The EYE ON THE SKY® AstroCruises (TM) Page

THE astronomy cruise specialists!

"See the Sea — See the Sky — See the World" (TM)

"... and at night they were to dance in the open air, on the upper deck, in the midst of a ballroom that stretched from horizon to horizon, and was domed by the bending heavens and lighted by no meaner lamps than the stars and the magnificent moon — dance and promenade, and smoke, and sing, and make love, and search the skies for constellations that never associate with the Big Dipper ..."

     — Mark Twain, in The Innocents Abroad (1867), writing about his experience aboard Quaker City on what is considered historically to be the first American-origin commercial voyage to qualify as a "pleasure cruise"

• January 28-February 27, 2009, 30 nights British luxury for adults
  Southern Hemisphere New Moon Cruise (Lima to Sydney)
  on Saga Holidays Saga Rose (new moon February 25)

• September 5-22, 2009, 18 nights popular large ship
  Far North New Moon Cruise (Southampton to New York)
  on Princess Cruises Crown Princess (new moon September 18)

Total countries/territories (as recognized by Travelers' Century Club) visited by 45 AstroCruises (TM) to date:
Total countries/territories when the next 2 confirmed AstroCruises (TM) are included:

* NOTE THAT all fares are per person, double occupancy ("ppdo"), and that gratuities, taxes and government fees (including port charges) are sometimes but not always included in published fares (and sometimes the country of disembarkation charges a separate departure tax which may or may not be included in your air fare). Airline flights and transfers are usually not included, and travel insurance is optional but always recommended. Passport and visas, if required, are the responsibility of passenger. Fares, fees, itineraries and programs are accurate as of last update but are subject to change without notice. Contact us directly for details and for the current best AstroCruises (TM) discounts, deals and value-added bonuses.

Southern Hemisphere New Moon Cruise January 28-February 27, 2009 Saga Holidays Saga Rose (former Norwegian American Line/Cunard Sagafjord, Commonwealth World Cruise Saga is a British luxury cruise line for adults only (no passengers younger than forty). Overnight in Lima, Peru. Sail from Lima (Callao) Thursday, January 29 Itinerary: Easter Island; Pitcairn Island; Papeete, Tahiti; Apia, Samoa; Suva, Fiji; Nuka Alofa, Tonga, Aukland and Bay of Islands, New Zealand; thirteen sea days Arrive in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, February 26, and overnight in hotel.      Southern Hemisphere cruises offer naked-eye celestial sights unseen in the mainland U. S. and Europe: Alpha Centauri and Southern Cross above the horizon all night; Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (the two galaxies closest to our own and visible with the naked eye); Omega Centauri (about ten million stars in the largest and brightest globular cluster in our galaxy, almost as old as the universe itself) and second brightest globular cluster 47 Tucanae; and 26 new constellations created when Dutch and French astronomers first charted the southern stars. Astronomer is aboard February 10-26 (nine sea days). New moon February 25.      Contact us for current best AstroCruises (TM) deal.

Far North New Moon Cruise September 5-22, 2009 Princess Crown Princess, Iceland, Greenland & Norway Transatlantic Sail from Southampton, England Saturday, September 5 Itinerary: Stavanger and Bergen, Norway; Lerwick, Shetland Islands, Scotland; Torshaven, Faroe Islands, Denmark; Akureyri and ReykJavik, Iceland; Nuuk, Greenland; St. Johns, newfoundland, Canada; eight sea days Arrive in New York Tuesday, December 10      Far North cruises offer auroras (the chance of seeing auroras on clear, dark nights in Iceland this time of year are 9 out of 10), noctilucent clouds (the highest clouds above Earth, at the very edge of space), polar-orbiting/high-latitude satellites and daytime atmospheric phenomena such as parahelia ("sundogs") and sun pillars. New moon September 18.      Contact us for current best AstroCruises (TM) deal.

Each year we seek to offer a wide variety of cruise styles (luxury, premium, family and adventure), lengths (generally 7 to 14 days), ship sizes (44 to 3600 passengers) and costs (money-is-no-object to bargain, sometimes starting at less than $100/day* ppdo). The following is a list of upcoming celestial events and potential AstroCruises (TM) destinations.

• Dark-Sky New Moon cruises to warm and interesting places. Look for the month's last old crescent moon, first young crescent moon and earthshine.
• Caribbean, Mexican Riviera and Hawaiian Tropical cruises to see more and different stars than can be seen in the mainland U. S. and Europe (including Alpha Centauri, our solar system's nearest neighboring star, and the Southern Cross) and the sun and moon directly overhead.
• Annual Perseid, Geminid and Quadrantid Meteor Shower cruises in August, December and January, but only when forecasts and moon phases are favorable.
• Annual End-of-Season High Latitude cruises — Antarctica after mid-January, Far North (Alaska/North Atlantic/Baltic) after mid-August, and coinciding with the new and crescent moons — for auroras, noctilucent clouds, polar-orbiting/high-latitude satellites and daytime atmospheric phenomena such as parahelia ("sundogs") and sun pillars.
• Occasional Southern Hemisphere cruises to see naked-eye celestial sights unseen in the mainland U. S. and Europe: Alpha Centauri and Southern Cross above the horizon all night; Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (the two galaxies closest to our own and visible with the naked eye); Omega Centauri (about ten million stars in the largest and brightest globular cluster in our galaxy, almost as old as the universe itself) and second brightest globular cluster 47 Tucanae; and 26 new constellations created when Dutch and French astronomers first charted the southern stars. There's also a meteor shower, the Eta Aquarids, that is best seen south of the equator.
• Partial and Total Solar Eclipse cruises. Solar eclipses take place during the new moon, the best time of month for stargazing because night skies are darkest. (Get your eclipse viewers with "CE" safety certification through First Interplanetary Trading Company (TM).)
• Total Lunar Eclipse cruises. Cruises that embark shortly before a total lunar eclipse not only begin with one of the year's best celestial events, they take advantage of the waning moon for stargazing in increasingly dark skies during the rest of the cruise.
• Occasional Comet cruises. According to the International Comet Quarterly of the Harvard-Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, since 1935 on average we have been able to view a comet brighter than second magnitude about once every 5-6 years (three of seven Big Dipper Stars are brighter than 2.0 magnitude), a comet brighter than first magnitude every 10 years or so (only 15 stars are about 1.0 magnitude or brighter), and a comet brighter than zero magnitude roughly once every 15 years (only two nighttime stars are noticeably brighter than 0.0 magnitude). Comet McNaught, the brightest comet in more than 40 years (so bright that it was visible in the daytime) was discovered 7 August 2006 and only became visible to the naked-eye in late December before reaching peak brightness 14 January 2007.
• Tropical and Southern Hemisphere 21 Club cruises at times and places to spot all 21 first-magnitude stars during the cruise.
• Dry Season Clear-Sky cruises during a particular region's most cloud-free time of year. Generally, it's the Caribbean and Pacific Mexico/Central America in December-April (with an extended season in the Mexican Riviera, Baja California and Netherlands Antilles/Venezuela and shorter season in Caribbean Central America) and the Mediterranean in May-September (with an extended season in the eastern Mediterranean).
• Shore Excursions and other opportunities to visit world-class planetariums, science museums and significant astronomical heritage sites such as modern, historic and ancient observatories.

• January 16 Antarctic New Moon cruise season
• February 15 Antarctic New Moon cruise season
• July 22 Total Eclipse of the Sun is visible in Shanghai and other well-traveled areas in the western Pacific; maximum totality is 6 minutes 39 seconds (Shanghai totality is 5 minutes 5 seconds)
• September 8 Far North (Alaska/North Atlantic/Baltic) New Moon cruise season
• December 14 Geminid Meteor Shower peaks during the waning crescent moon, only 5 percent of its face lit
• New Moons in 2009: Jan. 26; Feb. 25; Mar. 26; Apr. 25; May 24; June 24; July 22; Aug. 20; Sept. 18; Oct. 18; Nov. 16; Dec. 16

• July 11, 2010, crosses the South Pacific and touches the tip of South America in midwinter; maximum totality is 5 minutes 20 seconds
• November 13, 2012, crosses the South Pacific from Australia almost to South America; maximum totality is 4 minutes 2 seconds
• The total solar eclipses of 2016, 2017 and 2020 may be relatively painless to construct itineraries around, but those of 2015 (springtime in the North Atlantic and Arctic) and 2019 (midwinter in the South Pacific) won't be.

• Venus crosses the face of the sun on June 6, 2012, for the last time until the 22nd century.