Hill's Travel Service

Stories

Sep 17, 2025

River or ocean cruises | All Stories


What is 'Wave' and How You Can Save Booking Your Next Cruise Now

It couldn’t come at a better time. The thrills of the holidays have passed, and the bills of the gift-giving season are due.The cold weather, cabin fever, and the doldrums...

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4 Tips for Pre- and Post-Cruise Extensions

Your next cruise vacation shouldn’t just start and stop at the ship’s gangway. Make the most of your holiday by extending your cruise before you board and even after you disembark.Here...

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In it for the Long Haul: Cruise Line Marks 147 Years of Sailing History

These historic photos and delightful vintage posters trace one of the longest journeys of any cruise line. Holland America Line commemorates its 147th anniversary in April 2020. While 147 years is...

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Doubling Down on the Future of Small Ship Travel: This Cruise Line Confirms 2 New Ships Launching in 2021

As we all look at our calendars trying to plan when we’ll travel again, one cruise line is sure its small ship cruises will strike a chord with travelers eager...

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The New Cruise Line Making Yacht-Style-Cruising the Med Affordable

Sounds impossible, doesn’t it? The Emerald Azzurra is the first ship launched under the new Emerald Yacht Cruises brand, which is now part of the newly formed Emerald Cruises. You may already...

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5 Steps to a Cruise Comeback

If you’re one of the majority of cruise travelers, you can’t wait to return to the waves and waterways. (It’s true! Surveys show over a third of cruise travelers want...

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Bubble Cruising? Yes, You Can Cruise Close to Home

COVID's impact on travel is having one brilliant effect: it's shining a spotlight on the boom in cruising on the waterways of North America, with new ships and new itineraries...

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This is the First US-based River Cruise Line to Restart Cruising in Europe

Americans are still barred from Europe, and Canadians are technically permitted into Europe but still under their own government restrictions against leisure travel and required to quarantine 14 days upon...

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This Cruise Line Kicked Guests off a Cruise. Here's Why it's Good News for You and Cruise Travel

Guests left behind when a ship sails away is usually an unfortunate situation no cruise line likes to talk about. But when it happened last week in Naples, cheers rang out...

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Why Travelers in the Know are Booking A Douro River Cruise in Portugal

Have you taken a river cruise in Europe yet? The 'Big Three' river cruises are the Rhine, the Danube and the Rhone/Saone. You may have heard about cruising on the Seine, even...

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Top Reasons to Make Seabourn Your First Cruise

You never forget your first love - or your first cruise.All the more reason to make sure your first cruise is the very best cruising experience and leaves only wonderful...

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Viking Sets Sail on the Mississippi

From rivers, to oceans and lakes… and now to America’s heartland. Viking Cruises has announced it will cruise the Mississippi between St. Louis and New Orleans beginning in 2022.The company’s first...

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Picture This: The Largest Cruise Ship Ever to Transit the Panama Canal

As you can see, it was a tight fit when the newest mega-ship at sea arrived at one of the man-made wonders of the world in an iconic photo-op for...

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Cycling through the Dutch Countryside on an Avalon Active Shore Excursion

One of the best things about river cruising in Europe is that it takes you into the heart of world-famous cities, charming smaller towns, and even through the countryside that...

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Have You Heard About OceaniaNEXT?

Oceania Cruises is making a triple-play of transformations, breathtaking in scope, that have already begun. When complete over the next few years these three tremendous changes will elevate all of...

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This Ship Has a Magic Carpet - And 8 Other Things You'll Love About the New Celebrity EDGE

The Celebrity EDGE has launched and is turning heads at every port. Its standout sleek, urban resort styling and game-changing technology have a high point: the Magic Carpet.You'll see what we...

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Video Cruise Review: Tulips and Much More on an Avalon Spring Netherlands River Cruise

If you're a flower lover, a Tulip Time spring cruise in the Netherlands is already on your bucket list. If you're not a particular flower lover, it should still be on...

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Four New Shows Onboard Seabourn

The new evening entertainment experiences debut on the Seabourn Odyssey alongside updated popular 'An Evening with Tim Rice' and coincide with an upgraded Grand Salon.Time your enjoyment of Seabourn's delectable...

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Channel Your Inner Van Gogh on this Avalon Discovery Shore Excursion in Amsterdam

What happens when you put three non-painters in a painting workshop? Can you really learn to paint like Van Gogh in an afternoon?  Those were the questions on all our minds...

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Discover Amsterdam's Local Food Scene on this Avalon Waterways Shore Excursion

Everyone wants to try 'real' local food when they travel. But we don't always have a real local to point us in the right direction. That's why we loved our Avalon...

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4 Local Markets You Can Go Shopping with the Chef on a Seabourn Cruise

It's a long-standing tradition and one of guests' favorite experiences of a Seabourn cruise. And it doesn't even take place on board the ship.Seabourn's Shopping with the Chef complimentary shore excursions...

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This is the Only Place You Can See Cirque du Soleil at Sea

Cirque du Soleil has been charting new entertainment territory since it began and it's changed what we think of as 'circus' shows.You may have been lucky enough to go to...

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To Celebrate 125 Years of Exploring, this Expedition Cruise Line Bans Plastics

Since the 19th century, Hurtigruten has been bringing travelers closer to Nature.  Its tongue-twister name is Norwegian for 'Express Route' (it might help to think: 'hurried – route'); it was founded...

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