to visit a towering fortress, take a scenic bike rides, or hike through lush landscapes. Here’s a closer look at these excursion options.

Perched atop a hill overlooking the town and the rivers below, Burg Lahneck is a stunning medieval castle with a history dating back to the 13th century. Your guided tour through its ancient halls reveals tales of knights, nobility, and the castle’s strategic importance during various European conflicts. Read the rest of this entry »

Everyone loves a winner—and apparently Icon of the Seas is just that. In last month’s analyst call, Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley reported that Icon’s load factor is running around 132%, meaning every cabin is full, often with three or four guests.

So it’s no surprise that in a bigger-is-better world, Royal Caribbean would be doubling—or even tripling—down on its ace in the hole. Today it did just that, announcing an agreement with Finnish shipbuilder Meyer Turku for a fourth Icon Class ship, due for delivery in 2027, plus options to build two more.

RCCL’s largest ship ever, Icon of the Seas launched in January 2024. A second Icon-class ship, Star of the Seas, already is on sale, scheduled to debut in August 2025, and an as-yet-unnamed third sister will join the fleet in 2026. (Also this year RCCL welcomed Utopia of the Seas, Silversea’s Silver Ray and TUI Cruises’ Mein Schiff 7, and announced a seventh Oasis Class ship for 2028.)

“Icon of the Seas is unlike anything the world has seen before, and we’re just getting started,” Bayley said in today’s announcement. “We are leading the vacation industry in developing new experiences for our guests to create lifelong memories, and we continue dreaming and evolving to deliver more ways to chill and thrill.”

Even as some pooh-pooh the trend toward larger and larger ships (Icon carries 5,610 passengers, about 200 more than Oasis class), Icon and Star have been selling faster than any other ships in Royal Caribbean’s 50-year history.

Icon-class ships feature eight distinct neighborhoods; over 40 restaurants; 28 cabin types, including a three-story Ultimate Family Townhouse; and the biggest water park, the tallest drop slide, and the biggest swimming pool at sea. They also have the Royal Promenade and Central Park familiar from the Oasis-class ships, as well as new elements like the family-oriented Surfside neighborhood, plus two new top-deck recreation areas, Chill Island and Thrill Island. The aqua shows have moved to an AquaDome, a huge glass-enclosed space with a 50-foot waterfall, while the Royal Promenade adds the Pearl, a multi-sensory walkway. There is a dedicated suites-only neighborhood—and you can have your own private butler. (For more on the joys of butlers, see Finding Peace and Quiet – and a Great Butler – at Breathless Montego Bay.

Ludwigshafen is your starting point for a range of excursions – whether you’re drawn to the medieval charm of Heidelberg, the opulence of Schwetzingen Palace, or the peaceful trails along the Neckar River. Read the rest of this entry »

Travel advisors now can book shore excursions and lounge facilities for clients booked on the 600 Carnival cruises that will stop at the Pearl Cove Beach Club.

When it opens in July 2025, the new adults-only area on Carnival Cruise Line’s (CCL) first private island will feature an 11,000-square-foot infinity pool lined with shaded daybeds and loungers, a swim-up bar and a spacious sun shelf, as well as a beach and a full-service restaurant.

Passengers and travel advisors now can book:

Daybeds and Water Daybeds (in Starfish Lagoon and Calypso Lagoon): Daybeds and water daybeds for two have canopies, pillows, and privacy curtains.

Cabanas (at the freshwater lagoons): Cabanas hold up to four guests and include armchairs, a sofa, two sun loungers, a cooler with chilled water, privacy curtains, a lockable cabinet, snacks, and fresh fruit.

Over-the-Lagoon Cabanas (near the Starfish and Calypso Lagoons): Cabanas that also have a ceiling fan and sunshelf.

Large Cabanas (near the Starfish and Calypso Lagoons): Large cabanas hold up to six, and include four sun loungers, stocked mini refrigerators, a lockable cabinet, a sofa, a dining table, a ceiling fan, privacy curtains, snacks, fruits and lunch.

AquaBanas (at the Starfish Lagoon): AquaBanas, which allow guests to keep their feet in the water, seat eight people under a shaded canopy.

Over-the-Lagoon Supervillas (at the Starfish Lagoon) and Beach Supervillas (at the beaches): Supervillas hold up to 10 guests with plenty of shaded seating options and extra amenities, including hammocks, lunch delivery, and stocked mini-refrigerators.

Also now bookable are kayaking, snorkeling, glass bottom boat tours, and land tours.

Unlike other private islands, admission to Pearl Cove is not included in the cost of a Carnival cruise. Prices for the least expensive package, at $99.99 per person, include club access and a welcome drink. Adding an open bar that offers up to 10 drinks—draft domestic beer, house red or white wine, well drinks, or rum punch—increases the price to $139.99 per person, and adding food from the Pearl Cove restaurant costs $179.99 per person.

“The World’s Largest Cruise Company” is growing even larger, introducing a new class of ships that hold 8,000 passengers each – and ordering three of them for Carnival Cruise Line from Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri.

At 230,000 gross registered tons each, and with more than 3,000 guest staterooms apiece, the new ships will be the largest in the Carnival fleet when they arrive in 2029, 2031 and 2033. They will be powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) and feature advanced energy efficiency, waste management, and emission reduction technologies.

Carnival Cruise Line earlier this year placed its first newbuild order in five years, for two more Excel-class ships scheduled to join the fleet in 2027 and 2028. In addition, five vessels are being transferred over from sister brands between 2023 and March 2025.

When you’re on a roll, said Carnival Corporation & plc CEO Josh Weinstein, you stick with it. And so the company is “doubling down on the growth of Carnival Cruise Line – our highest-returning brand – to keep up with the incredibly strong demand we continue to see for the world’s most popular cruise line. At this point, our newbuild pipeline is just one delivery in each of 2025, 2027, 2028, 2029, 2031 and 2033. We continue to take a disciplined approach to growth, strategically directing new capacity to the areas of highest demand at a rate of one to two new ships per year.”

Carnival Cruise Line president Christine Duffy, meanwhile, promised “innovative guest experiences that will take Carnival Cruise Line into the future with new FUN features and excitement that we know our guests will LOVE.”

With five years to go until the ships debut, the company did not yet share details on the ships’ designs or itineraries.

Last week, AmaWaterways sent us a press release on their newest Nile River ship, AmaLilia. I was going to post the release with some photos for you all to read, but when I got to looking at pictures of the ship, I knew that you all needed to see more than just a few of them. Read the rest of this entry »

Disney will continue its expansion into Asia with year-round cruise vacations in the Land of the Rising Sun, under a new agreement with the owner of Tokyo Disney Resort, Oriental Land Co., Ltd. (OLC).

“Disney Cruise Line has ambitious plans to bring family vacations and Disney storytelling to more guests around the world than ever before,” Disney Experiences chairman Josh D’Amaro said.

Under the terms of the agreement, OLC will operate a new ship that will be registered and based in Japan year-round. With about 1,250 staterooms, the ship will be a sister to Disney Wish, but also feature “imaginative designs created by Walt Disney Imagineering,” including “select modifications specially designed with Japanese guests in mind.”

More details about the maiden voyage, itineraries and onboard experiences will be announced at a later date, Disney said.

The ship will be the ninth in the Disney fleet, which will almost double in size from the current five ships — Disney Magic, Disney Wonder, Disney Dream, Disney Fantasy and Disney Wish by 2029, with three more ships expected by the end of 2025. It will be owned by OLC, however, and leased to Disney.

It also will be the fourth in the Wish class, which will add two more ships by next year, Disney Treasure later this year and Disney Destiny in 2025. These ships are slightly larger than Disney Dream and Fantasy, holding about 4,000 guests in 1,250 staterooms. Disney Wish features the AquaMouse water coaster, a Marvel-themed restaurant and a Frozen-themed dinner theater.

Disney Cruise Line also plans to begin year-round cruises from Singapore in 2025 and this summer debuted a private island, Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point, in The Bahamas. Its fleet sails the Caribbean, Europe, Alaska, Mexico, Canada, Hawaii, the South Pacific, and Australia and New Zealand.

Caribbean resorts are hunkering down and cruise ships are scrambling out of the way as Hurricane Beryl roils the skies and seas around the Windward Islands on Monday.

The only Category 4 hurricane ever recorded in June, with 130 mph winds, has sent up warnings for Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, St. Lucia, and Tobago, and tropical storm warnings for Martinique and Trinidad. Hotel guests are hunkering down—but cruise passengers are sailing away.

Royal Caribbean on June 29 said Beryl’s “high waves and strong winds” were causing changes in Eastern Caribbean itineraries; instead of visiting St. Thomas and St. Maarten, Icon of the Seas will call at Cozumel and Costa Maya, Mexico, and then Perfect Day at CocoCay as planned. Wonder of the Seas will replace scheduled stops at Roatán and Costa Maya with Nassau; Harmony of the Seas will skip Roatán, Honduras and arrive in Cozumel and Costa Maya ahead of schedule.

Norwegian Cruise Line too, is making changes. Norwegian Jade will skip Falmouth, Jamaica; George Town, Grand Cayman; and Cozumel, Mexico, and instead head for the Eastern Caribbean, with calls at San Juan, Puerto Rico; Tortola, BVI; and Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. Norwegian Breakaway also will head for the DR, instead of Honduras.

And Disney Fantasy will skip Falmouth, Jamaica and instead spend an extra day at sea.

As of 8:00am EST on Monday, Beryl was approximately 70 miles east of Grenada, hitting Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines before taking a west-by-northwest route toward the Yucatan Peninsula later this week, then through the Bay of Campeche late Friday and toward the east coast of Mexico.

Paris offers so many opportunities for river cruisers. You can hop on a barge and cruise the Oise (or the many other regional canals and rivers). You can cruise the Seine or make your way by fast train (about two hours from Paris) to Bordeaux or Lyon for river cruises through beautiful wine country on the Rhone, Garonne and Dordogne. You can even get to Amsterdam or Basel, both about three hours by fast train, for Rhine river cruises. Read the rest of this entry »

Disney Cruise Line shared details of its 2025 schedule this week, including plans to homeport three ships in Port Canaveral, as Disney Treasure debuts this winter and joins Disney Wish, while Disney Magic and Disney Fantasy take turns there.

Two more new ships will join the fleet in 2025. Disney Wish will get a sister, Disney Destiny, and Disney Adventure will head for Asia, where it will homeport in Singapore in early 2025.

Disney Treasure will sail seven-night Caribbean sailings, while Wish sails three- and four-night Bahamas trips.

Disney Magic will be in Port Canaveral for the summer months and into September and October, then head to Puerto Rico for a series of seven-night Caribbean sailings, and then on to Galveston, Texas, for four- to seven-night western Caribbean trips through May 2026.

Disney Fantasy will sail four- and five-night itineraries out of Port Canaveral from November 2025 through May 2026.

Disney Dream will sail from its new home in Port Everglades on three- to five-night Bahamas itineraries through May 2026.

Disney Wonder will spend the summer of 2025 in Alaska before heading Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific in late 2025 and then homeporting in San Diego beginning in March 2026 for three- and four-night Mexican Riviera sailings.

Bookings for the new itineraries open to the public June 28, with earlier dates available for the line’s variety of club-level members, but details can already be found on disneycruise.com.

Also this week, Disney shared that its Castaway Cay private island in the Bahamas has brought in $220 million in dividends from DCL Island Development since 2014, though it does not share figures on how much revenue was generated. The island debuted in July 1998 as the first private island to allow ships to dock directly at the shore, so guests did not need tenders to come ashore. Disney’s CFO Hugh Johnston said on its second quarter earnings call last month that “the cruise business, frankly, is one that has an enormous number of opportunities for us over time. And that is why we’re leaning more heavily into that business.” It is no exaggeration.

Living with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity poses significant challenges. Individuals affected by the autoimmune disorder often find it difficult to enjoy travel due to fear of gluten exposure and other potentially serious health implications. The collaboration between AmaWaterways and Celiac Cruise has already delivered amazing European itineraries and adventures, offering dedicated 100-percent gluten-free ships and experiences for guests sailing the Danube and Seine rivers. Read the rest of this entry »