About James Felton and Uncommon Cruises

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Want solid, unbiased information on niche cruises?  Information and news that is reliable, informative and engaging?  Uncommon Cruises® delivers solutions and tools to help you research and plan for your next specialty cruise.

And it’s all here for you, in one convenient site.

Big-box cruise companies have huge marketing and advertising budgets.  Finding information about them is easy.  Not so with specialty cruises.  Information is scattered, leading to frustration and a waste of your valuable time.

Until now, no place existed where you could conveniently access crucial and timely information on this unique segment of the cruise market.  Now there is.  And it’s right here.

Specialty Cruises Defined

What exactly is a specialty, niche or non-traditional cruise?  In a moment of frustration I once said to a journalist, ‘Any cruise that’s not on a metal carcass’!  But to be more helpful, specialty cruises embody any or all of these features:

• unusual, small-ship vessels (i.e. no big-box mega-ships)                             
• unusual destinations that mega-ships don’t go to or can’t get to            
• unusual theme cruises or special interest cruises on small ships    

We’re an Online Publisher

We’re not affiliated with any travel agency or cruise line.  We’re simply a provider of information – darn good information, mind you – about specialty cruises.  You now have someone in your corner who doesn’t have a vested interest or an ulterior motive in the information we deliver.

Sometimes we’re candid and hard-hitting and occasionally we’re tongue-in-cheek.  But more than anything, we aim to deliver specialty cruise news, promotions and information that is accurate, informative and timely – and hopefully enjoyable as well — for you to read and absorb.

Scope of Specialty Cruises

There are well over 250(!) specialty cruise lines that offer fascinating yet little-known cruises to every corner of our world, often with intriguing cruise themes, and on the most unusual vessels.  For instance, you can now find out more about:

•    Tall ship cruises.  Luxury barge cruises.  Steamboat cruises
•    Expedition cruises to both polar regions
•    The upper reaches of the Amazon to view pink dolphins
•    River cruises in Europe.  In Asia.  In Egypt — or even West Africa
•    Nature and wildlife cruises to the Galápagos Islands
•    Cruises on a Chinese junk or a sleek yacht

This is just a sampling of the countless cruises, themes, destinations and vessels you’ll discover and learn more about here. 

If it’s candid, informative and timely info you seek on specialty and small ship cruises, you’ve come to the right place.  Join thousands of seasoned travelers and specialist travel agents who can’t wait to get free and fresh niche cruise knowledge as soon as it’s published.

About James Felton

I’ve never been far from the sea. From Cape Town where I grew up, to London, and now Vancouver, host city of the 2010 Winter Olympics.  I first fell in love with ocean travel when I sailed with the Union Castle Lines passenger ships that plied between England and South Africa.  Back then I thought passenger boats were lavish; you can imagine my delight when cruise ships came along!

Today, I split my time between Vancouver by-the-sea and Belize, home to the world’s second largest barrier reef.  Both places offer heaps of stimulation for researching, writing and sharing with you about specialty cruises.

Man was born to fight

My first specialty cruise was in 1991 through the Black Sea, Aegean and Adriatic.   On board were guest lecturers from Cambridge and Oxford talking about the turbulent history of the areas we were visiting.  One lecturer stunned us all with his opening words, ‘Man was born to fight!’  How prophetic his words proved later on into the cruise.

We were due in at the Russian port city of Sevastopol.  Mikhail Gorbachev had just been placed under house arrest there, and the authorities in no uncertain terms warned us to keep going.  And Dubrovnik on the Adriatic’s Dalmatian Coast was to be our final destination, but once again it was a ‘sail-past’.  War had just broken out in the former Yugoslavia.  I still haven’t visited Dubrovnik.

Man was indeed born to fight.  Or maybe the Cambridge prof was a double agent who knew something we didn’t.

Which one are you?

Having immersed myself in specialty cruises since 1991, having sold them, having experienced many of them first-hand, having delivered seminars about them, I’ve concluded that three kinds of people are drawn to these unusual cruises:

1. The Been There, Done That people. You have enjoyed many traditional or mainstream cruises but you’re now looking for an alternative.  Or maybe the tedious line-ups for the shore excursion buses finally got to you!
2. The Not My Cup of Tea people.  You wouldn’t be caught dead on a big-box cruise ship – even if it was free.  Floating cattle cars, you call them.
3. The Game for Something New people.  You’re new to cruising.  Even though you’ve never cruised before, you’re immediately attracted to the unusual destinations and more intimate ambiance of a smaller cruise ship.

Like many of you, I fall under number one.  Rock-climbing walls, golf simulators, casinos, and ice sculptures do little for me.  What turns my crank are…

• interesting and well-traveled fellow passengers,
• fascinating but lesser-known ports of call,
• special interest cruises with a strong cultural or archeological flavor,
• or authentic wildlife theme cruises (petting dolphins ‘in the wild’ isn’t authentic).

Good, Bad – or Just Different?

I’m not an activist lobbying against the ‘evil’ big-box cruise lines and their programs.  But how can I champion specialty cruises unless I’ve been on many mainstream ones?  I’ve taken more than my fair share of big-box cruises on all the major cruise lines, including RCCL, Princess, Holland America and the rest.  They’re just not a hand-in-glove fit for me.  On board the mega-ships, I’m, ahem, a fish out of water, a square peg in a round (port)hole.

I’m a cynical old codger with a pocketful of preferences and a deluge of dislikes.  The benefit for you is I’ll never sugar-coat what I write about and share.  And compliments will always be genuine and deserved.

Think of me as your very own publisher, concierge and teacher who will gladly share anything related to specialty cruises with you — starting with Twitter…

Full Disclosure

Compensation from the specialty cruise industry

I never allow my writing (or any guest’s contributions) to be influenced by financial gain.  This way, I can be as objective and forthright as possible in what I share with you.  Having said that, I do sometimes benefit from reduced rate or free cruises.  Does this influence what I say and how I say it?  Not really.  I still call a spade a spade.  If I’m compensated, it gets mentioned at the end of the review or blog post.

Advertising on the site

Like most publications, this site is sustained mainly by various sponsors, advertisers and affiliate agreements.  Wherever possible, I do my best to keep the advertising relevant to you.

So join me and my guest contributors as we share our knowledge about the fascinating world of specialty and small-ship cruises.  Would you be kind enough to do the same?…