The historic city of Venice looks dinky alongside the Viking Sea ship as it is guided through the narrow waterways. More than one million cruise passengers flood the pedestrian metropolis each year, with some locals angered by the influx of tourists. Earlier this year councillors overwhelmingly endorsed an entry fee at a meeting, saying visitors would have to pay three euros (£2.57) each from May to visit

The Seven Seas Voyager ship from Regent Seven Seas Cruises looks tiny as it sails around the jaw-dropping island of Tahiti. The boat is described as being ‘luxurious yet cosy’, with every cabin having a balcony and space to hold 700 passengers

Cunard’s Queen Victoria is described as a ship that offers a ‘unique atmosphere’ and ‘encourages a sense of escapism’. It can hold up to 2,061 passengers, 981 staff members and it measures 964.5 feet in length. Above, the grand ship is seen sailing down Aurlandsfjord, where the small tourist village of Flaam is located

The Royal Princess is almost as tall as the towering buildings on the shoreline as it chugs out of Port Everglades in Florida. The ship has a total of 17 decks and it can accommodate 4,272 guests at maximum capacity. Port Everglades is one of the top three cruise ports in the world and is among the most active cargo ports in the U.S

A Princess Cruises ship sails down the Panama Canal, past a spread of tree-lined hills and under the Centennial Bridge, which opened in 2004 and has a clearance of 262 feet. The Panama Canal, which runs for 48 miles, is one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. Construction on the waterway was started by the French in 1881 but swiftly stopped after engineering problems and disease swept the area. The U.S. took over the project in 1904 and the canal opened on August 15, 1914

The Viking Star certainly stands out on the water as it slowly snakes along the River Thames. The cruise ship, which was built in 2015, can hold 930 guests and it measures 745 feet long. The Port of London Authority provides two moorings for cruise ships, one at Greenwich, the other just upriver of Tower Bridge. The tidal river is navigable to large ocean-going ships as far upstream as the Pool of London and London Bridge

Passengers on board the Viking Sky soak up the magic of the Northern Lights while cruising around northern Norway.  The natural phenomenon is best seen in the area between the months October and March

A shadow is cast on the small village of Hellsytt in Norway as the Balmoral ship from Fred Olsen Cruise Lines sails by. The vessel is the largest of the company’s ocean-going cruise ships, yet still small enough to navigate size-restricted waterways such as the Norwegian fjords. It can hold 1,325 passengers and 510 crew members and it boasts six restaurants

The Silver Galapagos, from the cruise firm Silversea, was specifically designed to explore the remote volcanic archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. The ship holds just 100 passengers and a mix of adventurous activities are included on trips, with Zodiac tours, snorkelling, kayaking and nature hikes on the menu. The Galapagos consists of 18 main islands, three smaller islands, and 107 islets or rocks. The largest of the islands is Isabela. The area is home to some of the highest levels of endemism (species found nowhere else on earth) anywhere on the planet. Favourites include the giant Galapagos tortoise, marine iguana, flightless cormorant, and the Galapagos penguin

Passengers stand out on deck to see a powerful waterfall cascading in New Zealand’s stunning Fiordland National Park. Princess Cruises runs a number of itineraries covering this part of the world, with ships getting into a variety of hard-to-reach areas. Milford Sound, which is within the national park, was described by Jungle Book author Rudyard Kipling as the ‘Eighth Wonder of the World’

Fresh from a multi-million dollar renovation, the Ruby Princess has almost 900 balconies so guests can soak up their surroundings. The ship, which has 15 passenger decks, cuts quite a size as it skims past Saint Thomas in the Caribbean. The island, which measures 32 square miles, is home to the second-oldest synagogue in the western hemisphere, a fort which dates back to 1680 and the childhood home of French impressionist artist, Camille Pissarro

The colossal MSC Orchestra cruise liner, which has 12 passenger decks, enjoys having the waterway to itself as it speeds under the Verrazzano Bridge. The overpass connects the New York City boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn and it has a clearance of 228 feet

The picturesque white-washed buildings of Santorini gaze down on the Emerald Princess ship as it sails into the submerged caldera. The vessel, which carries 3,080 guests, embarks on regular Mediterranean itineraries. Santorini, which has a population of 25,000, has grown in popularity to the point where Mayor Nikolos Zorzos has limited the number of cruise ship passengers that can disembark to 8,000 a day from a peak of 18,000 in 2016 because of over-crowding

The dramatic Na Pali Coast of Kauai in Hawaii with the cliff towering above Norwegian Cruise Line’s boat, Pride of America. This is where much of the filming took place for Steven Spielberg’s 1993 blockbuster, Jurassic Park. The Pride of America sails around Hawaii all-year-round and highlights on the agenda include whale watching and witnessing the Kilauea Volcano

One Ocean Expeditions specialises in adventure and wildlife-watching cruises to the polar regions. Above, one of the firm’s ships sails towards a colony of penguins in Antarctica while steering clear of icebergs. One Ocean Expeditions uses smaller ships as vessels carrying more than 500 guests are not allowed to land their passengers ashore in Antarctica

Norway boasts a spread of awe-inspiring scenery, as demonstrated above. Here the Viking Sky sails along in the foreground. This ship made headlines in March after she suffered an engine failure off the Norwegian coast and more than 400 people had to be airlifted to safety

The Norwegian Jade sails away from the port town of Alesund on the west coast of Norway where up to three ships can be accommodated at a time. Many cruise ships stop here on their way to or from Norway’s most photographed fjord, Geiranger

The MSC Musica is an enormous ship, as shown in the image above as it sails past the old city of Dubrovnik in Croatia. The liner has 16 decks in total and it can accommodate 3,223 guests at full capacity. Last year, local authorities voiced their concerns that Dubrovnik was becoming overwhelmed by tourists, a problem exacerbated by its use for filming in Game Of Thrones. On a typical day there are about eight cruise ships visiting the town of 2,500 people

Malta is a very popular cruise destination, with a spectacular harbour, a colourful history and streets lined with shops. Above, the Viking Sun enjoys prime parking as it docks in Valletta with the evening light falling

Another location the Viking Sun ship visits is Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Cruise-goers can catch a different view of the bustling seaside city from the water, with sights such as Sugarloaf Mountain on show

Cruising is the perfect way of seeing coastal spots that are difficult to access from land. Above, the Sapphire Princess cruises along the College Fjord in Alaska, which serves up some spectacular glacier viewing. There are more than a dozen major glaciers in the area, surrounded by jagged snow-capped peaks

One way of getting up close to the Seven Sisters waterfall in Geiranger, Norway, is by taking a cruise. Above, the Viking Sky sails past the natural attraction. It is the 39th tallest waterfall in Norway and consists of seven separate streams

The MSC Magnifica dominates the shot as it sits stationary in San Francisco, with the Golden Gate Bridge visible behind. The Port of San Francisco hosts more than 80 cruise ship calls and 300,000 passengers annually

MSC Armonia is a cruise ship that was built in 2001 for the now defunct Festival Cruises as MS European Vision. Since 2004 the ship has been owned and operated by MSC Cruises. Above, the ship is seen berthed in the port of Havana. There are plans to expand the cruise ship terminal in the Cuban capital to accommodate a surge in U.S. visitors after travel restrictions were lifted

Azamara Club Cruises offers various trips with one of its most popular ones taking passengers around the breathtaking Amalfi Coast on the southern edge of Italy’s Sorrentine Peninsula. The Amalfi Coast was listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1997 for its ‘cultural and natural scenic values’

Fred Olsen Cruise Lines’ ship Balmoral looms over the ancient port city of Cadiz in the Andalucia region of southwestern Spain. The city is the home of the Spanish navy and it boomed during the 16th-century as a base for exploration and trade