How to Track a Cruise Ship

While a cruise might be the ultimate in relaxation for those aboard the ship, it can be less relaxing for those left behind. If you like to keep track of loved ones, having them on a cruise can be a test. If this is your first time having a loved one on a cruise, you may be nervous. Since cell phone towers don’t dot the seas, you can’t even use cell phones for contact. Although it won't help you get in touch with family members or friends on the sea, you can at least keep track of where they are by tracking the cruise ship online. While your loved ones are navigating deck plans, itineraries, and cruise ports, you can rest assured they’re safe by using cruise ship tracking.

Go online to the Sailwx tracking page (see Resources). Sailwx provides tracking in real-time for all types of ships, including cruise ships.

Click on the “Ship Tracker” menu and choose “Cruise Ship Tracker” to display only cruise ships on the tracking map. A dot marked with the cruise ship’s name appears for each cruise ship. Click on any cruise ship dot, or use the “Zoom In” button, to get closer and see the cruise ship position more accurately.

Scroll below the map to see a chart of the cruise ships currently displayed on the map. If you zoomed in closer on the map, the chart displays only the ships in the zoom area.

Click any ship name in the chart to see a detailed report of the ship’s current and past positions. The chart lists the position of the ship by latitude and longitude.

Go online to the CruiseCal tracking page (see Resources). As the name indicates, CruiseCal focuses on the locations of cruise ships.

Scroll through the list of cruise ship names to find the name of the cruise ship you want to track. Once you find the ship name, you can see the ship line, port of origin and whether the ship has an on-board webcam.

Click on the “Ship” link in the “Webcam” column to view the ship’s webcam. The link takes you to the cruise ship’s webcam page, which usually displays the latitude and longitude of the ship in the ocean as well.

Click the name of the cruise ship if the ship has no webcam listed. In order to view the ship location if no webcam is provided, you must subscribe to the CruiseCal service, which costs $3 per month.

Open the homepage of the cruise line’s website if the cruise line offers tracking. Only some cruise lines, like Princess Cruises, provide on-site tracking services. Select Royal Caribbean Cruises, Holland America Cruises, and Norwegian Cruise Line ships offer tracking. Carnival Cruise Line and Ponant Cruises do not offer tracking services for their cruise ship’s current locations.

Click the “Ships” link to display the list of cruise ships. Select the ship that you want to track by clicking on its name.

Scroll down the page and find the webcam option on the page. Click the webcam option to view the ship’s cam, which is usually pointed at the ocean off the bow of the ship. The current position of the ship displays along with the video image and updates regularly throughout the day.