LATEST CRUISE BOOKINGS

I have worked regularly as a wildlife speaker on board cruise ships since 2005, often joined by my wife Sue, a marine biologist who helps with spotting wildlife on deck. Since we started this work, we have made many friends, who often ask about our future cruise plans, and we are always delighted to make new friends. On both Viking Ocean Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, I am generally booked to cover all aspects of the natural history of the trips, both on sea days and on shore. We are happy to highly recommend these companies (and the others we work with) for their high standards of comfort and value for money. We also love talking to guests on deck as we watch for seabirds or whales, or joining you to spot flowers and wildlife ashore. We try to keep this page updated with all the latest news of our future cruise bookings.

*** For a full round-up of my past experience as a cruise ship speaker, please click here. ***

I am happy to hear from cruise companies looking for speakers, by a message here.

2023

I am delighted to be making my return to Regent Seven Seas Cruises for CANARY ISLANDS TO IVORY COAST, departing Barcelona on Saturday 18th November on board Seven Seas Voyager. We then travel south to Cape Town with scheduled stops in Cadiz, Spain and Casablanca, Morocco; Santa Cruz de Tenerife on the Canary islands and São Vicente in the Cape Verde Islands before heading across to West Africa with stops in Dakar (Senegal), Banjul (the Gambia), Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Sekondi-Takoradi (Ghana), Lomé (Togo), then São Tome island. Three days sailing down the West African coast, with interesting seabirds and perhaps cetaceans, brings us to Walvis Bay in Namibia - my all-time favourite world port for wildlife watching - and ending in the 'Mother City' of Cape Town on Wednesday 13th December. Check the RSCC website here for details of that cruise.

I then stay on Seven Seas Voyager for probably one of the favourite cruises I have ever done, which suits me even better with its theme this time around, WILDLIFE & WINE! It begins in Cape Town on Wednesday 13th December, with a very welcome overnight stay at Walvis Bay in Namibia, then Port Elizabeth, an overnight in Durban, Maputo in Mozambique (political situation permitting!), celebrating Christmas with an overnight in Richard's Bay, then Mossel Bay before ending in Cape Town on Thursday 28th December - with time to get home for Hogmanay!!!  The Regent website has full details of that wonderful cruise here.

2024

First up is a welcome reprise on Viking Venus IN SEARCH OF THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. We had wonderful experiences of the aurora when we did this cruise in 2022 (see photo below), so are thrilled to repeat the cruise (on a slightly amended itinerary) in 2024. The cruise departs Tilbury, England on Sunday 24th March, with a day in Narvik and overnights (for aurora-spotting) in Tromsø and Alta, and ends in Bergen on Friday 5th April. Full details of that cruise are on the Viking Ocean Cruises website here.

I then remain on Viking Venus for BRITISH ISLES EXPLORER, departing Bergen on Friday 5th April, with stops in Lerwick (Shetland), Invergordon (for Inverness and the Highlands), Newhaven (for Edinburgh), then north again to Kirkwall (Orkney), Ullapool (for the north-west Highlands), Belfast, Liverpool, Holyhead in Wales, Dun Laoghaire (for Dublin in the Republic of Ireland), Dover and ending in London Tilbury on Thursday 18th April. Read more about that cruise here.

Next up, in May we'll be joining Viking Mars for three back-to-back cruises, repeating two favourite itineraries from 2023. The first of these is a return visit to the arctic environment of Svalbard on ICELAND & NORWAY'S ARCTIC EXPLORER. This time, we start from Bergen on Sunday 26th May, with stops on Geiranger before heading north of the Arctic Circle to Narvik, Leknes on the Lofoten Islands, Tromsø and Honningsväg. We then sail past Bjornøya on the way to Longyearbyen in Svalbard for an overnight there. Subsequently, we will pass Jan Mayen Island on the way to Isafjordur in Iceland and end the cruise in Reykjavik on Saturday 8th June. See here for more on that cruise.

That cruise can also be combined with the cruise below - with minimal repeat talks from me! - as a grand voyage called GREENLAND, ICELAND, NORWAY & BEYOND, which has to be almost the perfect cruise for my interests. Full details here.

Next are two return trips on ICONIC ICELAND, GREENLAND & CANADA. The first begins from Reykjavik on Saturday 8th June and virtually circumnavigates Iceland, with 5 port stops at Heimaey, Djupivogur, Seyđisfjörđur, Akureyri and Isafjörđur, then across to Nanortalik and Qaqortoq in Greenland, L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland and Halifax in Canada, before arriving in New York on Saturday 22nd June. We then depart again that evening on the reverse itinerary back to Reykjavik, arriving there on Saturday 6th July. There's more about that exciting cruise on the Viking website here.

On 5th August 2024, I'll be delighted to return to Regent and rejoin my favourite ship, Seven Seas Navigator, for a cruise called INSPIRED ICELAND, sustainably (for me) starting in Southampton and ending there on 25th August. Ports include Akureyri, Isafjordur and Reykjavik in Iceland, Nuuk, Pamiut and Qaqortoq in Greenland, with a scenic cruise also of Prins Christian Sund, and stops in the Orkney and Faroe Islands on the way north, and the north of the island of Ireland on the way south. Full details of that cruise are on the Regent website here.

Then in November I join Seven Seas Voyager for a cruise that's almost a repeat of one I did in 2023, called WEST AFRICAN WONDERS. It departs Barcelona on Wednesday 6th November, and concludes in Cape Town on Sunday 1st December, with scheduled stops in Cadiz, Spain; Casablanca and Agadir in Morocco; Arrecife on Lanzarote in the Canary islands and Mindelo in the Cape Verde Islands. It then heads across to West Africa with stops in Dakar (Senegal), Banjul (the Gambia), Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Sekondi-Takoradi (Ghana), Lomé (Togo), then São Tome island. Three days sailing down the West African coast, with interesting seabirds and perhaps cetaceans, brings us to Walvis Bay in Namibia, with another day and a half at sea on route to the 'Mother City' of Cape Town. Check the RSCC website here for details of that cruise.

2025

2025 starts with Viking Ocean Cruises on WEST INDIES & PANAMA CANAL PASSAGE, on board Viking Sea. This begins in San Juan in Puerto Rico on March 31st, with stops in Willemstad, Curaçao; Cartagena and Colombia and Colón in Panama, before transiting the always-amazing Panama Canal. Next up is Puntarenas in Costa Rica and Corinto in Nicaragua, before Cabo San Lucas in Mexico, ending in Los Angeles on April 17th. More details here. I then stay on for the next cruise, PACIFIC COAST EXPLORER, which departs LA and heads briefly south to San Diego, then north again to Santa Barbara and San Francisco, with a stop in Astoria, Oregon and Victoria on Vancouver Island, before ending in Vancouver, Canada, on April 25th. Read all about that one here.

After a brief break at home, I'm back to the north-east Pacific coast with Regent again for GREAT ALASKAN ADVENTURE on Seven Seas Explorer, departing Seward on 21st May and visiting Hubbard Glacier, Sitka, Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan, before arriving in Vancouver on 28th May. I then stay on Explorer for EPIC PACIFIC PASSAGE, a welcome 14-night cruise, which visits all these ports but adds Wrangell, Icy Strait Point, a cruise of the Endocott Arm Fjord, plus Victoria on Vancouver Island before returning to Vancouver on 11th June. Check the details here (and click 'previous cruise' for the earlier trip).

After a short break, I'll board Seven Seas Voyager in Southampton on July 7th for a 21-night cruise LOVELY NORWAY & THE FJORDS which visits 15 ports in Norway (see map below), 7 of which are north of the Arctic Circle and 4 of which will be new to me, despite all my cruising. It also includes a morning in Amsterdam and ends in Antwerp on 27th July. More about that cruise on the RSSC website here.

I will then stay on the ship for EMERALD FIELDS & NORTHERN SHORES which leaves Antwerp that evening and visits Amsterdam before a round-UK trip, including Newcastle, Newhaven (for Edinburgh), Liverpool, Belfast and Dun Laoghaire (for Dublin), ending in Southampton on August 7th. Full details of that one here.

After a brief break, I join Regent's Seven Seas Splendor in Barcelona on August 23rd for ATLANTIC OCEAN RHAPSODY visiting Alicante, Motril and Cadiz in Spain, Funchal on Madeira, Ponta Delgada and Horta in the Azores, then two days at sea to St John's and Cornerbrook in Newfoundland, then a day up the St Lawrence Seaway to Quebec and ending in Montreal on September 8th. Read about that one here.

I then stay on Splendor for LIGHTHOUSES & LOBSTER ROLLS, departing boarding in Montreal on September 8th, then visiting Quebec and Saguenay, Sydney and Halifax in Nova Scotia, St John on the Bay of Fundy, Portland and Boston, and south to New York by September 18th, as described here on the RSSC website.

Next up, it's back to Seven Seas Navigator for MAJESTIC SAFARIS & MODERN SPIRES departing Cape Town on November 25th, and visiting Mossel Bay and Richard's Bay in South Africa, Maputo in Mozambique, Mayotte in the French Comoros, Nosy Be Madagascar, an overnight in Mahé in the Seychelles, then four days at sea to Muscat in Oman, Fujairah and Dubai in the UAE and ending in Doha, Qatar on December 14th. Read all about that one here.

2026

Three early bookings for 2026 from Regent Seven Seas Cruise are especially exciting because of the time they spend in Madagascar, which I have visited before but look forward to exploring further. SHORES OF MADAGASCAR leaves Cape Town on Seven Seas Voyager on January 27th, visiting Durban and Richard's Bay in South Africa and Maputo in Mozambique, before Morondava, Nosy Be, Antsiranana, Nosy Boraha and Toamasina in Madagascar and Mayotte on the Comoros Islands. It ends in Port Louis, Mauritius on February 12th. Full details here.

STUNNING BEACHES & THE BIG FIVE is then a modification of that, in reverse. It leaves Port Louis on February 12th, visiting three of the same ports in Madagascar plus Toliara, an overnight in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, an overnight in Richard's Bay, then Mossel Bay in South Africa, ending back in Cape Town on February 28th. Details are on the RSSC website here.

To complete my exotic travels, I then continue on Voyager for SPRING IN SEYCHELLES, which departs Cape Town on February 28th to Port Elizabeth, with an overnight in Durban and on to Maputo in Mozambique. That's followed by another visit to the Comoros Islands, then Nosy Be on Madagascar, before an overnight in Mahe on the Seychelles. Return visits follow to Salalah, Muscat and Khasab in Oman before concluding in Dubai on March 20th. More on that here.

We would be delighted to discuss future opportunities for 2025 and 2026 with cruise companies. We are fully coronavirus vaccinated (including the 'booster') with the required certification available.