List of 5 Best Cruise Ship Tracker Websites Online
Whether you’re interested in seeing the great ships at sea or want to know where your favorite cruise ship is, using an online cruise tracker is the quickest way to get the information. Websites like CruiseMapper, Marine Vessel, Cruising Earth, and ShipCruises provide real-time tracking of ship positions, speeds, bearings, sailing information, and even weather conditions on a ship’s route.
The following Cruise Ship Tracke websites allow you to track cruise itineraries from dozens of cruise lines, including Carnival, Norwegian, Princess, Disney, and Royal Caribbean. Read on to learn how online cruise trackers work and which trackers are best to use for your next trip.
How do cruise trackers work?
Online cruise trackers employ a variety of systems and technologies to retrieve information about a ship’s location. According to Cruising Earth, in addition to VHF ground radios, most cruise trackers rely on the assistance of an Automatic Identification System (AIS). This system sends important information to online trackers, including the ship’s name, cruise line, position, speed, and direction.
Best Cruise Trackers Website Online
While most cruise trackers offer the same information and look very similar, there are a few that stand out, and they are the most useful because they are easy to use and have additional features you might find useful while on a cruise. Check them out below.
Cruising Earth
To track a cruise on Cruising Earth, you must first select a cruise line from the 177 options provided. You’ll then be prompted to select a specific cruise. From there, the page displays a zoomed-in interactive map of the real-time location of the ship you selected. Click on a ship icon to learn more about its route, speed, travel distance, weather, photos, and more. Note that most of the ship tracking information on Cruising Earth is not accessible unless you sign up for a free account on the site.
Cruise Mapper
Locating a cruise ship is easy with CruiseMapper. Once you enter the site’s homepage, you’ll be taken directly to the tracking feature, which displays a list of cruise routes on the left side of the screen and an interactive world map showing the ship’s location in the middle. From the left panel, you can select which cruise ships in each cruise route you want to track on the map and which ones you don’t want to track. Arrows represent cruise ships currently sailing, while dots represent cruise ships that are docked.
CruiseMapper also lets you see where different ports are on a map, their schedules, the weather, and more.
Cruise Hive
Cruise Hive’s cruise tracker displays information about cruise ships and other vessels like cargo ships, tankers, yachts, and tugboats. To view cruise ships, you can adjust the filters on the live interactive map to only show cruise ships with passengers on board. On the map, you’ll see icons representing ships underway and ships docked in ports. By clicking on each icon, you can see more detailed information about the ship, including its speed, travel time, itinerary information, and weather.
ShipCruises
The ShipCruises app makes it easy to track river cruises, as it has a custom filter that lets you view only river vessels in addition to ocean cruises. While ShipCruises allows visitors to view live vessel positions, speeds, procedures, and map locations for free, some information is only accessible with a paid subscription, particularly details about vessel build and ownership.
Marine Vessels
Like Cruise Hive, Marine Vessels also provide real-time location information for cruise and non-cruise vessels. On the interactive ship map, ships underway and in port are represented by small icons that you can click on to see more details about their routes, last stops, speeds, and weather.