Happy New Year, everyone! It brings me great pleasure to introduce you to our first issue of the year, and with it myself as the new editor of Cruise Trade News.

I’m enormously excited to work with you all and to find new ways to champion this incredible industry, both in the pages of this magazine and beyond.

We’re just a few weeks into wave season and optimism is already running high, with reports of record-breaking sales days reflecting the fact that more and more travellers are looking to spend their holidays at sea. However, there was one story in particular that captured everyone’s attention this month. I’m talking, of course, about the unveiling of Royal Caribbean’s gargantuan Icon of the Seas.

I was lucky enough to be invited to the exclusive three-night preview cruise earlier this month, and while the ship’s spectacular scale grabbed the headlines, seeing the industry showcase its ingenuity to the world left a far bigger impression. You can read all about Icon on page 32, which is this issue’s Ocean Ship of the Month.

Elsewhere, we kick off our CTN Investigates series by focusing on the issues surrounding accessibility, asking whether the industry is doing enough to make cruising open to all. That’s on page 39, while over on page 58, we set course for the Rhine, discovering enchanting monasteries and medieval towns while aboard Emerald Luna.

Happy reading, folks. I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible as the year unfolds.