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Local flavours enhance exceptional culinary flair onboard – there are even opportunities to go shopping with the chefs. Plus, top-notch educational and shore excursion programmes add to the destination experience. Its sizable expedition team, which can number 18 on select voyages, comprises seasoned authorities in a wide range of fields, such as geology, whale communications and photography. Team members lead complimentary excursions on sea kayaks and 18 Zodiacs so passengers can experience glaciers, icebergs and wildlife up close.
Cruise Lines
Meena Thiruvengadam is a lifelong traveler and veteran journalist who has visited more than 50 countries across six continents. Her writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Departures, TripSavvy, and other publications. When returning from a frigid Antarctica excursion, you will appreciate the fireplaces (yes, that's right) built into the walls of all cabins.
Scotland’s Luxury Small Cruise Company Announces New Experience for 2024 - Drift Travel Magazine
Scotland’s Luxury Small Cruise Company Announces New Experience for 2024.
Posted: Wed, 20 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Escape the Masses on These New Small-Ship Expedition, Luxury, and Sailing Cruises
It is packed with onboard amenities including a small spa, fitness center, library and even an infinity pool (which lies at the back of the top deck next to an open-air bar). In the 2023 voting, readers gave high marks to established brands that have reinvigorated their offerings. Consider No. 2 Windstar Cruises, which recently rebuilt three of its small ships at an investment of $250 million, adding more suites, improved culinary options, and enhanced spa facilities to each. “I'm never going to be able to get on another cruise line,” said one convert, who traveled on Star Legend.
Sea Cloud Cruises: Sea Cloud I
Exquisite cuisine is prepared a la minute and accompanied by pours of fine wines. Onboard lounges are wonderfully intimate, with no mass-market anything. When you rest your head, it's on a luxury mattress topped with the finest linens. Restaurant choice will be limited to one dining venue (with breakfast and possibly lunch served as a buffet only) and a limited selection of dinner entrees (typically a meat, fish and vegetarian option). Though seating is open, mealtimes are set, but can change based on what's going on outside.
Traveler Editors' Favorite Cruise Ships in the World: Gold List 2024 - Condé Nast Traveler
Traveler Editors' Favorite Cruise Ships in the World: Gold List 2024.
Posted: Wed, 13 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
All non-polar cruises offered from April through October are called Epicurean Expeditions (with one complimentary wine- or food-focused experience per cruise). Royal Clipper also has impressive modern niceties for a ship of its size, including three small pools and an aft marina for easy access to complimentary water sports. The ships also feature a gym, yoga studio, spa, ocean-view saunas, library and two dining venues. If you're like me and find that bigger isn't always better, this list is for you. Here are 18 of the world's best ocean-going small cruise ships, both older and new. Each carries fewer than 400 passengers and all are ideal for your next intimately sized travel adventure.
Silver Shadow
We have just returned from a 16 day cruise to Tasmania and New Zealand on Silversea “Silver Whisper”. Picture yourself drawing your cabin blinds to find an iceberg laden with chinstrap penguins just outside, a couple of humpback whales in the distance, and a giant petrel flying majestically overhead. Interiors – particularly those on The Jahan and Jayavarman – are spacious and flooded with light, while hospitality goes above and beyond. And as for the cuisine, that’s exceptional, fusing elements of Asian and Western fare.
Door-to-Door All-Inclusive Cruises
Those assessments were combined to generate results for the cruise lines in six categories, including river cruising. French luxury cruise line Ponant aims to make passengers feel as if they're traveling on their own private yachts. Guests enjoy Ladurée macarons, Veuve Clicquot Champagne, and luxurious Hermès bath products on board. Each of the company's ships features an onboard spa with massage cabins and either a Turkish bath or sauna. Ponant's luxurious small ships sail to remote destinations like Antarctica, incorporating once-in-a-lifetime experiences such as eclipse spotting from the edge of the earth.
The portable, custom-made "sea dragon" platform at the stern makes for easy access to kayaking, paddleboarding and swimming, activities popular with UnCruise's sporty fans. The adventurous can also enjoy hiking, bushwhacking and cycling in some ports. The one-of-a-kind, four-masted Sea Cloud was originally commissioned as a private luxury yacht by multi-millionaire Wall Street titan E. Hutton's extravagant heiress and businesswoman wife, Marjorie Merriweather Post, oversaw the ship's interior design, outfitting it in marble, mahogany and gold-plated fixtures. SeaDream Yacht Club's 40-year-old ships may not be new, but they're still some of the prettiest classic luxury yachts afloat.
Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection’s “Ilma”
Ponant has been busy launching six new ships in its impressive Explorers series. However, L'Austral (with sister ships Le Boreal, Le Soleal and Le Lyrial) is my favorite ship in the fleet. Passengers can utilize each ship's fleet of Zodiacs and kayaks and stash of snowshoes and cross-country skis that aid in exploration. People often ask me which are the best small ship cruises, and that question is difficult to answer. As you indulge in luxurious comfort, engage in meaningful interactions, and discover hidden gems along the route, you’ll come to appreciate the magic of small ship cruising — an experience in which each moment feels tailored just for you. It is a 21-mile long tidewater glacier and is the southernmost tidewater glacier in the Northern Hemisphere.
The line's newest ship, Ultramarine, has a pair of onboard helicopters, and all six ships in the fleet include kayaking, cross-country skiing and mountaineering equipment (not to mention the ever-present Zodiacs). The line's 128-passenger expedition vessel, 50 Years of Victory, is one of the world's most powerful icebreakers and has nuclear-powered capabilities to go through nearly 10 feet of ice to make the voyage to the North Pole. The best way to get off the beaten path and find hidden ports and lesser-known treasures that larger ships rarely visit is on one of our luxury small ship cruises. Not just a pretty ship, Seabourn Venture is tough, built to PC6 Polar Class standards for a focus on expedition cruising in the polar regions.
We want our guests to have new and fantastic experiences without the added pressure of an additional bill at the end of the cruise. With our all-inclusive pricing, everything from exquisite dining experiences featuring the freshest Alaskan seafood to exhilarating excursions and activities is part of your package. Its expedition ships, Viking Polaris and Viking Octantis, explore Antarctica, as well as the Great Lakes and Canada. That's the approach upscale cruise line Oceania Cruises takes with its fleet of seven 648- to 1,238-passenger ships (the last of which, Oceania Vista, just debuted in May 2023 and is its most elegant yet). Sample candied foie gras, daily risottos or sushi made with fish flown from Japan, all while sailing through remote waters.
Outdoor deck space includes the forward-facing bow area with an outdoor hot tub. Passengers can enjoy a relatively large spa and fitness area, plus multiple dining venues, including Asian, Japanese, French and Continental restaurants. The expansive wooden sun decks on Wind Star and Wind Spirit make you want to be on topside as much as possible to enjoy the yachting life. Each has multiple dining options, both indoor and on deck, including a weekly barbecue on deck under the stars. The ship attracts a loyal fan base thanks to its roomy size and cabins that open onto covered promenade decks (rather than a central interior corridor).
If it’s fine food, fabulous wine, and exceptional service you seek, you can’t go past French luxury cruise line Ponant. With a maximum of just 260 guests, they appeal to travellers who crave discovery with a second helping of haute cuisine. During initial sailings in Ecuador, passengers can expect to see such wildlife as blue-footed boobies, sea lions and howler monkeys. A focus on cuisine incorporates local seafood and produce on board and on land as well as tastings of local chocolate. The vessel also carries kayaks, paddleboards and snorkeling equipment for watery adventure; diving is an option. Like Viking Osiris, Viking Saigon boasts Viking's signature, clean-lined Scandinavian design.
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