HAPPY SAILING DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN!

Excitement is building as cruising gets back into full swing, bringing with it new experiences and new ports of call. Here's a selection of what passengers can look forward to.

- BERNARD O'SHEA

A new era in cruising has begun. The abrupt halt brought about by COVID caused great financial hardship, but was also a cleansing process. Dozens of old fuel-guzzling ships were sent to scrapyards; the new ships entering service have smarter technology and better capabilities. And while the cruising fleet sat idle in 2020-21, their owners didn’t. They spruced up, repaired and refurbished. The cruise industry of 2022 is smarter, wiser and raring to go. Let the good times roll.

“There’s a lot of excitement in the cruise industry as we are all returning to full service,” says Viking’s Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand, Michelle Black. “Guests are looking forward to making up for lost time, so are booking longer experiences. There’s a real appreciation of the ability to travel and explore the world once again.”

Flight Centre Travel Group’s founder and CEO Graham Turner is equally buoyant. The company has just celebrated its 40th birthday. Whereas over the past 40 years cruising was largely contained to popular ocean cruising in large ships, “river boat cruising and smaller expedition ship journeys grew in the lead-up to COVID,” he says. “I predict cruising of all sorts will see a resurgence over the next 40 years as all three sectors – ocean, river and expeditions – grow in popularity dramatically as an industry.”

Already this year Viking has welcomed eight new river ships to its fleet and launched Viking Expeditions and its first Polar Class vessel, Viking Octantis, while coming in 2022 are another expedition ship, two ocean ships and purpose-built vessels for the Nile, Mekong and Mississippi rivers.