Five Faves: Which Cruise Style Is Right For YOU?

Presenting a boutique experience, with luxurious personal touches, today's small-ship lines keep the focus on ports of call - especially destinations less-visited by larger ships, like Visby, Sweden; Jost Van Dyke, BVI; and up the Thames to London.

River cruises, steadily rising in popularity, are one kind of small-ship cruise that shows off what makes this experience ideal for a certain kind of cruiser.

Overnight stays in port are becoming more common, giving the small-ship cruiser a taste of nightlife around the world. Even the cuisine on board often focuses on local ingredients obtained earlier that day in town.

There's a new adventure right around the next corner. All you have to do is reach it.

Expedition cruises range from the luxurious - "glamping" on the Amazon with wine stewards and crates of bubbly - to the rugged - sailing through the Northwest Passage with climatologists and wildlife photographers.

Some of the world's most isolated spots are also the most beautiful, and expedition cruise lines take you there.

The wind in the sails, the creak of the rigging - THIS is travel at sea!

Tall ship cruises are not for everyone, nor are they meant to be. But for those happy few who dream of spray in their faces, traveling to the tiniest islands in the Caribbean, South Pacific, or the Med - sighting land just the way Captain Cook (or Captain Jack Sparrow) did - this is a getaway that can't be beat.

Some tall ship lines are more luxurious (with lounges and lecturers) while others are a little more hands-on (you want to help raise the sails? we could sure use a hand!). They're all united by a love of the wind, the sea, and the not-yet-bygone beauty of the Age of Sail.

Fun-seekers ... hard partiers ... vacationers without borders ... here's a ship with everything: the megaship.

This is big fun for someone who wants it all in one package. Whether you're into water slides or Broadway shows, movies or putting greens, jogging or sky diving, we do mean EVERYTHING is on board these floating city-sized resorts.

If you've ever heard the expression, "The ship is the destination," and thought, "Me for that!" then this is your cruise. Now go out there and have some fun.

To travel is the thing. Where, how... that's almost beside the point.

If you'd like to really get to know a region (or the world) without actually going so far as to join the merchant marine, then there are shipping lines ready to take you.

Modern freighters aren't spartan by any means - you've got libraries, good meals, and spacious accommodations. Not necessarily a swimming pool or lido deck, but crews are generally friendly and outgoing - they're travelers too, after all!

Some lines even offer guests the chance to disembark in a port, spend a week or more there, then catch a ride on their next ship.

Just be prepared for plenty of sea days, too!