KID-FRIENDLY (age 12+) small ship cruises
Thanks to sporty activities like kayaking, hiking and snorkeling, these lines are great for families during summers and holidays.
Alaskan Dream Cruises; AmaWaterways (Disney charter); Australis; Blue Lagoon Cruises; Captain Cook Cruises; Celebrity Expeditions; Coral Expeditions; Ecoventura; G Adventures; Island Windjammers; Le Boat; Lindblad Expeditions; Ponant; SeaDream Yacht Club; SeaTrek Adventure Cruises; Silolona Sojourns; Star Clippers; Tauck; Un-Cruise Adventures; Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection; Variety Cruises
WILDLIFE-focused small ship cruises
These lines offer the most opportunities to spot wildlife relatively close up, whether in the sea, up in the sky or on the shoreline.
Abercrombie & Kent; Alaskan Dream Cruises; Aqua Expeditions; Australis; Blue Lagoon Cruises; Captain Cook Cruises; Celebrity Cruises; Ecoventura; G Adventures; GreenTracks; Hapag-Lloyd Expeditions Cruises; Lindblad Expeditions; Oceanwide Expeditions; Poseidon Expeditions; Quark Expeditions; Silolona Sojourns; Un-Cruise Adventures
HISTORIC small ships (50 years +)
These ships are all more than 50 years old, though some have been rebuilt to varying degrees.
Hurtigruten (Lofoten 1965); Gota Canal Steamship Company (Juno 1874, Wilhelm Tham 1912, Diana 1931); GreenTracks (Rio Amazonas 1899); Hebridean Island Cruises (Hebridean Princess 1964); Oceanwide Expeditions (Rembrandt Van Rijn early 1900s and Noorderlicht 1910); Sea Cloud Cruises (Sea Cloud 1931)
TRADITIONALLY-DESIGNED small ships
These lines’ ships are based on traditional ship-building styles, but are not actually old in age.
American Queen Steamboat Company (American Queen — 19th century steamboat design); Island Windjammers (Diamant — brigantine schooner); Pandaw River Cruises (entire fleet — British colonial river steamer style); Sea Cloud Cruises (Sea Cloud II — three-masted barque); SeaTrek Adventure Cruises (Katharina & Ombak Putih — Indonesian schooners); Silolona Sojourns (Silolona & Sidatu Bua — traditional Indonesia two-masted cargo schooners); Star Clipper (Star Flyer & Star Clipper — four-masted barkentine-rigged clipper ship, Royal Clipper — full-rigged five-masted clipper ship); Un-Cruise Adventures (S.S. Legacy — American coastal night boat); Variety Cruises (Galileo only)
Small ship cruises to ALASKA
These lines spend summers in the Inside Passage and Gulf of Alaska.
Alaskan Dream Cruises; Lindblad Expeditions; Ponant; Silversea Expeditions; Un-Cruise Adventures
Small ship cruises in the GALAPAGOS ISLANDS
These lines offer year-round (or nearly) cruises in the Galapagos (with reviews of more Galapagos-bound QuirkyCruise lines coming soon).
Celebrity Cruises; Ecoventura; G Adventures; GreenTracks; Lindblad Expeditions; Silversea Expeditions; Tauck; Un-Cruise Adventures; Zegrahm Expeditions
Small ship cruises in the CARIBBEAN
These lines all spend part of the year cruising the islands of the Caribbean; mostly the southern and eastern regions.
G Adventures; Island Windjammers; Lindblad Expeditions; Pearl Seas Cruises; Ponant; Sea Cloud Cruises; SeaDream Yacht Club; Silversea Cruises; Star Clippers; Swan Hellenic; Un-Cruise Adventures; Variety Cruises; Windstar Cruises; Zegrahm Expeditions
Small ship cruises going to CUBA
These lines offer cruises focused on Cuba, the hottest cruise destination on the high seas.
Abercrombie & Kent, G Adventures; Lindblad Expeditions; Pearl Seas Cruises; Ponant; Sea Cloud Cruises; Star Clippers; Swan Hellenic
Small ship cruises in ASIA
These lines have ships in Asia all or part of each year on river and oceangoing cruises.
AmaWaterways; Aqua Expeditions; G Adventures; Hapag-Lloyd Expeditions Cruises; Lindblad Expeditions; Pandaw River Cruises; Ponant; SeaTrek Adventure Cruises; Scenic Cruises; Silolona Sojourns; Silversea Expeditions; Star Clippers; Tauck; Vantage Deluxe World Cruises; Zegrahm Expeditions
SHORT small ship cruises ITINERARIES of less than a week
Below are lines that offer 1- to 5-night itineraries, ideal to tag onto a regional land trip.
Aqua Expeditions (3-4 nights); Australis (3-7 nights); Captain Cook Cruises (3-4 nights); Gota Canal Steamship Company (1-5 nights); GreenTracks (3-4 nights); Island Windjammers (6 nights); Magna Carta Steamship Company (5 & 7 nights); Majestic Line (3-6 nights); Marine Link Tours (5 nights); Ontario Waterway Cruises (5 nights); Pandaw River Cruises (1-4 nights); SeaDream Yacht Club (4-6 nights); St. Lawrence Cruise Lines (4 nights)
ACTIVE small ship cruises
These lines offer opportunities for water sports like kayaking, canoeing, water skiing, sailing, snorkeling and diving; on land, cycling and hiking.
Alaskan Dream Cruises; Aqua Expeditions; Blue Lagoon Cruises; Captain Cook Cruises; Celebrity Expeditions; Compagnie Polynesienne de Transport Maritrime (C.P.T.M.), Coral Expeditions; Ecoventura; Emerald Waterways; G Adventures; GreenTracks; Island Windjammers; Lindblad Expeditions; Oceanwide Expeditions; Pandaw River Cruises; Ponant; Poseidon Expeditions; Quark Expeditions; SeaDream Yacht Club; SeaTrek Adventure Cruises; Silolona Sojourns; Star Clippers; Un-Cruise Adventures; Variety Cruises; Zegrahm Expeditions
Cruising with NORTH AMERICAN PASSENGERS
These lines see an almost entirely North American passenger contingent.
Alaska Dream Cruises; American Cruise Lines; American Queen Steamboat Company; Blount Small Ship Cruises; Grand Circle Cruise Line; Island Windjammers; Marine Link Tours (mostly Canadians); Ontario Waterway Cruises (mostly Canadians); Pearl Seas Cruises; St. Lawrence Cruise Lines; Tauck; Un-Cruise Adventures
Small ship lines cruising UNUSUAL WATERWAYS
By design, most small-ship cruises focus on off-beat routes, but these lines particularly so.
American Cruise Lines (Eastern Seaboard Intracoastal Waterway); Australis (Tierra del Fuego); Blount Small Ship Adventures (New York State rivers and canals, Eastern Seaboard Intracoastal Waterway); Gota Canal Steamship Company (Cross-Sweden canals); Hapag-Lloyd Expeditions Cruises (Philippines and eastern Indonesia); Le Boat (canals, lochs, lakes and tributaries of 8 European countries); Magna Carta Steamship Company (canals of Scotland); Majestic Line (Argyll, Western Scotland, Hebridean isles); Marine Link Tours (British Columbia fjords, inlets); Ontario Waterway Cruises (Ontario’s canals, rivers, lakes); Pandaw River Cruises (Upper Irrawaddy, Chindwin, Upper Mekong); SeaTrek Adventure Cruises (eastern islands of Indonesia); Silolona Sojourns (eastern islands of Indonesia); St. Lawrence Cruise Lines (Ottawa River)
Small ship cruises with multiple CULTURE-FOCUSED LECTURERS
While most small-ship cruises are led by an expert guide/lecturer, these lines carry multiple experts, often with audio-visual presentations about the destinations and related topics.
Lindblad Expeditions (Europe with NG Orion); Silversea Expeditions; Swan Hellenic
Best small ship cruises to access by RAIL CONNECTIONS
The following ports are served by multiple daily passenger intercity rail services — Amtrak for the USA and Via Rail for Canada. If a port is served by only one train a day, it is not included. A short taxi ride will be all that is required between the railroad station and the port.
USA Ports
Boston, MA — American Cruise Lines, Blount Small Ship Cruises; Portland, Me — American Cruise Lines, Pearl Seas Cruises; New York, NY — American Cruise Lines, Blount SSA, Pearl Seas Cruises; Baltimore, MD — American Cruise Lines; Charleston, SC — American Cruise Lines, Blount Small Ship Cruises; Jacksonville, FL — American Cruise Lines, Blount Small Ship Cruises; Chicago, IL — Blount Small Ship Cruises, Pearl Seas Cruises; St. Louis, MO — American Cruise Lines, American SB Co.; Portland, OR — American Cruise Lines, American SB Co, Lindblad Expeditions, Un-Cruise Adventures; Vancouver, WA — American Steamboat Co; Seattle, WA — American Cruise Lines, Un-Cruise Adventures.
Canada Ports
Kingston, ON — Ontario Waterway Cruises, St. Lawrence Cruise Lines; Ottawa, ON — Ontario Waterway Cruises, St. Lawrence Cruise Lines; Quebec, QE — Pearl Seas Cruises, St. Lawrence Cruise Lines; Toronto, ON — Pearl Seas Cruises.
Absolutely STUNNING SCENERY to ogle from the decks of small ship cruises
All small-ship cruises go to some really attractive places, but these are the prettiest of them all.
Alaska — Glacier Bay National Park; New York — Hudson River in the fall; Argentina — Patagonia, Torres del Paine National Park; Antarctica — on a blue sky day; Austria — Wachau Valley of the Danube River; France — Burgundy along the Soane; Germany — Moselle River in fall; Vietnam — Halong Bay; Pacific Ocean — French Polynesia and Fiji Out Islands; Norwegian Fjords — Geirangerfjord; Greek Isles — Santorini; Alaska — Misty Fjords; Thailand — Phi Phi Islands; Malta — Valletta harbor; Caribbean — St. John; Caribbean — St. Lucia; West Papua, Indonesia — Raja Ampat Islands; Russian Far East — Kamchatka & Kuril Islands
— TWS & HMS
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