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.

UnCruise Alaska — Review of Their Wild & Woolly Cruise Aboard Wilderness Legacy (2026)

UnCruise Alaska — Review of Their Wild & Woolly Cruise Aboard Wilderness Legacy (2026)

by | Jan 14, 2026 | , , , , , , , , , | 0

Wilderness Legacy Cruise Ship Review By Peter Knego (Photo Above: The handsome Wilderness Legacy,...

Read More
Bella Desgagnés Cargo Passenger Cruise Review (2026) — Exploring the Gulf of St. Lawrence

Bella Desgagnés Cargo Passenger Cruise Review (2026) — Exploring the Gulf of St. Lawrence

by | Dec 21, 2025 | , , , , , , | 0

Bella Desgagnés Cargo Passenger Cruise By Aimée Laberge Natashquan, Harrington Harbour,...

Read More
Loading

Write A Review

Write a Review

Traveling Professor

The Traveling Professor

UnCruise Ad

UnCruise Ad Jan 2026 for 30 Years Anniversary

SLCL Ad

St Lawrence Cruise Lines Ad for Canada rivers

Croisi Ad

CroisiEurope ad

ACL Ad

Cruise American ACL Banner Ad

Heidi Booking Ad

QuirkyCruise Heidi Booking ad

2023 SATW Lowell Thomas QC Win

SATW Lowell Thomas Award winner

Adsense

Sign Up box

QC Sign Up Ad Sept 22

bird

Travel Without the Crowds

SATW Proud member

Adsense

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.

More...

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.

Active European River Cruises with Emerald Waterways

Active European River Cruises with Emerald Waterways

Active European River Cruises on the Rhine & Moselle By John Roberts. When it comes to the great rivers of Europe, those often enjoyed on a delightful river cruise, the Moselle is too often overlooked. This stunningly gorgeous river is a tributary of the Rhine,...

QuirkyCruise News: Two New Ships For Paul Gauguin Cruises

QuirkyCruise News: Two New Ships For Paul Gauguin Cruises

Two New Ships For Paul Gauguin Cruises By Anne Kalosh. Paul Gauguin Cruises will be adding a pair of new builds with a cutting-edge design. They’ll join the Paul Gauguin ship to sail the South Pacific year-round, starting in 2022. French cruise line Ponant, which...

Sailing to the Canary Islands and Morocco on Sea Cloud II

Sailing to the Canary Islands and Morocco on Sea Cloud II

Canary Islands and Morocco on Sea Cloud II By Gene Sloan. Updated Sept 2024 I am standing near the front of Sea Cloud II, along the teak-lined walkway that wraps around its bridge, watching a scene straight out of the 19th century. Moving quickly to the captain’s...

A Narrowboat Cruise on the Scenic Oxfordshire Canal – Review

A Narrowboat Cruise on the Scenic Oxfordshire Canal – Review

By Robin Andersen. Updated June 2025 It is hard to beat river cruise along a canal. Guy uses the long wooden pole to push the narrowboat away from the grassy bank where we moored overnight. I am at the tiller and I push the throttle forward into gear, pointing the...

Ted Talks: Australia's Kimberley Coast, The Remotest of the Remote

Ted Talks: Australia's Kimberley Coast, The Remotest of the Remote

Australia's Kimberley Coast By Ted Scull. The travel bug sends all manner of people to all corners of the globe by sea in small, medium-size and humongous ships, via aircraft ranging from a Piper Cub to the airbus 380, in cars, on trains, buses, two wheels and two...

Affordable Antarctica – Relatively Speaking

Affordable Antarctica – Relatively Speaking

Affordable Antarctica – Relatively Speaking By Ted Scull. It is well understood that anyone looking at the QuirkyCruise site will likely have aspirations to travel aboard ships that do not resemble giant floating resorts with thousands of folks aboard. Lots of...

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...

More Articles

  • Subscribe

    Sign up for our monthly newsletter to get insider reviews, tips & deals on unusual & small-ship cruises.

  • * I would like to subscribe to the QuirkyCruise newsletters. QuirkyCruise.com will not sell your email. See PRIVACY POLICY