The best cruise destinations for first-timers
Ocean cruise or river cruise? How about an expedition? Here's how to pick the right voyage for your first sailing.
If you're new to cruising , chances are you're looking to escape to someplace warm — a popular choice for anyone setting sail from North America, the largest cruise market in the world. Or, perhaps you're already an avid traveler who's looking to head to a bucket-list location with the logistical ease that only a cruise can offer.
Either way, there are options. So how can you narrow them down? Start with this list of the most popular cruise destinations for first-timers in the ocean, river and expedition categories.
Ocean cruising
If Alaska's on your bucket list, a cruise is one of the best ways to explore it.
(Maridav via Getty Images)The best places to cruise are often subjective, but there are some destinations that are ideal for newbies. That may be because of the inventory volume, which gives passengers lots of choices when it comes to selecting a line, ship, or specific itinerary and voyage length. Or simply because some regions are too difficult or expensive to reach without nautical transportation.
These are the top five most popular regions that offer some of the best itineraries for new cruisers.
Alaska
Because of Alaska's rugged terrain, remote location and lack of infrastructure in certain places, a ship is one of the most logistically simple and affordable ways to travel to the Last Frontier. Weeklong Inside Passage cruises are the most common. They often depart and sail round-trip from Seattle or Vancouver and include major ports like Juneau, Skagway, Sitka, Icy Strait Point and Ketchikan, among others, as well as scenic cruising through Glacier Bay. Anyone wishing to travel further north or to smaller ports might also consider Gulf of Alaska or Alaskan Peninsula itineraries.
Bahamas
Because the Bahamas is just a short trip from Florida, the cruise capital of the world, it's an ideal destination for first-timers. Short three- to five-night sailings will allow you to see if you like cruising before committing to a full week.
The most highly trafficked port in this region is Nassau, which can see several mega-ships docked on any given day. Occasionally, Freeport and Bimini also appear on Bahamas itineraries, as do cruise line private islands. It's also common to see a Bahamian port or two on wider Caribbean voyages.
The Caribbean
A Caribbean cruise offers the same warm weather and beachy fun as the Bahamas, but with calls on several different island nations. The overall region is broken into three subsections: Eastern Caribbean, Western Caribbean and Southern Caribbean. Here's a quick breakdown of each.
Eastern Caribbean:Sailings usually last at least a week, and ports in this region include the Lesser Antilles, such as Tortola in the British Virgin Islands and St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as St. Maarten/St. Martin, the Dominican Republic, Grand Turk and Puerto Rico .
Western Caribbean:Western Caribbean itineraries can be as quick as four or five nights, and are good for those seeking shorter, less expensive options. Ports often include those on the East Coast of Mexico, like Cozumel and Costa Maya; the Greater Antilles, including Jamaica and Grand Cayman; and Central America, such as Roatan and Belize City.
Southern Caribbean:The most diverse, remote, expensive and least crowded of the three areas, the Southern Caribbean offers sailings that usually last longer than a week. Expect to see the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao), St. Lucia, Dominica, Grenada, Antigua, Barbados, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Martinique and St Barts in the French West Indies on itineraries.
Ocean cruises can be a great way to see some of the most beautiful destinations in Europe.
(EdwardShtern via Getty Images)Mediterranean
If you're considering your first cruise but want to head to Europe, a wonderful starter destination is the Mediterranean . Like the Caribbean, it's split into subregions.
Eastern Mediterranean:Eastern Mediterranean itineraries generally include the beachier warm-weather ports in Greece, Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, Turkey, Albania and Malta.
Western Mediterranean:These cruises are punctuated by a more sophisticated museum-going vibe, calling on Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, the Canary Islands and Monaco.
Mexico
Mexico is another fabulous destination that rolls in culture, phenomenal food and warm weather. Mexican ports come in two types, East Coast and West Coast, and they show up on three main types of itineraries.
East Coast:The most popular ports in this area are Cozumel and Costa Maya, which often feature on Western Caribbean itineraries (see above).
West Coast:The west coast of Mexico offers several cruise ports, including Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada. You can also book a California coastal voyage, which wraps west coast Mexican ports in with departures from or calls on San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles.
Just about every well-known cruise line visits these five major regions, which means you can take your pick of ships and dates. The amount of competition in these areas also helps to keep fares lower than in less-traveled regions.
Brands include the following mainstream lines, as well as various luxury lines:
River Cruising
If a mega-ship in the Bahamas isn't you thing, check out a river cruise.
(Leonsbox via Getty Images)Unlike ocean cruises, river voyages offer a slower sailing pace and a deeper look at smaller regions along the world's inland waterways. You've probably seen TV commercials featuring the highlights — those voyages are likely showcasing one of the three most popular river cruise destinations listed below.
Danube River
Although the Danube is less heavily trafficked than the Rhine, it's no less interesting. Running from the Black Forest to the Black Sea and connecting 10 different countries, it offers a way for passengers to explore central and eastern European cities like Regensburg and Passau on the upper end of the river, and Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade, as well as the Iron Gates, on the lower portion.
Mississippi River
Legendary for its storied role as a key trade route through the United States, the more than 2,300-mile-long Big Muddy has served as the lifeblood of many small towns in the American South.
Common stops on the Lower Mississippi (between New Orleans and Memphis) include Natchez and Vicksburg in Mississippi, along with Memphis. The Upper Mississippi (between Alton/St. Louis and St. Paul) offers calls on Hannibal in Missouri, Davenport in Iowa and Red Wing, Minnesota. These voyages allow passengers to experience a river cruise without a passport .
Rhine River
When new cruisers approach me about river sailings, they usually say something like, "I want to do the one with the castles." They're talking about the Rhine. Stretching from the Swiss Alps to the North Sea, this waterway is where you'll find the Rhine Gorge, which is home to more than 40 castles and fortresses that dot the hills on both sides of a roughly 40-mile segment of the river. Popular itineraries often sail between Amsterdam and Basel, with calls on places like Cologne, Rudesheim and Strasbourg in between.
Cruise lines that sail on the Danube and Rhine include:
Brands that are popular on U.S. rivers like the Mississippi are:
Expedition Cruising
Many expedition cruises don't include traditional port calls. Instead, expect something like this.
(guenterguni via Getty Images)For adventurous, intrepid travelers, a cruise is a great (and sometimes necessary) way to reach the world's most out-of-the-way regions, where visitor numbers are limited and extreme measures are taken to avoid disturbing nature.
Because of their remote locations, these destinations often attract first-time cruisers who end up booking a sailing due to a lack of other transportation options, which might be more cost-prohibitive or simply not exist at all. The three best cruise destinations for first-time expedition passengers, based on their stunning scenery and unbelievable wildlife, are below.
Antarctica
Often considered the pinnacle of pipe dream vacation regions, Antarctica is the southernmost destination in the world (and the one where you're most likely to see penguins). Reaching it requires a specially built ship with an ice-strengthened hull.
Most ships board passengers in Ushuaia, Argentina, before voyaging across the Drake Passage, a waterway known to be alarmingly rough at times. Another option is to fly from Punta Arenas, Chile, to King George Island for boarding, eliminating the passage entirely. Sailings don't include traditional port calls since there are no permanently established settlements there. Instead, passengers can expect "landings," often after a ride in an inflatable boat that ferries passengers from the ship.
The Arctic
Similar to Antarctic voyages, Arctic cruises include lots of landings facilitated by inflatable boats. However, depending on the itinerary you choose, they can also include actual port calls.
Two common types are voyages that focus on the Norwegian island of Svalbard and those that spend time in and around Greenland and Arctic Canada. The former mostly have landings on uninhabited islands, while the latter include port calls on places like Ilulissat and Upernavik in Greenland, Canada's Pond Inlet in Nunavut and St. Johns in Newfoundland. In either case, keep an eye out for whales and polar bears.
Galapagos
If you yearn for a place so untouched by humans that the animals aren't even afraid of you, the Galapagos is it. Some of the islands are inhabited, but most have no residents, other than the many species of animals, like giant tortoises, blue-footed boobies, flightless cormorants, land and marine iguanas and tons more that call the area home.
You'll likely set out for a pre-cruise stay in Quito, Ecuador, before hopping a short flight to the inhabited island of Baltra in the Galapagos to board your ship. Although there are many islands your vessel could visit, depending on its itinerary, some of the most notable are Santa Cruz, Isabela Island, Fernandina Island and Floreana Island. If you have the time and budget, you can tack on pre- and post-cruise tours, which offer trips to the nearby Choco Cloud Forest or Machu Picchu via Lima and Cusco.
Lines that visit these places (and bring resident nature guides along for the ride) include:
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