The 227-passenger vessel is a fully rigged, five-masted tall ship.

Looking for something different for your next cruise? Our latest Cruise Ship Tour, in the carousel above, offers a deck-by-deck look at one of the most unusual passenger vessels afloat: sailing line Star Clippers' Royal Clipper.

Measuring 439 feet long and 54 feet at the beam, the five-masted, fully rigged sailing ship is billed as the largest square-rigger at sea and, as can be seen in the tour, it's a sight to behold. With room for 227 passengers, the 5,000-ton vessel is based on the design for Preussen, a legendary German windjammer built in 1902.

Designed as a research tool for vacationers considering a voyage, the Royal Clipper photo tour -- by veteran cruise writer and ship photographer Peter Knego

Gourmet dining at sea just keeps getting better and better. Like a perfect wine-pairing at a Michelin-star restaurant, award-winning Windstar Cruises has partnered with the James Beard Foundation to serve elevated culinary experiences aboard three 2016 themed cruises to France, Morocco, Portugal and Spain. The James Beard Foundation Collection will offer a trio of bespoke small-ship sailings catering to food and wine aficionados, and guiding passengers to the best culinary experiences at each port.

“It’s very important to us to expose our guests to local culture and cuisine throughout their time on board, creating a more intimate connection to the world around them,” said Hans Birkholz, Windstar Cruises’ chief executive officer. “Our new James Beard Foundation Collection takes Windstar’s commitment to local food culture a step further and is perfect for any traveler who approaches a new city with their next meal in mind.”

The 2016 James Beard Foundation Collection by Windstar itineraries includes three sailings with two itineraries. Embarking on April 24, 2016, the eight-day “Culinary & Wine Delights of Southern Spain & Morocco” sails on Wind Surf from Lisbon to Barcelona, docking in Tangier, Morocco, and Málaga, Granada, Cartagena, Ibiza, and Tarragona, Spain. On June 10 and August 9, 2016 the 10-day “Culinary & Wine Delights of Spain & France” cruise aboard Star Legend, sails from Dublin to Lisbon in June. The reverse occurs in August with ports including Saint-Malo, La Rochelle, and Bordeaux in France, Gijon and El Ferrol in Spain, and Porto in Portugal.

A luxury cruise renaissance is on its way as Crystal Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Seabourn Cruise Line and Silversea Cruises all expand their operations from now into 2018 and beyond.

Crystal Cruises

No single line in the group is growing as much as Crystal Cruises as the company, recently purchased by Genting Hong Kong, prepares to introduce entirely new brands and new ships. Until now, the line has consisted primarily of two ships, but now it has three new Exclusive-class vessels on order. Illustrating the magnitude of the company’s growth is Genting HK’s decision to buy the Lloyd Werft shipyard in Germany where they will be built.

Regent Seven Seas Cruises

As for Regent Seven Seas Cruises, the luxury line is coming out with the new Seven Seas Explorer, which the line is calling "the most luxurious ship ever built,” on July 20, 2016. Onboard will be an impressive set of decadent features including 375 total suites, sporting the largest verandas in the cruise industry, the crème de la crème of which will be a 3,975-square-foot, two-room Regent Suite situated at the top front of the ship with its own spa and Vista Garden glass-enclosed observation area

Seabourn Cruise Line

Later in 2016, Seabourn Cruise Line’s newest Seabourn Encore will set sail with an inaugural itinerary scheduled for January 2017. The more intimate 600-guest luxury liner will be just 40,350-gross-tons in size and feature a second sister ship, the Seabourn Ovation, to be introduced in 2018. Both are based on the country-club style Odyssey-class vessels with one extra deck and expanded public areas this time around.

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On the night of our sail-away from Lisbon on Regent Seven Seas Mariner, my husband and I joined a small group of fellow passengers in an intimate lounge for a “first-timers-to-the-line” orientation. Regent cruise consultant, Brian O’Brien, hosted the get-together over cocktails and led off with a weather forecast, of sorts.

“If you are running into foul weather on a Mediterranean cruise, it means the Captain has taken a wrong turn,” said O’Brien.

Everyone chuckled but his comment was spot-on. During peak season—which runs from May through August—cruisers can usually count on near-perfect weather. Each time we’ve sailed the Med, sunshine has been abundant, temperatures hovered around the 70s and 80s, and cool sea breezes made it appealing to relax on the deck.

Cruising with all-inclusive Regent Seven Seas Cruises is a very comfortable, social experience. You get the luxury of space to hang out sans crowds, lots of perks and fancy accouterments, but it's all on a pleasingly subtle scale — as we learned on a recent cruise in the Mediterranean on the all-suite, all-veranda 700-passenger Seven Seas Mariner.

Guests sailing on Windstar Cruises' Costa Rica & Panama Canal itineraries have a new way to celebrate: The Canal Celebration, a deck side festival, invites guests to experience the sights and sounds of the Panama Canal while enjoying amenities and activities that highlight the Panamanian culture.

New for 2015 and 2016, Windstar guests can enjoy a nighttime passage through the Panama Canal, during which lights illuminate the inner workings of the waterway, during the Canal Celebration. As the ship approaches the first locks in the early evening, a speaker from the Panama Port Authority comes on board to introduce guests to the complex lock system.

As the yacht navigates the passage, guests can drink local beverages, beers, and cocktails from a mobile drink cart while listening to local festive music from various regions around the country.

In the evening, guests can dine on a custom-made Panamanian menu, curated by Windstar’s Executive Chef Michael Sabourin. Upon completion of the passage, guests find in their stateroom a certification of The Order of the Ditch, a Navy tradition that recognizes “sailors” who have passed through the Panama Canal.

Looking for something out of the ordinary for your next cruise? Our latest Cruise Ship Tour, in the carousel above, offers a deck-by-deck look at one of the most unusual and alluring small ships afloat, upscale line Windstar's Wind Spirit.

As can be seen in the tour, the 148-passenger Wind Spirit is a motor sailing vessel that can operate on both wind and diesel power -- one of three in the six-ship Windstar fleet. Originally built in 1988, it recently received a major makeover in dry dock that brought significantly revamped public spaces and cabins, and it now sails year-round in the South Pacific (a nearly identical sister ship, the Wind Star, operates in the Caribbean and Mediterranean).

Cruise guests will have a rare opportunity to attend the Festival of Akwasidae in Ghana next March as part of Silversea Cruises’ latest land tour.

Offered as part of a new six-day, pre-cruise ‘Accra & the Ashanti Kingdom’ land tour before Silver Cloud’s 16 March 2016 West Africa voyage, the centuries-old festival is held within the walls of the royal palace in Kumasi. It is presided over by the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the 16th ruler of the Ashanti people. During the ceremony, griots tell stories of past Ashanti rulers while drum and ivory horn players accompany traditional dance performances.

“In addition to being an amazing journey, this unique programme provides our guests with the exclusive opportunity to participate in the Akwasidae Festival in Kumasi,” said Darius Mehta, Silversea’s vice president of air and land programmes. “Like all of our overland adventures, this exciting programme has been hand-crafted to enhance our guests' experiences ashore, and to provide them with cultural immersion opportunities that would simply not be possible otherwise.”

I am gazing onto the bright blue Caribbean Sea aboard the luxurious and oh-so-pretty Crystal Symphony cruise ship en route to Willemstad, Curacao.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary, Crystal long has epitomized gracious living at sea for the seasoned and well-heeled traveler.

With only two ships (for now), Crystal has been voted "World's Best" more than any other cruise line, resort or hotel in history.

Tauck is trying to get solo travelers to reconsider their choices if the cost of singles supplements for traveling alone has been holding them back.

The tour operator is targeting single travelers with a broad-based reduction or elimination of singles supplements across a wide range of its tours in Europe and North America and on river cruises in Europe.

Tauck completely removed its singles supplements on all of its Category 1 cabins on all of its riverboats in Europe, a total of 220 departures, according to the company. The company is also cutting the singles supplements by as much as $1,000 on Category 4 and 5 cabins on 15 river cruise programs.

Tauck also cut up to $400 off the price of a number of its European land tours and up to $300 off North American land tours.

Seabourn Cruise Line has been awarded the 2015 Good Taste Award for “Finest Cruise Line Dining” by culinary magazine Saveur.

The inaugural Good Taste Awards were celebrated by the magazine at a reception in New York City on Oct. 13, and Seabourn — along with all of the other winners — will appear in the October issue.

This is not the first award Seabourn has won from Saveur, either, as the company was also named the "Best Culinary Cruise Line" in the magazine's Culinary Travel Awards in 2013 and 2014.

Luxury line Regent Seven Seas Cruises is getting even more all-inclusive with the addition of free unlimited WiFi access for every passenger.

Regent on Wednesday announced the new perk would be available fleetwide starting in late 2016. The company currently offers free unlimited WiFi only to passengers in top suites. Passengers in lesser cabins get 200 to 500 minutes of free WiFi access per cruise, with the time depending on the voyage length.

Regent's move comes just six months after the debut of Viking Ocean Cruises, a new upscale line that has been making waves in the industry with a "no nickel-and-diming" mantra that includes the promise of free Wi-Fi for every passenger. Viking's free Internet offering is similar to Regent's in that there is no time limit for any passenger.