Ocean, river, and small-ship cruises for travelers who want a little more experience and little less chaos.
Multigenerational travel is the travel industry’s fastest-growing segment, and also its most-mishandled. The pitch is “bring the family together.” The reality is four generations with different bedtimes, different activity levels, and different ideas about what constitutes a vacation. The trip that brings everyone together on day 1 is the same trip that has 3,000 of … Read more
There is a cruise tier that most guide articles skip. Budget mass-market (Carnival, Royal Caribbean, NCL) gets covered in detail. True luxury (Regent, Silversea, Seabourn) gets covered in detail. The premium tier in between, the one most experienced cruisers actually book, gets a few throwaway paragraphs of “and you could also try Celebrity.” This article … Read more
Solo cruising is finally being taken seriously by the cruise industry. For decades it was an afterthought: single supplements of 100 to 200 percent on top of double-occupancy rates, with no real accommodation for solo travelers. The marketing promised “welcome solo travelers” but the actual experience was a single cabin designed for two, charged at … Read more
Small-ship cruising is a different category from ocean or river cruising. The ships hold 100 to 200 passengers. The itineraries are expedition-grade: Galápagos, Antarctica, the Norwegian fjords, Svalbard, the Northwest Passage, the Kimberley coast, the Russian Far East. The daily activity is the trip, not the ship. This is the premium end of experiential travel … Read more
European river cruising has matured into a real product, not a curiosity. The ships are smaller than ocean liners (190 passengers vs. 2,000-plus), the ports are city centers, and almost everything is included in the fare. It is also more expensive per night than ocean cruising, which surprises people. The math makes sense once you … Read more
Holland America and Viking both sell a calmer version of cruising. Neither is trying to turn the pool deck into a spring-break commercial. Both put serious effort into destination programming, decent food, and ships where a conversation is still possible after dinner. That is where the similarity ends. Holland America is still recognizably a traditional … Read more
The river-vs-ocean decision is the actual first decision for any first-time cruiser. They’re not smaller/larger versions of each other. They’re different trips with different appeals, and most first-timers don’t realize this until they’re on board. This is how to pick based on what you actually want from a cruise. The short version Pick river cruising … Read more
There’s a particular question that comes up at almost every dinner party once you hit 60 and start mentioning you’ve never cruised: “Why not?” The questioners have all been on cruises. They liked them. They can’t understand why you haven’t done it. The honest answer is that cruising had a reputation, and the reputation was … Read more