
Oceania Cruises has announced a "Life in the Theater" series, which provides passengers the chance to "enjoy up-close and intimate encounters with notable Broadway icons," said Oceania President Kumal Kamlani. The series will be offered on select sailings, with the first featuring Andrea McArdle, who starred as the original "Annie" in the Broadway production. Ticketholders on the Oct. 29 cruise on Oceania Riviera get the chance to participate in eight special events, which include a cocktail party, five songs and story sessions and a private full performance with McArdle. Tickets cost $375 and there is a limited supply.
Costa Cruises announced a "Spring in Our Step" promotion last week. Billed as a way to "escape the unusually long winter" -- I think weâll agree we'd all like that -- Costa offers rates as low as $499 per passenger on select April and May cruises to Med itineraries. The featured seven-night sailings hit ports in the Eastern and Western Mediterranean, including stops in Italy, Turkey, Spain, France, Croatia and Greece, on Costa's Magica, Favolosa, Serena and Mediterranea. To pick your sailing, check out costacruises.com or call 1-800-GO-COSTA.
Norwegian Cruise Line launched its "Cruise Event Week" on Sunday. The annual promotion, which ends Saturday, gives passengers who book during this time the chance to earn a wide range of discounts and perks on sailings of five days or longer.
American Queen Steamboat Co. launched its American Empress river ship, pictured below, last week, with a media sailing on the Columbia and Snake rivers in Washington and Oregon. The line overhauled the former Empress of the North ship, which had sat in a shipyard after the company that owned it went bankrupt. The previous incarnation of the ship had sailed the Columbia and in Alaska from 2003 to 2008.
American Empress is 360 feet long, features a paddlewheel and accommodates 223 passengers for its sailings in the Pacific Northwest meant to relive the expedition of Lewis and Clark.