Top cruises and ferries compared

About Top cruises and ferries compared

This ranking covers the booking services that sell water transport alongside the rest of a trip: ferry crossings, cruise sailings and the transfers, hotels and flights that wrap around them. 49 brands are ranked here, and the list splits sharply. Some are broad marketplaces that treat cruise as a single line among many, while others are narrow operators whose ferries or resort sailings are the main event. The main trade-off is breadth against focus. A wide catalogue makes it easy to build a whole trip in a single place, and a focused site tends to know its routes better, with clearer terms on refunds and fees. Price sits in the middle, because a booking fee is only part of what a traveller pays, and cancellation terms often matter more once a sailing is booked. Support and mobile apps break the ties, since a missed ferry leaves little room for a slow answer.

How we picked

Scores come from a weighted score with cost at 40%, offer at 40% and trust at 20%. Cost and offer carry the most weight, so what a brand charges and what it actually sells move it up or down more than anything else, while trust separates the close scores. Facts are taken from each brand's own terms and conditions, product pages, contact and support pages, and its app listing where one exists. Booking fees and cancellation terms are read as written rather than summarised into a score, and a product list counts only what a brand states for itself. Water transport is weighed through this ranking's own product weights, so cruise counts for more than ferry. Partner entries sit at the top of any list, and this ranking shows 0 partner slots, so the order below rests on score alone. The ranking covers 49 brands. Regulators, licences, protection schemes and payment processors are named only where a brand's own pages state them.

Our top picks

1. 1. Booking.com

   Booking.com is in this ranking because it wraps a cruise line in hotels, packages and flights. flights, car rental and transfers places cruise beside flights, car rental, transfers, hotels, hostels and tours, its booking terms read No booking fees, and free cancellation at most properties is set out in Free cancellation at most properties. Support is the widest list in the group at help centre, phone and email, and a mobile app is available. Founded in 1996, it is run by Booking.com B.V. in NL. The con is that cruise sits far down that list and ferries sit outside flights, car rental and transfers. Against the member ranked next to it, BookMe+, Booking.com adds hotels and flights while BookMe+ has ferries.

   • Products: Flights, Car-rental, Transfers, and 4 more
   • Booking fees: No booking fees
   • Cancellation terms: Free cancellation at most properties

   Pros

   • One account covers flights, car rental and transfers, so a group can hold transport and beds together instead of searching supplier by supplier.
   • No booking fees keeps the booking charge out of the price you compare.
   • A mobile app is available, so bookings and changes travel with you between searches.
   • Support runs on help centre, phone and email, which puts a person as well as self-service behind every reservation.
   • Free cancellation at most properties gives a group room to move dates at most properties.

   Cons

   • FlixBus is the shorter decision when the trip is bus only, where flights, car rental and transfers asks you to weigh many choices.
   • Hertz Bahamas WiFi covers car rental and transfers, so a car and a transfer trip does not need the wider list.
   • Latam Travellers states its fee promise as 0 hidden fees, no contracts, which writes the position out in full words.

What to look for

The water mix

Cruise is the heaviest signal in this category at 73.5%, with ferry behind it at 34.7%. Decide whether you want a sailing, a crossing, or both, then check that the brand you shortlist actually sells that line.

A booking fee you can price in

Cost carries 40% of the score, and booking fees differ sharply across this list. Some brands charge nothing at the booking stage while others add service, convenience or change fees. A fee that is written down beats a low headline rate that quietly carries extras later.

Refund terms before you pay

Cancellation terms decide how much money comes back, and every brand here states them differently: fixed windows, deposit stages, per-night charges and property-dependent free cancellation. Read the terms on the brand you are booking, not the headline policy, because the sailing date sets the stakes.

Getting hold of someone

Phone and help centre support weigh heavily here at 77.8% and 80%, ahead of email at 73.3%. A missed sailing is time critical, so a live channel matters more than a long help centre article.

Booking from your phone

A mobile app is close to expected in this category at 89.2%, so a brand without one is giving up convenience at the boarding gate. Check that the app covers ticketing and changes, not only browsing, before you rely on it.

What sits around the sailing

Hotels score 71.4% and transfers 42.9%, which is where broad marketplaces pull ahead of crossing specialists. A ferry that lands you at a port makes the rest of the trip worth pricing in the same basket.

Frequently asked questions

Top cruises and ferries compared by country

• Australia
• Brazil
• Canada
• China
• France
• Germany
• India
• Italy
• Japan
• Mexico
• South Korea
• Spain
• Turkey
• United Kingdom
• United States

The data behind this ranking

All data and the CSV