Top 10 Cruise Lines for Cultural Immersion
It can often be one of the big knocks on cruise holidays and something that puts of many people from cruising.
It is also something that we think heavily about when choosing an itinerary to sail as we try to pick journeys that not only have ports in the heart of the communities you visit but trips that also have long days in port.
For us, docking in an out of the way port, likely a more commercial one, and only having a few hours to see the destination you are scheduled to see just isn’t our idea of a great day.
What we try to look for are itineraries that visit places where you can walk off the ship and simply stroll into the centre of your destination, with at least 12 hours in port and in possible, an overnight stay.
Even getting tendered to the centre of town is much preferable for us than needing to take a long shuttle bus journey.
What can make the experience even better, and something that when done well really adds to a holiday and makes a cruise getaway the perfect option in many places, is when a line goes over and above in immersing guest in the destinations that they visit.
We love to sail with Celebrity Cruises and one of the big reasons for that is on their more adventurous cruises they really put in the effort to immerse you in the region you are sailing in.
It is often the more premium lines that are the best option but even if you don’t have the budget for them or if they are just not your style of cruising, some more mainstream lines really put the effort in.
In this list, we look at what we believe are the top 10 cruise lines for cultural immersion.
Our Top 10 Cruise Lines for Cultural Immersion
Hurtigruten
Over the past few years, Hurtigruten have really expanded their offering from Norwegian coastal cruises to small ship cruises and now they offer expedition cruises on some of the worlds most advanced ships.
For the purposes of this list, we are solely focusing on their most traditional offering, the original Coastal Express that starts in Bergen and ends in Kirkenes in the far north of Norway.
With all the other offerings on the line bringing an insight into the local culture of a destination onboard or giving you the chance to have a brief experience of it once online, the Coastal Experience is simply living as a local for you time onboard.
Sailing all year around, these trips put you in the middle of a actual working ship as it drops into port after port and provides an lifeline service to remote communities by dropping off post and small freight.
Azamara Cruises
Azamara are a small ship, premium cruise line that offer a more traditional style of cruising but whilst you may miss out on huge waterparks and huge production shows, you can get a more culturally immersive style of cruising.
This includes longer than usual time in port as well as many overnight stays but perhaps best of all, many of their cruises are tailored around special events at the destinations that they visit including the lunar new year in Asia, Easter in Spain and even Grand Prix race weekend in Europe.
The line really goes all out both onboard the ship and once onshore to give you an insight into the culture of the sports you visit via their AzAmazing Celebrations programme that will take you to private performances of local traditional dances, see local historians come onboard for lectures and other experiences that you just wouldn’t get on another type of holiday.
Viking Ocean Cruises
Viking maybe better known for their river cruises, but they have quickly made a name for themselves on the open ocean.
Offering a fleet of modern small ships, the line offers an inclusive style of cruising that that includes shore excursions that not only take you the main sights and attractions of places but that take in the local culture and traditions of a destination.
Many of these excursions take you off the beaten path and into many places that outsiders just never get to see.
It’s not just on land when they excel however as the line offers lots of opportunities onboard to understand the history, culture and traditions of your ports via guest lecturers, well stocked libraries and local dishes in their restaurants.
Lindblad Expeditions
Lindblad have long been one of the leading expedition cruise lines, but it has been their collaboration with National Geographic that has really seen them become a go to for those wanting to immerse themselves in the culture of some of the world’s most remote places.
Onboard they use everyone from hydrophones to remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to get you closer to the sea and a range of scientific equipment for the onboard Nat Geo specialists to share their experience and findings with you.
They also have a range of onboard lecturers, photographers, scientists, speakers, conservationists and more to teach as well as entertain whilst in places such as the Arctic, Antarctica, Alaska and the Galapagos Islands.
Silversea Cruises
Silversea Cruises are well known for port intensive itineraries, using their smaller ship to go to more out of way places where bigger ships cannot dock, and they take that one step further with their Silver Shore Concierge service.
This allows you to use the lines expertise and local contacts to book private excursions that can utilise individual itineraries allowing you to see the things you want to see and experience the local customs you want to experience.
Seabourn Cruises
Seabourn is a high-end cruise line that take guests to some of the most stunningly beautiful parts of the world.
They take that onboard level of service to their shore excursion via their Seabourne Conversations program where scientists, naturalists and scholars give you a deeper understanding of the cultures you visit.
Explora Journeys
MSC bring their big ship cruising expertise to the luxury small ship immersive cruising market and despite been a relatively new venture, they are already excelling.
Since launching Explora 1 offer fine dining, an all-inclusive experience and a wide range of immersive excursion including their In-Country Immersions that 3 or more days on land adventures that really allow you to immerse yourself in your destination.
Holland America Line
Holland America have taken a unique approach to immersing you in the destinations that they visit and that is via there Exploration Central programme.
Started in 2017, EXC as it is known, uses a mix of digital information boards, guides and experts to bring the culture of the ports that you visit onboard before taking you to experience the real thing once onshore.
An example of this is having native Hawaiians teaching guests how to make a flower lei before heading to a luau once in the islands.
Celebrity Cruises
Celebrity offers a wide range of cruse holidays, so you may not always get to much in the way of cultural immersion but on there more remote and expedition style cruises, you certainly do get a great offering.
We even have recent personal experience of what they can, as on our Reykjavik to Boston via Greenland transatlantic journey we undertook with them, they had an arctic expert onboard to give lectures about each port, the traditions of the arctic Inuit population and on the wildlife, we may see onshore or at sea.
We also had local style meals from each port in the buffet and best of all, we had commentary over the tannoy system as we sailed through the incredible Prins Christian Sund.
Aside from their regular cruises, the line also has a small fleet of ships sailing around the Galapagos islands offering some of the most immersive holidays in the region.
Celestyal Cruises
Celestyal Cruises offer a no thrills approach to exploring the Greek Isles and that includes a different approach to an immersive cruise experience.
Instead of bringing locals or experts onboard the ship or taking you to organised events onshore, they simply give you more time in more places for you to experience them at first hand.
That often includes spending a morning on one island before hopping over to another for an afternoon or exploring.
