I’ve been on 100 cruises, here are my top tips
Over the last 20 years, I have travelled the world and seen the most extraordinary places on almost every major cruise liner in the world. Here is what I have learnt.
Twenty years ago, I had no clue what I was doing. As an adventurous 30-year-old solo traveller, I was not a cruise fanatic, not even a fan. Back then, cruising was considered a niche hobby. In 2005, only 186,666 Australians took a cruise, which is a drop in the ocean compared with last year’s 1.2 million. There were no drinks packages, wi-fi or vegan meals. The two local options, P&O and Orion Expedition Cruises, no longer exist.
Flash forward to 2025 and I have clocked up the significant landmark of 100 cruises. Over those two decades, I have thoroughly investigated wine lists and complimentary cocktails. I have eaten and drunk everything and gained 10kg. I have slept in 100 beds, cracked the code of 100 showers, and figured out how to turn off the lights in 100 cabins.
My 100th cruise was voyaging from Los Angeles to Auckland via Hawaii, Tahiti, Tonga and the Cook Islands in December. It was my longest voyage to date and I chose Seabourn, a cruise line that teased me with three days of luxury way back in 2011. That first snippet of Seabourn Sojourn, when I barely moved from a cabana with my sister-in-law and a steady stream of margaritas, made such a lasting impression that I signed up for 33 days on Seabourn Quest. Not only did it fulfil an ambition to do a transpacific crossing but gave me a new candidate for my favourite cruise.
In those early days, I started at the top, aboard SeaDream I in the Mediterranean, my first experience of ultra-luxury travel. True to the company slogan of “it’s yachting, not cruising”, it felt more like a getaway with (someone else’s wealthier) friends. An intimate group of bon vivants, mostly professionals in their 40s, mingled around the pool for most of the day. The service, food and drinks were flawless.
My second cruise could not have been more different. I hopped aboard Holland America Line’s Statendam to review the ship from Melbourne to Sydney. The crowd was much larger, the passengers older, the martinis were not free. At the time, I didn’t understand I was joining a short leg of a longer voyage – a taster for a travel writer, which was not available to the public – so I was baffled why anyone would sit on a ship for two days when you could fly. And why were they so happy? Everyone looked thrilled to be enclosed in this bizarre bubble in the middle of nowhere. I felt like I had slipped into a parallel universe, cut off from the outside world.
By my third cruise, I began to embrace this concept. I realised we were carefree hedonists at an exclusive party, far from the everyday reality of solid ground. It explained the trend that emerged for weekend cruises, and why my preferred style of travel has shifted to transoceanic crossings with consecutive days at sea.
What’s my favourite cruise?
I have been asked this question at least once a week for the past two decades. Antarctica is my automatic answer; indeed, it’s the reason my career changed course to focus on cruising. When I was offered a job as editor of Cruise Weekly, I saw my opportunity to reach my seventh continent. Soon enough, I was waking up on Akademik Ioffe, a former Soviet spy ship, in this otherworldly wonderland.
I guess I forgot my original goal because I didn’t quit after scoring my dream destination. I returned aboard the ferry-sized Polar Pioneer with Aurora Expeditions and most recently on Silversea’s Silver Endeavour. Thrice to the ice.
I had fallen in love with this easy way to travel, discovering that so many places were best explored by sea. Alaska, Tahiti, Fiji, Greece, Croatia, the Caribbean and the Galapagos were prime examples. River cruising also proved to be the safest or most relaxing way to get around India, Egypt, China, Vietnam and Cambodia, or to effortlessly drift through multiple countries.
For the next few years, I averaged a seven-day cruise every month, often two in a row. My record was five back-to-back in Europe. Disembarking in the morning and embarking the next ship in the afternoon, I think I went barking mad. By the time I boarded Azamara Journey in Italy, I wanted to hide in my suite for a week.
In 2014 I was recruited by Tripadvisor to launch its Cruise Critic website into Australia. In my first week, I flew to Florida to meet the cast of The Love Boat as they christened Regal Princess. Then I returned home for Australia’s summer of cruising, until it was time to go to Europe for the start of river cruise season.
One week I would be in Paris for Uniworld’s Joie de Vivre debut, and the next I’d be off to Normandy’s battlefields with Avalon Waterways.
Much like sea days on ocean cruises, I relished sailing days on riverboats, basking on the sundeck with a cold beer. While admiring castles along the Rhine from Travelmarvel’s deckchairs or Portugal’s Douro Valley from the rooftop pool on Scenic Azure, I could pretend I wasn’t working.
My 50th cruise, my golden voyage, was aptly aboard Golden Princess in Australia. I spent a wintry Christmas on Viking Star, from Barcelona to Rome, and rang in the new year on Azamara Quest, from Bali to Cairns. Cruising had officially taken over my life. It was extraordinary but exhausting, and by 2020 I needed a break.
The grounded years
As they say, be careful what you wish for. On March 16, 2020, it all came crashing down. When cruising was banned during the pandemic, I lost my job, my lifestyle and my long-distance love life. I was a human shipwreck, indefinitely grounded. Australia’s cruise scene stalled and spluttered over the next two years.
Locally flagged vessels were allowed to resume operations, but most attempts were thwarted by border closures or snap lockdowns. Finally, I made it on to the first cruise to successfully set sail again. It was Coral Expeditions’ Outer Great Barrier Reef itinerary, along with a bunch of Queenslanders who were delighted to be going anywhere.
In 2021 I headed to Broome for a Kimberley cruise, but it was cancelled at the last minute, leaving me homeless for those two weeks. I ended up staying in Western Australia for 10 months, venturing off the coast only once, on APT’s Caledonian Sky.
The best expedition cruises
If ocean cruising is the mother of the industry, expedition cruising is the fun cousin. Remote locations are where real memories are made. Amid the blur of my 100 cruises, it’s these adventures that stand out vividly, like my sea life flashing before my eyes ... Showering under a waterfall while sitting on the bow of True North. Marvelling at Montgomery Reef, more impressive than Horizontal Falls. Stargazing in the Abrolhos Islands. Kayaking inside rainbow-coloured caves in Scotland’s Shetland Islands. Catching piranhas and spotting sloths, toucans and pink dolphins in the Amazon. Zodiac rides around the raucous, pungent animal kingdom of South Georgia Island. Camping next to a penguin colony for a night off the ship.
On shore excursions, I have done things that would not have crossed my mind without a cruise. After-hours tours of museums and galleries, hot-air ballooning over the Nile, driving a boat in the Greek Islands, swimming with sea lions in the Galapagos and whale sharks in West Papua, zip-lining over Icy Point Strait and landing on Mendenhall Glacier in a helicopter.
The most memorable cruises
Meals become memorable in unusual places, like Viennese palaces, German castles or a semi-submerged bench at Coffin Bay oyster farm in South Australia. I could recommend several onboard bars and restaurants, but nothing beats drinking champagne in hot tubs in the rain, snow or shine.
I have cruised in countries where you can’t any more, such as Russia and Myanmar, and cities that have since restricted big ships. As breathtaking as it was to enter Venice on a sailing skyscraper, it did seem absurd to navigate those delicate canals. There’s something compelling about the incongruous juxtaposition of a towering ship in a narrow waterway. Gliding along Cape Cod Canal was a highlight of Viking’s New England cruise from Montreal. Squeezing through the steep Corinth Canal is unforgettable. A transit of the Panama Canal was most exciting on the almost-as-wide Holland America Line’s Zuiderdam, which left only 60cm either side of the lock’s walls.
Sometimes the ship is the brightest memory. Built in 1928, Quasar Expeditions’ Grace was a wedding gift from Aristotle Onassis to Grace Kelly and the Prince of Monaco, which adds a little honeymoon magic to any holiday. I love the sight of sails unfurling on yacht-style vessels, a rare but dramatic moment on Le Ponant and Windstar’s Wind Spirit. The most glamorous was Regent Seven Seas Grandeur, and I respect the heritage preserved on Cunard’s Queen Mary 2.
My most frequently floated fleet is Uniworld Boutique River Cruises (eight times in Europe), followed by Celebrity Cruises (six times in five continents).
My favourite harbour is Sydney, which I’ve sailed in and out of 40 times. Close behind would be the slow approaches into Stockholm, New York, Kotor and Santorini at sunrise, or arriving in Budapest on the Danube at night. I have been moved by the beauty of sunsets in Darwin, New Zealand’s Fiordland, New Caledonia’s Isle of Pines, and Papua New Guinea’s Conflict Islands.
Best departures include Silver Shadow heading out of Hong Kong, witnessing the evening light show on Victoria Harbour; Cunard’s fireworks farewells from Southampton, UK; and following a convoy of mega-liners out of Miami. Cruising has come a long way in my tenure, particularly the environmental initiatives, technology and entertainment. Royal Caribbean has excellent shows, Virgin Voyages has the wildest night-life, although I’ll never forget the parties on P&O and Carnival, or Dream Cruises’ Dream Boys After Dark.
Which cruises are the most social
While I regularly sail solo, I have been fortunate to share amazing experiences with family, friends, boyfriends and colleagues. Compared to other types of travel, cruising is the most sociable.
I’ve met wonderful passengers, crew, minor royals and celebrities. Some strangers have become friends and some friends have become strangers after we shared a cabin for a week. Romances? I’ve had a handful, but I’ll save those shenanigans for my memoir.
As extravagant as 100 cruises sound, there are no bragging rights in this achievement. I’m not proud of my carbon footprint, and to some people, cruising isn’t cool for that reason.
Less than 0.5 per cent of the global population took a cruise last year, and most have no intention of trying one. But for those who do, I hope my stories have helped some fellow sailors enjoy a splash of happiness in our otherwise dry lives on land.
Louise Goldsbury was a guest of every cruise line.
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