How to find the best price, perks when booking a cruise
Find the cruise that works for your budget with these tips.
Problem Solved
- Several cruise lines are increasing the number of overnight and late-night port stays in response to guest demand.
- Overnight stops allow passengers more time for leisurely meals, in-depth sightseeing, and experiencing local nightlife.
- Cruise lines like Azamara, Regent Seven Seas, and Holland America are expanding their overnight offerings with exclusive evening excursions.
Cruises can often feel like a collection of day trips, with ships dipping in and out of ports in as little as eight hours. Guests typically arrive early in the morning and depart in the late afternoon or evening.
However, Azamara is working to corner the night owl market. The small-ship cruise line launched its Own the Night initiative earlier this year, offering 28 stops with two consecutive nights in port throughout its fleet – building on the after-dark offerings that have long been part of its itineraries.
“Our decision to expand overnight stays comes from listening closely to our guests,” CEO Dondra Ritzenthaler told USA TODAY. “Staying late has always been a part of our DNA, but we continue to listen and evolve based on what our guests want.”
Azamara offers exclusive nighttime excursions, such as an open-air Jeep tour of Ho Chi Minh City or a night of flamenco at Seville, Spain’s Tablao El Arenal. The cruise line has “steadily expanded” its focus on overnight and late-night stops over the last 10 years, according to Ritzenthaler.
They’re not the only ones. Other cruise lines have also leaned into overnight stays. Here’s why.
What are the perks of overnight cruise stops?
Overnight stops offer guests more flexibility during their visits, according to Stephanie Goldberg-Glazer, chief experience officer and owner of the travel agency Live Well, Travel Often.
“You have more time to do more things, see more things, have a leisurely meal … It could be for a local drink or cocktail or specific food, and when you have time to do that and you don’t have to choose between seeing, for example, the Vatican or having a long lunch, you can do a little bit of everything. You can do a little bit slower touring.”
“You can really take your time to see a couple of sites,” she continued, “not just the highlight reel, as quickly as possible.” That comes in especially handy in ports that are far from city centers, such as Bangkok, Thailand, where the main port is about two hours away.
The exact length of the visit can vary: some ships arrive for overnight stops in the morning, while others may not get into port until around noon, according to Goldberg-Glazer. They may depart the following afternoon or stay into the evening.
On occasion, stops also may be labeled as overnight stays but actually depart for their next destination around 2 or 3 a.m.
Which cruise lines are offering more overnight stays?
Regent Seven Seas Cruises launched Immersive Overnight cruises in 2024, featuring an overnight stay in every stop – and has since expanded the number of voyages from six to 18 through 2027.
“The itineraries are popular and offer an alternative way for even the most traveled guest to see the world, and we’ll continue to create these opportunities while the appetite is there,” the luxury cruise line’s chief commercial officer, Wesley D’Silva, told USA TODAY in an email. The company has created 50 special evening shore excursions since the program began.
Those include a Kaiseki-style dinner in Japan – accompanied by a geisha performance – and “delving into spine-chilling stories with a night watchman in Germany’s oldest cities,” he added.
Holland America Line has leaned into longer stays, too. “Guests sailing with Holland America Line started seeing an uptick in overnight and late-night port calls starting in the 2023-2024 season, with opportunities stretching into 2027 and beyond,” said Paul Grigsby, the cruise line’s vice president of itinerary planning and deployment.
Those span Canada and New England, Europe, South America and Asia (the line offered 62 overnight or late-night stays in Europe alone during the 2025 calendar year).
“By staying longer in port, guests can enjoy local nightlife, festivals, and evening excursions; experience multi-day adventures without rushing back to the ship; forge deeper connections with local cultures through food, music, and history,” Grigsby said in an email. “The expansion also reflects broader travel trends, with guests increasingly seeking less-traveled destinations and meaningful experiences over quick sightseeing stops.” An overnight stop in Alta, Norway, for example, gives passengers a better shot at seeing the aurora borealis.
Those kinds of stops show up on a range of other brands’ itineraries, too. Norwegian Cruise Line, for instance, offers overnight stays at Bermuda’s Royal Naval Dockyard and in Maui and Kauai in Hawaii.
“While Norwegian has maintained a consistent number of overnight stops over the years, we typically prioritize longer port stays, providing guests the opportunity to fully explore a destination while also allowing them to visit more ports within a voyage,” said Brian Gilroy, vice president of itinerary planning and revenue strategy (Regent and Norwegian are both part of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.)
Where can guests find overnight stops?
Goldberg-Glazer said seven-night cruises are typically the shortest itineraries to feature overnights, but that they are also destination-based. “There don’t tend to be overnights in, for example, Alaska,” she said. “There also isn’t really a lot of infrastructure for things to do in the evening there.” By contrast, river cruises in Europe feature “a lot” of them.
Grigsby from Holland America Line noted that their overnights tend to be more common on longer itineraries and the brand’s Legendary Voyages.
“Many places truly come alive after dark, and spending the night allows travelers to engage in ways a single day stop simply can’t,” Azamara’s Ritzenthaler added.
Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at ndiller@usatoday.com.
