Oceania Cruises said it will offer 86 voyages in its 2014-15 winter season, including 44 new itineraries such as a 16-day cruise around the southern tip of South America. The company plans 16 new ports of call on its five ships.

Italian engineers have successfully re-floated the Costa Concordia cruise ship which ran aground off the Tuscan coast in 2012. Following a delay for poor weather, the ship was detached from rocks and moved on to a platform constructed on the sea bed.

When the Mariner of the Seas made history as the largest ocean liner to arrive in Shanghai with a home port in China it was seen as a symbol of intent. The magnificent 138,000-ton mega-ship has an impressive luxury spec sheet which includes a mini golf course, 10 pools, a rock climbing wall and an ice rink.

Close-to-home river voyages that sail East Coast waterways, the Mississippi and other heartland rivers, or the Columbia and Snake Rivers in the Pacific Northwest, are growing in popularity.