A river cruise is a voyage along inland waterways, often stopping at multiple ports, with ships frequently docking right in the center of cities and towns. These cruises come in two main forms: day cruises (lasting from 30 minutes to a full day, carrying anywhere from 10 to a few hundred passengers) and longer cruises that offer onboard accommodation. Day cruises are popular in cities like Amsterdam, Bangkok, London, Paris, and Varanasi, as well as scenic areas such as the Rhine, Hudson River, and Ganga. For longer trips, travel expert Douglas Ward describes the experience as "life in the slow lane," a supremely calming antidote to fast-paced living, with comfortable surroundings and good food. River cruising is a major global industry, with significant routes on the Nile, Mississippi, Amazon, Danube, Rhine, and Yangtze rivers, among many others across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Australia.