Carnival Cruises are set to build on their popularity in Australasia by adding another cruise ship to the region.

Carnival Legend will join Carnival Spirit in September 2014 and will sail from Sydney for a number of 8-12-night cruises to New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Fiji.

Carnival Spirit will continue to sail round New Zealand and the South Pacific from Sydney.

The central theme of 2124-passenger Legend is great legends of the world. The theme is carried out throughout Carnival Legend’s 12 passenger decks, 16 lounges, and indoor and outdoor promenades. Like her sister ship, the ‘Spirit Class’ ship has it all, including a nine-deck-high atrium, an onboard golf program, a duty-free shopping mall, a video arcade and an 1,800-square-ft. children’s play area.

Carnival Cruise Lines’ Australia and New Zealand director Jennifer Vandekreeke told Cruise Weekly that it was a really exciting development for the cruise company.

““The tens of thousands … who have already travelled on Carnival Spirit tell us they love the quality of our dining, entertainment, activities on offer for families and couples, comfort of our staterooms, and of course the exceptional service provided by our crew – and we can now offer this to even more guests with the arrival of Carnival Legend,” she says.

Xbox with Celebrity

Xbox enthusiasts are in for a treat with Celebrity Cruises this year.

The cruise line has partnered up with Microsoft to develop the largest Xbox experience at sea, the company announced this week.

Xbox-themed activities are set to be rolled out in all the cruise ships’ Fun Factory and X-Club onboard kids’ clubs, together with events such as sports tournaments, racing and Zumba parties.

Celebrity Constellation will be the first ship with the new Xbox experience and the rest of the fleet will be fitted next year.

Cruise the world from China – a first with Costa

The first-ever world cruise from China is set to take place in March 2014 on the Costa Atlantica.

Departing from Shanghai, the inaugural 83-day world voyage will go to 23 destinations in 16 countries.

Pier Luigi Foschi, chairman and ceo of Carnival Corporation Asia and chairman of the board of Costa Crociere said the world cruise  “heralds a new milestone” in China’s cruise industry, which Costa pioneered in 2006 when they home ported their international cruises in Shanghai.

“China’s first around-the-world cruise is a perfect example of this and is the lynchpin of our Asia strategy over the next couple of years,” he said.

The 2,680-passenger Atlantica will sail to Vietnam, Thailand, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Oman, Egypt, Greece, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, the US, Caribbean and Mexico, including a transit of the Panama Canal, before returning to Shanghai on 13 Jun 2014.

Holidays are a case in point. I dream of going to my most favourite city in the world, Florence, but know my kids would hate it and complain unceasingly about being dragged around the “boring” museums and art galleries.

But the other day I had a brain wave: if I take them on a cruise holiday we can have the best of both worlds; hubby and I can go and get our culture fix and the kids can happily hang out on the ship – with the occasional enforced trip on shore of course.

Two families I know have done this in the last couple of years. Both cruising around the Mediterranean with their children, they were able to visit the likes of Florence and Rome while the children played happily on the ship.

Royal Caribbean Flowrider

Interestingly, both parents insisted the children accompany them on-shore most of the time because they wanted them to see and learn about some of the places. For example, Pompeii was a place the kids were fascinated by. But when it was clear the children needed a break and wanted to play with their new-found friends on board the ship, they could, leaving the parents to go on-shore alone.

This, coupled with the ease of always sleeping in the same bed, made both sets of parents say it was the most stress-free holiday they had ever had with their children.

So which cruise ship companies cater the best for children (and we’re talking seven to 12 year-olds here)?

Cruise lines want to attract families with kids but Cruise Factor Ltd advise that they believe the most popular cruise lines (in no particular order) Royal Caribbean, Disney, Celebrity Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Carnival and P&O Australia.

It’s not enough nowadays for a ship to only have a swimming pool – they all have the most amazing facilities such as ice rinks, basketball courts, rock climbing walls and running tracks, to name a few.

And at no extra cost they all offer kids’ clubs with activities and ‘youth counsellors’ whose main aim is to get everybody involved.

Carnival Children's Pool

Talent shows, face painting, jewellery making, scavenger hunts and ping-pong tournaments are among the most popular activities offered.

Helpfully, Vacations to Go has listed a few sensible suggestions to ensure your family experience on a cruise ship is stress-free.

1 Find the ship’s “fun places.” The sooner your children feel at home on a cruise ship the better, so the unpacking can wait while you start your fun-seeking tour right away.

2 Help them find a friend. Although our ten-year-old is very sociable and needs no prompting in making new friends, other kids are shy meeting new kids in an unfamiliar environment. It’s often up to the parents to seek out the parents of other kids and make introductions. Then it’s as simple as inviting the new friend to play ping-pong or shuffleboard, to break the ice.

3 Bring Walkie-Talkies. It sounds a little extreme but at some point you may want to experiment with Walkie-Talkies onboard. For example on a day at sea, if your child wants to play ping-pong for 4 hours in a row, you probably won’t want to stay and watch. But with a Walkie-Talkie you can check in frequently from elsewhere on the ship. (Of course, the age at which your child can or should be allowed to roam varies, and it’s up to you to decide this.)

4 Try to see it their way. Sometimes it’s not the fancy-pants facilities or activities they like, it’s things such as trying out the beds that fold down from the walls, checking out videos and DVDs to watch in bed at night, or ordering from the adult menu at dinner.

Royal Caribbean Rock Climbing Wall

Equally, you might be surprised at what worries your child. One possibility is the lifeboat drill – they might think it is a real emergency. Make sure your child knows it’s just a thing that happens on all ships, and make the pre-drill preparation fun.

Thanks to Rachel Sturges

While some people will be planning their winter ski holidays and relishing the thought of crisp cold mornings and roaring log fires, those who hate the cold will be dreaming of their next summer holiday – which seems impossibly far away…..

But its not so far away if you book a cruise holiday where you can holiday in the heartland of the USA, the South Pacific, the Mediterranean, even on one of the many European river cruises in the northern hemisphere summer.

Just to whet the appetite, here’s a reminder of some of the cruise lines and holidays on offer.

Celebrity Cruises sail all over the world on a fleet of ships, ranging from the intrepid 98-passenger Celebrity Xpedition, cruising to the Galapagos Islands, to the 2,800-passenger mega Solstice-class ships. The latest Celebrity cruise liner, Celebrity Reflection, has a real life lawn on its top deck, an Aqua Spa, The Alcoves, a cabana-style retreat and an Art Studio where you can get instruction in painting, drawing, beading and mixology.

If you fancy going back in time, go cruising down the Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee rivers with the American Queen Steamboat Company. The 432-passenger paddle steamer is a replica of the old paddle steamers you’d picture in Mark Twain’s era and is the largest paddle steamer sailing on the rivers.

Themed cruises are on offer, such as the Baseball Legends cruise, the Fall Foliage cruises, Civil War cruises and the Good Old Summertime cruises.

But if you like to feel the wind in your hair and experience the sort of exhilaration you only get on a yacht, then you might want to try Windstar Cruises. The five plus star tall-masted sailing ships include the 310-passenger Wind Surf and the 148-passenger Wind Spirit and Wind Star.

They specialize in off-the-beaten-track itineraries and recently completed a US$18 million renovation of all their ships.

On each ship, if you’re feeling active you can try out windsurfing, sailing and other water sports, or if you prefer to relax, you can unwind with a spa treatment.

If you want something a little larger, with a more family-friendly vibe, then you can’t go wrong with Royal Caribbean International whose latest ship, Quantum of the Seas, leads the way in the cruise ship world with all the latest (and some one-and-only) innovations and facilities.

Rock climbing walls and ice rinks are on many of the line’s ships, while on the 5,400 passenger Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas there are FlowRider wave simulators for surfing, inward facing balcony cabins and the outdoor Oceanside Aqua Theatre.

These two ships are so large they boast ‘neighbourhoods’, such as Central Park, (with live trees and plants), the Royal Promenade, and the Youth Zone, the largest children’s play area at sea.

As well as its worldwide cruise itineraries, Royal Caribbean prides itself on its land tour packages which are fully escorted, with planned activities, great hotel locations and comfortable transport.

The cruise line offers these packages in Alaska, and Western Canada, Europe and Australia/New Zealand.

Riverboat cruising is one of the fastest rowing areas in the cruising world, particularly along many of the northern European rivers during the European summer months.

Viking River Cruises is one of the main river cruise companies around with 14 long-ships, 10 of them brand-new and only christened last month.

Here is just a taster of some of their varied itineraries:

Danube Waltz – an eight-day cruise between Budapest and Munich with stops in Bratislavia, Vienna and Salzburg.

Tulips and Windmills – a ten-day round-trip cruise from Amsterdam with visits to Antwerp, Brugge and the Keukenhof Gardens.

Treasures of Southern France – a 14-day cruise along the scenic Saône and Rhône Rivers through the famed region of Burgundy and the lavender fields of Provence.

Waterways of the Czars – a 13-day round-trip Moscow to St Petersburg cruise includes multiple days in both cities, touring such landmarks as Moscow’s Kremlin and Red Square, and Catherine’s Palace and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.

Magnificent Mekong – a 15-day round-trip Hanoi to Hi Chi Minh City cruise along the Mekong River.  Visit ancient Khmer monuments at Angkor Wat and the elegant French colonial capital of Phnom Penh in Cambodia; and in Vietnam, visit the floating markets of the Mekong delta, experience the intimate charm of Hanoi’s old city and tour dynamic Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon.

Jewels of China – a 12-day round-trip Beijing to Shanghai cruising down  the Yangtze between Wuhan and Chongqing, through the scenic Three Gorges and Lesser Gorges. You will also tour the Three Gorges Dam, visit Xian and the Terra Cotta Warriors. In Beijing, you can explore The Forbidden City, Great Wall and Summer Palace, and walk through Tiananmen Square, the world’s largest public venue.

Each 190-passenger ship is designed to offer guests maximum views, either in cabins or public areas, of the cities and countryside they are passing through.

The six-star Regent Seven Seas Cruises is definitely worth looking at too.

Regent’s cruises are all-inclusive, meaning you pay for everything, shore excursions, alcohol, room service, upfront. Their ships range from the 700-guest Seven Seas Voyager and Seven Seas Mariner to the smaller and more intimate 490-passenger Seven Seas Navigator.

Formerly a luxury expedition vessel with Australia’s Orion Expedition Cruises, the Orion was recently acquired by Lindblad Expeditions, and they will be running expedition cruises on the ship in association with National Geographic.

The Orion’s re-fit includes new kayaks, an ROV (a remote operated vehicle reaching depths up to 300 metres), snorkeling gear for 100 passengers, and a SCUBA programme enabling 24 people to dive at the same time.

On 19 March 2014, the first voyage is scheduled to depart from Auckland for a 22-night cruise via the Bay of Islands and Australia’s Norfolk Island to Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands.

The final ports of call are Australia’s Thursday Island and the Great Barrier Reef’s Lizard Island, before ending in Cairns.

The second sailing departs Cairns on 9 April 2014, sailing back through Thursday and Lizard islands and PNG, and then to Micronesia and Palau.

The third voyage, to the Spice Islands and the Coral Triangle, starts in Palau and ends in Darwin, visiting West Papua and Timor.

Orion will then resume Kimberley cruises from May to August.

In September 2014, there will be an expedition to Borneo, sailing from Singapore to Bali.

As Southeast Asia becomes more and more popular as a cruise holiday destination, Princess Cruises has announced a four-month season in Singapore in 2014-15.

The 2,670-passenger Sapphire Princess will be based in Singapore and will go on 15 round-trip cruises ranging from three to 11 nights, calling at seven countries and 16 ports.

The cruise line offers more destinations from Singapore than any other cruise line, including Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Bali.

Penang, Koh Samui and Langkawi will also be a first for the cruise line.

A spokesman for Princess Cruises told Cruise weekly that the programme was “custom-designed” for first-time cruisers.

“Our new ship features superior itineraries specifically designed for the regional market which we believe will prove extremely popular and will help to introduce cruise holidays to a growing number of Southeast Asia travellers,” he says.

Although the Sapphire Princess will be run broadly along the same lines as the rest of the Princess fleet, there will be a few “changes and enhancements” to appeal to the local market including more multi-lingual crew members and adjustments to menus, enrichment programmes, shopping and spa treatments.

Most passengers are expected to be from Asia, Australasia, North America and the United Kingdom.

Highlights of the new program include two seven-night Vietnam & Thailand departures on 30 January and 15 February 2015 and a 10-night Indonesia sailing with an overnight stay in Bali (Benoa).

The longest voyage, an 11-night Southeast Asia cruise, calls at Bandar Seri Begawan (Muara), Nha Trang, Ho Chi Minh City (Phu My), Sihanoukville, Bangkok (Laem Chabang) and Koh Samui.

Avalon Artistry II christened in Holland

Avalon Waterways’ latest 64-cabin Suite Ship has just been christened in Holland.

The river cruise company will unveil its second Suite Ship, Avalon Expression, in May, with three more new ships scheduled for next year.

What makes Suite Ships different to other river cruising ships is their two accommodation decks, with panoramic retracting windows in all suites, opening out to turn the cabin into an open-air balcony.

A spokesman for Avalon Waterways told Cruise Weekly that the Suite Ships have been a huge success and “will soon represent more than half our fleet”.

Scenic’s two-ship makeover

Two Scenic river cruise boats have been totally refurbished over the northern hemisphere winter ready for the 2013 summer season in Europe.

Launched last week, Scenic Diamond and Scenic Pearl ‘space-ships’ are the first two ships out of the Scenic fleet to showcase their upgraded facilities.

Scenic’s managing director Glen Moroney told Cruise Weekly that passengers on the refurbished boats are “absolutely delighted” with the changes.

“The rest of the fleet will follow, sailing the Main, Rhine, Moselle and Danube waterways and to the Black Sea, to show off their new look for the 2013 cruising season,” he said.

Virtually everything on the boats have been refurbished, from the wallpaper and carpets to the furniture and soft furnishings.

Faster in-cabin email and internet has been made possible with an updated Wi-Fi system using both satellite and UMTS technology.

There are more dining options too, with gourmet pizza meals cooked to order at the River Café and gourmet degustation at Table la Rive.

Avalon explores Peruvian Amazon

Avalon Waterways is set to explore further into South America than ever before.

The 11-night Inca Empire to Peruvian Amazon cruise on the Aria is a first for the company with an itinerary which includes venturing deep into the jungle, visiting indigenous villages and the secluded Pacaya Samiria Reserve.

A spokesman for Avalon Waterways told Cruise Weekly that they expected a sell-out season on the Aria because exotic cruise  locations were becoming increasingly popular with many repeat bookings.

Launching at the end of next year, the 4,100-passenger ship will be like a fairground at sea with on-board bumper car rides, ice skating, a Ripcord iFly wind tunnel skydiving experience, a massive sports arena called the Seaplex and, to literally top it all off, the Northstar, a London-Eye style capsule on the top of the ship on an articulated arm enabling passengers to hang out above the ship or over the ocean.

As if that wasn’t enough, there’s also a multi-purpose venue called TWO70 , described by RCI as the “largest indoor active space at sea” with a full-size basketball court and, in the evening, will transform to give passengers a chance to try out their acrobatic skills when it becomes a location for acrobatic performances.

There will also be ‘The Music Hall’, two floors of cutting-edge music and entertainment.

If you get time to sleep, the staterooms are also a cut above the average cruise ship with a 9 per cent size increase in cabins.

Virtual balconies will be added to interior cabins with 80 inch LCD projection screens broadcasting what’s going on outside the ship, whether it be the ocean or the port currently being visited.

Families will be catered for with inter-connecting staterooms which still offer separate cabins for different family members.

A spokesperson for RCI told Cruise Weekly said that Quantum is a “measurable step forward in the cruise experience”.

“Innovation has always been part of our DNA and we have taken advantage of all that creativity to design Quantum cruising,” he says.

Silversea’s president for Europe & Asia Pacific Steve Odell told Cruise Weekly the overnight stays gave their guests the benefit of longer and more varied excursions.

In Vietnam “Ha Long Bay allows us to offer a number of different excursions each day”, he says.

In Europe the cruise line also offers three-day tours in St Petersburg, Russia, allowing time to visit the city and the Summer Palace.

“We even offer the high-speed train to Moscow with an overnight,” says Odell.

Some passengers like to dine ashore rather than onboard the ship, “so we do that in the hallmark ports” added Odell.

Odell thinks that overnight stays are more than just a passing trend and Silversea is in an ideal place to provide the service because they are not focused on getting on-board revenue like the big cruise lines.

“For them, having the guests on board is important to drive revenue.

“It’s not the same for us with an all-inclusive tariff,” he said.

Celebrity Century and Celebrity Solstice will offer a total of 27 cruises in summer 2014/15 ranging from three to 23 nights and offering departures from Sydney, Freemantle and Auckland.

This follows the fantastic response to bookings on the Solstice for the coming 2013 season.

Celebrity Century will sail over to Sydney for the season from San Francisco in October 2014 via Hawaii and Tahiti.

Her season will then include an eight-night South Australian Cruise, a seven-night Tasmania voyage and – a first for Celebrity – a South Pacific and Queensland voyage.

From January 2015, the ship will sail to Singapore and begin a new Southeast Asia programme.

Celebrity Solstice meanwhile will offer 16 cruises from Sydney and Auckland over the course of six months.

He is full of helpful advice and tips about cruising – so in his own words, here they are!

1    When you book your cabin, take a look whereabouts on the Ship you are, as the position of your cabin may mean you get late-night noise from the ballroom below or even the 24-hour ‘behind-the-scenes’ staff areas where work goes on even when passengers are asleep.

2    The ship’s shore excursions are often very expensive. They are worth doing in remote places where there’s not much on-shore  tourist infrastructure but in European cities, for example, you can get off the ship and do it yourself which is much more interesting. My advice is do your homework and you might be able to get yourself a much better tour than by booking it with  the ship.

3    Don’t over pack. Some cruises are dressy but most aren’t so you don’t need to take a huge wardrobe of clothes.

4    Avoid the champagne art auctions on the ships. They often get people at weak moments but you end up paying a lot of money for art that’s not even original.

5    The same goes for on-board photographer services which are mostly really expensive too.

6    If you want to go to one of the gourmet restaurants on-board ship but think you can’t afford it, look out for any specials, sometimes these are on ‘port days’ when there is hardly anyone on     board, or on the opening night or last night.

7    Small ship or large ship? Small ships are often more expensive because they don’t have the scale to average costs out. But the atmosphere is often better because they are more intimate     and you get to know other people better. But unlike big ships, there’s nowhere to hide so a big ship might suit you better. The big ones are amazing but sometimes there’s just too many people and they are impersonal.

8    If you have children or teenagers the big ships are fantastic, with all the programmes under the sun to cater for them. People often say to me cruises are no good for kids but the kids clubs     are amazing. My brother went on a cruise with his family and their problem was their kids didn’t want to get off in each port !  But my brother and his wife loved it because for once they had a really relaxing holiday.

9    Ignore the Cruise Critic website. I stopped reading the reviews because people are hyper-critical. Don’t take it too seriously – you talk to 100 people and they all have their different views  and perspectives on every ship. Nothing’s perfect. Most cruise lines are pretty good.

10    Don’t be fooled into paying more for a cabin with a balcony than you need to… In the old days a balcony was a luxury on a ship, it’s now almost standard. Celebrity’s new ships have a lot more balconies and they are no more expensive than a non balcony cabin on other cruise line.

11    Don’t do the Caribbean in the hurricane season.

12    A risk of any cruise is bad weather. If there are a lot of ports on the itinerary, the ship will moor at one of them until the storm blows over. But sometimes the ship has to go through the storm to its final destination.

13    Above all, you are allowed to do nothing ! Despite many activities on-board and off, don’t feel you’ve got to rush around. Sitting on the deck with a drink and book in hand, that’s what cruising is all about. Don’t feel guilty about it!

Thanks again to Philip for his advice and to Rachel Sturges for writing this article.

Three 14-day New Zealand Discovery sailings are planned, departing 8 December 2013, 19 January and 16 March 2014.

The popular MS Oosterdam is coming to Australasia with her sister ship  MS Volendam, and both ships will visit more than 50 ports across New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific islands.

And even better, both ships are scheduled for departures from Sydney and Auckland.

A Holland America Line spokesman Richard Meadows told Cruise Weekly that more and more people want to visit the Australasian region.

“Over the past few years the popularity of the Australia region has grown tremendously because of its beauty, its diversity and friendly citizens, with many travellers making it their ‘must-do’ trip of a lifetime,” he said.

Apart from the New Zealand Discovery cruises, a highlight cruise is MS Volendaam’s 34-day circumnavigation of  Australia, departing on 20 October from Sydney, visiting 20 ports as well as scenic cruising in the Ribbon Reef and the Far North Regions, as well as a sunrise docking at Lizard Island.

Longer voyages are available on the HAL Collector Voyages, ranging in length from 28-58 days and combining back-to-back itineraries, or trans-pacific crossings from Los Angeles or Vancouver.