Luxury is in the eye of the beholder, and nowhere is this more evident than on a cruise. A standard trip in an upgraded cabin is luxury enough for some of us, while others demand dedicated five-star treatment. And if that is not enough, you can now opt for six-star cruising as well.
Regent Seven Seas Cruises offers some great all-inclusive luxury cruise experiences. One itinerary that is likely to have travel-lovers salivating is its seven-night Alaskan trip. The Seven Seas Navigator will set sail from Vancouver and includes the Inside Passage, Ketchikan, Tracy Arm fjord, Skagway and Hubbard Glacier before finishing at Seward.
Prices start from £4,011 (about R48 000) per person in an H grade Deluxe Balcony Suite and include return flights and transfers, all onboard dining, all drinks and beverages and free, unlimited shore excursions.
Seabourn launched the luxury Seabourn Quest in 2011 and it is packed with luxurious features. It has an amazing 13 categories of suites, 90 percent with verandas. Twenty-two of them are penthouses and four are two-bedroom grand suites. The ship also has a thalasso pool in The Spa At Seabourn. The Water Sports Marina is a teak platform from which guests can enjoy complimentary waterskiing using the ship’s own speedboat.
Hapag-Lloyd Cruises is offering a unique cruise on MS Hanseatic, a five-star expedition ship. The cruise will circumnavigate the Sea of Okhotsk from Otaru in Japan to Petropavlovsk in Russia. Prices start from £6,310pp for the 17-day cruise, which departs on July 13.
Readers Offers has a superb range of six-star cruises to choose from. One mouthwatering itinerary is a 16-night New York to Barbados journey, which includes two nights in New York before sailing down to the Caribbean aboard Silver Whisper. Ports of call include Bermuda, St Bart’s, Antigua, Dominica, and the Grenadines before three nights of pampering in a five-star hotel in Barbados.
The Sovereign Cruise Club is the UK’s largest luxury cruise agent specialising in top-end luxury cruises. It offers a wide range, often with some unbeatable special offers.
Orient Express is a byword for luxury and its ships will appeal to the most demanding of customers. With the opening up of Burma to mainstream tourism, a trip on The Road To Mandalay, which sails down the Irrawaddy river from Bagan to Mandalay, is proving increasingly popular. For something more intimate, Orient Express offers a number of cruises for between four and 12 guests on luxury barges in France.
Royal Caribbean International has some truly luxurious accommodation aboard two of its vessels, Oasis and Allure of the Seas. The exclusive Royal Loft Suite is the largest of all lofts on the two ships. It features indoor and outdoor dining rooms, a private bar, its own baby grand piano, a library and extended 843sq ft balcony with its own LCD television, entertainment area and Jacuzzi.
The Royal Loft Suite can be connected to a Crown Loft Suite providing a whopping 2,069sq ft of space. A nine-night fly/cruise on Oasis of the Seas starts at £9,397 for guests one and two, and falls to £1,851 for guests three and four, based on four sharing a Royal Loft Suite. Price includes return flights from Heathrow, one night’s pre-cruise hotel accommodation, transfers and a seven-night cruise departing Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and calling at Labadee, Haiti, Falmouth in Jamaica and Cozumel in Mexico.
Norwegian Cruise Line has renamed the luxury accommodation complex on its ships The Haven By Norwegian. The enhanced experience will include expanding the existing butler service to 24 hours and adding a “poolside valet”. An example of Norwegian’s luxury itinerary is a seven-night Western Mediterranean sailing aboard Norwegian Epic from Rome. A Family Courtyard Villa suite on this sailing costs from £2,949pp. - The Mail on Sunday