Abercrombie & Kent Previews New Lineup of Holiday Itineraries

Luxury tour operator Abercrombie & Kent is expanding its lineup into the winter season with new curated, off-cycle small group journeys that make best use of this festive time of year. 

In a sneak peek for press, A&K unveiled its new festive holiday and winter journeys collection. These include two new river cruise journeys, two “coolcation” destinations, and two new holiday departures for existing popular itineraries.

These winter itineraries were created to expand the tour operator’s travel season. 

“What we’ve tried to do for the last several years is look at look at key destinations and figure out how we can expand the travel season,” explained Stefanie Schmudde, senior vice president of global product strategy at A&K. 

“We’ve seen a lot of set success already with Lapland itineraries that we’ve offered and our river cruise itineraries over the holiday season. So we wanted to look at key destinations and figure out how we could replicate that experience and create more opportunities for our guests to travel in this traditional festive season,” added Schmudde.

Abercrombie & Kent’s 6 New Winter Holiday Journeys

The eight-day Cruise the Rhine to Europe’s Christmas Markets itinerary takes guests on the AMADEUS Star for a festive trip steeped in French and German holiday tradition. A&K is only offering a single departure (Dec. 1) and the group size is limited to 24 guests. 

Although the journey is not a full charter, A&K guests will enjoy private shore excursions—no land tours are with other guests. 

“We’ve offered Christmas market journeys on the Danube for multiple years, and they always sell out—they’re always super popular,” said Schmudde. “So we’ve expanded this to the Rhine for 2025, and we’ve already seen really, really good pick up for this.”

The second new river cruise itinerary, New Year’s Eve Cruise on the Danube, builds off of A&K’s popular Christmas Market-themed trips on the Danube River, but with a departure that takes advantage of an exciting time of year: New Year’s Eve.

“New Year’s celebration in Budapest is unbelievable,” said Schmudde. “It’s an incredible opportunity always to experience New Year’s in another country.”

This itinerary is also limited to 24 guests, departing on Dec. 28 on the AMADEUS Riva.

A&K’s two new land journeys are Iceland Winter Adventure 2025 and Christmas in Lapland 2025. Iceland Winter Adventure 2025 is a seven-day journey that explores the country’s icy valleys and snow-bound thermal springs. There are two departures, and the group size is limited to 18 guests.

Christmas in Lapland 2025 offers guests an unforgettable journey through Sweden and Finland, with immersive, seasonal experiences such as sleigh rides, Sami campfires, and a chance to meet Santa (not guaranteed). This eight-day journey has three departures in 2025 with a max group size of 18. 

The new winter departures added for 2025 are for two popular A&K journeys: A Nile Cruise for the Holiday Season and Antarctica, South Georgia & Falklands: Holiday Voyage. Both are single departure dates timed to fit within the prime holiday season—perfect for school holiday breaks.

“For winter travel in particular, multi-generational and skip-gen travel is booming,” said Marett Taylor, A&K’s vice president of sales. “Families are increasingly using the holidays as an anchor for multi-gen travel, often to destinations like Egypt or Antarctica.”