Talk about small ships! The one for our Norwegian coastal cruise was the Lofoten, the oldest one in their fleet, and now retired. Only 100 pax. And, yes, we had pax who were on and off, perhaps shopping at one port and then going home. They had their own area but it was really nice with boothw and bar right there! Also freight. There was a small crane at the front. IIRC we made 17 stops in each direction, all day and all night. And we never woke up. The staff were terrific and the officers were at breakfast every morning. The food really good. I think there were only two other Americans which we really liked. Some spoke English and some didn't. Regarless super nice. (I could go on and on.)