Did you know Carnival Cruise Lines expects to host 600,000 kids this year – the most in the industry?

Families are particularly attracted to the line’s youth-oriented programming, which was recently expanded with the introduction of Circle C, an on-board program exclusively for 12-14 year-olds. It complements Carnival’s other youth programs, including Camp Carnival for younger kids and Club O2 for 15-17 year-olds. A number of ships have already been retrofitted with Circle C facilities, including the Carnival Legend, Pride, Victory and Valor. By the end of this year, the Carnival Imagination, Inspiration, Liberty, Fantasy, Paradise and Glory will be updated, with the rest of the fleet retrofitted by 2010.

To help celebrate the launch of Circle C, Carnival is offering especially attractive rates for families, just in time for the summer travel season. On select cruises, prices for the third and fourth guests in a stateroom start at $199 per person on three-day cruises and $329 per person on seven-day voyages.

The focal point of Circle C activities are custom-designed clubs, providing this age group with a place to call their own on-board. Each features a dance floor, high-tech sound and lighting, monster plasma TVs with movies and music videos, touch-screen jukeboxes with the latest music hits and video gaming centers with 20-inch plasma screens. Other Circle C program activities include basketball, volleyball and water games, as well as late-night movies and nighttime pool parties.

Soar Over Italy’s Breathtaking Landscapes on a Crystal Cruise

With guests clamoring for one-of-a-kind shore experiences, Crystal Cruises is expanding its Crystal Adventures in Italy program with a number of truly unique excursion opportunities. This year, guests can skip sea travel and take to the air on a number of special helicopter adventures, enabling them to soar high over the Amalfi Coast, Mount Etna, the Dolomites and vast portions of the Italian countryside. The high-flying trips are available on 16 Mediterranean itineraries aboard the Crystal Serenity and Symphony cruise ships.

Available from Rome, Venice, Taormina and Sorrento, the sky adventures include:

Mount Etna by Helicopter

In addition to majestic views of Europe’s largest volcano, guests visit picturesque Taormina, with plenty of time for exploring.

Majestic Dolomites by Helicopter

Aerial sites include Venice, Treviso, the Piave River, Longarone, Mount Civetta and Belluna, as well as lunch on land in Cortina d’ Ampezzo.

Etruscan Landscapes by Helicopter

Taking off from Tarquinia, travelers fly over Lake Bracciano, Lake Vico and Rome. They also make a special visit to Civita, dating back to 3,000 B.C.

Aerial of Amalfi Coast to Capri

Flying over the Dolomitic Cliffs, Positano, Mount Vesuvius, Pompeii and Naples, guests dine at Capri’s Grand Hotel Quisisana, a favorite spot of the local elite and celebrities.

New Cruise Travel Survey IDs Most Popular Destinations

A new survey of North American cruise travel trends based on actual 2007 bookings is out and the findings are revealing.

According to the data, the most popular short-itinerary trips (1-5 days) were five-day voyages to the Western Caribbean. Four-day trips to the Bahamas came in a distant second. The top mid-length cruise itinerary (6-8 days) was seven days in Alaska, followed closely by the Western Caribbean. The most popular long cruises (9 days or more) were dominated by 12-day Mediterranean voyages, with ten-day Southern Caribbean cruises coming in second.

St. Thomas remains the most popular Caribbean island and port of call. Grand Cayman came in second and St. Maarten/St. Martin jumped to the third spot ahead of Cozumel. Rome captured the top spot among Mediterranean ports, with Venice and Barcelona rounding out the top three. The most-visited European ports (non-Mediterranean) included St. Petersburg, London and Copenhagen. The top recommended Mediterranean shore excursions included private, guided tours of the Vatican; city tours of Rome; and tours of the ruins of Pompeii and Ephesus.

The grass really will be greener on a cruise vacation aboard the Celebrity Solstice, scheduled for launch this December. Something is sprouting on the luxury cruise ship’s top deck: real, growing grass! The turf is the highlight of the ship’s breakthrough “Lawn Club” – an industry-first carefully developed by the cruise line in conjunction with University of Florida landscape architects and irrigation specialists. Guests visiting the half-acre Club will be invited to enjoy bocce ball and croquet, practice their putting and picnic, among other leisures. In addition, The Patio on the Lawn will offer sitting areas with casual country club charm and a special coffee car service – plus the new Hot Glass Show, presented in collaboration with The Corning Museum of Glass. The area also features the Sunset Bar, enhanced by the natural grass of The Lawn Club and featuring stunning breathtaking views as the Solstice crisscrosses the Caribbean Sea.

Princess Alaska cruises expands land excursions

Recognizing an Alaska cruise is an once-in-a-lifetime adventure for so many travelers; Princess Cruises continually expands its Adventures Ashore program with new and exhilarating excursions each year. 2008 is no exception, with 37 new tour options available to cruisers. Some of the most intriguing include:

· An exclusive, private whale-watching encounter in Juneau in groups of 10 people or less;

· A five-course Alaskan feast served in a private club dining room overlooking the Ketchikan harbor;

· A family-oriented Bear Creek zipline eco-adventure through the Alaskan rainforest;

· Bering Sea crab fisherman’s tour including the chance to sail aboard a modified commercial fishing vessel featured on the Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch show.

· A walking tour of Skagway, guided by one of the madams of the Red Onion Saloon who takes guests back to the gold-rush era and once-infamous red-light district.

· A cruise through ice-berg laced waters to visit the Columbia glacier, the state’s largest tidewater ice field at 435 square miles – plus wildlife viewing, including whales, harbor seals, sea otters, sea lions and a variety of birds.

· A sea kayaking adventure on Resurrection Bay, one of the area’s premiere destinations, featuring Kenai Fjords National Park and up-close visits with sea otters, eagles, porpoises, leaping salmon and sea birds.

A total of eight Princess ships will be cruising the scenic waters of Alaska this year, with a combined 136 departures. All of the 2008 Gulf of Alaska cruises include a visit to Glacier Bay. Princess will take more people to visit this ice and sea spectacle than any other cruise line this year.

If your ideal cruise vacation actually involves a set of golf clubs, now is the chance to tee it up at sea and play at some of the most picturesque and challenging golf links found anywhere in the world.

In addition to personalized on-board professional golf instruction and the chance to meet tour pros, a number of cruise lines offer special land excursions to unforgettable golf destinations throughout the Caribbean, South Pacific, Mediterranean and Mexico.

Ultra-luxury Silversea Cruises has expanded its popular “Silver Links” golf program to 12 cruises in 2008. Golfers can perfect their swing on 35 world-class courses in 16 countries and islands. The golfing excursions, arranged and escorted by a ship’s golf professional, range in price from course to course and include transfers, pull or power-drive carts (where available) and all green and caddy fees.

The following is but a sampling of the Silver Links voyages and golf courses to be played by cruisers this year:

Silver Shadow departs May 16 on a 15-day Panama Canal crossing from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles, with golf excursions to La Iguana at Los Suenos (Puntarenas); Tres Vidas Golf Club (Acapulco); and El Tigre Golf Club (Puerto Vallarta).

Silver Whisper leaves July 19 on a 7-day Mediterranean sailing from Rome to Monte Carlo; golfers can play at Golf Park Mallorca (Palma de Mallorca); PGA at Catalunya Golf Club (Barcelona); Servannes Golf Club (Sete); and Sainte Maxime Golf Club (St. Tropez).

Silver Whisper departs Aug. 16 on a 7-day Mediterranean cruise from Barcelona to Rome, with golf excursions to Cannes Mougins Golf Club (Menton); Cosmopolitan Golf Club (Livorno); and the Monte Carlo Golf Club.

Silver Shadow leaves Sept. 17 on an 11-day Mexican Riviera voyage from Los Angeles to Costa Rica, with rounds at Cabo del Sol Desert Course (Cabo San Lucas); El Tigre Golf Club (Puerto Vallarta); Club de Golf Marina Ixtapa (Zihuatanejo); and Tres Vidas Golf Club (Acapulco).

Silver Shadow departs Dec. 3 on a 9-day Caribbean sailing from Fort Lauderdale to Barbados; golfers can play at Antigua’s Cedar Valley Golf Club, the St. Lucia Golf & Country Club and Sandy Lane Country Club in Barbados.

Silver Whisper takes a 15-day holiday cruise to the South Pacific, leaving Dec. 20 from Sydney to Auckland. Tee times are set at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club, Royal Hobart Golf Club, St. Clair golf Club (Dunedin), Clearwater Golf Club (Christchurch), Paraparaumu Golf Club (Wellington), Cape Kidnappers Golf Club (Napier), Kauri Cliffs Golf Club (Bay of Islands) and the Tauranga Golf Club.

Crystal Cruises also has expanded its golf-themed cruises for 2008. Guests can tee off on three 11- and 12-day golf fests, teeing off in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands and the maritime coast of Canada and New England. PGA pros will join Crystal guests at such courses as the Monte Carlo Club, situated high above the French Riviera; Spain’s El Saler Golf Course; and Lisbon’s Penha Longa Golf Course at the foot of the Sintra Mountain Range. In addition to championship golf ashore and onboard events, golfers can compete in one-in-one competitions for a chance to win a free cruise.

Norwegian Cruise Line has launched a new Golf Bermuda program, giving its golf-loving guests more opportunities to hit the links in Bermuda, where there are more courses per square mile than anywhere else in the world. Golf Bermuda has excursions for every level of golfer at the island’s most popular and scenic courses:

Ocean View Golf Course, just outside of Hamilton, is rated “four stars” by Golf Digest.

The challenging 6,100-yard Belmont Hills Golf Club was designed by famed course designer Algie M. Pulley, Jr.

Mid Ocean Golf Club, located in scenic Tucker Town, has challenged the biggest names in golf today.

Port Royal Golf Course, operated by the Bermuda government for more than 40 years, offers some of the most challenging holes on the island.

Tucker’s Point Golf Club, ranked by Travel + Leisure Golf as one of the top golf resorts in the Caribbean.

St. George’s Golf Course, featuring ocean views at every hole.

Riddell’s Bay Golf Club, Bermuda’s oldest golf course and described by locals as a “must play”.

San Juan, Puerto Rico is the Caribbean’s number one embarkation point for cruise ships, with over 1.2 million cruise passengers embarking on 700 cruises each year. The cruise terminal in San Juan easy to reach and very modern. Yes, it’s a longer flight for most people, but consider the benefits:

· As you start further south than a cruise leaving from the U.S. mainland, all of the Caribbean is within easy reach. Visit exotic islands like Antigua, Barbados, Curacao, St. Kitts/Nevis, St. Lucia, St. John and St. Maarten.

· With so many islands close by, you’ll have fewer sea days and more onshore adventures!

· No matter the time of year, you’ll have warm weather every day of your cruise (not always the case from ports in Texas and New Orleans).

· Lower cruise rates. For instance a 10-night cruise on the lovely Celebrity Galaxy will cost approximately $720.00 per person for an ocean view stateroom that includes these exotic ports of call: San Juan, Puerto Rico | Road Town, Tortola, B.V.I. | Philipsburg, St. Maarten | Castries, St. Lucia | Bridgetown, Barbados | Willemstad, Curacao | Oranjestad, Aruba. (These may be offset by higher airfare, however. But if you have frequent flier miles, you can get the best of both worlds).

· Unusual Shore Excursions. For example, Regent Seven Seas offers tours for the motorcycle enthusiast on the island of St. Maarten. Choose between the legendary Fat Boy and Heritage Classic motorcycles for a ride you will never forget. Follow your guide on a scenic tour past the Simpson Bay Marina, home to many luxurious mega-yachts, and then continue on through Maho, Mullet Bay and the lowlands that are famous for their appeal to many visiting celebrities. The convoy arrives at the French capitol of Marigot, where you’ll have the opportunity to see Ft. Louis. Your ride continues across the north coast of the island through Grand Case en route to Orient Bay, where a stop will be made for a quick dip on its popular beach.

After this refreshing break, you’ll continue riding through the countryside and back to the Village Plantation. After your ride, relax with a late lunch and variety of refreshments. When you are ready, a transfer bus will take you back to the ship.