After reading this week’s Cruise Wrap, we’ve swapped our sea legs for dancing shoes on account of a few theatrical announcements and way too many shots of espresso.

Azamara expands partnership with World Wide Fund for Nature

Azamara has announced an expanded partnership with World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), which will see a new collection of ‘People to Planet Voyages’ and ‘People to Planet Excursions’.

As part of the partnership, Azamara will donate a total of $100,000 from all People to Planet Voyages and $30 from each People to Planet Excursion purchase to WWF in support of its conservation efforts.

This funding will help support WWF’s conservation work in South Africa, which includes protecting rhino populations, reducing the impact of the illegal wildlife trade, and contributing to sustainable seafood initiatives.

Silversea announces enhanced entertainment offering

Silversea has unveiled a collection of new theatrical performances and entertainment concepts planned for select ships for 2020, with each developed in exclusive collaboration with Luna Rossa Productions.

The reimagined program will enrich onboard entertainment options across a selection of ships from 6 December 2019. A curtain-raising event will occur aboard Silver Moon from the ship’s launch on 6 August 2020, with To the Moon and Beyond, a retro tribute to space exploration and classic sci-fi movies.

Inspired by the recent 50th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 moon landing, the show will feature evocative, space-age scenery and such iconic tunes as ‘Fly Me to the Moon’, ‘Moondance’, ‘Bad Moon Rising’, ‘Rocket Man’, and more.

MSC offers sneak-peak of Cirque de Soleil at Sea

MSC Cruises has revealed new images of its brand-new and original ‘Cirque du Soleil at Sea’ shows exclusively on MSC Grandiosa. In ‘COSMOS, Journey to the Unbelievable’, guests experience a voyage across the galaxy with a brave astronaut on a quest for self-discovery.

The new acrobatic performance ‘Ginger Rope’ in COSMOS sees three artists use a unique acrobatic apparatus developed specifically for the show. Aerialists fly gracefully in orbit on the rotating stage on moving ropes embodying rings around the planets.

Audiences of ‘EXENTRICKS, Expect the Unexpected’, are caught off guard at every turn in a high-spirited spectacle.

For the first time for any Cirque du Soleil at Sea show, EXENTRICKS puts guests in the centre of the show with audience participation playing a vital role in the story, bringing MSC Cruises guests closer to the artists than ever before.

Each Cirque du Soleil at Sea show is an original production exclusively created for MSC Cruises’ Meraviglia generation ships.

Quark launches two new Antarctic solar eclipse voyages

To commemorate the anniversary of Quark Expeditions’ first solar eclipse voyage to Antarctica in 2003, the cruise company has announced it is reuniting experts from the original voyage to join two new Antarctic eclipse voyages in 2021.

Guests on the ‘Solar Eclipse 2021: Totality in Antarctica’ and ‘Solar Eclipse 2021: Totality in Antarctica’ voyages will be joined by NASA’s “Mr. Eclipse,” Fred Espenak and Babak Tafreshi, an award-winning National Geographic photographer. Both participated in the original 2003 voyage.

They will also be joined by American Eclipse author David Baron, whose TED Talk, ‘You owe it to yourself to experience a total solar eclipse’, has more than two million views.

Hurtigruten’s Alaska sale

Escape the southern hemisphere chill and explore the rugged North Pacific coastline with this great Alaska offer from Hurtigruten.

Agents can save between $1500 to $3,000 per cabin on selected 2020 Alaska sailings for bookings made before 31 January 2020.

On board the hybrid-powered MS Roald Amundsen, guests will explore the Inside Passage, with the chance to spot whales, Horned puffins, bears, sea otters and sea lions.

Guests will also have the chance to discover the Aleutian Islands, and take in the extraordinary coastal beauty of Alaska’s fjords, ancient fossil forests and dramatic volcanoes.

Dream Cruises celebrates arrival of Explorer Dream to Auckland

Dream Cruises has celebrated the inaugural arrival of Explorer Dream to the Queens Wharf in Auckland, New Zealand, as Dream Cruises continues to homeport and sail beyond Asia.

Notable attendees at the welcome event included Nick Hill, chief executive, Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development and Leigh Robins, cruise operations manager, Port of Auckland Ltd.

During Explorer Dream’s seasonal homeport deployment in New Zealand, travellers can explore a variety of round-trip cruise itineraries across New Zealand departing from Auckland between 15 Dec 2019 and 26 January 2020.

Celebrity Cruises’ 2021–2022 season of sailings

Celebrity Cruises is inviting guests to discover a world of new with the unveiling of the cruise company’s 2021–2022 season of sailings, where the brand’s growing fleet of 14 ships will visit more than 280 destinations.

Celebrity’s lineup of destinations is expanding to include eight new ports of call in 2021–2022: Taranto, Italy; Salvador de Bahia, Brazil; Ilocos, Philippines; Ishigaki, Japan; Zakynthos, Hydra, and Thessaloniki in Greece; and the Kenai Peninsula in Homer, Alaska, the highlight of a brand-new cruise tour debuting in 2021.

The brand’s new season of sailings will also feature more than 125 overnight stays in more than 30 of the world’s most dynamic places, including a new overnight stay in Porto, Portugal, and the chance to celebrate New Year’s Eve with a Latin twist in the vibrant city of Montevideo, Uruguay.

Business class flights included to Antarctica with Scenic Eclipse

For a limited time, Scenic is offering an exclusive business class included offer on voyages to Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falkland Islands with Scenic Eclipse.

Starting at $29,565 per person, all fares are truly all-inclusive, according to Scenic. Return business flights are included for fares paid by 31 January (or until sold out).

Coral Expeditions and Australian Geographic grow expedition partnership

The coastal wilds of Tasmania can be savoured on one of Coral Expeditions’ new adventures (Coral Expeditions)

Coral Expeditions and Australian Geographic have extended their successful partnership with new activities planned through to 2022.

Sharing a rich heritage of exploration and a deep commitment to conservation, the extension of this partnership celebrates the success that comes from collaboration, respect and a shared passion for Australia.

This partnership encompasses four new special Australian Geographic Society curated expeditions to explore remote natural and cultural regions in the coastlines of Australia and beyond. These new expeditions include:

• Battles and Beaches: 75th Anniversary of WWII – a 13-night exploratory voyage through Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and the autonomous region of Bougainville commemorating the 75th anniversary of the end of WWII
• Coastal Wilds of Tasmania – a 10-night coastal odyssey from Hobart taking in the Huon River, world heritage Port Davey and Bathurst Harbour, Bruny Island, Maria Island, Freycinet Peninsula and Port Arthur
• Island Outposts of West Australia – a pioneering 27-night voyage of the island outposts of Australia’s west coast
• Outerknown Adventures on the Great Barrier Reef – a seven-night journey to the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef.