Really small cruise ship?

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JOhnH

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We are planning a celebratory trip with another couple that have been our best friends for almost 50 years. It will be the 70'th birthday for one of us and a retirement party for another.

The issue is that the other couple really want to go on a cruise,but my wife hates big cruise ships. The only cruise she ever went on, and really liked, was a cruise up the Amazon. The boat only accommodated eight passengers and had 15 crew members.

She has agreed on a European river cruise if we can find a boat that only books 40 to 50 people maximum. I can't find one. Do any of you know of a cruise boat like that? But please don't suggest Ukraine or adjacent countries. I already suggested that and got shot down.
 
charter a yacht? way more expensive than a cruise, but probably more in line with what your wife likes.
 
Try Viking River Cruises. Bigger than what you are talking about, but very small feeling. No kids/singles so calmer than a typical cruise. Excellent food and service. Active retired couples is the demographic.
 
Check out theboatcompany.com

Their cruises are in Southeast Alaska and the cruise “ships” carry around 20 passengers. The route is between Juneau and Sitka, and/or return. It is basically an educational trip with a focus on ecology. Naturalists aboard the ship to explain and interpret everything you see, without being heavy handed about it. Options to get off the boat most every day for tromping through the woods or fishing. Glaciers, whales, Orca, salmon, bears, eagles, kayaking, and more. If the subject matter interests you, I highly recommend it.

-Skip
 
They run fairly inexpensive 3-4 day cruises in the Halong Bay, northern Vietnam in small wooden boats that have nice staterooms and a big dining area, which accommodate ten or so people. I did it, and it was a lot of fun (and I hate the idea of cruise ships as well. Especially big ones.)

I would be surprised if you couldn't find something similar in the Mediterranean. I did find this.

The smallest sailing cruise rig they have purports to have 74 staterooms accommodating up to 148 people. Probably a little bit larger than what you are looking for, but it might be a happy medium.
 
I'm no cruise expert but recently watched a youtube video that I stumbled onto, about river cruising compared to traditional big ship cruises.... very different thing apparently. Might not appeal to the folks wanting a cruise.

This guy compared it more closely with an organized bus tour....fixed schedules, fixed activities...pretty much everyone on the boat does everything together.... set dining times and food not available outside of that schedule.... etc...

The yacht charter thing seems like a great idea too...but also entirely different from a cruise ship.

Seems to me that it might be a good idea to explore what about a cruise is it that the cruiser folks want...AND what about it does your wife not like?
Maybe an all inclusive resort might be a good compromise....

I've never thought that I would like cruising but I have been on a few and discovered that I kinda like it. I think for me its the all inclusive thing....park once and no more driving, everything is close and self contained.... I've only been on carribean cruises and after a few port stops they all seem to be pretty much the same and are not very appealing to me....don't have much interest to do any more except those are the more realistic geographically for me. If I go on any more in that region I'd be perfectly happy to just stay on the boat....

Here's another suggestion for you...one I know nothing about really so I can't say I recommend it....and I really don't know if it's more like a Euro River cruise or more like a big ship cruise....
https://www.americancruiselines.com...bHj0ysFvP-rTwKOqbWvRMUPGyYFjKTioaAqm7EALw_wcB
The only reason I know about it is that I saw the boat once in port and thought that, from the dock anyway, it looked like a nice enough boat....doesn't look like a low budget experience like those old derelict looking vessels that are the offshore casino boats and such.....
 
My wife has done chartered Catamaran trips in the BVI.
 
There is a small cruise company named Uncruise. The sizes of their ships go to to yacht sized. Just depends upon the location. website

There are many canal boat companies in France. Those go do to something like 6 people, maybe even 4. Your group could have the whole boat to themselves.
 
Small, guaranteed to lose weight...

rowing.GIF
 
Not a cruise ship, but probably the best vacation I’ve had; there are bike trips along the canals of Belgium and the Netherlands. No hills, and you can use an electric assist bike if you like. Most folks on the trip were 50-70. 25 people on a “Hotel Barge”. Barge sounds iffy but in fact we had a nice room and a deck to share beers and conversations after gourmet dinner. Our guide brought us to great out of the way places. Very safe - all superbly paved bike paths. You eat breakfast, pack a lunch from the cold food options, then on the road for 6-8 hours, with many stops, rest, food and drink. Then back on the boat for gourmet dinner. If interested, I’ll post a link
 
We did a Greece/Turkey cruise with Windstar a decade ago. We picked that cruise line because the ships are smaller and carry ~150 passengers. I'm not a fan of standing in line at all, and that size ship worked great for me.

Windstar is something of a premium cruise line. I'd do another cruise with them.
 
What about those windjammer (sailing ship) cruises?
 
wayne said:
There are many canal boat companies in France. Those go do to something like 6 people, maybe even 4. Your group could have the whole boat to themselves.
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My parents did canal boats a few times via time shares…I think they actually crewed them themselves.
 
one comment about the crewed charter yachts....I haven't done one but a friend did. Didn't have a very good time because the crew...a husband and wife team, probably the boat owners.... had a different idea of what fun is... It wasn't bad just different strokes, that didn't mesh. Little differences such as choosing an anchorage near the action vs far away from it....
 
I've been on exactly two cruises in the states. I wasn't a fan. Both Carnival Cruises.

When we lived in Germany, we took two smaller cruises, and I enjoyed them both.

One was a Baltic cruise on Windstar cruises. That was bigger than what your wife would like (about 300 passengers), but it was pretty relaxing. It catered to an older crowd (no bowling alleys, discos or water slides, etc.) I went with my wife and three other couples. The eight of us that went together definitely brought the average passenger age down quite a few years. The Baltic cruise was great, and the big draw for us going on that one was that we were able to visit St. Petersburg for 2 days. Now, I'm really glad we did that cruise, because I don't see Russian tourism opening up any time in the near future at all.
https://www.windstarcruises.com/

The other one sounds more like what you're looking for. It was basically a yacht charter in Croatia. Went from Split to Dubrovnik and back. There were maybe 15 staterooms (edit: 19 staterooms) on the boat and about 30 passengers. That one was great because we were able to get into some ports that the big ships couldn't get into, so we saw some of the more quaint places and islands.

This is the boat we were on for Croatia.
https://cruisecroatia.com/ms-kleopatra/
 
Eric Brunelle said:
Not a cruise ship, but probably the best vacation I’ve had; there are bike trips along the canals of Belgium and the Netherlands. No hills, and you can use an electric assist bike if you like. Most folks on the trip were 50-70. 25 people on a “Hotel Barge”. Barge sounds iffy but in fact we had a nice room and a deck to share beers and conversations after gourmet dinner. Our guide brought us to great out of the way places. Very safe - all superbly paved bike paths. You eat breakfast, pack a lunch from the cold food options, then on the road for 6-8 hours, with many stops, rest, food and drink. Then back on the boat for gourmet dinner. If interested, I’ll post a link
Click to expand...

Sounds like fun. Might even get my wife to renew her passport.
 
A couple more thoughts but outside Europe:

First, we went on a river cruise in Vietnam (https://www.pandaw.com/halong-bay-cruises). IIRC there were less than 20 people total on the boat, so we got to know each other fairly quickly and it was like traveling with friends. Pandaw offers a wide range of river cruise products and small river boats. Everything was top notch. The one downside of any group travel is dull food, lowest common denominator to suit people for whom salt and pepper are exotic spices. Pandaw dealt with this at lunch and dinner by offering a dull option and then a more local dish, though nothing really adventurous. I think that's about the best any group travel provider can do. After the cruise we extended/private tour in Vietnam and Myanmar and were able to get more adventurous food.

More off the wall: https://www.flyinn.co.nz/ We flew with Matt and Jo in 2007 and it was a fantastic experience. A week with them flying the South Island and Stewart Island, then a rented mini-motorhome to tour the North Island. Jo is usually at OSH, so that would be a way to check them out. For four, you could fly one airplane (with a guide pilot) and two could go in a second airplane with the guide/pilot doing the flying.
 
I met a couple on my honeymoon down in Mexico years ago that had booked passage on a freighter through the Panama Canal and into the Caribbean. We dropped them off at the ship and the Captain gave us a tour of the boat. It was configured for a small number of passengers and even included a swimming pool. It's been a while but it seemed like two dozen passengers could be accommodated in cruise ship-type cabins. It obviously had limited amenities but I thought it interesting and unique.
 
JOhnH said:
That looked very promising,
Until I saw this from the American Embassy in Croatia:
Click to expand...

Why would a travel advisory for Russia and Ukraine stop you from traveling to Croatia? The only advisory for Croatia I see is COVID-19, and, well, they have the same advisory for many countries.
 
Jeff Oslick said:
Why would a travel advisory for Russia and Ukraine stop you from traveling to Croatia? The only advisory for Croatia I see is COVID-19, and, well, they have the same advisory for many countries.
Click to expand...
You might be right, but I thought I saw that message while looking at Croatia.
Regardless, it is still too close for comfort for my traveling companions.
 
Hang 4 said:
Viking River Cruises.
Click to expand...

Second this. My wife and I along with a few friends did a cruise from Amsterdam to Basel along the Rhine. It was amazing. Small ship/boat. Amazing food. Amazing service.

Granted, we were by far the youngest on the ship (I think at the time I was 38 or 39....) but we had a blast. Best cruise experience I have ever had. Will do again.
 
Dana said:
What about those windjammer (sailing ship) cruises?
Click to expand...

"Windjammer Barefoot Cruises" is no more. Rats!!! The kids ran the cruise line into the ground. Our one cruise with them was back in 1998 for our 25th anniversary. Great time, we went on their largest ship, which held 120 passengers. About the 1st or second cruise with that ship. Their idea of dressing up for dinner was a clean t-shirt. Definitely not a large cruise line. I would cruise with them again in a heartbeat if they still existed.
 
Sluggo63 said:
I've been on exactly two cruises in the states. I wasn't a fan. Both Carnival Cruises.

When we lived in Germany, we took two smaller cruises, and I enjoyed them both.

One was a Baltic cruise on Windstar cruises. That was bigger than what your wife would like (about 300 passengers), but it was pretty relaxing. It catered to an older crowd (no bowling alleys, discos or water slides, etc.) I went with my wife and three other couples. The eight of us that went together definitely brought the average passenger age down quite a few years. The Baltic cruise was great, and the big draw for us going on that one was that we were able to visit St. Petersburg for 2 days. Now, I'm really glad we did that cruise, because I don't see Russian tourism opening up any time in the near future at all.
https://www.windstarcruises.com/

The other one sounds more like what you're looking for. It was basically a yacht charter in Croatia. Went from Split to Dubrovnik and back. There were maybe 15 staterooms (edit: 19 staterooms) on the boat and about 30 passengers. That one was great because we were able to get into some ports that the big ships couldn't get into, so we saw some of the more quaint places and islands.

This is the boat we were on for Croatia.
https://cruisecroatia.com/ms-kleopatra/
Click to expand...
Carnival was your first mistake. The Walmart of cruise ships
 
ktup-flyer said:
Carnival was your first mistake. The Walmart of cruise ships
Click to expand...
Oh. I know. And I knew going into it. First one was with the kiddos, so it was good for them, I suppose. The second one was with other couples and they did the booking.

I'd be open to taking another "large" cruise, but it would be on one of the higher end cruise lines.
 
Not a "cruise", but you could charter a sailboat (suggest catamaran) with a hired captain (and cook, if you want). More "work" than a cruise, but if mobility isn't an issue for anyone, can be a lot of fun.
 
Jeff Oslick said:
Not a "cruise", but you could charter a sailboat (suggest catamaran) with a hired captain (and cook, if you want). More "work" than a cruise, but if mobility isn't an issue for anyone, can be a lot of fun.
Click to expand...

I charter bareboat, I'm the captain, I go where I want, do what I want, invite who I want.

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Bill, agreed, if you can captain yourself or have a close friend who does who you like to travel with, it is ideal.

On the plus side for a hired captain, when stuff breaks, as it always will on a sailboat, they become the first-line repairman, not you!
 
Jeff Oslick said:
Bill, agreed, if you can captain yourself or have a close friend who does who you like to travel with, it is ideal.

On the plus side for a hired captain, when stuff breaks, as it always will on a sailboat, they become the first-line repairman, not you!
Click to expand...

Charter from a big reputable company and you should be fine. One trip the dingy outboard went out to lunch, they had a new one to us in 2hrs. But, yes, bigger stuff can break, and that's a bummer. I like Moorings or SunSail.
 
Deelee said:
Second this. My wife and I along with a few friends did a cruise from Amsterdam to Basel along the Rhine. It was amazing. Small ship/boat. Amazing food. Amazing service.

Granted, we were by far the youngest on the ship (I think at the time I was 38 or 39....) but we had a blast. Best cruise experience I have ever had. Will do again.
Click to expand...

We did exactly the same, only on an AMA Waterways vessel; I think the service is comparable to Viking and, in any event, the service and excursions were exemplary (they had excellent guides at each stop, and it seems as if my wife and I were almost always the only ones who wanted bike tours, so it was like having a private guide at most stops).
 
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