Our brilliant small ship cruising holidays
What makes our holidays extraordinary
Set sail with us. We’ve long championed small ship cruises as the best way to see the world from the water. We are small ship cruise specialists with hundreds of water-based holidays on our site: from river cruises and expedition cruises, to gulet cruises and sailing expeditions. We have both trips for solo travellers, cabins for couples and private charters for your family: Grab your spyglass, see what’s in the offing.
A hull in every port
Responsible Travel’s small ship cruises bring back the joy of exploring. We have over 250 small ship cruises in over 60 destinations worldwide and work with small cruise specialists. With our fleet of holidays, there’s somewhere to set sail every month of the year. Our trips include:
Over 130 wildlife cruises
Over 80 cruises in Europe alone
Over 70 luxury cruises
Over 50 expedition cruises
Over 50 polar cruises
Over 30 river cruises
Over 20 cruises that can cater to those with accessibility requirements
A dozen gulet cruises
We loved the gentle rhythm of a morning sailing, Nile birds skimming the water all day, and the always-interesting stops at monuments, temples and other sites of Egyptian history.![]()
– Our traveller Tim on a Nile felucca cruise in Egypt
Travellers love our trips
Since 2001 we have helped hundreds of thousands of travellers see the world on trips that benefit nature and communities. Our small ship cruises are no exception; many holidaymakers are repeat customers.
Join the crew: nearly 6,000 travellers, and their friends and families, have joined us on small ship cruises since we started.
Ship shape and Bristol fashion: Our small ship cruises have around 1,000 reviews; 93 percent of travellers give our cruises four or five stars.
There and back again: a third of our travellers are repeat bookers.
Split to Dubrovnik luxury cruise, Croatia
Cruise Trogir to Dubrovnik in luxury via Croatia's islands
From
£2040 to £3135
8 days
ex flights
Croatian Islands motor yacht cruise
Sail the Croatian islands on a luxury small ship cruise
From
£2040 to £3135
8 days
ex flights
Luxury Dubrovnik cruise, Croatia
Cruise from Dubrovnik to see the best of Southern Croatia
From
£1360
8 days
ex flights
Galapagos cruises
Cruise the Galapagos Islands on sailing boats and yachts
From
£2200 to £8750
8 days
ex flights
Arctic icebreaker cruise, Spitsbergen
Wildlife-focused, expert-led small ship Arctic cruises
From
£3690 to £14445
8 days
ex flights
Maldives snorkelling cruise
Snorkelling beautiful reefs aboard a Small Ship.
From
£1318 to £1465
8 days
ex flights
Contact Us
Call us for a chat about our holidays. We are happy to discuss your holiday and help in any way we can. No bots, queues or awful hold music.
01273 823 700
Call us tomorrow after 10am
Calling from outside the UK
This was one of the best trips we've ever had and we'd highly recommend it to anyone thinking about seeing Croatia without the hassles of figuring out how to get from one place to another.![]()
– Our traveller Jo on a luxury small ship cruise in Croatia.
Trust us for your next trip
We believe that small ship cruising is one of the best ways to get around some of the world’s most interesting destinations: from polar regions to Greece and the Galapagos Islands. You don’t need to be born with sea legs – but you might find them here.
Travel with confidence: All our trips are covered by our Responsible Travel Financial Guarantee.
Know that we care: we have always made it our business to consider environmental impact and every one of our cruising holidays is screened to assess its impact on nature and communities.
Room for one more? We’ve capped our small ship cruising holidays: ships carry fewer than 250 passengers, but it’s more common to be travelling with fewer than 100, and sometimes as few as six or eight.
No large cruise ships Since 2007 we have campaigned for sustainability in the cruising industry and supported local campaigners in overtouristed cities like Venice.
The captain announced the presence of a polar bear in the distance. I remember all of us started running!![]()
– Our traveller Raul on a six day Spitsbergen cruise.
Unparalleled expertise from on-board experts
On a small ship cruise your captain and crew can make or break a trip. On small boats, you become close-knit, and you can get unparalleled attention. Our crews are often local and they are always experts. Meet captains with hundreds of thousands of nautical miles under their belts, and ask scientists and lecturers about the cutting edge of climate change research.
Meet our experts: We have been working with some of our strongest small ship cruising teams for over 18 years.
We have partners who specialise in cruising and offer nothing else.
The most exciting and memorable part of our holiday was the sheer abundance of wildlife we saw during our trip. The multiple dolphin sightings brought us illimitable joy and the rare Minke sighting on our penultimate day left us awestruck.![]()
– Our traveller Holly on a St Kilda Outer Hebrides cruise.
How to choose a small ship cruise?
We’ve got trips from Alaska to the Yangtze, rainforest rivers to island inlets, lochs to lakes to lagoons. All at sea and can’t decide? Our popular trips are below.
There she blows: our wildlife cruises range from Galapagos Island hopping and Maldives snorkelling to polar expeditions.
Dip your toe: we have over 60 short cruises under a week long. Alternatively, run away to sea on our epic three and four-week trips.
Unchartered waters: If you want to see remote parts of the world, expedition cruising is for you. Try the Northwest Passage, Antarctica, or island hopping in Melanesia.
Hoist the main: Our sailing holidays can involve participation, but they don’t have to. Our sailing cruises promise relaxing, silent moments with no engine sounds, and the sails up.
Amazon adventures: Sea cruises are the default, but river cruising means calm waters, and less spread-out sights: consider the Nile, the Kerala backwaters or the Gambia.
In pursuit of the unusual? Well, what about a converted ferry in Scotland, sail power on the Nile, a traditional dhoni in the Maldives, or a ship that delivers the post to the Marquesas in French Polynesia?
Some of our most popular destinations for small ship cruising are:
Croatia
Antarctica
Norway
Scotland
Galapagos Islands
Arctic
Egypt
Svalbard
Maldives
Falkland Islands
Turkey
Greece
Explore our complete range of small ship cruises and filter our selection by where you want to go, the type of cruise, the duration and the price.
Get inspired – we have written more than 120 articles about small ship cruising – search our travel guides for inspiration.
Like the cut of our jib? Speak to our travel team for expert advice with a friendly face. You can drop us a line or give us a bell. We probably won’t get your message in a bottle, but we are based on the coast…
There she blows: our wildlife cruises range from Galapagos Island hopping and Maldives snorkelling to polar expeditions.
Dip your toe: we have over 60 short cruises under a week long. Alternatively, run away to sea on our epic three and four-week trips.
Unchartered waters: If you want to see remote parts of the world, expedition cruising is for you. Try the Northwest Passage, Antarctica, or island hopping in Melanesia.
Hoist the main: Our sailing holidays can involve participation, but they don’t have to. Our sailing cruises promise relaxing, silent moments with no engine sounds, and the sails up.
Amazon adventures: Sea cruises are the default, but river cruising means calm waters, and less spread-out sights: consider the Nile, the Kerala backwaters or the Gambia.
In pursuit of the unusual? Well, what about a converted ferry in Scotland, sail power on the Nile, a traditional dhoni in the Maldives, or a ship that delivers the post to the Marquesas in French Polynesia?
Some of our most popular destinations for small ship cruising are:
Explore our complete range of small ship cruises and filter our selection by where you want to go, the type of cruise, the duration and the price.
Get inspired – we have written more than 120 articles about small ship cruising – search our travel guides for inspiration.
Like the cut of our jib? Speak to our travel team for expert advice with a friendly face. You can drop us a line or give us a bell. We probably won’t get your message in a bottle, but we are based on the coast…
More Small ship cruising articles
Welcome to our comprehensive guide to choosing the right trip on the water for you.
Famous places like the Galapagos or Egypt, and then there's Svalbard in the Arctic.
Coming in all shapes and sizes without ever entering floating hotel territory, there's a boat for everyone.
The weather dictates everything when you're on the water, so travel at the right time.
It might be a family-sized yacht, a schooner designed to tuck into fjords full of orcas, or a 200-passenger icebreaker.
From low carbon credentials to accessibility – what to ponder when booking a cruise.
Go gliding down the Nile on a felucca, to a groundnut boats in the Gambia, or try exploring Kerala.
Expect to spend most of your time on deck, in the water, or exploring islands when you're cruising along under sail.
For some of the most iconic creatures on earth - find out how to see polar bears, penguin colonies and whales.
Who says cruises aren’t for kids? We've got trips where families can share the fun.
We discuss your options as a solo traveller when you're planning to come aboard.
Our experts partners explain how to pack, coping with sea sickness, and whether or not you should bring the kids.
For wildlife safaris, art workshops and family adventures among Hebridean islands...
Hit the deck: let our travel experts state the case for travelling by boat.
Giant cruise ships get a lot of negative attention, and we believe it's well-earned. We really don’t need a bigger boat.
Cruise ships cause overtourism in some of the world’s most popular destinations
All our guides in one place from the Maldives to Scotland, Arctic cruising and more.
