January 16 2014...

It has been quite a week for the global cruise industry with the exciting arrival of Nowegian Getaway into Southampton.  This is covered by all trade press including Travel Weekly.

Staying with Travel Weekly and Norwegian Cruise Line this week we saw the announcement of Norwegian Epic being based from Barcelona year round from 2015 - a further great sign of confidence in the European cruise market (including the UK). Read here.

Meanwhile there was good news on searches for Caribbean cruises this week widely reported in the trade press with searches for cruises to the area on the up - read this from TTG.

The UK industry all got together at the weekend at the Telegraph Cruise Show promoting cruise holidays to an audience with plenty of first timers.  Here it is reported by Seatrade.

One thing that many potential cruisers are looking for is a rekindling of their romance - here USA Today tells of their cruise romance highlights - worth keeping ahead of the big day of romance on Feb 14 - read here.

Talking of good news it appears that Fred Olsen are also reporting good figures as reported here in TTG.

Good figures are also reported by Hurtigruten after the BBC Stargazing programme - shows the power of TV and also the power of a great cruise holiday.  Read here.

On a lighter note - and because we all like a good dead, how great to see MSC Cruises heading to the rescue of a seal pup - you can read the story here - well done MSC!