- Intimate ships with personalised service and atmosphere
- Different itineraries that mix river locations and coastal ports
- Mixing the relaxed proximity of beautiful sea vistas and iconic by-the-ocean ocean locations with ports of a river cruise
Windstar’s first-ever Tulip Season cruise, which takes place this spring (and is scheduled once more in 2027), caught my eye after I was planning my subsequent trip. The voyage, which travels roundtrip from Amsterdam alongside a handful of rivers and the open Atlantic, feels extra like one of the best components of a European river cruise that additionally occurred to have the ability to traverse the ocean.
Are you an enormous river cruise aficionado searching for some contemporary new itineraries that provide tastes of each rivers and oceans? You aren’t alone. New information, as mentioned at American Society of Journey Brokers (ASTA) annual river convention in March 2026, notes that each ocean and river cruising, notably within the small ship area, share lots in frequent. They entice skilled vacationers who worth consolation and comfort, and are crave genuine, immersive experiences, each onboard and onshore. In addition they worth well being and wellness life.
How will you mix each kinds of journey in a seamless method?
Right here’s one other instance of how Windstar is now providing itineraries that mix each ocean and river locations. French Feast: Normandy, Brittany and Aquitane, departs from Paris (through Rouen, on the Seine) to Bordeaux (on the Garonne River). Alongside the way in which, it calls at Honfleur, St. Malo, and Guernsey; it’s an ideal mix of ocean and river touring (and the same itinerary can also be one in all 2026’s James Beard Basis cruises).
This concentrate on mixing the 2 kinds of cruise journey is a pure for Windstar, whose Star Class ships, together with Star Pleasure, Star Legend, Star Seeker and the brand new Star Explorer (debuts in December 2026) carry simply 224 – 312 company and might deftly nip into rivers that may’t accommodate bigger seagoing vessels.
In emphasizing itineraries that mix small ship cruising and right-in-town docking means, Windstar brings river cruise intimacy to an even bigger world. “We sail up true rivers into iconic metropolis facilities, then proceed on coasts and thru slim waterways that river boats can’t attain,” says Janet Bava, chief industrial officer of Windstar Cruises. “It’s additionally a pure evolution for ocean cruise company who need contemporary routes with out shedding small ship closeness.
“We’re particularly carving out routes and itineraries in Europe, together with Northern Europe and the Mediterranean, and in southeast Asia,” Bava provides, noting that even a North American voyage can mix one of the best of each.
The place can I am going on a mixed ocean and river cruise in Europe?
On Windstar, there are quite a few choices for ocean and river cruises in Europe between spring 2026 and 2028.
- Seasonal voyages centered round main occasions, such because the aforementioned Tulip Season in spring, the place an Amsterdam roundtrip sails to Belgium (and a James Beard Basis crusing; the wine—centered French Feast: Normandy, Brittany & Aquitaine.
- Fast Getaways, a brand new Windstar idea, provides quick, taster cruises that you could add to a land keep – or mix with an extended voyage. Fast Getaways: Timeless Maritime Powerhouses of Northern Europe travels between Amsterdam and London, through rivers such because the Scheidt, in Antwerp, the Seine in France, and naturally, all the way in which as much as Tower Bridge on London’s Thames.
- Unique itineraries, corresponding to a circumnavigation of Eire to have a good time Star Explorer’s christening; main cities there which are outlined by their rivers embrace Belfast’s River Lagan and Londonderry’s River Foyle together with these extra generally featured on ocean voyages that decision at Dublin, Cork (most ships go no additional than Cobh) and Waterford.
- And followers of Windstar’s legendary Thriller Cruises have a Northern European choice in 2027. All we are able to reveal is that it travels from London’s Thames to Amsterdam.
- A stunning twist on a Spanish coastal cruise is a visit between Lisbon and Barcelona that overnights in Seville after a scenic transit up the Guadalquivir River.
What are my choices to cruise in each ocean and river type in southeast Asia?
In Vietnam, the otherworldly limestone rock formations, 1000’s of them, make Halong Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Website, a surreal vacation spot. Solely smaller ships can go to this waterway in northern Vietnam, with its hidden caves and floating villages and clusters of conical peaks. This itinerary, scheduled for each 2027 and 2028, travels between Bangkok and Halong Bay (for Hanoi) – with a scenic transit up the Saigon River to Ho Chi Minh Metropolis. The ship docks within the coronary heart of the river – and the town — right here.
What we love about Tantalizing Thailand & Glowing Singapore is that Star Seeker docks proper on the Chao Phraya River, providing a front-row seat to Bangkok’s skyline and the every day lifetime of its riverfront communities right here.
North America provides one other selection: Canada and New England
A traditional river/ocean cruise choice even exists in North America, as ships journey between Montreal and Boston through the storied St. Lawrence River, which runs between the U.S. and Canada off the Atlantic Ocean. The St. Lawrence, comprising some 1,000 islands, is residence to each bucolic pure settings, quaint villages, and the European appeal of Quebec Metropolis, proper on the waterfront.
How will this ocean/river cruise mix really feel completely different onboard Windstar?
It feels very completely different due to the mix of rural vistas and metropolis skylines, Bava tells us. “The attraction is that you could, river type, go to locations and really feel very near the town, corresponding to London, the place we are able to journey up the Thames River to our docking level at Tower Bridge.
“The crusing itself is a part of the expertise, the mast of the Cutty Sark and the domes of the Previous Royal Naval School in Greenwich, and hybrid outdated vs. new of central London, with its gleaming skyscrapers and St. Paul’s Cathedral, so deeply anchored in its historical past.
“And it enables you to cowl wider floor by increasing your selections—each in locations and in the way in which you expertise them.”
River cruising could also be booming, Bava provides, “however for a lot of vacationers it’s just the start: when you’ve skilled that simple, in-town entry and close-to-the-action really feel, it’s pure to need a greater canvas with out shedding what made the river so interesting.”
That’s the place Windstar’s ocean-to-river method shines—right-sized ships, immersive itineraries that pair iconic rivers with coastal ports, and a culture-and-cuisine focus that retains the expertise intimate even because the horizons widen. With Star Explorer debuting in December 2026, Windstar is making that “what’s subsequent?” second really feel seamless—opening the door from inland waterways to coastlines, islands, and lesser-known ports, all with the identical small-ship heat that will get company hooked within the first place.
