For over 50 years, UnTours has believed that the best travel happens when you slow down, go deeper and truly connect with the places and people you’re visiting. We’re excited to reintroduce you to our cruise collection. We have made meaningful changes to ensure every journey on water aligns with the UnTours way of travelling.
What we look for in a cruise is simple, but also not simple at all: small ships that go where big ships can’t. Hidden coves, remote coastlines, ancient waterways and the kinds of places that still feel like a genuine discovery. Intimate groups of curious, like-minded travelers. Local experts who know these waters, landscapes and cultures from the inside out — because they love and care for them.
We also choose cruises with routes, suppliers, and shore excursions that show the same care and intention we bring to every UnTour. Cruises with small footprints and deep roots. Cruises that leave every place a little better than they found it.
We choose our cruises the same way we choose everything at UnTours. With intention, with patience and with a long list of questions that most travel companies never think to ask. Being a small ship is just the beginning. We want to know how they source their food. Whether their crew is local. How they handle waste. What they give back to the communities they sail through.
What follows is a look at some of the cruises we found, the practices that set them apart and why we think the way you cruise matters as much as where you cruise.
B Corp Certified: Cruising as a Force for Good
When Aurora Expeditions sails to Antarctica or through the Panama Canal, they bring something most cruise lines don’t: a formal, measurable, independently verified commitment to people and planet over profit. As one of the only B Corp-certified cruise lines in the world, they share UnTours’ own legacy as pioneers of the B Corp movement — a reminder that business can be a genuine force for good.
But the certification is just the beginning. Aurora’s ships double as mobile research platforms, supporting penguin colony counts, whale health studies and Antarctic reef documentation on every voyage. They fund marine life restoration, prevent ocean plastic waste and run climate-focused expeditions that bring together scientists, artists, youth leaders and educators to give voice to the world’s most fragile places. Every passenger who travels with them becomes, in a very real and critical sense, an ambassador for the planet.
Local Ownership & Stewardship: 130 Years of Knowing Better
Hurtigruten has called the Norwegian coast home since 1894 — first as a coastal ferry connecting remote communities that had no other link to the outside world, now as the most committed steward of the coastline they’ve always served. That history matters. It means their relationships are generational.
Their ships are smaller than most vessels operating in these waters, which means they reach fjords that bigger operators simply can’t. Their crew is almost entirely Norwegian. Their food is locally sourced with a genuine commitment to zero waste. And their active foundation is out there restoring kelp forests, cleaning Svalbard’s remote beaches and training Arctic rescue dogs — because they are stewards of a coastline they love.
Four hybrid-powered vessels, significant reductions in emissions and a 130-year track record of caring about the places they sail. This is what local ownership actually looks like.
Regenerative Tourism: Giving More Than You Take in
When Antara Cruises reintroduced river cruising to India after a 100-year absence, they did it entirely on their own terms. As a family-run, locally managed enterprise, they hand-built their vessels specifically for India’s rivers, appointed them with local craftsmanship and traditional textiles, hired local chefs and designed shore excursions that keep every interaction and every rupee rooted in the communities along the Ganges.
Low-volume, low-impact, and deeply personal, Antara operates on the principle that tourism should give more than it takes. Village market visits, ingredient shopping for the next day’s meals, genuine cultural exchange — every detail is designed to prevent overconsumption and commercialization while opening parts of India that most travelers never reach. This is regenerative tourism practiced by people who genuinely love the river they sail. And it shows in every spectacular detail.
Small Ships: The Quiet Superpower of Responsible Cruising
Sometimes the most intentional thing a ship can do is simply be small.
On the Canal de Bourgogne in Burgundy, Boutique Barge Co.’s purpose-built Savoir Vivre barge carries a handful of guests through 250-year-old hand-operated locks, stops at authentic local restaurants every evening and sources its lunch ingredients from the farmers and markets along the route. There is no wake. There is no crowd. There is just the canal, the countryside and your Captain Megret, who is also your chef, who has been doing this since 1989 and has yet to run out of things to love about it.
In the Galápagos, the Galaxy fleet operates catamarans built from the keel up to protect the fragile ecosystem they explore. Just 16 passengers (or fewer) per voyage. Low fuel consumption, energy-efficient systems and smart water conservation throughout. Active partnerships with local communities are driving genuine conservation. These vessels don’t just visit the Galápagos — they were designed to ensure visits are made with utmost care and respect.
The UnTours Way, On Water
The partners in our cruise collection were chosen because they share something fundamental with the UnTours ethos: a belief that travel should be a force for good, that the places we visit deserve our care and respect and that the best journeys are the ones that leave both traveler and destination genuinely better off.
We’re collectively cruising differently. And we’d love for you to join us. Our cruise collection is a natural extension of the UnTours way and the kind of expert support that makes everything feel effortless. Our travel experts are here to match you with the right ship, the right dates and the best available rates, whether you’re pairing it with a land journey or simply letting the water lead the way.
Explore the full UnTours Cruise Collection.