7 Astronomy-Centered Cruises That Will Leave You Starstruck

Wooldridge has visited more than 120 countries on all seven continents by foot, car, train, cruise ship, vintage Airstream, camel, chicken plane, and river raft. She now lives in Miami, Cruise Ship Capital of the World, and frequently writes about cruising. Even before the recent Artemis II mission reignited the space race, travelers were tuning their antennas skyward. In 2024, some 70 million pairs of safety glasses were sold to protect Americans watching the solar eclipse that swept across the US, which millions of people traveled to observe. This August, another solar eclipse will be visible from Greenland and Iceland to northern Spain—coinciding with summer cruises in northern waters. But cruise lines aren’t just viewing platforms for eclipses and other celestial phenomena. Many offer ongoing sky-watching programs with scientific experts to help astronomy buffs explore the heavens more deeply. Travelers are taking note. “We’ve really entered the era of the ‘floating observatory,’” says Rosemarie Reed, senior vice president of marketing for Cruises.com. “Our customers have told us they’re not looking to check a destination off a map—they want a front row se