How to choose a small ship cruise
You could go to almost any corner of the earth. Bay-hop around the Greek Islands or seek out the emptiest beaches in Belize. Watch for dolphins in the Aegean, whales in Mexico, penguins in the Antarctic, or narwhals around Baffin Island. Cruise rivers, canals or oceans. Get stuck into unfurling sails and cooking, or let the experts do the hard work while you concentrate on the on-board lectures and what’s over the horizon.
So how on earth do you choose the right small ship cruise for you? Here are some things to keep in mind.
So how on earth do you choose the right small ship cruise for you? Here are some things to keep in mind.
Our Small ship cruising Holidays
Southern Croatia cruise in comfort
Cruise Croatia's beautiful islands on a small cruise ship
From
£559 to £779
8 days
ex flights
Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctica cruise
The Ultimate Antarctica Experience!
From
€10500 to €12400
21 days
ex flights
Skye and the Small Isles sailing holiday
Sail Scotland's Small Isles and visit spectacular Skye
From
£1320 to £2280
9 days
ex flights
Classic Antarctica cruise & South Shetland Islands
Experience all that this remarkable area has to offer!
From
US $4860 to US $7990
11 days
ex flights
Melanesia cruise, wildlife cruise
Explore idyllic islands of the South Pacific inc Vanuatu
From
US $5495
12 days
ex flights
Seychelles 7 day sailing cruise
Cruise the Seychelles on a beautiful wooden sailing ship
From
£1355
7 days
ex flights
Dubrovnik to Venice luxury cruise
Cruise the Croatian Islands before a bus journey to Venice
From
£2135 to £2339
12 days
ex flights
Luxury small ship cruise in Croatia
Luxury small ship cruise through Croatia's Islands
From
£1175 to £1535
8 days
ex flights
Kamchatka and Chukotka wildlife cruises, Russia
Explore Kamchatka's stunning Coast, volcanoes, fjords & more
From
US $7200
14 days
ex flights
Arctic wildlife holiday, Polar bear explorer
A wildlife focused Arctic safari in Svalbard
From
£7195 to £9595
11 days
ex flights
Scotland private charter sailing holidays
Private Charter a small ship around the Scottish Islands
From
£7188 to £16410
7 days
ex flights
Chukotka and Wrangel Island wildlife cruises, Russia
Explore Russian Arctic - home to Polar Bears, walrus & more
From
US $9350
15 days
ex flights
Hebrides cruise, The Sounds of Mull, Luing, Shuna and Jura
Cruise the Sounds of the Hebrides: Mull, Luing, Jura, Shuna
From
£660 to £1680
7 days
ex flights
Antarctic cruise and hiking in Chile
Walk in Atacama and Patagonia before cruising Antarctica
From
£13725
4 weeks
ex flights
Antarctic Peninsula and Weddell Sea cruise
A diverse polar wilderness journey
From
€6890
12 days
ex flights
Alaskas Glacier Bay small ship cruise
Get close up to Alaska where the big ships can't go
From
£3315
8 days
ex flights
Wildlife Cruise of New Zealand Subantarctic Islands
New Zealand's wildlife rich & remote Subantarctic wilderness
From
US $4600
8 days
ex flights
Spitsbergen Arctic Cruise
An exciting wildlife cruise around the Svalbard archipelago
From
£5558
12 days
ex flights
Luxury gulet cruise in the Aegean
5 star services while cruising the Greek Islands in luxury
From
£945 to £1185
8 days
ex flights
Arctic sailing voyages, Spitsbergen
Experience sailing in the fjords
From
€2640 to €5490
8 days
ex flights
Cruising holiday in Burma, the Mergui Archipelago
A comprehensive tour of Burma including ocean sailing
From
£5675
17 days
inc UK flights
Luxury Arctic cruise Spitsbergen & Franz Josef Land
A unique expedition to rarely visited Franz Josef Land
From
£7995
15 days
ex flights
St Kilda and the Outer Hebrides cruise, Scotland
Scottish Cruise to St Kilda and the Outer Hebrides
From
£4480
11 days
ex flights
Split to Dubrovnik Luxury cruise, Croatia
Cruise Split to Dubrovnik in luxury via Croatia's islands
From
£1249 to £1599
8 days
ex flights
Antarctica fly and cruise
Experience Antarctica without having to cruise the Drake!
From
£8000 to £9500
8 days
ex flights
Antarctic adventure cruise
Action packed adventure to the white continent!
From
US $11795
11 days
ex flights
Southern Hebrides and Sea Lochs of Argyll cruise
A Scottish cruise to the islands of the Inner Hebrides
From
£2310
7 days
ex flights
Caledonian Canal cruise, Scotland
Cruise the Caledonian Canal in a wee ship
From
£1780 to £1810
7 days
ex flights
Fiji cruise, escape to paradise
Cruise some of Fiji's most beautiful islands and villages
From
£2025
8 days
ex flights
Weather
No one knows better than a sailor that paths plotted are totally dependent on the whims of the weather and waves. Saying that, some things can be guaranteed. Scotland isn’t exactly going to promise you hot and sunny weather like the Caribbean might. You can depend on it not being dependable, in fact; it’s a four-seasons-in-a-day kind of place. To travel here you have to be open-minded about an itinerary that flexes with the rains and suns – and you have to not mind waterproofs.
It’s a similar story in the polar regions. To go on a cruise to either end of the earth, you have to be the sort of person who doesn’t mind dressing for weather – i.e. like an onion, with lots of layers. You also have to be prepared for the possibility of sea sickness. Are you ready to brace yourself for the shake-rattle-and-roll of the Drake Passage? Or would you rather dip in and out of the still bays of Croatia?
Are you only available at a certain time of the year? Then that will affect what type of cruise you go on, too. Caribbean sailings generally shove off between December and April to avoid the hurricane season. If you’re after the midnight sun in Svalbard, then you’ll have to go in July. If you’re after the Northern Lights, then winter is your best bet. Read more about when to go on a small ship cruise.
Comfort
All small ships are clean, well organised and comfortable, but some have more mod-cons than others. Smaller ships will have shared toilets; expedition ships often have private bathrooms. Looking for Wi-Fi signal on a tiny yacht? You’ll have more luck looking out for a mermaid. It might exist on bigger ships, although signal will be wobbly in remote regions. Let the tour operator know your comfort zone before booking (Instagram or incommunicado?), so that you’re not caught unawares.
Sailing holidays are more hands-on. Like camping holidays, you might get the chance to chip in with tying bowline knots and setting the mainsail. You’ll be taught everything you need to know. If you’re sailing a tall ship, you’ll also take part in a night watch. Consider whether that’s something you’re happy doing.
Sailing holidays are more hands-on. Like camping holidays, you might get the chance to chip in with tying bowline knots and setting the mainsail. You’ll be taught everything you need to know. If you’re sailing a tall ship, you’ll also take part in a night watch. Consider whether that’s something you’re happy doing.
Itinerary
Have a think about what you want from the itinerary. Do days at sea fill you with dread? Then an Antarctic cruise probably isn’t for you – it takes two days to voyage from the tip of South America to the Antarctic Peninsula. (Although it might well change your perspective on what days at sea are like – think albatross, whales and Arctic terns.) Also keep an eye on activities. Do you want to snowshoe powder-soft fjords or hike island volcanoes? Meet isolated river communities or see nothing but whales for days? Some cruises specialise in a theme – say, polar bear watching or a river cruise down the Congo.
Our top Small ship cruising Holiday
Southern Croatia cruise in comfort
Cruise Croatia's beautiful islands on a small cruise ship
From
£559 to £779
8 days
ex flights
Small group travel:
2020: 15 Aug, 22 Aug, 29 Aug, 5 Sep, 12 Sep, 19 Sep, 26 Sep, 3 Oct, 10 Oct
2020: 15 Aug, 22 Aug, 29 Aug, 5 Sep, 12 Sep, 19 Sep, 26 Sep, 3 Oct, 10 Oct
Travel Team
If you'd like to chat about Small ship cruising or need help finding a holiday to suit you we're very happy to help.
Family
Some cruises are better for families than others. Larger ships offer extra-large or adjoining cabins for families. Flotilla sailing is great for the whole brood, as you can sail in your own boat as part of a – you guessed it – flotilla of yachts. Others introduce you to regions that the kids will lap up, like Nile River cruises through the land of the Pharaohs or an Icelandic adventure through whale waters. Check out our family guide for more about small ship cruises for sprogs.
Carbon reduction
Your small ship cruise doesn’t have to be carbon heavy. You can catch the train to many ports in Europe and North America. And if you’re really keen to minimise your carbon emissions, consider a tall ship trip. These vintage vessels rely on motors to get out of port, but once they’re set loose in the ocean they’ll glide along using the trade winds whenever possible. This vastly reduces the amount of planet-warming carbon crunched. Read more about how to reduce your carbon use while on holiday.
Accessibility
It all depends on your accessibility needs, from mobility or cognitive to hearing or sight. A specialist tour operator will be able to root out the cruise that matches your abilities, whether that’s a wheelchair accessible Nile cruise or an Antarctic expedition. Sadly, choice is sorely lacking. With narrow gangways and ladders, small ships can be inaccessible by nature and very few are designed from the hull up with accessibility in mind. Find out more about accessible travel.
Lara Paxton, from our specialists The Small Cruise Ship Collection, says:
“Some of our boats are old Russian expeditions ships and just don’t have the access, but a lot of the newer ships do have access, and so it is really good to see that this is available for some people, especially if they don’t want to do the massive cruise liner thing.”
Lara Paxton, from our specialists The Small Cruise Ship Collection, says:
“Some of our boats are old Russian expeditions ships and just don’t have the access, but a lot of the newer ships do have access, and so it is really good to see that this is available for some people, especially if they don’t want to do the massive cruise liner thing.”
More about Small ship cruising
They take you to another world. Places with names like the Mergui Archipelago, the Kyles of Bute, Wrangel Island or Wolf. Welcome to the world of small ship cruising holidays.
Small ship cruising comes in all shapes and sizes without ever entering that supersize, floating hotel territory. Read on to find out which type of small ship cruise is for you.
We've created a guide that sums up where you can go when on a small ship cruise. Of course the weather dictates everything, so you must always be prepared for flexibility.
What is a small ship, anyway? It might be a family-sized yacht, a schooner designed to tuck into orca fjords, or a 200-passenger icebreaker that delves into the frozen Arctic.
Our top 10 cruises vary from the well known, such as the Galapagos or the Nile in Egypt, to some really far out there expeditions: Kamchatka in Russia or Svalbard in the Arctic.
Small ship cruise activities are far from the world of mini golf and lounge singers. The evening entertainment is more likely to be an eco lecture or a photography tutorial.
Some of the most characterful creatures on the planet can only be reached on a small ship wildlife cruise. Find out how you can see polar bears, penguin colonies and whales.
You can go on a small ship sailing holiday as an expert, novice or total beginner. Read our guide to work out which sailing holiday floats your boat and where you can go.
Whether you’re gliding down the Nile on a felucca, aboard a groundnut boat in the Gambia, or exploring Kerala, river cruise holidays explore cultural and spiritual monoliths.
Go to southern Spain and you can see 700 years of Moorish influence, go to Morocco and see millennia of it.
Who says cruises aren’t for kids? Some of the smallest Caribbean-bound yachts can be fitted with toddler-proof safety nets, while Antarctic icebreakers come with quad rooms.
We run through your options as a solo traveller on a small ship cruise, whether that’s booking a single cabin or recommending months when supplements are kicked to the kerb.
Our experts have given us some top cruise tips, from packing tips and remembering that you might be at sea for a few days, to sea sickness and whether to bring children.
Giant cruise ships have come in for a lot of bad press, and we believe that they really are cruising for a bruising. Read on to find out why we really don’t need a bigger boat.
Find all our small ship cruising guides in one place from Alaska and the Maldives to Scotland, Arctic cruising and many more.
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