Silversea expedition cruises will visit 500 destinations in 2016

Silversea's three expedition ships, Silver Explorer, Silver Discoverer, and Silver Galapagos, will collectively explore more than 500 destinations on 95 expedition cruises. Included among 88 inaugural calls are Gough Island, St. Helena; Lizard Island, Australia; Aldabra Atoll, Seychelles; Ko Phra Thong, Thailand; and South Cinque Island, Andaman Archipelago.

Silver Explorer's schedule retains its expedition cruises to Antarctica, South and Central America, the British Isles, Northern Canada, Greenland, and Arctic Norway. New itineraries include a 12-day expedition to the White Sea sailing roundtrip from Tromso on 11 June, and an 18-day journey focused on Greenland and the Canadian Arctic, sailing roundtrip from Kangerlussuaq on 22 August.

Silver Discoverer's six expedition cruises along Australia's Kimberley Coast from March to May highlight an exotic programme that encompasses Africa, New Zealand, Indonesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Russian Far East, and remote Alaska. On the schedule is a new 15-day, Phuket-to-Male sailing departing 2 December to explore Myanmar, India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. Plus, on the 17 December, the ship departs Male on a new 17-day expedition to the Seychelles, Maldives, Mozambique, and Tanzania. Highlighting this voyage is an inaugural visit to Aldabra, an amazing raised coral atoll that has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Silver Galapagos will again operate year-round voyages exploring the pristine and biologically diverse islands of the Galápagos.

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Orion launches New 2012 Expedition Brochure

Free Flights on Selected Kimberley, Borneo & Vietnam Itineraries plus 15% Early Booking Discounts on Selected Sailings.

Orion Expedition Cruises has released an expanded range of path-less-travelled itineraries for 2012, which include free flights from the UK on selected Kimberley, Borneo and Vietnam voyages as well as early booking discounts of up to 15% on most sailings.

Incorporating the first full year of voyages for Orion II, as well as their original boutique cruiser Orion, these expeditions - well off the marine superhighway - include rarely visited destinations from polar ice cap to the tropics.

In addition to existing itineraries, Orion takes a fresh look at New Zealand with new Pure New Zealand and Bay of Islands voyages. Orion II’s new sailings feature the islands of Micronesia and additional voyages to Japan with Art of Japan and Culinary Voyage of Japan itineraries. China is included for the first time, with expeditions that includes the Yangtze Delta (Kobe to Shanghai) and Shanghai to Tawau (Yangtze, Taiwan, Philippines), while an inaugural visit to Java includes Borobudur.

Free flights are available on all Kimberley sailings between April 13 and September 10; on three Vietnam sailings departing March 12, 21, 30 and on one Borneo sailing departing February 17.

In all, 2012 will see the two purpose-built expedition cruise ships undertake 68 voyages to 17 countries and 174 destinations stretching from Antarctica to the Russian Far East, including Borneo, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, the Inland Sea of Japan, Korea, China and Micronesia (onboard Orion II). Australia’s Kimberley coast, Arnhem Land, Great Barrier Reef, the Spice Islands, New Zealand, the Sub Antarctic islands and Papua New Guinea feature in Orion’s range of expeditions.

The complete 2012 Calendar of Sailings is now on sale. Prices start from £1,630 per person, cruise-only, for a five-night Great Barrier Reef voyage on September 27 and from £4,400 per person for a nine-night Vietnam Explorer voyage, including free flights, with departures on March 12, 21 and 30.

For more info, visit http://www.orionexpeditions.com/ or the UK's expedition cruise specialists, The Cruise Line Ltd