17 Night Cruise sailing from Southampton roundtrip aboard Balmoral.

Slightly larger - and with a wider choice of facilities - Fred. Olsen Cruise Line's Balmoral is still compact enough to offer the intimate, home-from-home atmosphere for which the company is so well known. Named after the Scottish home of the royal family, the ship's public rooms also have a Scottish theme, although the onboard atmosphere is distinctly British. Enjoy formal or informal dining, a drink in the pub-at-sea, main shows and dancing, or take in the views from one of the bars and lounges. Two pools, a gym with fantastic views and golf practice nets are available for the more energetic. Or relax in one of the Jacuzzis, indulge in luxurious spa treatments or enjoy a book from the library.

Highlights of this cruise:

Southampton
Southampton is a city and major port situated on the south coast of England. It is the closest city to the New Forest, situated approximately halfway between Portsmouth and Bournemouth. The city of Southampton is a modern and bustling place to visit, filled with huge shopping malls, modern buildings and an interesting past.

Southampton's busiest tourist attractions include the Civic Centre - home to the Guildhall, library and many significant events throughout the year; Ocean Village - a trendy marina development full of waterfront attractions, restaurants, bars, cinemas and shops; Southampton Common - an enormous area of green in the very heart of the city, with plenty for all the family such as the Hawthorns Urban Wildlife; and the Rose Bowl - a prominent local sporting venue.

Ponta Delgada
Ponta Delgada is a charming Portuguese town at the tourist heart of the Azores, in the North Atlantic. Museums and monuments are everywhere, and the historic streets connect everything from hotels and churches to shops and restaurants. Its huge first class marina harbours boats from all around globe and its nightlife attracts people from all over. In the evenings, especially during the summer, throngs of people promenade along the Infante Dom Henrique Avenue (by the seaside).

Santa Cruz, Tenerife
The most varied and one of the most attractive of the Canary island group, Tenerife offers a truly incredible variety of landscape, vegetation and climate, owing to the high mountainous crest which clearly divides the island in two. Giving, on one hand, a lush, fertile and humid North Coast and a dry, desert like, arid Southern Coast on the other.

Santa Cruz de Tenerife is a very friendly town with beautiful parks and lively streets. The port area is the town's real center: Plaza de España, with its Cabildo Insular and Plaza de la Candelaria with its impressive 17th century Carta Palace. More sights are the baroque church Iglesia de la Concepcion, the Museum of Painting and Sculpture and the castle Castillo de Paso Alto.

Close to Santa Cruz there are the beaches Las Gaviotas and Las Teresitas, and an outstanding view over the island can be seen from the mountain Monte de la Esperanza, located 20 km's from the town.

Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city of Portugal. a lively and multicultural place. Pre World War I wooden trams clank up steep gradients, past mosaic pavements and Art Nouveau cafes, and the medieval, village-like quarter of Alfama hangs below the city's castle.

Modern Lisbon has kept an easy-going pace and boasts a vibrant, cosmopolitan identity from large communities of Africans and Asians. In 1994, Lisbon was European City of Culture, while in 1998 the city hosted the last great Expo of the millennium.

There are few monuments and little art in Lisbon, largely due to the 1755 earthquake. There is one building from Portugal's golden age - the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos at Belem - that is the equal of any monument in the country. More modern developments include the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian museum complex and the Tomas Taveira's amazing postmodernist shopping centre at Amoreiras.