What Small Ship Cruises Actually Cost

Vacations cost money and we want to help you plan for your dream small ship cruises! Join us to explore the world of small ship cruising from a cost and budgeting lens. Find out what to save for an investment in a river or barge cruise, expedition, luxury yacht, or sailing trip. And guess what? They're not the prices you would think!

We provide insights into travel costs and inclusions, along with tips for planning your next adventure. We also discuss budgeting strategies and the benefits of working with travel agents.

Learn the answers to these questions & more:

River: What’s the starting price of a river cruise? What is considered peak season? What do you need to factor in that’s additional for your budgeting? What cruise lines are good to avoid a solo supplement (and what is that, anyway?!), and what’s a benefit of cruising during off-peak season? 

Barge: You won’t believe the small capacity of barge cruising! What’s the cost of a barge cruise? And can you pay to get the whole ship to yourself? 

Expedition Cruises:  Why do they so drastically range in price? And what’s included for a high-ticket expedition cruise? What gear do you need to budget for on your own (hint, hint: we recommend binoculars - listen for why that is - and buying or renting a telephoto lens).

Yachts: What are the big names in yacht cruising, and did you know you can use Marriott Bonvoy hotel points to get you on a luxury yacht cruise? Get a free welcome o when you sign up for Amex using our referral link.

Sailing Ships: Who are the popular players in this special arena? Find out and discover which cruise lines have motorized sails as opposed to cruise lines that passenge

Want to grab our complimentary Essential River Cruise Budgeting Guide? Head over to Small Ship Cruise Talk, scroll halfway down the page to a blue box where you'll find the signup form, and claim your copy!

Chapters

• 2:28 Overview to Understanding Small Ship Cruise Costs
• 4:21 Diving into River Cruises Cost
• 8:19 Exploring Barge Cruising Costs
• 10:44 Understanding the Cost of Expedition Cruises
• 14:38 Bucket List Freebie!
• 15:26 Cost of a Yacht Cruise
• 18:01 Sailing Cruises Cost
• 21:27 Budgeting Ideas & How to Save for Small Ship Cruise Vacations
• 26:16 Conclusion and Future Episodes

Transcript

Dan (00:35)
Welcome to episode six. We are gonna jump in and talk about pricing and small ship cruise costs and budgeting for your cruise. But before we get started, want to read a five-star review that we got and we're always grateful for reviews.

So please keep 'em coming, but BronxBoy555 says, "Mikkel and Dan provide a thoughtful and engaging overview of cruising options. Really helpful to think about and plan your next adventure."

Thank you BronxBoy555. And for all of you that have not written a review yet - we are reading them at the top every show, so get those five-star reviews in!

Mikkel (01:17)
Yeah, that would be awesome. And to echo what Dan said, thank you for that glowing review. We really appreciate it.

So to get into the episode, we all know vacations cost money and we want to help you with some education about what small ship cruises cost. And just like that review said, we like being helpful aid you in thinking about and planning your next adventure. So that includes the practical side of planning your next small ship cruise. And that is cost, as Dan said, and budgeting. So for example,

Did you know that a river cruise and a yacht cruise could be the same price? So a river cruise can start at $3,000 per person for seven days, and that is comparable to a bunch of yacht cruises that also start at $3,000 per person for a week. So these two options are in the same price range for certain itineraries and with certain cruise lines. And that is to say that we realized in our education

of our family and friends and people we run into on small ship cruises, a lot of people just have no idea what these things cost. So the goal of this episode is to not give you cruise costs ad nauseum for every single type, but to give you a nice overview so you have a starting point and you can dive deeper.

And also let us know what you want to know more about, because we want to do episodes based off of your interest and your feedback. And this is a great starting point for that research. In the next 20 minutes or so, we're going to cover river cruises, barge cruises, expedition, yacht, and sailing cruises.

Dan (03:03)
Keep in mind as we go through these pricing that it's always subject to change. This is just a snapshot in time and it's more so a ballpark just to give you an idea.

When we're talking cruises, the popular brands are AmaWaterways, Riverside Luxury Cruises, Avalon, Tauck, Emerald, Scenic, and of course everybody's heard of Viking. What's also interesting that is often overlooked is there's even cruise lines in the United States.

Mikkel  (03:34)
River cruise lines in the US are fantastic. We are going to dive deep into American cruise lines in a future episode. Be sure to hit that follow and subscribe button.

Dan (03:46)
Generally, river cruises, the starting price is around $3,000 per person and that's for a seven day cruise and it goes up depending on the cruise length and the peak season. Like I said, there's a lot of variables with that, but in general, $3,000 per person, seven day cruise. Peak season for river cruising is usually December for the Christmas markets, and June through August. But it also depends on location.

We were in Vietnam and Cambodia to cruise on the Mekong River and that was in that's actually off peak season for them.

So things that are typically included in the cost of your river cruise are accommodations, meals, and some excursions. Now some cruise lines charge for extra excursions or maybe you can add on and do more of a higher end excursion. Sometimes that's an option.

Mikkel (04:40)
In general, river cruise line includes beer and wine with lunch and dinner, but a line like Scenic includes hard liquor too, which we've talked about a little bit on the Top Things to Know about River Cruising in previous episodes.

Most don't include hard liquor, but like Dan said, you're just going to want to do your research so you can make your most educated booking, let's

Dan (05:03)
Now there are some hidden costs or just costs that you should keep in mind. that probably the biggest one is gratuities. You want to budget around $15 to $20 per person per day.

Then, like I mentioned before, the premium excursions - some cruise lines offer those. So you may want to budget in case you want to upgrade your excursion.

So this is something you definitely want to think about and do your research on.

Mikkel (05:29)
And the offer from the cruise line, if airfare is included. Usually, they are buying group rates so they can do a little better on the cost. However, that also means that if you have a particular airline you want to book with, they might not include that in that airfare cost. So you want to make sure before you decide on that and you're tied to this airfare package that you don't get your heart broken when you find out that they can't book through American Airlines, let's say just as an example. This is just an example. 

Something else you want to consider is a solo supplement. So if you are a solo cruiser, a lot of cruise lines charge for that because they are basing their math and what they need to make per sailing based on double occupancy in a room. 

A way to get around that though is look for cruise lines that have no solo supplement or certain sailings that they're running a promotion let's say which you would know in advance of course. Riviera river cruise lines has told us they have more than 20 cruises this year that there is no solo supplement, which is awesome. Also a great way to meet other solo travelers when you know that

Everybody's going to take advantage of this being solo on this trip. And Roads Scholar is also really great about solo cruises as well.

If you want to go on a river cruise, just like that solo supplement savings you're looking for and maybe you're double occupancy kind of people, but you want to do something a little friendlier on the wallet - or more considerations, not only just friendlier on the wallet, but also better for tourism in terms of less crowds and better hotel rates - you're going to want to try to go in the off season.

So in Europe, that's typically March or late October or November. A great example: we went to Portugal during late November, and though there weren't grapes on the vineyard's vines anymore, we were treated to less crowds, better hotel prices when we extended our trip by ourselves pre-cruise, and also we got a little bit some fall color. So off season has its perks, so definitely look into that if you are interested in some great rates.

Let's get into barge cruising.

Dan (07:45)
Yeah, when you're talking about a barge cruise, the leading companies out there are European Waterways, French Country Waterways, and Grand Victoria Cruises. The starting price point for this is between six and $7,000 per person for a six to seven day cruise. And sometimes they go up to as much as $10,000 per person, depending on the itinerary, depending on the ship.

So you also have the option of chartering the whole barge cruise ship. Now that's going to set you back between $45K and $80,000 on average. Do some quick math here: 10 passengers on a cruise for $80K and that's $8,000 a person. So grab nine of your closest friends and you can charter the whole ship.

Mikkel (08:29)
Which is great and also not just friends, but this is a great thing to do if you are having a little bit of a family reunion or you are doing generational cruising. In our first episode, we talked about ship size and I do want to highlight that barge cruises cost a little more, but they're also very unique in that they are incredibly small ships cruising on usually canals and there's usually only four to 12 passengers. 

It could be up to the low 20s in passengers. That's really unique on a barge cruise. They're really an average of between eight and 12 passengers. So that's why that cost more. You have the luxury of the exclusivity of the ship. So typically what's included,an all-inclusive nature with meals, an open bar and excursions included.

It often but not always includes transfers from the meeting point. Usually it's kind of a weird obscure town you need to meet in to get to the canal. So you do want to ask about that when you're booking. Additional costs include gratuities. So that's usually approximately 10 % of the cruise costs. So this could be a budgetary consideration. So you want to do that math and just make sure that there are no surprises as Dan and I always say.

And if you're not chartering the whole ship, but you want a space on the ship, there might be a solo supplement. So keep that in mind. But there is a great value proposition in barge cruising for a really intimate, unique experience. I can confidently say that the European Waterways cruise we went on on the ship Anjodi was one of our most memorable cruises ever.

Dan (10:09)
Next, let's talk about expedition cruises. So the key players out there are UnCruise, Alaskan Dream Cruises, Expeditions, Ponant, Atlas Ocean Voyages, HX Expeditions.

Mikkel (10:25)
And that's part of Hurtigruten.

Dan (10:26)
Right... Maple Leaf Adventures (Canadian), and Scenic Eclipse.

Mikkel (10:32)
Yep. So those are the main players. Again, not all of them. So don't hate us if we haven't mentioned your favorite, but do write to us and mention it because we'd love to know your favorites. And these cruises range wildly in price. It could be anywhere from $4,000 to over $15,000 per person. The greatest factor in this is where you're going, what ship you're going on and how long you're going there. 

So it could be $4,000 if you're going somewhere like Alaska or Hawaii, and that could be with Uncruise or Alaskan Dream Cruises in Alaska. Uncruise goes to Hawaii. Or up to $15,000, let's say, if you are going to Alaska on something like Scenic Eclipse. It really depends on the cruise line. But again, this is just to give you a range and kind of what to expect.

We've seen anything from like $5,000 to $6,000 with something like a Lisbon deal that we just saw this week with Atlas Ocean Voyages. We've also seen a similar price range for Hawaii with Uncruise that we did in December, which was phenomenal.

Or it could be something like the Galapagos, which is part of Ecuador in South America, the islands of Galapagos that's really popular for nature lovers. And that could be upwards of $10,000 with a cruise line ships, or Atlas Ocean Voyages.

Dan (12:00)
What's typically included in your expedition cruise is accommodations, meals, and activities.

Mikkel (12:08)
Right, and then the gear in many cases is also included. So snorkel gear, for example. Sometimes these ships have binoculars, but we always recommend bringing your own because nine times out of 10, your own binoculars are going to be of better quality.

Also expert guides and all the presentations for the educational component are included.

Dan (12:30)
Additional costs that you want to be aware of is your gratuities. For example, Uncruise recommends $35 per person per day. Up to 10 % of the cruise cost could be your gratuities.

Mikkel (12:42)
Also consider special clothing or gear that you're going to want to buy. So Antarctica, they might provide you with a parka. It might even be yours to keep afterwards. A lot of cruise lines do that for the luxury experience, but you're going to want to buy maybe wool socks. Treat yourself to new waterproof boots, for example. You also want to consider insurance and read the fine print of your cruise line's included travel insurance if you opt for it because a remote place like Antarctica, you're going to want emergency medical evacuation insurance. 

When you buy the insurance plan, the cost is going to be a hell of a lot cheaper than if God forbid you end up falling on the ice and breaking a bone and you need emergency medical evacuation. So of course, we hope that never happens. But we do want to educate you about all the additional costs.

And one of my favorite things is camera gear. You can either opt to purchase a lens for this if you don't already have one. You want a really good zoom lens, a telephoto lens. Another favorite thing is if you want to test one out or you're not really planning on using it that often, you can rent one. So I'll link that in the show notes. Those are really great options. And speaking of bucket list trips, as many expedition cruises do cover bucket list trips.

Dan and I are so excited that we are participating in the Bucket List Bundle. It is the first year that our Alaska cruise expert friend Valerie is doing this. We are going to link this in the show notes. 

You do not want to miss it. It is from April 15th to 22nd in 2025. And if you are listening to this after, don't be upset. You can also go to the website bucketlistbundle.com that we will link in the show notes, and sign up for the waitlist for the next year. But this includes bucket list destinations and resources for you for your planning. And these are all free gifts by the travel experts that wrote them. So we are including an Antarctica freebie. So don't forget to check that out.

And with that, let's move on to yacht cruises. 

Dan (14:54)
The notable brands and names that you're going to want to look for in yacht cruising is Windstar, Ritz Carlton Yacht Collection, Four Season Yachts, SeaDream, Seabourn, Explora Journeys, and Emerald yachts.

One interesting thing about the Ritz Carlton collection: it's part of Marriott Bonvoy.

So you get to use your points and perks when you're aboard.

Mikkel (15:20)
I will say that's a really exciting aspect of this.

You can redeem an initial 180,000 points for $1,000 savings. then after that initial redemption, it's increments of 90,000 points, which kind of translates to $500.

Now I know what you're wondering if you are Marriott Bonvoy loyalists like us: Do I get perks for being gold, platinum, silver? You do actually. There's a whole spreadsheet on their website. We're not going to get too into that here as to not abandon our listeners that aren't really into this, but I did want to mention it because it is a really cool thing. There's really not a lot of cases you can redeem points like this for a luxury cruise. So I did want to mention that. 

I also want to mention - all our Marriott stays we do are because we charge everything on a Marriott Bonvoy American Express card. So it's so easy to get points that way. And I'm going to link you up to our link in the show notes.

So besides that and just the brands that Dan mentioned overall, the starting price points for these luxury yachts are anywhere from $3,000 to $10,000 per person per week. If it's a more common itinerary, something like the Caribbean, you can get on a cruise line like SeaDream for as low as $3,000 for a week, which is amazing. If you're going to the Med, it might be a little higher. So again, it ranges based on the cruise line and the itinerary. What's typically included on these luxury yachts are premium accommodations and gourmet dining.

And water sports equipment on many vessels, which is really fun if you're going to a warm destination, you can enjoy just kind of diving off of the back of the ship and going in the water and using SEABOBS, these kind of like brand name electronics that go in the water. They're really fun. Dan's done it. I've done it. It's really a highlight of yacht cruising. What about some additional costs?

Dan (17:08)
You may want to upgrade for fine wine package or premium spirits package. That's available on some

Shore excursions are often extra on a yacht. And then your gratuities, that's between 15 and 25 dollars per person per day. That's the recommendation.

Mikkel (17:27)
One of the small ship cruise experiences that is lesser known that we really enjoy are sailing ships. These are just what they sound like: ships with sails. So some of the brands that are really popular are Maine Windjammer, StarClippers, and Windstar has its own wind class of ships. Let's start with Maine Windjammer. Near and dear to our hearts right out of the pandemic in 2021, Dan and I went on American Eagle, a very historic schooner in Maine and it was a fantastic trip. There were 21 people out of a max of 24 passengers on this ship. So the ships are typically around 20 to 25 people each and they're all independently owned even though the nine ships in the fleet are under the Maine Windjammer umbrella. And the season's from May to October. It only sails in Maine as the name states.

They're gorgeous ships with huge masts and sails. And usually the cruises are three, four, and six nights. And they can go from as little as $1,000 per person, or a little less actually. I've seen in the $900s as well, up to just under $2,000 for a five or six night. Again, it depends on the ship. There's one that's kind of a little more luxurious called Ladona. All the others a little less luxurious, but that's what to expect. Gratuities are extra.

I will say the crew is amazing. They are hoisting those sails. You can help if you want. You don't have to. And drinks are kind of a BYO too. So those are some extras. You can bring beer on board, you know, and they put it in a cooler for you to enjoy throughout the ship or whatever your favorite beverage is.

Dan (19:06)
is Star Clippers. So they have three ships. They have Star Flyer, Star Clipper, and  Royal Clipper. They come in at about $2,300 and up, and they also have some great deals online.

Mikkel (19:22)
Yes. And lastly, we have Windstar. So they have the Wind Surf, Wind Spirit and Wind Star. If their ship name starts with "Wind," you can remember that they have sails because it's putting wind in their sails. This is as opposed to their Star ships that are their motor class. These ships do have motors just in case you're worried about getting stuck as most sailing ships actually do just for those purposes. They don't want to leave you stranded, but these ships have motorized sails that kind of are hoisted up and they're just as spectacular and beautiful. 

So a little bit of a different experience than Star Clippers and Maine Windjammer because they are hoisting those sails, whereas Windstar has motorized sails that go up. We've been on Star Pride, the motorized ship - the ship class without sails we've been on. But one day we're going to go on Windstar's Wind class of ships. They start at around $3,000 per person for a seven day cruise.

So that was about 15 minutes of five different types of small ship cruise experiences and what you can expect for starting prices and what factors affect the variables within those prices. So we went through river, barge, expedition, luxury yacht cruises and sailing ships.

Hopefully, that helps you calculate the true cost of these cruises and factors like inclusions and what to price separately and the seasonal and itinerary considerations.

Let's talk a little bit very briefly about how to budget and ways to save for these.

Dan (20:58)
When you decide you want to go on a cruise - and you've done all your research, you've found your itinerary - you have a couple ways to pay for that. So you can pay in one or two bulk payments or you can budget for it.

Mikkel (21:11)
It's very rare that a cruise line or a travel agent is going to be like, "No, no, no, no, you can't give me your money now." So even if you want to break it down into payments, I can't imagine anyone saying, “We're not going to take your money now. Wait!"

Dan (21:22)
The good part, or maybe it's the bad part, is that you're planning for your one or two years in advance. So you stretch out those payments along the way. So for an example, let's just say you're going to take an Antarctica cruise.

Mikkel (21:36)
Ooh.

Dan (21:38)
For example, it costs 10,000 per person. And you want to save for this trip over the course of two years or 24 months. So you need to put $420 in your own Antarctica fund each month. That was just some quick math on how you can make Antarctica a reality.

Mikkel  (21:54)
Yeah, true.

For somebody that it's a bucket list trip, maybe they think the price is a little out of reach or maybe $10,000 is nothing to you, which I love. You can, you know, pay it in the two payments like Dan said, but everything's within reach if you can budget for it. So I love that you broke it down. It makes it a reality and more digestible. Another thing, if you want to charter the barge cruise ship, like you were saying, and it's $50K, let's say, because it does range from about $45K up to $80,000, depending on the ship and how many people it accommodates. 

But if it's $50K and you're 12 people, then that's about just over $4,000, - $4,167, we've done the math for you - divided by 12 months, if you're gonna save for a year, it's just under $350 each month. And that's totally digestible. A river cruise: $4,000 per person. You want to save for 18 months? $222 a month, and there's your cruise. 

And the reason I bring this up is because we were on a cruise that a group of women had saved for their 40th birthdays and they all brought their husbands along and they saved for two years. And one of the people in the group was kind of like the money collector. So a little bit of the banker. So she held everybody accountable and they all saved for this incredible bucket list experience and bucket list trip as a group throughout the course of two years. I love that story. That was so fun when we found that out.

Dan (23:18)
Another thing is be watching for deals and discounts. So for example, Scenic cruises runs a two-for-one fare on some of their cruises if you pay in full. Viking offers reduced airfares on some cruises.

Another way to save a little bit of money is forgo that cabin with the balcony and it's going to be a lower rate for you.

Mikkel (23:42)
And that's dependent on the type of cruise you're taking. Not every cruise has a balcony. But a river cruise certainly has cabins on deck one without a balcony that are a little less money.

Barge cruises, there's no balcony. So that's not going to really do anything for you. So it really just depends on the type of cruise. But the category on some cruise lines is definitely another consideration. So if there's not balconies to eliminate, then try a different category and see what the pricing is.

Dan (24:11)
There's a couple money management apps out there. We use Monarch and that allows you to build in a budget and kind of play around with your finances too. So that's been really helpful for us as we're trying to save for bigger trips.

So maybe check out something like that or see if your money management platform or app has something like that.

Mikkel (24:32)
Yeah, including your bank.

So that's really easy to open up and check. Lastly, we want to mention travel advisors or travel agents - "TAs" for short. There are pros and cons to this and using travel agents. But generally, we think it's a really great idea. They don't charge you - they get paid on the other side from the river cruise line, or the expedition cruise line, whatever cruise line it is.

Dan (24:33)
Yeah.

Mikkel Woodruff (24:54)
And the benefit of using them is that they're going to know deals. They're going to know about special rates. They're going to know about promotions, be able to give you an onboard credit in a lot of cases. And it's your point of contact if anything goes wrong, especially when you're traveling. Our travel agents that we recommend  linked in the show description. 

We started working with because we were in a van in coastal Ecuador during an expedition cruise excursion and they were figuring out flights for a couple that was traveling at the same time going on their honeymoon and their flights were canceled. So they are amazing. Travel agents can really be lifesavers. So definitely consider working with one for all those reasons.

That was a great synopsis of budgeting for small ship cruises.

Dan (25:41)
Join us next week as we talk about tulips and tulip cruises. Really excited about that.

Also in that episode, which is going to be episode seven, we're going to dive in to what it's like to visit the Netherlands in the spring to see those world famous tulips.

Mikkel (25:58)
And for a look ahead in episode eight, we're going to dive into the Alaska cruise season because it is nearly upon us. So that's going to be really exciting. We have valuable insights into both destinations. So don't forget to hit that follow and keep listening for new episodes every Wednesday.

Dan (26:17)
Bye bye.