Small Prices for Diminutive Vessels That Put the Sea Back in Cruising

Midnight buffets and jangling casinos may be fine for the average cruiser. But there’s a different group of vacation sailors who want a more authentic taste of seafaring: a ship that you don’t need a floor plan to navigate and whose activities are geared toward life at sea and the ports visited. For these voyagers, we introduce three smaller cruise companies that offer reasonably priced vacations with interesting itineraries and well-staffed ships of human size and scale.

World Explorer Cruises: This one-ship cruise company has big ambitions. While the competition dashes around Alaska, stopping for a couple of hours here and a couple of hours there, World Explorer allows its passengers full days onshore, preparing them with lectures and workshops presented by noted historians, glaciologists and professors of natural history, anthropology and geology. It’s the thinking person’s dream vacation.

For its May 5 sailing, World Explorer is offering a “Stowaway” sale, dropping prices by half to $878 per person (based on double occupancy) for cabins of the company’s choosing, including all gratuities and taxes. Simply mention “Stowaway” when you call (800) 854-3835 (or check www.wecruise.com). The ship will travel from Vancouver, Canada, visiting the Inside Passage, Metlakatla (a Tlingit reservation), Glacier Bay, Skagway, Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan.

World Explorer also has well-priced two-week itineraries throughout May, June and July. The price above is per person, double, but the line will drop its single supplement in four cabin categories for the rest of the season.

The Viking Star: Yachting the Greek Isles is another budget option, and your budget doesn’t have to be that of an Onassis. Greek Islands Cruise Center has created packages for May 3, 10 and 17 and Sept. 13, 20 and 27 that let Americans see the best of the islands and mainland. After a seven-day Aegean trip to Mykonos, Santorini, Delos, Paros and Naxos, the company will throw in a free four-day escorted tour of ancient Peloponnesus. This 11-day trip is selling for $1,195--about $120 a night.

The Viking Star is a pleasant, unpretentious ship with 24 cabins. All breakfasts, six lunches and a captain’s dinner are included in the cruise as well as transfers by high-speed ferries to and from Tinos, where the yacht docks. At this low rate you’ll have a lower-deck inside cabin, but you can upgrade to a room with a view for an extra $100.

For the land part of the package, all hotels, guide and bus are included as you drive between Nauplion, Mycenae, Olympia and Delphi. A licensed English-speaking guide leads the trip. Call (800) 341-3030 or visit www.vikings.gr.

Windjammer: For a laid-back cruise on an old-fashioned tall ship, there’s no groovier outfit than Windjammer Barefoot Cruises. You sail on a genuine old-fashioned schooner with a group of like-minded adventurers, spending your days scuba diving, snorkeling, windsurfing or simply lazing on less touristed beaches.

From May 24 to Sept. 6, Windjammer will discount its family cruises to the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao) and the Bahamas. One child for every two adults can sail free, and the fare for a child accompanied by one adult (single parents listen up) will be half off. On the Legacy, which will sail from Miami to Bimini, Gun Cay, Great Abaco, the Berry Islands, Freeport and Nassau, the adult cost of four-day cruises will start at $345, five days at $460, eight days at $700. The Polynesia will circle the ABCs in six days, with prices from $700. Go to www.windjammer.com and click on “Hot Deals,” or call (800) 327-2601.