What is the most niche cruise you have been on?

Did you go on a cruise that took you to remote or unique locations that not many tourists visit:cool:? Or perhaps it specialised in a certain activity like cooking school cruises, bird watching cruises, scuba diving cruises etc.. :DMaybe it was something else that made it a niche cruise;). Just curious about what other cruises are out there apart from the usual lines and routes:confused:

Lindblad, through the Canadian Arctic and along Greenland's western coast. Best trip of my life so far.

Close second; Lindblad, along the Kimberley Coast in Australia. From Darwin to Broome. Absolutely phenomenal!

Hurtigruten Norway Coastal cruise. Saw the northern lights.

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South America/Amazon cruise. Love the Amazon. EM

Ship Aranui to the Marquesas Islands

Islands Flores and Sulawesi in Indonesia on ship Europa 2

Greek Islands on a wooden sailboat

Marco Polo from Istanbul (after a three day visit) to Athens (followed by a three day stay). First port was Cannakale - for the ruins of Troy. Then Ephesus - for the library, theatre, etc. Then Mykonos - the only ship there - with only 800 other passengers - and Delos. Then Santorini - again the only ship. Then Heraklion for the Minoan ruins. Then Rhodes for the palace of the Grand Masters (and Mussolini) - also no other ship.

The North West Passage voyage from Seward to New York, aboard the Crystal Serenity last year...phenomenal!

I doubt if there will ever again be a ship that large (68,000 GT), 1,000 pax, doing that voyage...

It was truly the cruise of a lifetime, spectacular scenery, mountain's, fjord's, polar bear's, iceberg's, ice flow, zodiac landings, and seeing the Northern Lights...not to mention "World Class" lecturer's, and superb Crystal service on a true luxury liner....:cool:

South Georgia Island. Almost no ships do just S Georgia and the Falklands. Most of them also do Antarctica but we have already been to Antarctica. We will have I think 8 days on the ground in S Georgia.

Or else how about a Maine Windjammer cruise. There were just 22 of us on that cruise.

DON

Meddy cruising in the Greek Islands on SS Uganda with 1,000 school kids, where the ship was their classroom for 2 weeks. Unfortunately long since gone, as that was mid 70's, which is long before Santorini, Rhodes, etc became popular.

Visiting Apia on SS Oriana - only made 1 stop during an entire Aussie season and would like to see it again.

For the OP, some of the really small ships have unique cruises, or try one of the cargo ships that also accept up to 12 passengers for a totally different experience.

MV Discovery, sole ship of the cruise line Voyages of Adventure.

By then a rusty li'l old tub with about 550 passengers, she'd been built in 1971 for Princess (twin-sister to "the Loveboat"). A "proper" cruise ship. She sailed the oceans like a tramp, visiting ports rarely seen by cruisers and hardly ever repeating a port. You booked sectors of about two weeks, many folk stayed aboard for months - on one cruise we renewed acquaintances with folk who'd been aboard since our previous cruise a year earlier.

No glitz, no toys, pretty awful accommodation, but a super-friendly atmosphere. Port lectures, films, food & entertainment to reflect the ports, often with local colour brought aboard to entertain us - something we've not experienced recently.

Where other ships gave a welcoming blast on their foghorns, Discovery replied with a giant red wooden hand waved from the flying bridge. And you could stand at the front of the prom deck, separated from the bridge by only a waist-high wicket gate, and hear the captain swearing at the woeful efforts of a tug or pilot boat captain.

Scrapped a few years back - we miss her :(

JB :)

West coast of Africa from Cape Town to Dover.

The North West Passage voyage from Seward to New York, aboard the Crystal Serenity last year...phenomenal!

 

I doubt if there will ever again be a ship that large (68,000 GT), 1,000 pax, doing that voyage...

 

It was truly the cruise of a lifetime, spectacular scenery, mountain's, fjord's, polar bear's, iceberg's, ice flow, zodiac landings, and seeing the Northern Lights...not to mention "World Class" lecturer's, and superb Crystal service on a true luxury liner....:cool:

I wondered how that went and whether they were going to repeat it. And if not, why not?

On a very comfortable barge for a 5 day cruise on the side channel of the Loire, 20 passengers, wonderful food and wines, 21 years ago. Can't remember the name of the cruise line though. I had managed to secure the only cabin with a double bed (instead of twins).

I still remember crossing the Briare aqueduct, at sunset, the barge going even slower than a man on foot, with a glass of Champagne in our hands. Glorious.

Museum did a barge cruise in France to the area the French impressionists either lived in/painted or both. Local tours were led by local artists who then invited us back to thier home/studio for a tour and light refreshments. As it was a barge cruise, there were only 18 of us, mostly docents and other volunteers from the museum.

Pretty much as outlined here:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=56832262&postcount=8

To me, ocean and river cruises are almost two different things. I've also taken some pretty niche land trips. ;)

Our two cruises on Azamara were fabulous but our best was our trip to Antarctica on G Adventures ship Expedition. This was a very well run operation with top notch staff and crew. The food was unbelievably good, but of course Antarctica was the star of the show. What stunning beauty. What a fascinating place. We got well below the Antarctic Circle and visited an abandoned research station that has had very few visitors since the 1950s. We toured around with flashlights imagining what life there would have been like.

A river cruise in Cambodia, a small ship that was more like a barge with about 10 guest cabins. The crew, food and stops were all great. The Captain even changed the time to leave a port because some guests wanted to see the temples at dust. Was nice to be only a few feet about the water went on deck. Seemed more like a private yacht than a cruise ships. It was a great trip.

I have a few.

An Antarctica cruise on an expeidition ship. 2,010 miles of the Amazon. Polar Bear trip to Norway. Whale watching in Baja.

Antarctica with Hurtigruten

Amazon river cruise with International Expeditions

Galapagos with G Adventures

Some of the absolutely best cruises we've taken and I'd repeat Antartica in a heartbeat

Fanning Island in Kiribati feels like a unique location for me. The sky was amazing the night we left Fanning Island!

(I understand that other may disagree and I understand that a big part of my feeling is compared to where I normally travel. For me Norwegian fjords doesn't feel unique and most parts of the Mediterranean doesn't feel unique. A cruise on Göta Kanal should probably feel very unique for lots of people living far from Sweden but not for me!)

I wondered how that went and whether they were going to repeat it. And if not, why not?

They did it first in 2016, and it sold out in no time....

It went very well and they did it again last year.

There was considerable controversy by environmentalists over the wisdom of sailing such a large vessel through the NWP, but Crystal did it right, and made extraordinary preparation's to insure it went well. Their advance team visited all the ports of call, met with the local people and made sure everything went well. Crystal chartered the British icebreaker, Ernest Shackleton, to accompany the Serenity through the Passage, as well as to provide support for shore excursion's, with a fast boat, a fleet of Zodiac's, and two helicopter's. Crystal also "gave back" by gifting all kinds of much needed supply's, and other aid to the tiny communities visited.

While successful, it was determined that they would not again run it, until their new "expedition yacht", only carrying about 250 passenger's goes into service in a few more years.

If you want to see how it went... watch this....:cool:

Our niche cruise was for seven nights in the Galapagos Islands on a twelve passenger vessel in 1986. We visited a new island every day, saw amazing wildlife, swam with penguins, and ate freshly caught fish for lunch and dinner. The international mix of passengers was almost as interesting as the wildlife, no one else was from the USA.

Pequod out of Nantucket to the Indian Ocean and then South Pacific. Mostly whale watching. Trip ended rather abruptly. :D:D:D

PS: there are some pretty impressive trip reports here.

Pequod out of Nantucket to the Indian Ocean and then South Pacific. Mostly whale watching. Trip ended rather abruptly. :D:D:D

 

PS: there are some pretty impressive trip reports here.

Did you have to share your bed with a tattooed Polynesian harpoonist? Try the Aranui. They let you sleep in your own bed. :cool:

Bob, I watched the beginning, will continue tomorrow. You had wonderful weather in Alaska, I hope to have the same in October.