Cruise Month sessions highlight river and expedition cruising

September 15, 2025 – Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) will put a spotlight on river and expedition cruising during October’s Cruise Month campaign, introducing two new educational opportunities for travel agent members.

To highlight some of the most dynamic areas in cruising, CLIA will host interactive Spotlight Sessions exploring the latest developments in river and expedition cruising, which will be recorded in front of a live audience and made available to CLIA members online.

The sessions will help mark River Week (12-18 October) and Expedition Week (19-25 October) during Cruise Month and will give agents a chance to expand their product knowledge and hear from industry leaders representing river and expedition operators.

A small group of CLIA members will be invited to join the audience in Sydney on 7 October, helping to shape the conversation, ask questions and contribute to the recordings. The Spotlight Sessions will then be added to CLIA’s professional development library as ongoing resources for members.

CLIA Managing Director in Australasia Joel Katz said the new Spotlight Sessions would allow agents to gain practical knowledge on two rapidly evolving areas of cruising.

“River cruising and expedition cruising have been seeing a huge amount of investment and innovation over recent years, and have become incredibly popular ways to cruise,” Mr Katz said. “Our Spotlight Sessions are designed to help travel agents better understand river and expedition cruising, and to capitalise on their growing popularity.”

CLIA’s Cruise Month initiative returns this year with a fresh cycle of social media activity, digital advertising, education opportunities and other promotional initiatives designed to create excitement around cruising and direct consumers to their local CLIA travel consultant.

Activities will follow four weekly themes, covering Ocean Cruising (5-11 October), River Cruising (12-18 October), Expedition Cruising (19-25 October) and Luxury Cruising (26 October – 1 November).

To help members capitalise on Cruise Month and mount their own campaigns, CLIA has created a Cruise Month Toolkit containing logos, videos, digital banners, posters, customisable flyers and other marketing resources.

CLIA members can register their interest in attending the Spotlight Sessions here.