News & Cruise Reviews

Here we share the latest small-ship cruise news and first-person cruise reviews and round-ups from our team of globetrotting writers. If you've got a penchant for small-scale travel aboard boats, yachts, tall ships and mini cruisers, then enjoy the ride through our sea of stories about small-ship cruising.

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About Us


Heidi and Ted HEIDI SARNA

I'm up to 78 countries and 110+ cruises worldwide, and it's the small ship journeys that I love writing about most. And so QuirkyCruise.com was born, an excellent research tool for planning your own unforgettable small ship trip.

THEODORE W. SCULL

I have traveled between all continents by sea and cruised along three dozen rivers. Ships and travel are in my blood, and so is writing. My journeys have translated into many books and many hundreds of articles.

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Our Small Ship Cruise Reviews & Articles

If you can imagine it, we’ve cruised it! With reviews, articles and destination overviews, we’ve got you covered.

Hurtigruten’s Roald Amundsen First Ship Named In Antarctica

Hurtigruten’s Roald Amundsen First Ship Named In Antarctica

Hurtigruten’s Roald Amundsen by Anne Kalosh. All ship christenings are exciting and special. But that of Hurtigruten’s Roald Amundsen was also very unusual and historic. On Nov. 7, the world’s first hybrid battery-powered cruise vessel was named in spectacular...

Great Lakes Cruising aboard Victory I Replica Coastal Steamer

Great Lakes Cruising aboard Victory I Replica Coastal Steamer

Great Lakes Cruising By Peter Knego.  After decades of cruising the seven seas and well over a dozen rivers, I was long overdue for a proper Great Lakes cruise. My introduction to North America’s vast and enchanting inland waterway was via a 10-day voyage this past...

Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators Voluntarily Ban Heavy Fuel Oil

Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators Voluntarily Ban Heavy Fuel Oil

AECO Lines Voluntarily Ban Heavy Fuel Oil By Anne Kalosh. The Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators (AECO) has just approved a self-imposed ban on the use and carriage of heavy fuel oil (HFO) there. The current practice among the association’s members is...

How Windstar is Stretching Three Ships

How Windstar is Stretching Three Ships

Windstar is Stretching Three Ships By Anne Kalosh. What’s being called the most challenging cruise ship retrofit ever attempted is taking place right now in Sicily. There, at Fincantieri’s Palermo yard, Windstar Cruises’ Star Breeze has been cut in half so a new...

French Canal Cruising: My French Love Affair (Part 2)

French Canal Cruising: My French Love Affair (Part 2)

French Canal Cruising: My French Love Affair Crew, Excursions & Paris! By Elysa Leonard. Crazy Crew Crush The staff on a small-ship cruise, especially a barge cruise carrying only six passengers, is a vital ingredient for a memorable holiday. French canal cruising...

AVALON Waterways

AVALON Waterways

Avalon Waterways Avalon entered the fast-growing river cruise market in 2004 and is owned by the Swiss-based Globus family of travel industry brands. The line aims for the upper end of the river cruise market, operating a large number of riverboats on a vast range of...

PEARL Seas Cruises Review

PEARL Seas Cruises Review

Pearl Seas Cruises: Unbiased Small Ship Cruise Review Pearl Seas Cruises is a subsidiary of the firm that owns American Cruise Lines with its large and ever-growing fleet of coastal and river ships. Its one ship, the 210-passenger Pearl Mist, shares many of the...

EMERALD Cruises

EMERALD Cruises

Emerald Cruises. Emerald Cruises started in 2014 and operates a fleet of six similar riverboats along Europe’s Rhine, Rhone, Saône, Main, Danube, Moselle and Douro Rivers. In Southeast Asia, one vessel plies the Mekong River. Yachts cruise Mediterranean waters such...

Viking River Cruise in Ukraine Aboard Viking Sineus

Viking River Cruise in Ukraine Aboard Viking Sineus

Viking River Cruise in Ukraine By Gene Sloan Sept 2024 Note: Gene took this cruise in 2019. This Viking river cruise in the Ukraine is not currently being offered due to the war. Perhaps one day again travelers will be able to experience this quirky river cruise that...

Q&A With French Canal Barge Owner Edward Anderson

Q&A With French Canal Barge Owner Edward Anderson

French Canal Barge Q&A Barge cruises are an excellent way to indulge in fine French wines, cheeses and cuisine while moving at a snail’s pace through historic and beautiful regions of France. Like floating boutique hotels, French barge cruises offer an intimate...

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