Uniworld Boutique River Cruises’ new ship, the Douro Spirit, made a dramatic arrival in the beautiful city port of Porto on April 30, 2011, where guests gathered for a cocktail reception and the official christening of the ship, followed by a sumptuous onboard dinner. The inaugural event included many dignitaries and executives, including Allan J. Katz, United States Ambassador to Portugal. “Uniworld is proud to have the new Douro Spirit to take our guests through this breathtaking UNESCO World Heritage region. The Douro Valley has been recognized by National Geographic Traveler as one of the World’s Great Places in their annual Destination Survey,” stated Guy Young, President of Uniworld.

Ultra-luxury Silversea Cruises today announced plans to change the name of the Prince Albert II, its expedition ship, to Silver Explorer. The change will occur later this month while the vessel is in dry dock at the Lisnave shipyard in Setubal, Portugal, undergoing routine maintenance prior to commencing a summer programme of Northern Europe and Arctic voyages.

Manfredi Lefebvre, Silversea’s chairman, said: “Our expansion into adventure travel has turned out quite successful and we have to prepare for the possibility of adding more ships. To reinforce the Silversea luxury brand image for the expedition segment, we decided to change the name of our first expedition ship to Silver Explorer and anticipate any future expedition ships will bear similar names that evoke a sense of luxurious adventure.”

Sailing the seven seas, taking in different sights and sounds along the way – this is the beauty of a cruise, whether you do a few nights around Europe or a longer haul to exotic places such as the Caribbean or Africa.

You know you always have the comfort of your cabin, the friendliness of the staff who get to know you and the familiar things on board at the end of every day, no matter which country or port you have visited.