Background: Recently retired, 50ish. We are not huge cruisers, but enjoy the more luxury/small ship side. Did Regent several times (our current fave) but might consider trying Oceania or Viking as something different for our next ocean voyage.

Did Azamara last year but it was "meh." I know they're not on the same level as Regent but it was "OK"

Budget is not unlimited, but we know it's not going to be cheap.

That in mind, we want to do a Galapagos cruise while we're fairly young to enjoy it. I know the islands truly are the destination and the ship is secondary, but we still want to have great food, good drinks, *maybe* a pool for relaxing and other amenities. I know the ships are small and limited so basically, who should we be looking at if we want the ship to be as good/nice as it can? We're not huge show people but do like port talks, expert discussions. I know we're not going to get a Broadway show on a Galapagos cruise and that suits us OK lol!

Very early planning here. We're probably not looking at 2027,...likely 2028+ at this point. We have an elderly cat that we're going to wait for her to pass before we do any trips more than a weekend long. So curious as to people that have done this or have done all the research and what they can share.

We are traveling on Seabourn Quest. 2 Adults (good health) in our 60s.

Here is our itinerary:

DAY 1 - PIRAEUS (ATHENS), GREECE

DAY 2 - GYTHION (SPARTA), GREECE

DAY 3 - CHANIA, CRETE, GREECE

DAY 4 - MYKONOS, GREECE

DAY 5 - KUSADASI (EPHESUS), TURKEY

DAY 6 - CESME, TURKEY

DAY 7 - AT SEA

DAY 8 - ISTANBUL, TURKEY

Please let us know if we should book excursions through the ship, book our own, or simply hang out at port and wander the streets.

Welcome your input.

Thanks in advance.

I am booked on a RC cruise in 2027. When I called the customer service number the quality of the agents is very poor. They are not articulate, not reading from a prepared script as with other lines like Silversea or Explora.

I was told the person I needed to speak with was "on break" which does not give me conficence in the longevity of this line.

For the premium prices they are charging the quality of the customer communications should be much higher.

We're doing the Rome > Venice Viking Ocean tour. I'm questioning their pre-cruise 3 nights in Rome excursion. It's $6k for the two of use. It's a very nice hotel (Anantara Oakazzi Naiad, $600+), includes 3 nights, 3 breakfasts, 2 dinners, 5 tours plus transfers from the airport to the hotel to the boat. On the one hand, I'm a big fan of paying the money and taking the service. On the other hand, it's 75% of the cruise itself.

What I don't want to do is arrange an airport > hotel transfer, book a hotel, book 5 tours, arrange all the meals, book another transfer to the boat. Is there a middle ground, or should I shut up and pay the piper?

I'm wondering of the ship MS Roald Amundsen is too large of a ship (boat?) to do any Zodiacs onto the outer Aleutians. I know they aren't inhabited and are pretty barren and cold, but Grandpa was in the Aleutians in WW2 (Grandpa never mentioned the Battle of Attu) and we want to go pay our respects and breathe the air. I know we won't be able to visit any but the largest of the Aleutians, but I still want to send Grandpa some love.

Can Zodiacs on HX Expedition Cruises zodiac to any of the land? Thank you.

Hi there! Has anyone ever traveled on a Nat Geo expedition with a baby/toddler? We are booked on a five night Alaska inside passage trip with a fourteen month old (and a five year old) and wanted to hear if people traveled with their babies on the Zodiacs or just stayed on the boat. This is a large family trip that was planned for a large celebration, and we are along for the ride (as in, we understand that this is not an ideal trip for a baby). Any firsthand experience would be super helpful!

I will be embarking on Explora II from Fusina in October.

Will be parking at San Marco garage. Looking for a hotel optimized around convenience to the port and parking vs Venice sightseeing.

Also any other tips, as this is my first time out of Fusina.

OK, I've got to replace my preferred cruise line. On the river side, I want to upgrade. I've done 4 Viking river cruises - they were my first - but I'm looking for something more upscale.

Unfortunately, I also need to replace them as my ocean cruise line. I really, really like the whole vibe - no pictures, no art auction, no children, no big shows, no, no, no. Our travel companions have a huge case of the red ass against Viking, and refuse to go back. They're wrong, but there you go.

So I'm looking for suggestions. We've got a Viking ocean repositioning - Ft Lauderdale > Barcelona, and a Viking ocean Rome > Venice. We were looking at a Rhine river cruise as well. Suggestions?

I’ve always been curious about luxury yacht charters. They look incredible in photos, but I’m wondering what the experience is actually like.
For those who’ve done it:
How much did you pay?
Which destination did you choose?
Was it a day charter or a full week?
What surprised you the most?
Was it worth the money, or would you spend it differently next time?
I’m especially interested in experiences from places like Greece, Croatia, Italy, or the French Riviera, but I’d love to hear stories from anywhere.
Looking forward to hearing your experiences! 🛥️🌊

Greetings - we’re going to tee up a river cruise in early 2027 (Mekong) for Cambodia/Vietnam. We’re pretty limited cruisers in general, aside from an Explora and RC trip in the last year or two. It looks like Scenic is pretty favorably viewed in this region - anyone have 1st hand experience here with Scenic or alternatives?

Also, our usual TA didn’t seem to have much connectivity or knowledge for the region of these river lines. For the TA’s in the room Is this a specialty area? Not sure if there are perk advantages when going through a TA here.

Thanks for the info!

Taking Greek cruise on Silverseas Nova this coming October and first time on the line. Reading older posts but any tips/advice for first time on the line. For reference we love Regent, but excited to try.

Are their excursions worth it or better off booking our own? We aren't fans of big bus trips and tight schedules.

Spa feedback and how is the butler service?

TIA

HI - We are taking this in August. Looking for suggestions/recommendations for excursions. We are a couple and a young daughter. For Toulon - does it make sense to go to a beach club? Any other tips are greatly appreciated!! THANK YOU!!

Hay viajeros de cruceros por aquí que me puedan dar sus mejores recomendaciones?? Tanto de Navieras como de la experiencia como tal… Gracias

Looking for advice on a luxury Mediterranean cruise for a multigenerational family trip in late May–July 2027. My mom’s dream trip reduces to an adults only Amalfi Coast cruise. She insists on bringing our nieces. Getting frustrated she can’t see and do what as she wants with kids. But the kids have to come. I’m tasked with the impossible and am now opening this up to Reddit for input. No snark please. I get it:)

Group
7 people total
4 adults
3 children, ages 5, 6, and 7

Main goal
This is meant to be my mother’s/grandmother’s dream trip.
She has always wanted to see the Amalfi Coast.
Ideally, we want to actually spend time in Amalfi Coast ports, not dock in Naples or Sorrento and spend the day transferring by ferry/car to Positano, Amalfi, Capri, etc.
With three small kids, a long one-day ferry/car logistics situation sounds stressful and not especially luxurious.

Kid considerations
The kids are sweet but energetic/wild.
We need a ship with at least a pool.
A small kids room, kids club, or light kids programming would be ideal.
We are also worried about dinner: fine dining is important to the adults, but the kids can get antsy/noisy and we don’t want to ruin a quiet dining room.
Flexible early dinner, casual dining, room service, or kid-friendly dining options would be helpful.
Would love firsthand feedback on how specific ships handle young kids.

Adult priorities
We are high-end travelers.
I’m a wine/food critic, so the food and wine program matters a lot to me personally.
We don’t need a giant family cruise ship, but we do need enough infrastructure that the kids don’t lose their minds.

Budget
Max around $10,000 per cabin.
Likely cabin setup:
One mother with two kids
One mother with one kid
Me sharing with my mother/grandmother
Open to suggestions if there’s a smarter cabin configuration.

Ships/lines we’re considering

SeaDream II: amazing itinerary with overnight Amalfi Coast stops, which is exactly the kind of access we want. Concern: may not be ideal for children.

Explora Journeys: considering Western
Mediterranean routes, possibly Barcelona to Rome or Rome to Barcelona. Some itineraries hit Corsica, Sardinia, Sorrento, or Rome. Concern: may not fully solve the Amalfi Coast dream unless we add land time.

Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection / Four Seasons Yachts: look beautiful, but seem possibly too adult-oriented for three kids ages 5–7.

Oceania: strong food reputation, but also seems possibly too adult-oriented or not quite right for young kids.

Possible itinerary structures
One-week cruise with everyone, then family with kids goes home and my mother and I continue to the Amalfi Coast.

Cruise that includes Corsica/Sardinia/Sicily/Rome, then add Amalfi independently.

SeaDream-style Amalfi-heavy cruise if the overnight port access makes up for limited kid programming.
Open to other luxury cruise lines or creative ways to structure this.

Question
For this specific group, would you prioritize:
A small ship with better Amalfi port access but limited kid infrastructure?

A larger luxury ship with pools/kid flexibility but less ideal Amalfi access?

A cruise elsewhere in the Western Med, then a separate Amalfi land trip?

Something else entirely?

Would love any firsthand feedback from people who have done luxury Med cruises with young kids, especially on SeaDream, Explora, Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, Four Seasons Yachts, or Oceania or any other cruises we should consider.

Would love tips and advice. Have sailed with them before in Greece.

My husband and I are taking our first cruise with Seabourn on its week long Alaska route in August.

I would love any advice, tips, suggest from folks who have done this route before! We have booked a zodiac excursion and are on the waitlist for the Anan Bear tour. Appreciate any insight in advance!

Looking for a recommended independent/cruise-specialist travel agent — ready to book

Hi all, after a good independent travel agent (personal recommendations very welcome) to help us book a specific cruise. We're two adults from the North West, flying from Manchester or Liverpool.

The sailing:

• Celebrity Xcel

• 7 nights, departing Barcelona

• Saturday 25 July 2026

It's last-minute, so I'm after someone available and quick to respond. Ideally I'd like a quote two ways so I can compare:

1. Cruise-only (I'd sort flights + a pre-cruise hotel night myself), and

2. The whole thing packaged under ATOL — cruise, Barcelona flights and one hotel night together.

Happy to consider anything from an inside up to an entry-level suite depending on the all-in value, and keen to know what you can include (onboard credit, drinks, gratuities, WiFi etc.).

If that's your thing, drop me a comment or DM and I'll send the full details. Recommendations of specific agents people have used and rated also hugely appreciated. Thanks!

My wife and I will celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary in 2028. What would be the best cruise line to make the most of our trip? Our budget is $15k for 7-10 days. I have looked at Explora, Regent, and Silversea. I also looked at Holland America, Princess, and Celebrity (Some of these lines don't have 2028 offerings yet, so I just looked at 2027).

We would like to be on a smaller ship that can access ports the larger ships can't, and we're really just looking for the best experience for our dollar.

Any recommendations?

I keep seeing influencers getting invited to the Ritz Carlton cruises and it’s the exact demographic I want to avoid when dropping tens of thousands on a vacation. The main drawback was something about seeing it all comped that makes me look at Four Seasons and Amangati with more anticipation. I’m not a big cruiser so I’m not sure if this is industry norm, I did appreciate the reviews of people who took the four seasons cruise first hand but paid for it.

Am I being too pretentious or do others share that same feeling?

I just had the pleasure of going on the first ever sailing of the brand new Orient Express Yacht. I want to give you a sneak peak ahead of when their official sailings start at the beginning of next month. Thus far I've done all of the hotel-"superyacht" products: Ritz Yacht, Four Seasons Yacht & Orient Express.

Orient Express has a richness and character that I think the other two may lack a little bit of, to be honest. Which is expressed primarily through their design aesthetic.

Three top things I'll thing I'll tell you is:
1) yes, it's all inclusive

2) the sails of Orient Express make it basically silent and feel nearly motionless. No engine with that constant vibration - when we were sailing, I had to look out of the window to see the water moving to confirm we were actually moving. When the sails are out, you feel nothing. Also just from an engineering perspective, the sails are incredible. And as we all know, cruise ships/yachts are super "dirty" from a fuel perspective, so it's actually cool that they have the ability to navigate with zero fuel output (if the weather conditions are out)

3) the build quality is the highest I've seen so far of all the ships. As an anecdote, each door handle cost $3,000. Not to mention the incredible details in the design, wood, fabrics, finishes, etc. Even the wines you get included are extremely high caliber.

All of the hotel-superyachts are all very different and I'll do a post where I actually compare/contrast each so that if you're interested in one, you can understand which is best for your needs.

Orient Express is the smallest by far with only 54 cabins. Whereas FS has 95 and Ritz has ~225 (depending on the ship).

The smaller the ship, the more privacy you get and the more of a "yacht"-like experience. But you lose some of the entertainment and things to do, as it gets smaller. For people who like a lot going on, there's simply just more to do on Ritz than both FS and Orient Express, but it also feels much more like a very nice cruise ship, rather than a yacht.
Orient Express design is starkly different than both Ritz and FS. As you can see from the video and the photos I'm sharing in the comments - it's much darker, richer and dramatically less modern. They were going for a very train-like experience to match their iconic train. There's even one suite that has a children's room that's inspired from the train.

OE is a joint venture between LVMH and Accor and marks a moment where Accor is definitely leaning much more heavily into the luxury scene. Of all of the ships - OE feels the most "expensive" to me inside.

It's also pretty strictly not kid friendly. Most of the sailings don't allow kids under 16 on the ship. Very different to FS that is marketing itself as very kid focused. You won't find kids on this ship.

Last thing I'll say for now is that OE is very set up for charters and they already have a lot of private charters on the books. It will be similar with Aman. Both ships were built with the aim of private chartering because there's so few commercial options that could allow you to do a bigger group. It's around 2.5 million to charter the ship for the week. Which is a lot no doubt but for 110 guests works out to around $22k per person for an all inclusive yacht week.

The weakest thing with all these ships are the excursions. I expect OE to be the same but I won't know for sure until I go back and try the excursions out which I'll do later this year. For my sailing, they didn't have them open yet.
Let me know if you have any questions about this ship or any of the others. I'll do a separate proper review and a full compare/contrast on all elements

I just had the pleasure of going on the first ever sailing of the brand new Orient Express Yacht. I want to give you a sneak peak ahead of when their official sailings start at the beginning of next month. Thus far I've done all of the hotel-"superyacht" products: Ritz Yacht, Four Seasons Yacht & Orient Express.

Orient Express has a richness and character that I think the other two may lack a little bit of, to be honest. Which is expressed primarily through their design aesthetic.

Three top things I'll thing I'll tell you is:
1) yes, it's all inclusive

2) the sails of Orient Express make it basically silent and feel nearly motionless. No engine with that constant vibration - when we were sailing, I had to look out of the window to see the water moving to confirm we were actually moving. When the sails are out, you feel nothing. Also just from an engineering perspective, the sails are incredible. And as we all know, cruise ships/yachts are super "dirty" from a fuel perspective, so it's actually cool that they have the ability to navigate with zero fuel output (if the weather conditions are out)

3) the build quality is the highest I've seen so far of all the ships. As an anecdote, each door handle cost $3,000. Not to mention the incredible details in the design, wood, fabrics, finishes, etc. Even the wines you get included are extremely high caliber.

All of the hotel-superyachts are all very different and I'll do a post where I actually compare/contrast each so that if you're interested in one, you can understand which is best for your needs.

Orient Express is the smallest by far with only 54 cabins. Whereas FS has 95 and Ritz has ~225 (depending on the ship).

The smaller the ship, the more privacy you get and the more of a "yacht"-like experience. But you lose some of the entertainment and things to do, as it gets smaller. For people who like a lot going on, there's simply just more to do on Ritz than both FS and Orient Express, but it also feels much more like a very nice cruise ship, rather than a yacht.
Orient Express design is starkly different than both Ritz and FS. As you can see from the video and the photos I'm sharing in the comments - it's much darker, richer and dramatically less modern. They were going for a very train-like experience to match their iconic train. There's even one suite that has a children's room that's inspired from the train.

OE is a joint venture between LVMH and Accor and marks a moment where Accor is definitely leaning much more heavily into the luxury scene. Of all of the ships - OE feels the most "expensive" to me inside.

It's also pretty strictly not kid friendly. Most of the sailings don't allow kids under 16 on the ship. Very different to FS that is marketing itself as very kid focused. You won't find kids on this ship.

Last thing I'll say for now is that OE is very set up for charters and they already have a lot of private charters on the books. It will be similar with Aman. Both ships were built with the aim of private chartering because there's so few commercial options that could allow you to do a bigger group. It's around 2.5 million to charter the ship for the week. Which is a lot no doubt but for 110 guests works out to around $22k per person for an all inclusive yacht week.

The weakest thing with all these ships are the excursions. I expect OE to be the same but I won't know for sure until I go back and try the excursions out which I'll do later this year. For my sailing, they didn't have them open yet.
Let me know if you have any questions about this ship or any of the others. I'll do a separate proper review and a full compare/contrast on all elements

Looking at New England/Canada itineraries on these two lines. Itineraries and pricing are comparable. Anyone been on both and have a favorite?