European Cruise Guide: 2013

ABOVE: A French flag flies on the fantail of Compagnie du Ponant's L'Austral during a roundrip Adriatic cruise from Venice. Go Barging's La Renaissance in a French canal lock, and Silversea's Silver Spirit in Port Mahon, Menorca.

Cruising in Europe has become enormously popular in recent years, for several reasons:

• It's an easy way to visit interesting places along Europe's coasts and waterways. Once you've boarded the ship and unpacked, your transportation, hotel, and dining needs are taken care of until the end of the cruise. (See our Tour Europe by Ship article for an introduction to "port-intensive" ocean and river cruising.)

• Most expenses are built into the fare, so you know what you're paying up front. And when fares are quoted in your own currency, you're protected against fluctuating exchange rates.

• Cruising is simply fun--especially for people who enjoy ships.

To help you plan a cruise in Europe, we've put together this European Cruise Guide with brief descriptions and Web links for ocean- and river-cruise lines that welcome English-speaking travelers.

Where possible, we've included links to our own cruise reviews, and you'll also find a page of links to other cruising sites. In a number of cases, we've supplied links to ship videos from our collection of Venice cruise videos.

To get started, see our cruise line index or use the menu below: