Until a few days ago, just one of the 2013 names for the second wave of Viking's Longships in Europe had leaked: 'Skadi'. Now they have published the full set on their website. Interestingly, no one else thought it could be worth a few words about their mythological background. So lets have a short look at the who is who of nordic gods and godesses. Maybe that becomes a decisive point for some of you - forget about the cruise itinerary, is the name patron stylish enough?

As mentioned in the last post, a lot of new rivers are explored at the moment. While most companies focus on the Rhone, Saone and Douro, Uniworld is the first that cruises the Po river in Italy. The Po river provides some problems with sediments and floodings, but on the other hand Italy is full of another beautiful church(es) culture and history.

Plenty of articles on the web deal with the question if river cruises are a new trend, or if they have come of age and are 'really' established on the market. In fact, it is booming with tremendeous growth rates over the last few years. The result first: It is quite amazing to note, how easily the industry got through the last crisis and the drop in the Dollar / Euro exchange rate. Lets have a look at the data for this season to see how I come up with this result.

In my opinion the best tour guide ever. Enjoy, even if you're from Australia :D And don't forget to click on the headline or 'read more' as there is part 4 waiting for you.