What Is the Best Small-Ship Cruise Line? It Depends on You.

By Greta Smith

Ask a group of experienced cruisers which is the best small-ship cruise line, and you'll probably get a dozen different answers.

One person will insist it's Oceania because of the food. Someone else will tell you they'll never sail anything but Regent. Another traveler loves Azamara because the ship stays late in port. And someone who has experienced Silversea will tell you that's what luxury cruising is supposed to feel like.

Here's the thing:

They're probably all right, they're just answering the wrong question.

The question isn't, “What is the best small-ship cruise line?”

It's “What is the best small-ship cruise line for ME?”

And those are two totally different questions.

Small ships aren't interchangeable

Once travelers decide they want a smaller ship, there's a temptation to lump all of these cruise lines together.

Smaller ships. Beautiful destinations. Excellent food. Elevated service. Fewer passengers.

Check, check, check.

But the experience can be dramatically different from one cruise line to another.

On one journey, the ship may almost disappear into the background while the destinations take center stage. You're staying later in port, wandering through town after dinner, and spending as much time ashore as possible. The ship functions more like a lovely luxury hotel than a floating entertainment venue.

On another line, returning to the ship may be one of your favorite parts of the day. Dinner is an event. Service feels effortless. Your suite becomes somewhere you genuinely want to linger.

Some travelers want almost everything included before ever stepping aboard. They don't want to spend their vacation thinking about what costs extra, which excursion to book, or whether to upgrade something.

None of these travelers is doing it wrong, they simply want different things from their time away.

Start with how you want to feel

When I'm helping someone choose a cruise, I'm interested in the obvious things: where you want to go, how long you have, your budget, and what kind of accommodations you prefer.

But those answers only get us so far.

I also want to know what you picture when you imagine yourself there.

Do you want to wake up early because you can't wait to get ashore?

Would you rather have a leisurely breakfast and wander into town when you're ready?

Is dinner one of the things you're most excited about?

Do you love dressing up occasionally, or would you happily never pack anything more formal than a sundress?

Do you want plenty happening aboard the ship at night, or does a glass of wine and a quiet conversation sound perfect?

Would you rather choose and pay for extras as you go, or pay more upfront and barely think about money once your journey begins?

Those answers tell me far more than a cruise-line ranking ever could because we're not really choosing a ship, we're choosing how you want your vacation to feel.

Destination lover? Food lover? Luxury lover? Yes.

This is also why labels aren't terribly helpful.

You can love incredible food and care deeply about the destinations.

You can want luxury without wanting formality.

You can appreciate attentive service without wanting someone hovering over you.

You can want adventure during the day and a gorgeous glass of wine somewhere quiet at night.

Most travelers aren't one “type.”

That's where choosing among small-ship cruise lines gets interesting.

Take Oceania and Azamara. Both can take you to extraordinary places aboard smaller ships, but I wouldn't automatically recommend them to the same traveler.

Move from Oceania into Regent Seven Seas and we're having another conversation entirely. Not necessarily about which is better, but about how much you value inclusions, space, service, and having fewer decisions to make once you're aboard.

And when we're looking at luxury lines such as Silversea and Seabourn, we're getting even more nuanced. Both can deliver exceptional experiences. But luxury itself has a personality, and the version that feels wonderful to one traveler can feel completely wrong to another.

That's why I don't have one favorite cruise line that I recommend to everyone.

I shouldn't.

Sometimes I recommend spending less

This may be the part that surprises people the most. My job isn't to find the most expensive cruise that fits your budget, it's to figure out where your money will make a meaningful difference to your experience.

If moving into a more inclusive luxury cruise gives you exactly the kind of ease you're craving, I may tell you it's worth every penny.

But if you're going to spend most of your days exploring independently, don't care about certain inclusions and would get more joy from adding several nights in Europe before your cruise?

I'd much rather put some of that budget there.

Luxury isn't about spending as much as possible, it's about spending intentionally on the things that make your experience better.

The internet can't know you that well

Online reviews are useful. Facebook groups are useful. Cruise videos are useful.

I use them too, but there's a limit to what they can tell you.

The person writing a glowing review may have completely different priorities than you do.

That's why I cringe a little when someone asks a giant Facebook group, “What's the best cruise line for the Mediterranean?”

You may get 200 answers.

What you probably won't get are 200 people asking:

What do you want the Mediterranean to feel like?

Do you picture long lunches in port and evenings ashore? Are you dreaming about the ship almost as much as Italy and Greece? Is this a milestone journey where you want everything to feel extraordinary? Are you happiest when someone else has already handled the details?

Those are the questions that lead us to the right cruise.

You don't need the best cruise line. You need YOUR best cruise line.

There are some spectacular small-ship cruise lines sailing right now.

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to compare several of my favorites, like Azamara and Oceania, Oceania and Regent Seven Seas, and Silversea and Seabourn.

But I'm not going to crown a winner.

Instead, I'm going to show you the differences that actually matter when you're deciding where you belong.

Because the goal isn't to come home saying you sailed on the cruise line someone on the internet told you was the best.

It's to step aboard on that first afternoon, look around and think:

Oh. They get me.

That's what a great cruise match feels like.

And that's the work I love doing- sorting through all the ships, itineraries, inclusions and possibilities so you don't have to.

I remove the friction so you can experience the wonder.

Not sure which cruise line fits you best? Take my quick Cruise Match Quiz to discover the cruise experience that best matches the way you want to travel.

Greta Smith is a cruise travel advisor and owner of Savvy Travel Design, specializing in small-ship ocean, river, expedition, yacht, premium and luxury cruising. With more than a decade of experience helping travelers navigate the cruise world, and firsthand experience sailing multiple cruise lines each year, Greta believes there is no single “best” cruise, only the cruise that best fits the way you want to travel. Through Savvy Travel Design and The Savvy Cruise Edit podcast, she helps travelers make confident choices about ships, itineraries and experiences while taking the friction out of planning so they can experience more of the wonder.