Private Croatia Yacht Charters from Goolets By Heidi Sarna A private yacht charter in Croatia is a great way to travel, at your own pace and with your own peeps. They’re a great alternative to cruising on the big cruise ships with thousands of others or with dozens of...
sponsored Baja California Cruises By Heidi Sarna Updated November 2025 UnCruise is active, experiential travel at its finest; inviting you to get your feet wet (and muddy)! From the wilds of Alaska to the spectacular natural bounty of Mexico's Sea of Cortes, on their...
Sailo Yacht Charters By Heidi Sarna I had an e-chat with Sailo.com Founder & CEO Magda Marcu and her team and they shared some details about the boat and yacht charter platform that's been called by Conde Nast Traveler the "Airbnb of boats and yachts."...
John Roberts' Christmas Markets Cruise on the Rhine River By Heidi Sarna We love how involved in the travel world our contributing writers are. John Roberts is a great example. In fact, John — who is owner of In The Loop Travel, a website and social media brand that...
Best Luggage For Cruises By Heidi Sarna & the QC Team Readers often ask us about luggage recommendations; the latest query came from a woman booked on an upcoming small-ship Alaska cruise. It’s a great question, luggage is important. Small-ship cruises are...
Best Arctic Cruises to See Polar Bears By Heidi Sarna The Arctic season is just starting so we thought we’d go to straight to the source for some details on spotting polar bears. Seeing a great big polar bear in the wild is a dream for many adventurous travelers....
Belgium & Netherlands River Cruise By Heidi Sarna Updated March 2026 Pedaling to the magnificent Castle de Haar along a sun-dappled bike path through leafy suburban neighborhoods and past wheat fields and grazing cattle, I knew this week was going to suit me just...
European River Cruise Cycling Tips By Heidi Sarna Last fall I spent a week aboard the 156-pax AMA Stella round-trip from Amsterdam to explore the waterways of the Netherlands and Belgium. We chose this itinerary because of the many opportunities for us to sightsee by...
sponsored Cruise Director Trevor Houle Takes Us Behind the Scenes By Heidi Sarna. I had an e-chat with Trevor Houle, cruise director and purser for St. Lawrence Cruise Lines to find what it’s like to be the glue that holds a cruise together. Wearing many hats, a...
Heidi’s No Nonsense Cruise Packing Tips By Heidi Sarna Update July 2025 I travel for pleasure and I also travel for a living. As a freelance writer for many years and co-founder of QuirkyCruise.com, a review site focused on the small-ship cruising experience, I’m a...
If you can imagine it, we’ve cruised it! With reviews, articles and destination overviews, we’ve got you covered.
Canal du Midi Barge Cruise Review By Donna Heiderstadt The first time my friend Suzanne and I found ourselves about to board a seriously small boat for a week-long cruise with a handful of total strangers was in September 1997 in Turkey. As we thought back to that...
American Cruise Lines 2026 Great Lakes Cruises & More By Anne Kalosh With its fast-growing fleet of small U.S.-flag ships, American Cruise Lines is breaking out new Great Lakes and Mississippi River river routes. In 2026, the company will feature three...
Hooghly River Cruise Review By Heidi Sarna Updated March 2026 India is one of the world’s most absorbing travel destinations, yet it can also be challenging and overwhelming to navigate independently. A luxury India river cruise smooths out some of the rough edges...
Magna Carta Barge Review Reviewer Deb Driscoll from the US. Cruise Line Magna Carta. (Sold through European Waterways and Barge Lady Cruises) Ship The 8-passenger Magna Carta. Destination Thames River, England. # of Nights 6. Departure Port London, England. Date of...
sponsored CroisiEurope Christmas Markets Cruises Christmas cruise itineraries are filled with the sights, sounds and tastes of the holidays. Europe’s centuries-old cities and towns are adorned with twinkling lights and classic decorations. Fragrant evergreens and the...
Magna Carta Thames River Cruise Review By Heidi Sarna Walking off the 8-passenger hotel barge Magna Carta, from its Thames River mooring at the edge of lush woodlands that envelop the Cliveden House estate in the Berkshire hills, we set off on a short uphill trek...
Victory Great Lakes Cruise By Stephanie Sack It was during a lecture about shipwrecks in Victory I's lovely Compass Lounge when I realized that a vacation on this ship was much more than a 10-day Great Lakes cruise. After years spent guiding travelers through...
AmaMagna Danube River Cruise Review By Jane Iyer What could be more pleasurable than spending a glorious evening gazing out at Budapest’s stately buildings lining the banks of the Danube — with a glass of wine in hand? This was indeed the perfect start to our seven...
Nile River Cruise On The S.S. Sudan By Carolyn Muraskin Egypt had been at the top of my travel list for years, and in January 2023, I finally made the journey. As an architect turned tour guide in Washington, DC, I talk about design daily. While Washington offers a...
French Country Waterways Marne Rhine Canal Cruise By John Roberts When I boarded the Horizon II barge for a French Country Waterways Marne-Rhine canal cruise in the Alsace-Lorraine region of France, I had only a basic idea of what to expect. After more than three...
Staying Fit On A Barge Cruise By John Roberts Because we always cruise with a rough plan on how we'll incorporate fitness into our daily routines, Colleen and I were able to stay very active on our recent barge cruise aboard the 8-passenger Horizon II through France's...
