Avalon Waterways has launched a new eight-day river cruise around Holland and Belgium on the 166-passenger Avalon Illumination.

Sailing between Amsterdam and Brussels, the journey takes passengers to the historical cities of Antwerp and Ghent, and the windmills of Kinderdijk. A spring-time visit on the itinerary, to see the tulips displays in the Keukenhof Gardens, where around seven million bulbs are planted each year, will be replaced the rest of the year by a tour of Delft.

Prices start from £2,046 per person departing April 15 including flights, UK and overseas transfers, wine with dinner and gratuities.

New next April, a nine-day Pride of Belgium cruise, also between Amsterdam and Brussels, on the 138-passenger Avalon Luminary visits the battlefields of Ypres and Eastern Flanders as well as including guided tours of Maastricht, Antwerp and Ghent.

Prices start from £2,069 per person departing April 4, which has been designated a themed World War One voyage and will additionally include expert on-board lectures about the conflict.

Two new launches in spring 2016 – the Avalon Passion and Avalon Imagery II, respectively sailing on the Danube and Rhine – will take the number of Suite Ships in the Avalon fleet to 12, with a total 16 vessels altogether. Each of the new craft has two decks of 200 square feet suites with wall-to-wall sliding panorama windows.