River cruise specialist, VIVA Cruises, has launched new themed cruises for 2023 on board its “culture ship”, SWISS RUBY. The new itineraries, starting in summer 2023, will include historical themed cruises, wine cruises and more – with prices starting from just £1,695 per person for an eight-day cruise.
VIVA Cruises’ SWISS RUBY has a length of 85 metres and features 44 outside double cabins for 88 passengers. The ship’s small size allows it to use waterways that are inaccessible to larger vessels, hence permitting VIVA Cruise’s themed itineraries to pass through narrow European rivers including Neckar, Saar, Elbe, Weser, Havel, Meuse and Ems.
New for 2023 will be the eleven-night “Big Cities and Hanseatic Flair” cruise, which will revolve around the theme of the Hanseatic League – a powerful trading network that dominated northern European commercial activity from the 13th to the 15th century. Guests on this cruise will delve into the in-depth history and cultural remnants of this League, which some considered the first European Union.
SWISS RUBY will lead guests into the centre of Amsterdam, past rocking houseboats and historic houses, before continuing on to Dutch province of Friesland through the German river, Ems, and the Elbe-Havel Canal. On arrival into the Hanseatic city of Minden (Germany), visitors will visit the coffee museum and learn all about modern shipbuilding at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg. Finally, the journey will feature a seafaring expert on board who will illuminate guests on everything there is to know about the Hanseatic League, leaving guests culturally and historically fulfilled.
In the late summer of 2023, VIVA Cruises will be launching a cultural “Northern Germany Explorer” cruise aboard SWISS RUBY with six different itineraries. The seven-night cruise will explore modern German cities including Berlin, Hamburg and Dusseldorf and delve into culture by visiting the Ruhr coalfield (one of the world’s largest) and other fascinating buildings in northern Germany. On selected trips, Hamburg singer, Ben O. Bömkes, will entertain guests with his music and his famous accordion as they sail.
VIVA Cruises’ 2023 themed cruises will be rounded off with autumnal wine cruises on the rivers Rhine, Neckar, Moselle and Saar. With four different journeys on offer, SWISS RUBY will voyage between the German cities of Dusseldorf and Saarbruecken, as well as Saarbruecken and Stuttgart, to visit some of the best wine-growing regions of Germany. Wine expert, Sonja Heinz, and Koblenz vintner, Christoph Müller, will join guests on board and introduce them to sustainable and ecologically oriented viticulture.
All VIVA Cruises itineraries include VIVA Cruises’ signature VIVA All-Inclusive product, which includes snacks, full board, high-quality alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, minibar, beauty products from luxury cosmetic brand, Rituals, Wi-Fi and all tips and gratuities.