Don’t expect another Perfect Day at CocoCay or Labadee when Royal Caribbean opens its Bahamas beach club in early 2025. Those are destinations in their own right. (Indeed, CocoCay is the number one destination for Royal Caribbean guests).

Instead, the 17-acre Royal Beach Club at Paradise Island promises a new kind of experience—all-inclusive, fee-based, and upscale. Instead of ziplines and hot air balloons, the Club will focus on serenity, food and beverage, and great service.

In an interview at RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com today, senior vice president and chief product innovation officer Jay Schneider noted there will be a fee for access to the Club, whose focus points will be a beautiful beach and heated pools.

The price, as yet undetermined, will include a water taxi ride to the island; food, beverage and alcohol; beach chairs and umbrellas; and non-motorized activities, including swimming, snorkeling and kayaking.

When planning Royal Beach Club, the cruise company targeted Nassau as a port it often used, but it did not rate high satisfaction scores with guests. But “Nassau is a great place to go,” he said, and “we wanted to add a Royal level service to that destination.”

By 2027, the cruise line expects to bring 2.5 million visitors to Nassau. The plan is to build “multiple beach clubs around the world,” Schneider said.

Meanwhile, Vicki Freed, senior vice president of trade support and sales, told TRO that “the excitement to vacation with Royal Caribbean is at an all-time high and we’re thrilled to move forward with Royal Beach Club at Paradise Island. Royal Beach Club will be the ultimate beach day getaway that will forever change what is possible in a vacation destination.”

At the Seatrade Global conference in March, Russell Benford, Royal Caribbean Group’s VP of government relations, talked about the Bahamas project. “The port of Nassau is transcendent,” he said, with 40,000 visitors daily. The new project is a partnership that will be 49% owned by Bahamians, in keeping with the company’s goal of “bringing economic empowerment to the people who live in the communities we visit.”

Because you’ve been on over 50 cruises or have made hundreds of cruise bookings, don’t think it will be “business as usual” for your new bookings. Many things have changed, and not just for the better.

This is especially true for the high-end “Big Three” cruise lines (Regent, Seabourn, and Silversea), where all-inclusive fares make it difficult for the lines to pay down their share of the massive $74 billion debt their parent companies (Norwegian, Carnival, and Royal Caribbean) ran up during the pandemic; and fund the building of even more luxurious ships to fend off attacks from well-financed newcomers such as Viking, and Ritz-Carlton (Marriot).

This week I have been feeling grateful. After accepting a new part-time job opportunity at a brewery in town and receiving tremendous support from my friends and family after sustaining a foot injury, I wanted to make sure that I gave thanks to those around me – whether it was a text, a phone call, or a handwritten note. As I sat down to brainstorm content for the week, I realized that there was someone (something?) else that I wanted to thank – the company that gave me my first introduction to river cruising and has continually delivered unforgettable experiences onboard since.

There’s no better way to get to know someone than to break bread (or bagels) together. So I think all of us in the trade press came away from our recent breakfast at the Four Seasons Fort Lauderdale feeling we better understand where Norwegian Cruise Lines’ new president David Herrera came from, how he got to where he is now, and how he and Harry Sommer (and even Frank Del Rio) will work together in the coming months.

CroisiEurope is offering complimentary airfare on select summer departures on Seine and Loire River itineraries. The air-inclusive packages are currently limited to flights in and out of New York City’s Newark Airport (EWR) on select departure dates. However, CroisiEurope has plans to expand these offerings in the upcoming months, providing more opportunities for travelers to take advantage of similar deals.

Start with unique itineraries and anticipatory service, add a dollop of extra-long deployments, top it with a dash of sustainable natural sourcing. And serve it with a craft liquor or healthier style cocktail. That’s the recipe for success Holland America Line president Gus Antorcha offered up at a media lunch onboard the Nieuw Amsterdam, at Seatrade Cruise Global in Fort Lauderdale this week.

Viking Ocean has burst on the nautical luxury scene with unbridled enthusiasm. With 10 cruise ships and 64 riverboats, some say they’re dominating the market already. No other cruise line visits so many ports each day. Their river craft are positioned close to the high-end of the market, but probably below AMA and Tauck in price and quality.

AmaWaterways, the first major river cruise line to explore the magnificent Magdalena River in Colombia, announced details on two stunning, newly designed ships and mesmerizing itineraries debuting in 2024. As the demand for immersive cultural experiences continues to grow, AmaWaterways is now accepting reservations for its extraordinary program into the heart of Colombia, with unforgettable experiences awaiting on board the custom-built AmaMagdalena and AmaMelodia.

Earlier this week, AmaWaterways held a special Sip & Sail event to provide details about its new Latin America cruises. Beginning in April of 2024, AmaWaterways will offer a series of seven-night sailings, with optional add-ons, along the Magdalena River. The cruises will operate on two new ships carrying 60/64 guests between Barranquilla and Cartagena. The new ships, named AmaMagdalena and AmaMelodia, are wider than those operating in Europe, because there are no narrow locks to contend with on the Magdalena river.

Let’s say one of your clients is a semi-retired couple living in Los Angeles. They’ve told you they think they’re in a rut now that their kids have left their home and they’ve lost contact with many former friends due to their moving away in the last few years. They eagerly await their annual cruises, but you know they are now seeking something more.

Ask them if they want to spend the next three years cruising worldwide. They reply, “We can’t afford it. We’re not millionaires.”

That’s an ominous headline, I’ll confess, but I don’t mean it as apocalyptic or doom and gloom. It’s a concept I’ve been thinking about quite a bit for the past several years. It plays out something like this: Imagine that you are in your last good decade. How would you live it?

The possibilities are endless and dependent on what’s important to you. But essentially, it’s a call to action and a reminder to not put off what you want to do.

It’s kickoff season for the biggest year yet for American Cruise Lines, with more ships in more states than ever before. American Serenade, the line’s sixth riverboat, and the first two Coastal Catamarans will join the fleet. On the West Coast, American Jazz will be the first riverboat in 80 years to sail San Francisco Bay and into California Wine Country; on the East Coast, American Star will sail an eight-day Great Rivers of Florida itinerary roundtrip from Jacksonville.

Did you know that many river cruise boats carry bicycles on board for guests to use? The bicycles are (or should be) well-maintained and capable of fitting guests of all sizes. Your ship often will have helmets and, of course, a liability form for you to fill out. If you’re squeamish about wearing a helmet that someone else has worn, carry your personal bike helmet. Simply strap it onto the outside of your carry-on luggage so that it doesn’t take up precious space inside your luggage. Or pack a foldable helmet. You’ll need to ask your local bike shop or do a web search for those.

Suppose you’re a small travel agency or solo advisor who wants to ramp up your business quickly and inexpensively. One of the best ways of doing this is to focus on forming affinity groups embedded within cruises or tours. The idea is to identify potential travelers with something in common and allow them to travel somewhere special with like-minded folk.

For decades, river cruising has largely been a pursuit for couples; families and solo cruisers need not apply. But that old way of thinking is quickly going out the door, as river cruise lines move to court multi-generational families and solo cruisers eager to try their hand at the rivers of Europe.

The problem is that river cruise vessels are restricted physically by height, length and width due to the rivers they must traverse. The ships can only be so tall, so long and so wide. That, in turn, means that staterooms must also have finite dimensions. You can add another person to that existing space – but unless you’re booking at the suite level, things are going to get very cramped, very quickly. Unless, that is, you come up with some creative ideas, which a handful of cruise companies have done.

There were four interesting takeaways from the Travel Leaders Network press conference in New York last week, but this one really caught my eye: An air booking system, already in beta testing at new TLN member Avoya Travel, that holds the promise of increasing airline commissions and making it possible to build and price your own resort packages.

Also on the agenda were membership numbers that keep on growing, a new cruise booking tool, and more education around potentially profitable niches.

River cruising to or from Amsterdam? Why not do what the Dutch do and straddle a saddle? Hop on a bike and pedal your way through Amsterdam and the beautiful countryside to experience this fascinating region the way the locals do.

Most river cruise companies make bikes available to guests – at no additional charge. All you need to do is ask your ship’s front desk staff to prepare a bike for you. You’ll likely need to sign a release of liability, and you may be required to wear a helmet, which many cruise company provides.

Viking® will welcome a new Viking Longship®, purpose-built for the Seine River, to its fleet in 2025. Sailing the company’s popular eight-day Paris and the Heart of Normandy itinerary, the new sister ship will join four Viking Longships that were officially named in 2022, the Viking Fjorgyn®, the Viking Kari®, the Viking Radgrid® and the Viking Skaga®. All five ships are designed specifically to navigate the Seine River and bring guests to the heart of Paris, just a short walk from the Eiffel Tower.

When I am asked “What’s your favorite trip of all you’ve ever taken?” I am dumbfounded. But one that floats quickly to the surface of my mind, as one of the best trips ever, was a cruise on the Amazon River.

I had always wanted to see the jungle. From watching movies as a kid, I had thought of the jungle as being in Africa. When I went on safari to see the Great Migration in East Africa, the environment I found myself in was not a jungle at all. It was the high plains, the African savanna, which means “treeless plains.”

Barbara Khan has sold a lot of Silversea cruises, and a lot of transatlantic cruises, in her career—but she had never sailed either. So when she was offered the chance to sail a repositioning cruise on Silver Moon, 14 days from Lisbon to Barbados at no charge, she jumped at the chance.

Angie Schwartz, on the other hand, has sailed across the Atlantic many times. The idea of spending two weeks at sea never grows old for her. She and her husband, a former Navy submariner, “love crossings, and we love sea time,” she says. So she, too, signed up.

One of my best river cruises ever was one of my longest river cruises ever. In 2016, I spent 15 glorious days cruising from Amsterdam to Budapest on AmaWaterways’ AmaSonata. After transiting the Rhine, the Main, the Main-Danube Canal and the Danube, I was left with one thought: Could I stay on and do the cruise in the opposite direction?

Of course, the answer was yes – from me – but a hard no from AmaWaterways. In fact, AmaSonata was not headed back to Amsterdam but would instead operate a series of Danube cruises. Sigh.