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Ex-UK cruise facts Sample ex-UK cruises: Fred Olsen Cruise Lines (01473 746175, www.fredolsencruises.com) is offering a one-week Norwegian Vistas sailing from Newcastle on September 12 from £647 on its ship Boudicca. It calls at several ports in Norway including Alesund, Olden, Flam and Bergen. Specialist website Sail From UK (0808 202 6104, www.sailfromuk.com) which only sells cruises that sail from UK shores, features a 12-night sailing to Europe with P&O Cruises on October 5.The voyage, on Oceana, departs Southampton and sails to the Canary Islands with calls including Madeira, Gran Canaria, Lisbon and Vigo. Prices start at £1,099 and include a £50 onboard credit. Other useful cruise contacts: Celebrity Cruises (0845 456 1520, www.celebritycruises.co.uk) Cunard Line (0845 678 0013, www.cunard.co.uk) Crystal Cruises (020 7287 9040, www.crystalcruises.co.uk) Holland America Line (0845 351 0557, www.hollandamerica.co.uk) Hebridean Island Cruises (01756 704700, www.hebridean.co.uk) Hurtigruten (0845 225 6640, www.hurtigruten.co.uk) MSC Cruises (0844 561 7412, www.msccruises.co.uk) Norwegian Cruise Line (0845 658 8010, www.ncl.co.uk) Oceania Cruises (01344 772344, www.oceaniacruises.co.uk) P&O Cruises (0845 678 0014, www.pocruises.com) Princess Cruises (0845 3555 800, www.princess.com) Royal Caribbean International (0844 493 4005, www.royalcaribbean.co.uk) Swan Hellenic (0845 246 9700, www.swanhellenic.com) Silversea Cruises (0844 770 9030, www.silversea.com) St Helena Line (020 7575 6480, www.rms-st-helena.com) Thomson Cruises (0871 231 4691, www.thomson.co.uk/cruise) Transocean Tours (0845 430 0274, www.transoceancruises.co.uk) Voyages of Discovery (0845 018 1808, www.voyagesofdiscovery.co.uk) Make sure you check out the website of the Passenger Shipping Association, which represents all the main cruise lines, at www.discover-cruises.co.uk
Fred Olsen
Mediterranean or around northern Europe. Voyages that go south to the Mediterranean generally last for at least 12 days – they have to as they need to include the two days it takes to sail between Britain and the Med at both ends of the cruise. Most cruises tend to be for 14 nights and concentrate on the western Mediterranean as time simply doesn’t allow for the ships to sail any farther east. Thus ships will generally get as far as Italy, calling at ports
24 The Travel & Leisure Magazine
such as Civitavecchia (for Rome) or Naples before having to turn back. Cruises of 16 nights have time to go a little farther east, and will sail as far as Greece. Other popular ports of call that pop up on itineraries include Malaga, Alicante, Cannes, Marseilles and Barcelona. Some ships stay in northern Europe and sail northwards to the Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, sometimes continuing on to St Petersburg. Alternative destinations include Iceland, Norway and its spectacular fjords and Spitsbergen in the Arctic Circle, famous for spotting polar bears. These more northerly ports are particularly popular around midsummer when the long daylight hours lend themselves to Land of the Midnight Sun cruises. Some ships stay closer to home, offering sailings around northern Europe that stop along the northern coast at Spanish ports
■ Deck quoits is a fun way to pass the time
Fred Olsen
11:34
P&O Cruises
20/7/09
■ Artemis in the fjords
■ Hebridean Princess in London
such as La Coruna or Bilbao, or French towns including St Malo, the pretty town of Honfleur and the port town of Le Havre. In Germany, stops include Hamburg or Bremerhaven, while the Dutch ports of Rotterdam and Amsterdam are popular ports. Scandinavian cities such as Copenhagen or Bergen also feature in cruise itineraries, as do the Shetland Isles, and the Channel Islands in the south. In the west, Irish ports such as Cork and Dublin add plenty of craic. Then there’s good old Blighty itself, where ships may call at Tilbury, Greenwich or (if the ship is small enough to get right up the Thames) Tower Bridge for London. Liverpool and Newcastle also feature on cruise ship itineraries. Cruise passengers wanting to go farther afield can take their pick from the regular six-day transatlantic crossings by Cunard Line’s Queen Mary 2 or, if they want to escape for longer, round-the-world voyages offered by P&O Cruises and Cunard.
July/August 2009
Hebridean Island Cruises
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