Luxury is back in a big way. As the economy continues to improve, those with money are spending it again. And that’s good news for travel agents who specialize in high-end cruise vacations.

“There is a big uplift as of late in anything in the luxury segment,” says David Crooks, senior vice president of product and operations for World Travel Holdings, which operates a number of cruise-selling companies, including CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. travel agent networks. “The market is there, unlike a few years ago when that segment was buttoning down and not spending. The luxury segment seems to be outperforming.”

Luxury lines are building new ships, renovating existing tonnage, sailing to new destinations and enhancing the onboard product. To properly sell the luxury cruise segment, you must know the latest information on each line’s offerings. So here’s what’s new at the luxury and upper-premium cruise lines.

Azamara Club Cruises, which promotes itself as a destination-immersive cruise line, is driving the point home with two cool new land-tour options that will be offered starting in late March. The new “Insider Access” tours take groups of eight to 12 guests to ancestral homes, workshops or places of business at a destination. For example, when the ship calls at Haifa, Israel, guests can visit the home of a Druze family for a cooking workshop and discussion of the religion, tradition and culture.

The other new program, “Nights and Cool Places,” offers after-dinner outings for 15-20 people to places such as Malaga’s Picasso Museum, Rio de Janeiro’s landmark hot spot Scenarium or a historic neighborhood for a guided architectural walk — all with a local guide.

Azamara, which operates the 694-passenger Azamara Journey and Azamara Quest around the world, also showcases its destinations with complimentary “AzAmazing Evenings” offered once per cruise. For more information: 877-999-9553 www.azamaracruises.com.

Compagnie du Ponant is building its fourth new ship, Le Lyrial, which will enter service in April 2015. The 11,000-ton Le Lyrial is similar to its three sister ships — the 264-passenger Le Boréal, introduced in 2010, L’Austral (2011) and Le Soléal (2013).

Le Lyrial differs from its sisters in that its Deck 6 will feature only suites, including the 600-square-foot Owner’s Suite. As a result, it will have a total of 122 staterooms and suites, 10 fewer than on the other three. All accommodations will have a sea view and 95 percent will have a private balcony.

Compagnie du Ponant also is expanding in the Australasian market with seven new itineraries to Australia and New Zealand from December through February, sailing from Bali to Australia and New Zealand aboard L’Austral. The new expedition-style itineraries include visits to Darwin, the Great Barrier Reef, Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmania, Auckland and Rotorua. For more information: 888-400-1082 http://en.ponant.com.

Never content to rest on its laurels, all-inclusive Crystal Cruises continues to roll out product improvements and refurbish its two luxury ships, the 1,070-guest Crystal Serenity and 922-passenger Crystal Symphony.

In fact, the Crystal Serenity emerged from a $17 million dry-dock renovation in November with 70 new hypoallergenic staterooms and completely redesigned Crystal Penthouses — including in-suite washers and dryers! The Lido Deck also was redesigned with island stations, a new lounge for pre- and after-dinner cocktails, open kitchens and a tapas dinner menu in Tastes. The area also got four living walls — vertical gardens — including one that grows herbs that are used by the ship’s chefs.

Effective with the first cruises this year, Crystal eliminated smoking in all indoor areas, except the Connoisseur Club smoking lounge.

Also new this fall is free Wi-Fi for Crystal Society members. Repeat guests will receive 60 minutes of complimentary Internet access for every day of the cruise. For example, a 10-day cruise will offer 600 free minutes per person, which can be used any time throughout the voyage. The free Wi-Fi starts Sept. 19 on Crystal Serenity and Oct. 15 on Crystal Symphony.

Another major development is Crystal Celebrations, a commissionable service offering customized event planning in tandem with a cruise. Through a partnership with Imagine VIP event planners, a consultant can help plan a wedding in Tuscany or a milestone birthday blowout on board. For more information: 866-799-4625 www.crystalcruises.com.

Oceania Cruises has a lot going on this year. The company is spending $50 million to refurbish its three older ships, the 684-passenger Regatta, Insignia and Nautica. The post-renovation debuts are scheduled for May 8 for Insignia (now back in the fleet after a two-year charter), May 16 for Nautica and June 7 for Regatta.

The upgrades will bring the R-Class ships more in line with the two newer ships, Marina and Riviera. The renovation will encompass all public rooms and accommodations, and will add features introduced on the newer ships, such as the coffee bar and the grill in the Terrace Café, which serves steaks, lobster tails and chops.

Oceania also sold out — in just eight hours! — a unique 180-day voyage departing Jan. 10, 2015, and so scheduled another one to depart on July 8, 2015. Both global cruises will take place onboard Insignia. The summer departure will allow the ship to visit places that are too cold for traditional World Cruises, which usually begin in January, and will include Greenland, Iceland and Canada.

Parent company Prestige Cruise Holdings has extended for five years its partnership with Canyon Ranch to operate shipboard spas on the Oceania and sister line Regent Seven Seas Cruises. Canyon Ranch will be involved in the $50 million renovation program, which will add steam and changing rooms to spa facilities on the three older ships. For more information: 800-531-5658 www.OceaniaCruises.com.

Paul Gauguin Cruises is now in its second full year of operating its second ship, the lovely 88-passenger Tere Moana, which sails to the Caribbean, Latin America and Europe. Of course, its luxury ship Paul Gauguin continues to sail among the Tahitian islands.

But this year includes some unusual new itineraries, especially for Paul Gauguin. The 332-passenger ship is heading to Australia, Fiji and Southeast Asia. More unique itineraries have also been scheduled for 2015, including a 10-night Fiji roundtrip.

Paul Gauguin Cruises has scheduled voyages with special guests who are experts in the culinary arts, wine, photography, fine art, history, music and the oceans through which its ships travel. For example, this year oceanographer and environmentalist Jean-Michel Cousteau will join several Paul Gauguin cruises departing on June 14, Aug. 30 and Oct. 25.

Jean-Pierre Vigato, chef propriétaire of the two Michelin-starred Restaurant Apicius in Paris, will sail on the Paul Gauguin’s June 25 Australia and Southeast Asia voyage. For more information: 800-848-6172 www.pgcruises.com.

Regent Seven Seas Cruises recently completed a dry-dock renovation on one ship, the Seven Seas Voyager, while it ordered a new 738-passenger vessel to be delivered in summer 2016. The $450 million ship, named Seven Seas Explorer, will be the line’s third all-suite, all-balcony ship. The 369 suites will range from 300 to 1,500 square feet in size. The ship also will have six open-seating restaurants, a nine-deck atrium, a two-story theater, three boutiques and a Canyon Ranch SpaClub.

Meanwhile, the Seven Seas Voyager was spruced up with new furnishings, upholstery and carpeting. Included in the project were all the Penthouse Suites, the Horizons nightclub, the Observation Lounge, the Constellation Theater, the pool deck, pool grill and La Veranda restaurant.

Regent, which promotes itself as the most all-inclusive luxury brand, went a step further by including free Wi-Fi for guests in higher-category suites beginning with winter 2014-15 sailings. Guests in Concierge-level and higher accommodations will receive up to 500 minutes of free Wi-Fi. The number of free Internet minutes is based on the voyage length; for example, guests will get 200 free minutes for one- to seven-night voyages. For more information: 800-285-1835 www.RSSC.com.

While continually enhancing its onboard product, luxury line Seabourn has finalized its order for a new cruise ship for delivery in mid-2016. The 40,350-ton, 604-passenger newbuild will be similar to the three Odyssey-class vessels introduced in 2009, 2010 and 2011, but will have one more deck and more public areas. The ship order came as Seabourn is selling its three smaller, older ships to Windstar Cruises (see related item below).

Seabourn is adding four Penthouse Spa Suites to the newer ships, with direct access to the spa. Seabourn Quest already has them; they’ll be added to Seabourn Odyssey in May and Sojourn sometime in 2015. They measure 516 to 538 square feet and have 172-square-foot balconies.

The cruise line also has been enhancing its menus in the main restaurants and the Patio Grill, adding vegetarian options, regional cuisine and themed menus.

Seabourn introduced “Extended Explorations,” which are in-depth voyages lasting from 28 to 116 days in Africa, Asia, the South Pacific, South America and Antarctica. These were designed with more ports than traditional World Cruises and are available at different seasons. “They are proving extremely popular, so it seems we did hit a market that was underserved,” a Seabourn spokesman says.

The line also is developing a new course for travel agents through the online Seabourn Academy. It will include information on additions such as the “Extended Explorations,” a refresher/recap section and new incentives for graduates. For more information: 800-929-9595 www.seabourn.com.

SeaDream Yacht Club is exploring a lot of new territory this year. The 112-guest SeaDream II now is operating its inaugural program in Southeast Asia, to be followed this summer by its first Northern Europe season.

The SeaDream I will operate seven- to 14-day voyages along the Baltic coast and through the Norwegian fjords from June through August. Because of the ship’s small size, it can dock in locations larger ships cannot, such as the islands of Saaremaa in Estonia and Finland’s Aland archipelago.

SeaDream earned the highest score for cuisine in the small-ship category in Condé Nast Traveler’s 26th annual Readers’ Choice Awards. SeaDream prepares each dish à la minute, and each mega-yacht offers an optional Raw Food menu and a new Japanese menu. In certain ports, guests can join the chef on a trip to the local market to source fresh, local ingredients for the day’s meals. For more information: 800-707-4911 www.SeaDream.com.

Silversea Cruises now has three adventure ships in its Silversea Expeditions fleet. The 128-guest Silver Discoverer was scheduled to depart on its inaugural voyage for the luxury line on March 1, from Bali to Cairns, Australia. The Silver Discoverer, former Clipper Odyssey, will explore Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Micronesia, Melanesia and the Russian Far East.

The arrival of the Silver Discoverer comes on the heels of the launch of the Silver Galapagos last fall. The latter ship sails, of course, in Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands. The first ship in the expedition fleet is the Silver Explorer, which began sailing for Silversea in 2008. It specializes in the Polar Regions, including Antarctica, Norway, Iceland and Greenland.

The 298-guest Silver Wind recently completed a refurbishment during a two-week dry-dock in Italy. The specialty restaurant Le Champagne was completely made over while the suites, public spaces and dining venues were freshened up with new carpets, upholstery and other soft goods.

Also new: a complimentary service that provides streaming movies, live television news, newspapers and lifestyle magazines to guests’ mobile devices on the ships. The service can be accessed on any Wi-Fi-enabled laptop, smartphone, tablet or e-book reader with a browser.

In addition, enhancements to the “My Silversea” personal log-in area lets guests and agents update profiles and preferences, arrange activities before a voyage, and book specialty restaurant reservations from 120 to seven days before sailing. For more information: 800-722-9955 www.silversea.com.

Windstar Cruises, known for three upscale motor-sail yachts, is doubling the size of its fleet. On May 5, it will launch its first power yacht, the 212-guest Star Pride, formerly known as the Seabourn Pride. The Seabourn Pride’s two sister ships, Seabourn Spirit and Seabourn Legend, will set sail for Windstar in May 2015.

Before entering service as Star Pride, the former Seabourn Pride will undergo an 18-day stem-to-stern renovation to give it the casually elegant, slightly nautical ambiance found on the sailing ships. All staterooms and suites will be redone, as will most public areas.

Meanwhile, the staterooms on the Wind Star and Wind Spirit motor-sail yachts are being redesigned to replace the current desk/vanity with a sofa. The middle section converts into a table for a room service meal. Also, the center dresser next to the bed will be replaced with a new one that will give the room a more open feel without sacrificing storage space. The Wind Star’s 72 staterooms were redone in November; Wind Spirit’s 73 staterooms will get the new design in April 2015.

New destinations are on the horizon. The Wind Spirit will set sail for Tahiti in May and will operate seven-day round-trips from Papeete.

The Star Pride will spend the summer in Europe, and four of its itineraries are brand-new to Windstar, including a transit down the Corinth Canal in Greece. Star Pride will sail to Arabia and Asia in October. For more information: 800-258-SAIL www.windstarcruises.com.

A new competitor in the upscale segment is emerging. Viking Ocean Cruises, a sister to the fast-growing river cruise line, has started construction on the 930-passenger all-veranda Viking Star, which is scheduled to enter service in May 2015. Viking ordered a second ship for delivery in 2016 and has options for four more after that. For more information: 866-984-5464 www.vikingcruises.com/oceans.