If you’re cruising soon and love listening to music, we recommend starting a cruise playlist. Whether you’re looking for songs to relax to by the pool or pump yourself up while getting ready for the day, we have the perfect playlist for you. We have included 30 songs (organized by year of release) for everyone to enjoy, baby boomers and millennials alike.
Pro tip: If you haven't heard of a particular song from this list before, play it during your cruise vacation. After your cruise when you hear that song on the radio or elsewhere, it will remind you of your vacation!
1. Surfin' USA
Artist: The Beach Boys
Year: 1963
Featured lyric: We're waxing down our surfboards / We can't wait for June / We'll all be gone for the summer / We're on surfari to stay / Tell the teacher we're surfin' / Surfin' U.S.A.
2. One Love
Artist: Bob Marley & The Wailers
Year: 1977
Featured lyric: One Love! What about the one heart? One Heart! / What about the- Let's get together and feel alright
3. Margaritaville
Artist: Jimmy Buffett
Year: 1977
Featured lyric: Wastin' away again in Margaritaville / Searchin' for my lost shaker of salt / Some people claim that there’s a woman to blame / But I know it’s nobody’s fault
4. Come Sail Away
Artist: Styx
Year: 1977
Featured lyric: I'm sailing away / Set an open course for the Virgin Sea / 'Cause I've got to be free / Free to face the life that's ahead of me
5. Night Fever
Artist: Bee Gees
Year: 1978
Featured lyric: Night fever, night fever / We know how to do it / Gimme that night fever, night fever / We know how to show it
6. Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
Artist: Rupert Holmes
Year: 1979
Featured lyric: "If you like piña coladas / And getting caught in the rain / If you're not into yoga / If you have half a brain
7. Celebration
Artist: Kool & the Gang
Year: 1980
Featured lyric: We're gonna have a good time tonight / Let's celebrate, it's all right
8. Let's Groove
Artist: Earth, Wind & Fire
Year: 1981
Featured lyric: Let this groove get you to move / It's alright, alright, alright / Let this groove set in your shoes / So stand up, alright, alright
9. Vacation
Artist: Go-Go’s
Year: 1982
Featured lyric: Vacation, all I ever wanted / Vacation, had to get away / Vacation, meant to be spent alone
10. Red Red Wine
Artist: UB40
Year: 1983
Featured lyric: Red red wine, you make me feel so fine / You keep me rockin' all of the time
11. Girls Just Want to Have Fun
Artist: Cyndi Lauper
Year: 1983
Featured lyric: That's all they really want / Some fun / When the working day is done / Oh, girls, they wanna have fun
12. Hot Hot Hot
Artist: Arrow
Year: 1983
Featured lyric: Me mind on fire, me soul on fire / Feelin' hot hot hot / Party people, all around me / Feelin’ hot hot hot
13. Walking on Sunshine
Artist: Katrina and the Waves
Year: 1985
Featured lyric: I'm walking on sunshine, whoa / And don't it feel good?
14. Kokomo
Artist: The Beach Boys
Year: 1988
Featured lyric: Ooh I wanna take you down to Kokomo / We'll get there fast / And then we'll take it slow
15. Don't Worry, Be Happy
Artist: Bobby McFerrin
Year: 1988
Featured lyric: In every life we have some trouble / But when you worry you make it double / Don't worry, be happy
16. Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Artist: Israel Kamakawiwoʻole
Year: 1990
Featured lyric: Oh, somewhere over the rainbow way up high / And the dream that you dare to, why, oh why can't I, I?
17. Island in the Sun
Artist: Weezer
Year: 2001
Featured lyric: On an island in the sun / We'll be playing and having fun / And it makes me feel so fine / I can't control my brain
18. Soak Up the Sun
Artist: Sheryl Crow
Year: 2002
Featured lyric: I'm, I'm gonna soak up the sun / I'm gonna tell everyone to lighten up
19. No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems
Artist: Kenny Chesney
Year: 2002
Featured lyric: Been dreaming of gettin' away since I don't know / Ain't no better time than now for Mexico
20. It's Five O'Clock Somewhere
Artist: Alan Jackson ft. Jimmy Buffett
Year: 2003
Featured lyric: Pour me somethin' tall an' strong / Make it a "Hurricane" before I go insane / It's only half-past twelve but I don't care / It's five o'clock somewhere
21. Party in the U.S.A.
Artist: Miley Cyrus
Year: 2009
Featured lyric: Got my hands up, they're playing my song / I know I'm gonna be okay / Yeah, it's a party in the U.S.A.
22. Knee Deep
Artist: Zac Brown Band ft. Jimmy Buffett
Year: 2010
Featured lyric: Knee deep in the water somewhere / Got the blue sky breeze blowing wind through my hair / Only worry in the world is the tide going to reach my chair
23. On the Floor
Artist: Jennifer Lopez ft. Pitbull
Year: 2011
Featured lyric: Dance the night away / Live your life, and stay young on the floor
24. Fireball
Artist: Pitbull ft. John Ryan
Year: 2014
Featured lyric: I was born in a flame / Momma said that everyone would know my name
I'm the best you've ever had / If you think I'm burning out, I never am
25. Summer
Artist: Calvin Harris
Year: 2014
Featured lyric: When I met you in the summer / To my heartbeat's sound / We fell in love / As the leaves turned brown
26. The Night is Still Young
Artist: Nicki Minaj
Year: 2015
Featured lyric: I never worry, life is a journey / I just wanna enjoy the ride / What is the hurry? It's pretty early / It's okay, we'll take our time
27. Vacation
Artist: Dirty Heads
Year: 2017
Featured lyric: A-a-ayy, I'm on vacation / Every single day 'cause I love my occupation / A-a-ayy, I'm on vacation / If you don't like your life, then you should go and change it
28. Heat Waves
Artist: Glass Animals
Year: 2020
Featured lyric: Sometimes, all I think about is you / Late nights in the middle of June / Heat waves been fakin' me out / Can’t make you happier now
29. Friday (Dopamine Re-Edit)
Artist: Riton & Nightcrawlers ft. Mufasa & Hypeman
Year: 2021
Featured lyric: Feelin' it, feelin' it, feelin' it / Every Friday, Saturday, Sunday / Endless weekend, on a wave, yeah
30. I'm Good (Blue)
Artist: David Guetta & Bebe Rexha
Year: 2022
Featured lyric: I'm good, yeah, I'm feelin' alright / Baby, I'ma have the best night of my life / And wherever it takes me, I'm down for the ride
Angie Vognild
Angie Vognild has a love for cruising, with her first cruise at just one year old. Since then, she has traveled to nearly 40 countries and been on over 30 cruises. Her favorite cruises were to the Holy Land on Odyssey of the Seas in 2022 and Japan on Spectrum of the Seas in 2019.
