Sherry Laskin Kennedy

But because I don’t fly, the Dacia Express overnight train to Bucharest from Vienna was my only option. My 24-day Danube cruise aboard Uniworld’s River Duchess began in Rousse, Romania, but Bucharest was our meeting point. Board the Dacia Express overnight from Vienna to Bucharest. Despite enticing photos of bountiful meals in a beautiful dining car, don’t expect every overnight train to be so well-equipped.

Earlier this week, Viking announced the float out of its first expedition ship, the 378-passenger Viking Octantis. Both women will act as godmothers to Viking’s second expedition ship, Viking Polaris, scheduled for delivery in summer 2022. Designed by the same experienced nautical team that designed Viking ocean ships, the two smaller adventure ships are built for expeditions. Viking Ocean passengers will notice scaled-down similarities from the ocean ships to the expedition ships.

Carnival Cruise Line finally took delivery of its highly anticipated new ship, Mardi Gras during a live virtual signing ceremony at the Meyer Turku Shipyard in Turku, Finland. Also, there’s Carnival’s first-ever Big Chicken by Shaquille O’Neal, two dining venues from Guy Fieri, and a new restaurant concept by master chef Rudi Sodamin. Now that the official delivery is complete, Carnival bids bon voyage to Mardi Gras as it departs from Turku to begin the voyage to North America. new Mardi Gras made its first port call in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, for refueling its innovative Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) propulsion system for the first time since its delivery.

new 2022-2023 World Cruise will visit 28 countries and stop at 58 ports. Out of those 58, there will be one-night overnight stays in Sydney, Haifa, Istanbul, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and London. Sail into the world’s largest harbor in Sydney, knowing you will have an overnight stay with plenty of time to explore the iconic Sydney Opera House to heading out of town to see the nearby Blue Mountains. Your ship ends the world cruise as it meanders along the Thames River to Greenwich, a stone’s throw from London’s major sights and shopping.