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Small Ship Cruising

Small Ship Cruises

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Featured Small Ship Cruises

SAVE UP TO 25%
2026 Spring Escape, Caribbean to London

Renaissance 09 Mar 2026 17 nights Fly Cruise Flights Included Bridgetown

Just a Deposit required to secure your holiday*

FREE Drinks & Gratuities Included for ALL bookings*

Fly Direct with Virgin Atlantic*

Please hurry, Demand will be High*

Itinerary: Bridgetown - Castries, St. Lucia - St. John's, Antigua, Caribbean - Basseterre, St. Kitts - Ponta Delgada - Leixoes - Ijmuiden - London (Tilbury)
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Inside from £1,769pp

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FREE SPEND UP TO £1,000
No-Fly 2026 Grand Classical Mediterranean

Ambition 19 Feb 2026 31 nights No-Fly Cruise London Tilbury

Adults-only cruising*

FREE On Board Spend of up to £1,000*

No-Fly Cruising from a UK port*

Offer Ends 8pm 31st August 2025*

Itinerary: London (Tilbury) - Leixoes - Cadiz for Seville - Malaga - Palma de Mallorca (Spain) - Barcelona - Livorno - for Florence & Pisa, Italy - Civitavecchia - for Rome, Italy - Naples -.…
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Inside from £2,409pp

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FULL BOARD CRUISING
No-Fly Canals & Culture of Hamburg & Amsterdam

Ambience 29 Nov 2025 5 nights No-Fly Cruise London Tilbury

Pound sterling on board*

Small ship, Full-Board Cruising*

Traditional British Cruising*

Five restaurants on board*

Itinerary: London (Tilbury) - Amsterdam, Netherlands - London (Tilbury)
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Outside from £479pp

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Popular Small Ship Cruise Destinations



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What is a small cruise ship?


Typically, a small cruise ship holds up to 1,300 passengers. They are perfect for those who love to cruise but are not looking for a resort at sea. What a small cruise ship may lack in innovative amenities it makes up for with a number of distinctive qualities that larger vessels can’t offer.

There are four distinct categories of small ships; oceangoing cruise ships, sailing yachts, riverboats and expedition vessels. Oceangoing cruise ships typically hold between 450 and 1,300 passengers while the capacity of sailing yachts ranges from 140 to 400, riverboats carry up to 200 passengers and expedition vessels carry up to 1,000 passengers. As passenger counts are significantly lower, embarkation and disembarkation is a breeze. This also means that queuing doesn’t take up a large portion of your day.

But it’s not just the reduced numbers that make small ship cruising special. Smaller ships have a more luxurious ambience and more personalised service - bar staff will not just remember your name but your signature drink too! What’s more, small cruise ships can cruise to more exclusive ports of call, allowing you to discover the most untouched corners of the world.


Where can you sail on a small ship cruise?

Small oceangoing cruise ships and sailing yachts explore a wide selection of destinations like the Caribbean, Mediterranean and the Far East. River cruise ships are able to navigate locks and sail beneath low bridges meaning they can sail into the heart of much-loved towns, cities and countrysides like Bordeaux, Budapest and Bucharest. While expedition cruise ships, with their shallow drafts, are able to get much closer to off-the-beaten-track destinations like Antarctica and the Galapagos Islands, offering guests once-in-a-lifetime experiences.


Which cruise lines offer small ship cruises?

For those looking for the ultimate luxury cruise experience, Silversea offers the very finest at sea paired with a personal experience. APT Cruising, Emerald Cruises, Scenic River Cruises and Uniworld River Cruises all offer fascinating river itineraries in Europe. If you’re looking to delve into the culture of the Far East, why not navigate the rivers of Asia on a Mekong river cruise?

Cruise Line Itineraries
Azamara  See all featured cruises >
Celebrity Cruises See all featured cruises >
Holland America Line See all featured cruises >
Oceania Cruises See all featured cruises >
Silversea  See all featured cruises > 

 

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