Whatever Floats Your Boat: Six themed cruises proving the journey can be as exciting as any destination. Photo by GreenOak’s Images
Foodies watch a master baker demonstrate making pastries, participate in a chocolate, cheese and wine tasting and enjoy a food-and-wine pairing gourmet dinner.
Golfers play at some of the most famous courses around the world, then attend a tournament that brings together the top professionals.
Music fans of tunes that were popular during the 1970s swing and sway to them, then have an opportunity to meet and mingle with singers and members of the bands that made them hits.
What do all of these people have in common? They are all enjoying some of their favorite pastimes while taking an ocean or river cruise. In addition to traditional vacations at sea and along major rivers around the world, there are sailings that focus upon a surprising variety of interests.
Whatever hobby, pursuit, or pastime you enjoy, there may be a voyage that will let you combine it with the pleasures of cruising. From food to the latest fashions, from music to mystery, the offerings are as varied as the destinations included on cruise itineraries.
An Internet search for cruises that interest you may turn up one or more alternatives. The following are just a few examples:
Foodies Love Avalon Waterways
Food aficionados have long turned to Avalon Waterways to satisfy their desire for haute cuisine. And what could be more “haute” than combining a voyage through the lush landscapes of Burgundy and Provence, France, with gourmet meals?
These food and wine trips merge cuisine and culture to offer a memorable experience.
Improve Your Game With Azamara Cruises
For golfers, Azamara Cruises is a good choice due to its affiliation with PerryGolf. It has a well-deserved reputation for tours to some of the best-known and most beautiful courses around the world.
The packages include everything from experienced caddies to convenient transportation to the links. Another plus with Azamara is on-board opportunities to compare experiences and tips with other golf aficionados.
Get Nostalgic On a Rock and Romance Cruise
Golf swings will be supplanted by swing and sway at a 70’s Rock & Romance Cruise that is scheduled to connect Miami with the Caribbean islands of St. Maarten and St. Thomas next February.
The long list of performers includes the popular “Guess Who” band and singer-songwriter-actress Melissa Manchester, plus a long list of others.
On-board activities will range from a disco party and costume ball to question-and-answer sessions with the musicians.
Dance the Night Away With Holland America
Where there’s music, there often is dancing, and that’s true on Holland America’s “Dancing with the Stars” voyages. Champions from that popular TV series join passengers in competing for the colorfully named Mirrorball Trophy.
Those who feel they’re not quite ready to put on dancing shoes with experts may join a complimentary onboard class to learn the same routines performed on the hit show.
Cunard Cruises for Fashionistas
Different kinds of hands-on workshops are part of Transatlantic Fashion Week, which has been a feature of Cunard Line’s voyage calendar since 2016.
Designers, milliners, models, and others present a series of talks, Q&A sessions, catwalk shows, and events aboard the Queen Mary 2 that celebrate style against the backdrop of an iconic ocean liner.
Fred Olsen Cruises Will Surprise You
Those to whom high fashion is inscrutable may prefer a cruise where the focus is on not knowing where you’ll be going. People who book a Fred Olsen mystery trip have no idea where the itinerary will take them, although of course, the ship’s captain knows.
Sometimes passengers have the option of voting for which of two possible destinations they prefer to visit.
More Themed Cruises With Avalon
If you think this completes the eclectic list of unusual cruises, think again. The likes of Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet join passengers on Avalon Waterways Art and Impressionist river sailings in terms of the places they depicted in their works.
Sailing through the French countryside brings alive artists with visits to their homes and the scenes they made famous in their paintings. Fans of Monet are likely to recognize his house and the lush gardens that surround it.
History and heritage are among the themes explored during other Avalon sailings. World War II in Europe is the focus of cruises led by an expert in the amphibious landing on the beaches of Normandy and stories of the Allied forces that drove the Germans out of France and other occupied countries.
Some of Avalon’s Danube River cruises explore Jewish heritage and related sites. Among highlights are a visit to the world’s second-largest synagogue in Budapest and Prague’s Jewish Museum and cemetery.
And the List Goes On
The themes of other special interest cruises range from birdwatching with Ocean Wide Expeditions, beer on Crystal Cruises, literature on Cunard Cruises to crafts such as knitting and needlepoint on Craft Cruises.
Theme cruises differ in other ways as well. Some take over an entire ship while others have a group join a regular itinerary. In addition to the opportunity to enjoy a favorite pastime, benefits include meeting and mingling with people who share an interest and input from experts in the topic or activity.
You can check out the websites of individual cruise lines or log onto Sixth Man, which is a clearinghouse for some special-interest shipboard experiences.
Inspire your next adventure with our articles below:
Author Bio: Fyllis Hockman and Victor Block are a husband-wife team of experienced travel journalists who have gallivanted throughout the United States, and to nearly 80 countries around the world, and written about what they have seen, done and learned.Their articles have appeared in newspapers across the country and on websites across the Internet, and they each have won numerous writing awards. They love to explore new destinations and cultures and uncover off-the-beaten-path attractions.
Want to discover more hidden gems and helpful travel tips? Join our free newsletter for the latest travel secrets and travel articles.
We are reader-supported and may earn a commission on purchases made through links in this article.
Go World Travel Magazine is a digital magazine for world travelers. Our editorial content is produced by a dedicated team of travel journalists who know the regions they cover. We cover travel in more than 90 countries.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function()n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments);
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)(window, document,’script’,
‘
fbq(‘init’, ‘508388611737401’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
