<p>You may think of cruises as floating resorts, but plenty of ships help you get more intimately acquainted with ports of call. They focus on specific regions, employ experts to add local insight, and can transport you to places that are otherwise hard to reach. For example, <a href="https://www.nourelnil.com/" target="_blank">Nour El Nil</a>’s 16-passenger <i>Melouka </i>and 20-passenger <i>Meroë</i> skim Egypt’s Nile River in an elegantly updated version of the classic dahabeah, crowned by candy-striped sails. Read on for more of our favorite cruises.</p>

RIVER AND OCEAN CRUISES

You may think of cruises as floating resorts, but plenty of ships help you get more intimately acquainted with ports of call. They focus on specific regions, employ experts to add local insight, and can transport you to places that are otherwise hard to reach. For example, Nour El Nil’s 16-passenger Melouka and 20-passenger Meroë skim Egypt’s Nile River in an elegantly updated version of the classic dahabeah, crowned by candy-striped sails. Read on for more of our favorite cruises.

Photograph Courtesy Nour El Nil

21 Best Cruises in the World

On rivers or oceans, find the perfect boat vacation for you.

Sherri Eisenberg is Editorial Director at Shermans Cruise. You can follow her on twitter @sherrinyc.

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