It’s been a bumper year for luxury cruising in 2019, with a half-dozen or so new vessels launching into service, including two Ponant expedition ships (Le Bougainville and Le Dumont d’Urville), a further two Hapag-Lloyd Cruises in the ultra-luxury expedition space (HANSEATIC nature and HANSEATIC inspiration); Celebrity Cruises introduced a new Galapagos vessel (Celebrity Flora) and after several years in the river cruise segment, Scenic dived headfirst into ocean for the first time with Scenic Eclipse.

2020 heralds the arrival of a further fleet of new luxury ocean ships, including two newcomers to cruising, Virgin Voyages and The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection.