Small Cruise Lines

Small ship cruise deals offer expedition-style travel in some of the most pristine regions of the world. Most of these deals are all-inclusive packages that include pre- and post-cruise hotels, all transfers (including domestic flights), and often even both international flights to and from the destination country.

Small ship cruise travel is the best (often the only) way to explore more exotic vacation destinations. You won’t find much in the way of theater productions or casinos, but this leaves room for educational pursuits. Small ships often organize enrichment seminars on everything from local culture to photography. Occasionally, local performers (historians, dancers, and musicians) are invited on board to entertain.

Small ships visit smaller ports, often inaccessible to larger vessels. This allows "expedition travelers" to experience the local people, culture, and traditions of the destinations, rather than just the tourist areas. This "intimate travel" experience includes viewing wildlife up close, getting to know the crew, and forming bonds with fellow passengers. Small ships, by definition, have much smaller passenger capacities, so you'll likely meet the same people on a daily basis.

Still, the biggest advantage of small-ship vacations is flexibility. Booking availability is usually great, making it easier to choose your departure date. Not to mention the unique itineraries that navigate the world’s most pristine destinations, including narrow fjords, remote islands, and even inland waterways.

Small-ship cruising experiences don't include traditional amenities found on large liners—like multiple dining venues, grand-style shows, or kids' programming. However, enjoying a personalized vacation while cruising the world on a "boat" is generally not recommended for first-timers. It’s best suited for affluent and more active travelers, as cost is often not an issue.

Small cruise lines

This is a list of the world’s most popular small-ship cruise companies. Additionally, river cruise companies should be included, with the largest among them being Viking, Uniworld, Avalon Waterways, AmaWaterways, CroisiEurope, Emerald Waterways, Scylla, and Luftner-Amadeus.

Alaskan Dream Cruises (fleet, AlaskanDreamCruises.com) is a family-owned company (founded in 1970) that operates Inside Passage itineraries—wilderness adventures on small-sized expedition ships. Their ships also visit exclusive ports of call in Alaska, including native-owned lands and a private island. Cruise prices are around USD 600 per person per night.

Aurora Expeditions (fleet, AuroraExpeditions.com.au) is one of the pioneers of polar expedition cruising and a leading adventure travel company in the Australian market. The company was founded in 1991 by Greg Mortimer (one of the first Australians to climb Mt. Everest without oxygen) and his wife Margaret Mortimer. Initially, the company specialized in small-group cruises to Antarctica. In 2008, it was sold, and the new owners expanded expedition voyages to Norway’s Svalbard Islands, Russia’s Far East, Greenland, Papua New Guinea, and South America (on the Amazon River). In 2014, they introduced Alaskan Inside Passage itineraries and launched land-river-sea expeditions in Ecuador (northwestern South America). In 2015, they added an African cruisetour with a luxury safari cruise on the Chobe River (Botswana). For polar operations, Aurora Expeditions charters ice-strengthened Russian research ships.

Coral Expeditions (fleet, CoralExpeditions.com) is renowned for South Pacific Islands cruises. Each vessel is equipped with a high-speed tender boat and Zodiacs for landings.

International Expeditions (TUI-owned) and Metropolitan Touring are among the best choices for the Galapagos Islands. Metropolitan Touring’s Galapagos ships are larger than most of the yachts deployed in this region.

"Island Windjammers" owns sailing ships that operate on Caribbean island itineraries year-round.

Variety Cruises (fleet) owns superyachts (both motorized and sailing) and operates in the Mediterranean Sea, West Africa, Indian Ocean, and Central America.

Katarina Line (Croatia-based) also operates as an international travel booking agency for other lines. Katarina owns around 40 small-sized ships and yachts in the Adriatic Sea (Dalmatian Coast). Each of the ships can be fully chartered.

"Peregrine Adventures" is one of the best lines for Antarctica. Their itineraries feature regular round-trip departures from Argentina (Ushuaia) and Chile (Punta Arenas), with durations ranging from 8 to 20 days. Among the visited destinations are the Shetland Islands, Antarctic Peninsula, Drake Passage, Falkland Islands, and South Sandwich Islands. Deals include hotels and all transfers. Fly-cruise deals include departures from Buenos Aires. International flights are not included in the fares.

Noble Caledonia (fleet, UK-based) operates chartered riverboats and owns two ships.

Quasar Expeditions (QuasarEx.com) is a major player in the luxury Galapagos cruising market. The company provides professional naturalists, and most of the tours (kayaking, snorkeling, scuba diving, walking, hiking) are included in the fares.

"Aggressor Fleet" owns an impressive number of smaller luxury yachts and operates in the Caribbean, Hawaii, Galapagos, Southeast Asia, Red Sea, Maldives, and the South Pacific Ocean.

G Adventures (Gadventures.com) is a Galapagos cruise line brand. In July 2017, it acquired the UK-based company Swan Hellenic. G-Adventures restarted Swan Hellenic’s operations in 2018. The company owns the MS Expedition (ice-strengthened vessel).

"Pearl Seas Cruises" operates in the USA (Great Lakes), Canada (Canadian Maritimes), and the Caribbean. On January 23, 2017, it began the first cruise to Cuba from Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale, Florida). The 10-day itinerary visited Havana and other Cuban ports. In 2017, the 210-passenger ship Pearl Mist had 11 voyages from Fort Lauderdale to Cuba (January through April), with more scheduled for the winter season 2017-2018.

The following companies have their individual pages at CruiseMapper. Each of them provides top-quality, small-ship cruising experiences on comparably larger vessels.

• American Cruise Lines is famous for having large paddlewheel ships deployed on the US rivers Mississippi, Snake, and Columbia. Other ACL ships cruise in Alaska, along the East Coast USA and Canada, the Hudson River, and on Florida inland waterways.
• Grand Circle Cruise Line owns riverboats (operating in Europe and Asia) and also ocean ships. Its deals include all tours, onboard lectures, and local gourmet food specialties.
• Hurtigruten, in addition to its year-round Norwegian coastal itineraries, also operates in the regions of the European Arctic and Antarctica. Unique tours in Europe offered by Hurtigruten include the Northern Lights, Spitsbergen, and polar circle landings (Greenland).
• Lindblad Expeditions has an exclusive partnership with National Geographic. The experience features wildlife watching on kayaks and Zodiacs, as well as complimentary tours led by National Geographic naturalists.
• Quark Expeditions is the leading Antarctica cruise line.
• SeaDream Yacht Club operates two superyachts in the Mediterranean (summer) and the Caribbean (winter). Deals are fully all-inclusive.
• Silversea Expeditions operates a small fleet cruising in Alaska, Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and the Galapagos. Deals are fully all-inclusive.
• Star Clippers owns tall-sailing ships (clippers) and operates in the Caribbean and Europe (Mediterranean). Deals include marina-based sports (kayaking, wind sailing, waterskiing).
• Windstar Cruises offers some of the best "top luxury" products in the small cruising market. All boats are relatively large and feature aft marina platforms.
• Un-Cruise Adventures is one of the best Alaskan small-ship lines. During winter, its boats are repositioned to Hawaii, Baja Mexico, and the USA Northwest Coast. The steamer SS Legacy cruises in the USA, on the Snake and Columbia rivers.
• Oceanwide Expeditions (Oceanwide-Expeditions.com) operates ice-strengthened ships in Antarctica and the European Arctic.

Since small ship cruising deals are mainly provided by riverboats, you can also find an extensive list of river cruise lines and ships at CruiseMapper's River Cruises hub. CruiseMapper tracks cruises on rivers in Europe, the USA, Russia, and Asia, including both itineraries and prices. It also provides reviews of the lines, along with information on major inland waterways and the best-rated river travel destinations worldwide.

Below, you will find destination-grouped lists of small cruise ships. All ship links (in the "Fleet" section) provide information on itineraries, prices, deck plans and cabins, general vessel details, a concise history, and live AIS current position ship tracking.

Galapagos Islands

Most of the ships listed here are actually large yachts, all of which can be fully chartered.

• Celebrity Xploration
• Celebrity Xperience
• Celebrity Xpedition
• Celebrity Flora
• Encantada (yacht)
• Estrella del Mar
• MV Evolution (G10)
• Flamingo I
• Galapagos Aggressor II
• Galapagos Aggressor III
• Galapagos Grand Odyssey
• Galapagos Legend
• Galapagos Odyssey
• Galapagos Voyager
• MV Origin
• MY Grace
• Isabela II
• La Pinta
• Letty
• National Geographic Endeavour
• National Geographic Endeavour 2
• National Geographic Islander
• Nemo III
• Queen of Galapagos
• MV Santa Cruz 2
• Silver Galapagos
• Silver Origin
• Treasures of Galapagos (catamaran)
• Xavier III

South America (Antarctica and Patagonia)

Among Antarctica’s most popular itinerary destinations are Ushuaia, Cape Horn, Elephant Island, Paulet Island, and Paradise Harbor. Longer itineraries also visit the Falkland Islands.

• Evangelistas
• Grigoriy Mikheev
• MV Hondius, MV Ortelius, MV Plancius
• Island Sky
• Marina Svetaeva
• Ocean Adventurer, Ocean Diamond, Ocean Endeavour, Ocean Nova
• MV Polar Star
• Sea Explorer
• Sea Spirit
• Silver Explorer
• Stella Australis, Ventus Australis
• MV Ushuaia

European and Russian Arctic

The Earth's Arctic region includes the Arctic Ocean and territories of eight countries (Russia, Canada, the USA, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland). Arctic expedition itineraries operate almost year-round (excluding winter months).

• Russian icebreaker ships
• Akademik Shokalskiy
• Lyubov Orlova
• Professor Molchanov
• Professor Multanovsky
• MS Expedition
• MS Fram
• MS Spitsbergen
• National Geographic Explorer
• Noorderlicht
• Ocean Diamond
• Ocean Endeavour
• Ocean Nova
• Ortelius
• Plancius
• Polar Pioneer
• Rembrandt van Rijn
• Sea Adventurer
• Sea Endurance
• Sarfaq Ittuk

Hawaii and Alaska

Among the most popular Alaskan small ship cruising destinations are Inside Passage, Glacier Bay, Skagway, Juneau, Seward, Sitka, Ketchikan (Revillagigedo Island), Homer, and Kodiak Island.

Hawaii small cruises visit the islands of Hawaii (ports Hilo and Kailua-Kona), Kauai, Oahu, Maui (ports Kahului and Lahaina), and Kona. Most itineraries are roundtrips from Honolulu.

• Admiralty Dream
• Alaskan Dream
• American Spirit
• Baranof Dream
• Chichagof Dream
• MV Misty Fjord
• Kona Aggressor II
• Island Odyssey
• Island Roamer
• National Geographic Sea Bird
• National Geographic Sea Lion
• Safari Endeavour
• Safari Explorer
• Safari Quest
• Snow Goose
• Wilderness Adventurer
• Wilderness Discoverer
• Wilderness Explorer

Mediterranean Sea

Europe’s Mediterranean is one of the largest markets for small ship travel. Featured destinations in this region include the French Riviera, Italian Riviera, Greek Isles, and the Dalmatian Coast (Adriatic).

• Star Clippers ships
• Aegean Odyssey
• Aegean Paradise
• Arethusa
• Artania
• Astor
• Astoria
• MS Berlin (FTI)
• Club Med 2 (sail ship)
• Galileo
• MS Hamburg
• Harmony G
• Harmony V
• La Belle de l’Adriatique
• Royal Eleganza
• SeaDream 1
• SeaDream 2
• Serenissima
• Variety Voyager
• MV Voyager
• Minerva

The UK and Baltic Sea

Europe's Baltic region is most attractive for the opportunities to visit Russia and Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Finland). Among the world's most popular destinations here are the Norwegian Fjords and St. Petersburg. The UK (British Isles) itineraries visit ports in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. This region features over 6,000 islands.

• Corinthian
• Deutschland
• Hamburg
• Hebridean Princess
• Hebridean Sky
• Lord of the Glens
• Sea Cloud 1, Sea Cloud 2
• Serenissima

East Coast USA and Canada

New England consists of six US states along the Atlantic coast. Smaller ships here often sail on inland waterways as well.

• ACL-American Cruise Line fleet
• AQV-American Queen Voyages/AQSC fleet
• Grande Caribe, Grande Mariner
• Pearl Mist

Caribbean and Bermuda

Caribbean small ship cruise itineraries visit popular island destinations, as well as mainland ports in Mexico, the USA, and South America. Among the most visited destinations are the Bahamas, Grand Turk Island, Jamaica, Barbados, Grand Cayman Island, St. Kitts Island, St. Maarten Island, St. Lucia Island, Aruba Island, Curacao Island, Roatan Island, the US Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands, as well as ports and inland waterways in Florida (USA).

• Star Clippers ships
• Belize Aggressor 3
• Cayman Aggressor 4
• Carib Dancer
• Diamant (schooner)
• MV Clio (Tere Moana)
• Okeanos Aggressor
• Panorama
• Panorama 2
• Sagitta (sail ship)
• Safari Voyager
• Serenissima
• Sun Dancer II
• Turks and Caicos Aggressor 2
• Vela (sail ship)
• Wind Dancer

South Pacific, Australia, and New Zealand

The South Pacific Ocean as a travel destination includes the archipelagos of Oceania (Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia), Australia, and New Zealand. Among the most visited destinations in this region are the islands of Fiji, Tahiti, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Tasmania, and the Great Barrier Reef.

• Andaman Explorer
• Aranui 3
• Aranui 5
• Caledonian Sky
• Coral Expeditions 1
• Coral Expeditions 2
• Fiji Princess
• Island Dancer 2
• Island Passage
• Kimberley Quest 2
• National Geographic Orion
• Oceanic Discoverer
• Paul Gauguin
• Reef Endeavour
• Silver Discoverer
• Solway Lass
• Spirit of Enderby
• True North
• Wind Spirit (sail ship)