CruiseMapper vs Venture Ashore
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
CruiseMapper
Discover and plan your next vacation with a comprehensive database of cruises. Explore detailed itineraries, port schedules, ship reviews, and real-time ship locations. Find your ideal cruise from thousands of options across numerous cruise lines and ships.
- Detailed itineraries and port schedules
- Cruise ship reviews and videos
- Current position of cruise ships
- Special features and technical details
- Database of cruise lines, ships, and cruises
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CruiseMapper is an impartial cruise information app with thousands of cruises to show the travelers. CruiseMapper features include: - detailed itineraries and port schedules - cruise ship reviews and videos - current position of cruise ships - special features and technical details - a lot more useful information about the cruise ship you choose The future-cruisers might search the database of nearly 30 cruise lines, 320+ cruise ships and over 20,000 cruises to find the perfect cruise. If you really need to find your special cruise, then this is the right place to look. With CruiseMapper you'll find schedules for all cruises departing from ports around all over the world. Helping you select the perfect one to you, saving you the extra expenditures you would do otherwise. Important: If you experience any problem with the App, please fill this form to contact us http://www.cruisemapper.com/contact instead of writing a review here. We will do our best to solve it. Thanks! Connect with CruiseMapper - on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CruiseMapper - on Google+ https://plus.google.com/+Cruisemapper - on our website http://www.CruiseMapper.com
Venture Ashore
Discover and book curated shore excursions for cruises in over 500 destinations. Enjoy immersive experiences with charismatic guides and small groups, backed by guarantees for worry-free travel.
- Curated shore excursions
- Over 500 destinations
- Small group tours
- Charismatic guides
- Back To Ship Guarantee
- Don't Port, Don't Pay Guarantee
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Venture Ashore provides a curated variety of shared and private independent shore excursions for cruise travelers in over 500 destinations. Our tours are handpicked with charismatic guides and small groups to ensure immersive and joyful experiences. Designed by cruise travel experts, all our excursions come with a Back To Ship Guarantee and a Don't Port, Don't Pay Guarantee for worry free travel.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Venture Ashore at 5.0 against CruiseMapper's 3.6. Venture Ashore also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 4 weeks vs every 5 months). CruiseMapper's advantage is ratings volume (122 vs 2). On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Venture Ashore holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: CruiseMapper has 122 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
CruiseMapper ships an update every 5 months, Venture Ashore every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | CruiseMapper | Venture Ashore |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.6 (122 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 36.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 122 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 4 weeks — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 38 MB | 106 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | AstraPaging Ltd. | Frienzy Inc. |
Customer experience
CruiseMapper
Venture Ashore
Bugs and requests
CruiseMapper
Reported bugs
15 issues- Ships disappear after a few seconds on map
- Cannot see ships unless searched individually
- Zoom functionality inverts (zooms out when trying to zoom in)
- App freezes when switching between ships
- Cannot tap on another ship while viewing one
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- Ships appear stationary despite movement data
- Location updates take excessive time
- App crashes on launch (iPad compatibility issue)
- Blank map with no ships or continents displayed
- Cannot scroll across map smoothly
- Glitchy performance after January 2024 update
- Unresponsive interface after extended use
- Force quit required to view different ships
- Clipboard access requests without clear purpose
- Temu ad malware redirecting users
Requested features
13 requests- Favorites section for frequently tracked ships
- Deck plans for all ship versions (iOS parity with Android)
- Show route feature on app (currently on website only)
- Filter options to hide river boats and ferries
- Ability to save/lock multi-segment cruise itineraries
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- Copy and paste itinerary functionality
- Map-specific cruise viewing with port visualization
- More map style options
- Smoother ship trajectory lines
- Local time display for each destination
- Paid/subscription option to remove ads
- More cruise line filter categories
- Exclude icebreakers from display
Venture Ashore
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
CruiseMapper
No in-app purchases
Venture Ashore
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is CruiseMapper free?
Is Venture Ashore free?
Which has better reviews, CruiseMapper or Venture Ashore?
Do CruiseMapper or Venture Ashore have ads?
Which is updated more often, CruiseMapper or Venture Ashore?
Other comparisons
