WHAT ARE THE MAJOR ADVANTAGES?
    One great advantage is that you can be comfortable while visiting some of the world’s most inaccessible and fascinating places. The ship gives you a "home away from home". You unpack once and still see many locations. You don’t have to drive from place to place, or change hotels, or worry about reservations or keeping a schedule. You just relax and wake up in a new location the next day without having had any hassle to get there. You can explore the most remote rugged environments by day and come back to the security and comfort of a clean stateroom, a hot shower, a well-prepared meal and good company.
 Ships are friendly places, and there is a sense of camaraderie, usually with sharing the day’s experience on the top deck at the end of the day, getting to know fellow passengers and making new friends.

WHAT ABOUT AGE? WHAT ABOUT TRAVELING SINGLE?
        Cruise passengers now are all ages. On some cruises physical condition is important, but on most of the cruises you have a choice of whether to take easy strolls or difficult hikes, do whitewater rafting or leisurely paddle a canoe in a quiet cove, dive a reef or be lazy under a palm tree on a secluded beach. However, on many small ships there is a chance that there will be some wet landings from a zodiac or tender directly onto a beach so you should be
agile enough to handle that.
        Single people go as well a couples. In fact, the camaraderie of the small number of passengers makes it easy to make friends.
        Small ship cruises are good for family travel too. Some have special activities for kids, but even if they don’t, there are plenty of physical things to do so that boredom is not a problem. A ship is a secure environment where children can enjoy their experience with their parents or be safe doing things without them. They’re usually firm friends with one or two crew members
before the cruise is over. A small ship cruise gives kids a real-life way to appreciate the environment and relate to different cultures. Thousands of years of history can come to life for them in visits to historic ports.
        But more important than age or single versus couple is the state of mind. The people who cruise usually have a spirit of adventure; they are curious about the world and ready for the next adventure around the bend.

WHAT ABOUT BEING BORED OR FEELING CONFINED?
        People who haven’t cruised sometimes have the misconception that they might be bored. It’s not true of big ships or small ships. The days are gone of passengers swathed in blankets and snoozing in their deck chairs. There are usually more things to do than you have time for.
         You don’t feel confined. Actually being at sea gives you a sense of freedom and openness.

AREN’T ALL SHIPS BASICALLY THE SAME?
        Ships come in all shapes and sizes. Even "small ships" can have only a few passengers, more like a private yacht, or several hundred passengers. Ships can be diesel-powered, have paddlewheels, or be sailing ships. There are river boats that go along the Danube or Rhine, the Volga in Russia, the remote jungle tributaries of the Amazon, the Yangtze, the Nile, the Snake River in Oregon, or up and down the Mississippi and the Ohio. There are icebreakers that can slice through ice in the Antarctic and Arctic. There are barges in Europe, and freighters, and even boats that can you charter yourself.
        Some ships have bow ramps that let you walk directly onto a beach, others have a diving platform/sports deck at the stern from which, when at anchor, you can scuba, water ski, windsurf, swim, paddle a kayak or sail a sunfish. Some have a fleet of zodiacs for quick access to coves and beaches.

WHAT IS CRUISING ON A SMALL SHIP LIKE?
        A small ship is part cruise ship and part private yacht. You have many of the advantages of cruising, but you can go to remote locations and  out-of-the-way ports where big ships can’t go.
        Typically, there will no games, few announcements, no assigned dining room seating. Instead of bingo, you have the opportunity to visit the bridge at any time and stand at the helmstation, or on a very small ship perhaps take the helm yourself.  Instead of a cruise director, you have historians, naturalist guides and other experts who know the area who give talks and slide shows and join you at dinner. There may be a best-selling author or a wildlife photographer. Sometimes there is a casino, more likely not. Sometimes there is a piano bar or a band and a dance floor, but just as often there is a local band brought on board for dancing on the aft deck. Instead of spending much time inside the ship, you spend most time outside at destinations or on deck looking at the scenery. On some ships passengers dress up for dinner
occasionally or all the time, on others not at all.
        Usually there is focus on learning about the environment and people and cultures of the area, with lectures by  naturalists and historians, wildlife excursions with guides and a library with books and videos on the destinations. You might be learning about ancient roots of civilization while viewing Mayan ruins or archeological sites in the Greek Islands or you might be getting close to nature while watching the courting dances of blue-footed boobies in the Galapagos, being inches away from sea lions belching and belly-flopping on the beach, or feeding bananas to a lemur on your shoulder in theSeychelles. Because there are fewer people, you have the opportunity to meet with speakers in informal conversations. The lectures, the artworks, the
closeness to the environment all provide a profound sense of place to the destinations.  Because of their turn-on-a-dime maneuverability the small ships can get into secluded coves and remote places inaccessible to bigger ships, they can go up rivers to where they are just navigable, and visit secluded places that can be reached only by water.
        Also because of the small number of passengers, the itinerary can be flexible. You can stay for the evening for a local festival, stop to watch a whale, or launch the zodiacs in minutes if there is something special to see.

HOW ABOUT ACCOMMODATIONS?  ARE THERE ANY LUXURY CRUISES?
        On some expedition type cruises, accommodations can be spare, with a shower that gets the entire bathroom wet and a rack on the wall for clothes instead of a  closet. But usually you will be able to hike through rainforests, swim, or sightsee all day, then come back to fine room, a hot shower, and an excellent dinner with wine. On some ships you may have a VCR, cd, radio or
phone in your cabin. Some ships have hot tubs and pools, most small ships don’t.  Some vessels have a masseuse, some have a sauna and some have elaborate spa facilities.
        You get friendly service and personal attention on almost any ship. If you want to really be decadently spoiled, you can try the white-glove treatment of the luxury ships. Some of them have private verandahs, marble baths, terry robes, personalized stationery, and champagne and caviar at any time of day or night. And some have full spas. On the luxury ships you dress for dinner every night and one or two nights a week are formal.

WHERE CAN YOU GO?
        You can go all over the world. You can cruise the inlets of Alaska or among remote Canadian islands watching eagles ride updrafts and whales breaching, or snorkel in turquoise waters in the Bahamas and the Caribbean, visit ports in the Mediterranean and Baltic Seas, sail into the harbors of Tahiti and Bora Bora, dive on the great barrier reefs in Australia or Belize, visit small villages in Asia,  go up the tributaries of the Amazon River or visit Indian villages in the Darien Jungle.
        It’s even possible to go to the North Pole or to Antarctica on a Russian icebreaker, or to Big and Little Diomede Islands on the boundary between Alaska and Russia that were closed to the outside world for decades. You can go to the outermost islands of Micronesia to see atolls populated by massive colonies of frigate and tropicbirds and be formally introduced to a village
chief at each island as you go ashore.
        Lamu, Zanzibar, Madagascar, Desolation Sound, Glacier Bay, the Sea of Cortez, the Galapagos, Bora Bora, Bali, Fiji, Baja, St. Helena, the Norwegian fjords, Patagonia, the Northwest Passage, the Amazon, the Yangtze, Tonga. Picture your fantasy, the place you’ve always dreamed of seeing, and chances are a ship goes there.

WHAT ARE SOME TYPICAL ITINERARIES?
        * a cruise that goes through the Panama Canal and goes to ports in Costa Rica and Panama and visits nearby islands
        * a cruise that combines an African safari with a cruise to Zanzibar, Madagascar and the Seychelles
        * a river boat that explores up the Amazon, studying life along the river
        * a Europe or California wine cruise, with lectures and wine-tasting on board and visits to wineries
        * a cruise to Alaska to see glaciers and whales and visit remote fishing villages
        * an icebreaker that goes to the Antarctic
        * a square-rigged windjammer that sails the Greek islands
        * a cruise to see the wildlife of the Galapagos Islands
        * a cruise along the fjord-dotted 1,200 mile coast of Norway
        *  a luxury dive boat in the Bahamas where you can dive two and three times a day
        * a cruise that meanders along the Intracoastal Waterway of Florida and Georgia with stops along the way   to golf
        * a classical music cruise with string quartets on board and excursions to famous concert halls
        * a river boat that goes along the St. Lawrence River
        -- and many more … check our "Search by Destination" section.