The thaw in relations between the USA and Cuba has set off a race among cruise companies to start up sailings between the countries. But so far, few Americans are booking the trips, according to a survey conducted for USA TODAY by one of North America's largest travel sellers.

The survey of 1,034 travel agents who book cruises by Travel Leaders Group found that just 2.9% have taken a booking for one of the recently announced Cuba voyages.

Still, nearly 42% of travel agents queried said they've had a customer express interest in the trips.

Americans will pause for a moment on August 21, head out its door and look to the sky. A total solar eclipse is set to become one of the summer’s most memorable moments, and many will ask, “Where were you?”

This hasn't become a media sensation just yet, but now's the time to plan if you'd like to see it.

A smart bet? Look to Royal Caribbean, which announced that it will offer a special set of events to coincide with the eclipse on a journey dubbed the Total Eclipse Cruise.

“We’re set to take vacationers on an unprecedented experience that is nearly a century in the making,” Michael Bayley, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean International, said in a statement. 

Royal Caribbean’s newest ship, Symphony of the Seas, is coming our way in April 2018, and when it debuts it will be the world's biggest cruise ship, slightly larger than Harmony of the Seas.

Here is our preview of the ship with a rundown of its features and amenities. And yes, it's open for booking.

Royal Caribbean shared the following infographic about the smartship, now under construction:

One of our favorite things about taking a cruise vacation is not worrying about keeping our dining on budget, because it’s included in our cruise fare. Dining on a cruise can be a little confusing for first-time cruisers, so here are some answers to common questions about cruise dining..

Regent Seven Seas Cruises will be launching a new "Seven Seas Wellness" program on Seven Seas Voyager starting later this month with the goal of enhancing the physical, mental and spiritual benefits of a cruise for its guests. 

The Miami-based luxury cruise line said the new wellness program will be available on seven- to 10-night Mediterranean itineraries on the Seven Seas Voyager from late May through September 2017.

Disney Cruise Line will make its debut in Bermuda and Quebec City, Canada, next year.

The cruise line revealed new details regarding its fall 2018 itineraries Thursday, including announcing that it will make first-time visits to those ports on new sailings from New York.

Disney also confirmed a trio of special sailings out of the Big Apple that will include stops at Walt Disney World and Disney's Castaway Cay private island in the Bahamas. Plus, the cruise line revealed additional voyages sailing out of California, Texas and Florida late next year.

Today at the Eye for Travel conference at Hotel Nikko in San Francisco, I'm giving a presentation on the subject "Visual Storytelling to grab your customers."

I spoke at Eye for Travel two years ago when Cruiseable was just about to launch, and the gathering for travel executives has come a long way, with a full-fledged startup alley now as well as speakers and attendees from both the travel sector (Trivago, Hotel Tonight, Viator) and outside the sector (AARP, Google, Facebook). 

As I always do, I've made the presentation available for download on SlideShare and embedded it here. (Susie Conley of Viator, Robecta Ma of Cathay Pacific and moderator Dwight Sholes are also on the panel — if you're at Eye for Travel, come on by at 2:50 pm today!) 

Norwegian Cruise Line will expand its Cuba offerings into next year, adding 33 sailings to the Caribbean island during 2018, most of which will feature overnight visits to the Cuban capital of Havana.

The four-day roundtrip cruises from Miami aboard Norwegian Sky went on sale today. 

Some interesting findings in a new report, "The 5 Most Surprising Shifts in the Travel Industry," from the global travel consultancy MMGY Global.

Above is the portion of the infographic most relevant to cruisers: the finding that young people are just as into cruises as older travelers. 

According to the MMGY findings, millennials, along with "matures" (seniors), now have the same level of interest in cruising at 51 percent. Young millennials find cruising an affordable and convenient vacation option.

Click on the thumbnail below to see the full infographic. You can

My cruise partner Richard and I have many fond memories of dining at Sabatini’s Italian Trattoria, the $30 a person alternative dining venue on Princess Cruises. The inviting Italian restaurant has attracted many other foodie fans since it was introduced in 1998.

And now things are changing with new recipes designed to please the palate and the eye thanks to a fleetwide enhancement in collaboration with acclaimed Italian chef Angelo Auriana, who is creating handmade pasta dishes (like my Mom used to do) as well as family recipes curated from Italian Princess executive chefs across the fleet.  

Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection has put some clout behind its new brand, U by Uniworld. The new river cruise line devoted to sailings that target the desires of millennial travelers has just announced that bookings are open. 

“Uniworld has always strived to lead innovation in the river cruise industry and we saw a great opportunity with U by Uniworld to reach an entirely new audience,” said Ellen Bettridge, President & CEO of Uniworld. “River cruising is the best and most comfortable way to experience all that Europe has to offer, in an affordable way, and we’re incredibly proud to create a brand that will broaden the interest in this type of experiential travel.”

Nine adventures are now available for reservations by travelers ages 21 to 45 years old looking for a new experience in 2018. These include journeys on the Rhine, Danube and Seine rivers that feature overnight stays in major cities such as Paris, Vienna and Amsterdam. 

At the Seatrade cruise trade show and conference earlier this month in Ft. Lauderdale, the top brass of MSC Cruises was on hand to outline an ambitious game plan that doubles the size of its fleet and triples its passenger capacity from the current 1.8 million passengers a year to more than 5 million annual passengers by 2026.

Notably, all of the new ships coming online will be next-generation smartships: The sleek new MSC Meraviglia debuts a new class of 5,714-passenger ships in June, MSC Seaside will launch in Miami in December as the first in a new class of 5,179-passenger ships, followed by a Meraviglia Plus class of 6,297-passenger megaships starting in 2019 and a World class of ships starting in 2022. 

What they all have in common is a new set of technologies — rolling out starting in June — that will put MSC Cruises at the forefront of the next generation of smartships. And Swiss-based MSC is betting big that its European stylings, world-class entertainment plus state-of-the-art tech will attract millions of new customers in North America; currently, only 10 percent of MSC’s overall passengers are from North America.

“North America here we come!” MSC Cruises executive chairman Pierfrancesco Vago declared to the assembled travel writers at Seatrade.