IAN SCHEMPER masted Wind Star (windstarcruises.com) will spend a winter season in the Canary Islands from December 2025. The sleek, 148-guest sailing ship offers 10-day “Canary Islands Idyll” itineraries round-trip from Santa Cruz de Tenerife, calling at La Gomera, La Palma, Madeira, Lanzarote and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. With a similar high-style quotient, SeaDream (seadream.com) has announced new 10- and 11-day Caribbean voyages for 2026. The company, whose tagline is “It’s yachting, not cruising”, operates two dapper 112-guest yachts that venture to off-the-beaten-track anchorages. The sailings include overnights in the sublime Gallic outpost of St Barths, shabby-chic Bequia in the Grenadines, and the quaint retreat of Îles des Saintes, Guadeloupe. Other highlights are the Tobago Cays’ National Marine Park, a dinner soirée at the Carambola Beach Club in St Kitts, as well as SeaDream’s signature “Champagne and Caviar Splash” on a powder-soft Antillean beach. From June to August, Seabourn’s 264-guest Seabourn Pursuit (seabourn.com) will offer six 10-day Australian voyages between Broome and Darwin. Not to be missed is the Aboriginal culture which dates back 50,000 years in the Kimberley region, and visits to remote settings such as the Bungle Bungles, El Questro National Park and Ord River. A highlight will be a helicopter flight over the Hunter River and the Kimberley, en route to the tiered falls of the spectacular Mitchell River National Park. In July, National Geographic Expeditions’ National Geographic Endurance (nationalgeographic. com) will retrace the voyages of Vikings through Iceland’s wild Westfjords region and Northeast Greenland National Park, the largest national park on the planet. The 138 guests can venture by Zodiac and kayak into Scoresbysund, the world’s longest fjord system. In this stunning coastal landscape of soaring peaks, vibrant blue seas, and iridescent icebergs, there will be close encounters with polar bears, walruses, musk oxen and Arctic foxes. In the other hemisphere, Quark Expeditions’ 138-passenger Polar expedition ship, Ocean Explorer (quarkexpeditions.com) will be in Antarctica for the 2024/2025 season. With its X-Bow design, this state-of-the-art vessel elevates the experiential quotient with thrilling off-ship adventures. Autumnal splendour will be on display for 184 guests aboard Ponant’s Le Bellot (ponant.com) during a cruise from Toronto in October. Having crossed the shimmering waters of Lake Ontario, there’s a navigation of the ingenious St Lawrence Seaway. The ship calls at Montreal and Québec before entering the Saguenay Fjord, a refuge for marine mammals. At the Mingan Archipelago, giant limestone formations erupt from the sea, while nature’s riot of colour offers a stunning backdrop as the ship cruises the coast of Nova Scotia before dropping anchor at the 19th-century maritime outpost of Portland. The voyage concludes at the epicentre of American history, Boston. River Revels A handful of exceptionally scenic rivercruise itineraries for the year ahead. Exploring the ribbon of liquid history that is the Rhine, Uniworld Boutique River Cruises’ new whip-smart 110-guest Victoria and Elisabeth (uniworld.com) will inaugurate sailings in 2024 and 2025 respectively. Both vessels vaunt some of the largest suites on European rivers. Their on-trend design exudes a velvet touch of luxury. Also journeying along the timeless Rhine between Amsterdam and Nuremberg is Riverside Cruises’ Riverside Debussy (riverside-cruises.com). With its genteel, eye-catching design, this 110-guest vessel is a perfect halcyon from which to view the hypnotic river. Stateside, American Legend joins the roll-call of four coastal catamarans specifically constructed for American Cruise Lines (americancruiselines.com). This 100-guest vessel will sail on the “American Revolution” itinerary along Chesapeake Bay, as well as the “Florida Gulf Coast & Keys” departures. Abercrombie & Kent (abercrombiekent.com) has expanded its portfolio in the Galápagos archipelago with its partner, Ecoventura. The company recently added the 20-guest Evolve (ecoventura.com), its third expedition motor yacht. These floating boutique hotels are the only Galápagos vessels accredited by Relais & Châteaux. In Egypt, Abercrombie & Kent’s fifth riverboat on the Nile will sail this ancient waterway from late 2025. The 64 guests will revel in some of the largest and most sumptuous suites on the river. There will be an indoor and outdoor restaurant and a sun deck with a swimming pool. Above, from top: the Riverside Debussy navigates the Mosel river in Germany; inside one of Uniworld’s Royal suites 47 DEPARTURES
