Travel Maven Blog ...... David Molyneaux posts from TheTravelMavens.com

Cruising the new Oceania Marina in (almost) luxury

With the launching of the Oceania Marina, there’s a new leader in a relatively new niche in cruising.

The niche, somewhere between the high-priced luxury brands and the big ships of the premium lines, is called upper premium or maybe ultra deluxe or, my favorite because it’s mine, almost luxury.

The cruise line is Oceania.

The celebration party is just beginning, because its newest ship, the Marina, already is the belle of the ball.

Cruising the Mediterranean on Seabourn Odyssey

The cruise line that calls itself the Yachts of Seabourn is in a building boom. In 2009, Seabourn, which sails perhaps the best of all the luxury ships, introduced its first new vessel in nearly 20 years. Another ship followed in 2010 and a third debuts in 2011, increasing the cruise line's ships from three to six and its total cabins from about 300 to more than 950.

Recently, I sailed on one of the new ships, Seabourn Odyssey, from Athens to Venice. And this week my ship review was published by CruiseCritic.com, the free interactive website that has millions of viewers who cruise, comment, and offer their own reviews of ships.

You will find my review at Cruise Critic's U.S. website, as well as its U.K. website.