By
Rebecca Gibson |
More than 20 new ships and dozens of itineraries are set to boost the river cruise market in the 2014 season.
Next year, AmaWaterways will launch AmaSonata and AmaReina, sister ships to the 164-passenger AmaPrima and AmaCerto. Both vessels will feature twin balcony staterooms and suites, Chaîne des Rôtisseurs menus, complimentary wine and beer at lunch and dinner, a heated pool with swim-up bar, massage and beauty salon, fitness centre, free internet and infotainment systems in every stateroom and a fleet of bicycles for guests. AmaSonata will sail the Danube and Rhine on seven itineraries, while AmaReina will offer ‘Enchanting Rhine’ cruises.
Following her launch next April, Riviera Travel’s 140-guest William Shakespeare is to operate three, week-long itineraries on the Rhine, sailing to Strasbourg, Heidelberg and Switzerland. The vessel has sliding floor-to-ceiling glass doors in cabins, while the decks and public areas have been named after Shakespeare’s plays and characters such as the upper Hamlet Deck, the Middle Othello Deck, the Midsummer Bar and The Globe bar.
Avalon Waterways is also scheduled to introduce three suite ships – Avalon Poetry II, Avalon Illumination and Avalon Impression – to its most popular river cruise itineraries on the Seine, Rhine, Moselle, Danube, Main, Rhone, Saone and Dutch Waterways. For cruise passengers wanting to combine their hobbies with a holiday, the line will provide a range of new themed cruises such as beer tasting or golfing on the ’Austrian Highlights & Bavaria’ cruises and wellness cruise options on the ‘Blue Danube Discovery’ trip. The line will also offer a ‘Paris to Normandy Landing Beaches’ cruise, which will coincide with the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I.
Many other operators, such as Shearings, will commemorate this historic anniversary and the 70th anniversary of World War II’s D-Day landings by offering itineraries to famous battlefields and other historic sites. Passengers sailing on The River Cruise Line’s Amsterdam will sail from Bruges, Belgium and visit Ghent and Antwerp to visit various battlefields including Tyne Cot Cemetery, the largest British war cemetery in the world; the preserved trench system at Sanctuary Wood; and yhe Menin Gate and In Flanders Fields museum in Ypres, France.
In addition, a number of lines have expanded their cruise portfolios to offer additional itineraries in the 2014 season. Austrian operator Lüftner Cruises is to introduce a nine-night ‘Golden Mandalay’ cruise onboard Irrawaddy Explorer, while Tauck River Cruising – which will launch its new Inspiration class with Savor and Inspire in 2014 – is to add four itineraries, including its first sailings on the Seine, France. Uniworld Boutique Cruises’ Catherine will also launch next year and sail three itineraries in the south west of France.