• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

Retirement Travelers

Full-time World Travel Couple

  • About
    • About
    • Contact Us
    • Socials
      • YouTube
      • Instagram
      • Facebook
      • Pinterest
      • LinkedIn
  • Countries
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Australia and Oceania
    • Caribbean
    • Central America & Mexico
    • Europe
    • North America
    • South America
  • United States
    • Each State
    • National Parks
  • Travel Tips
    • The Best Retirement Travelers Packing List
    • How to Transfer Chase Points to Hyatt | Everything You Need to Know
    • The 26 Amazing Airline Stopover Programs to Use NOW!
  • Videos
    • Travel School Videos
    • 2024 Videos
    • 2023 Videos
    • 2021 Videos
    • 2020 videos
    • 2022 Videos
    • YouTube Shorts
  • Store
    • Travel Products
  • Show Search
Hide Search
cruise liner at sunset sitting in bay

Retirement Travelers

Cruise & Waterway
Bucket List

“The Sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.”
~ Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Why this Cruise Bucket List?


We think of a cruise bucket list when we think of the journeys we hope to take in our lifetime, many are places only accessible by boat. Some on this list are luxury travel experiences, and some are not. But, it matters not to us. It is the unknown we crave and the hope of the experience we will have. We love the feel of a boat going through the water and then tying off at the dock when we land. The shore beckons us!

foggy view of man from above with light radiating onto net

This cruise is listed first for good reason. We’ve wanted to take a cruise to the Antarctica for many years to see the penguins. This ship has all the bells and whistles to help you have a great experience. They even offer an option to fly to the continent before boarding the ship, to skip the sometimes rough Drake Passage. I think we’ll take the long way!

#1 Silversea Antarctica

Antarctica

YouTube player

#2 Galapagos Islands

Ecuador

YouTube player

We’re pretty sure we would board any ship to get the opportunity to visit the Galapagos Islands, but this cruise looks fantastic. The ship is the National Geographic Islander II and is a new ship. It is an all-suite ship with only 26 suites. Sounds luxurious!

Of all the Norwegian cruises we’ve explored, this one honestly sounds remarkable. This twelve-day cruise takes you into the Arctic Ocean, where Polar Bears and many other creatures live in their natural habitat. Just getting a chance to travel into the Arctic Circle is a treat in and of itself!

#3 Spitsbergen

Norway

YouTube player

#4 Shompoo Cruise

Laos

YouTube player

Completed!

We were as excited about this cruise as we were about any other. It was not a luxury cruise, so to speak, but it was plenty luxurious to us, especially with the service and food we enjoyed. We met some wonderful passengers who we shared travel stories with and were able to stop along the way to deliver school supplies to a village school. It was a memory we won’t soon forget!

This small tugboat cruise looks like a fantastic way to experience an Alaskan cruise. We love the idea of sailing with a few passengers and getting closer to the shore than we would with a larger ship. This is why we think this is the best cruise in Alaska.

#5 Alaska

United States

YouTube player

#6 Amazon River

Peru

YouTube player

Cruising on the Amazon River in a ship like the Aria Amazon is a trip worth taking. The sixteen suite ship offers huge windows that allow each suite to have a picture-perfect view. We can only hope that our future holds an adventure like this.

The Yangtze Explorer is a small ship with only 124 passengers. We like it not only because it travels through the Three River Dam but because it offers guided shore excursions and an educational program.

#7 Yangtze Explorer

Yangtze River, China

YouTube player

#8 Adelaïde – Nour El Nil

Nile River, Egypt

YouTube player

What better way to experience Egypt than to take a sailing cruise down the Nile River? With stops in many historical cities and opportunities to learn along the way, this small boat offers many luxuries at a low price.

This cruise from Los Angeles to Miami via the Panama Canal on the Seven Seas Grandeur is truly a dream big bucket list experience. This is a sixteen-night cruise and makes stops in six countries. It is luxury in every sense of the word!

#9 Panama Canal

Los Angeles to Miami, United States

YouTube player

#10 France Riverboat

France

YouTube player

Of all the Viking River Cruises we have read about, this one looks to be the one we’d like to do more than any other. The food, the wine, the cheese, the views, it’s Rhône, France, after all! This cruise is best during the Lavender bloom in the summer months.

Footer

Retirement Travelers is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

We also participate in various other affiliate programs with products.

Retirement Travelers is a Registered Trademark.

Copyright © 2025 ·

Privacy Policy

Cookie Policy