Up next in 10
I'm constantly asked if I think that cruise lines are worse now than they used to be. After analysing how cruisers are rating them right now, the answer seems to be mostly yes.
I've poured over the online reviews and ratings of 25 of the biggest cruise lines aimed at English-speaking cruisers over the last nine months. A staggering 20 of them are being rated lower than ever before, with just two being rated higher.
Welcome aboard, I am Gary Bembridge and to make my findings as helpful as possible for you, I'm going reveal the current best and worst rated lines right now in each of the 5 categories the cruise industry uses: Mass Resort lines, Premium Lines, Small Ship Luxury Lines, Ultra-Luxury Lines and Local-focused Lines.
Get 10% off you "The Cruise Map" of you favourite cruise at https://www.thecruisemaps.com/tft
For bonus & exclusive content (including videos, articles, eBooks and more) become a channel member or patron:
---------------------------------------------------
* Patreon Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers
* YouTube Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join
Check out my cruise-themed T-shirts and products:
---------------------------------------------------
* T-Shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore
* Mugs, notebooks, hoodies etc: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/tipsfortravellers?ref_id=22354
My social media:
---------------------------------------------------
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
I'm constantly asked if I think the
0:02
cruise lines are worse now than they
0:04
used to be after analyzing how Cruisers
0:06
are rating them right now the answer
0:09
seems to be mostly yes I've poured over
0:12
the online reviews and ratings of 25 of
0:15
the biggest cruise lines aimed at
0:16
english- speaking cruises over the last
0:18
9 months staggering 20 of them are being
0:21
rated lower than ever before with just
0:24
two being rated higher welcome aboard
0:27
I'm Gary benridge and to make my
0:28
findings as helpful as possible for you
0:30
I'm going to reveal the current best and
0:32
worst rated lines right now in each of
0:34
the five categories the cruise industry
0:37
uses Mass Resort lines premium lines
0:40
small ship luxury lines ultr luxury
0:42
lines and local focused lines let's
0:45
start with the category more passengers
0:47
go cruising on than the others the
0:49
popular Resort style lines which
0:51
includes Carnival Royal Caribbean MC
0:54
Cruisers and Norwegian Cruise Line the
0:57
highest rating by Cruisers right now in
0:59
this Cate and just narrowly beating
1:01
Carnival is Royal Caribbean with a score
1:04
of 3.2 out of five so why are Cruisers
1:07
rating them the best in this category
1:11
their reviews suggest it's mostly to do
1:13
with the shows and their entertainment
1:15
options including big theater production
1:17
shows IE shows water shows a busy daily
1:20
program that caters for all ages and all
1:23
the activity features on board like flow
1:25
Riders slides game rooms zip lines and
1:29
so on also I see the new Mega ships are
1:32
extremely popular with icon of the Seas
1:34
helping boost recent reviews but even
1:37
ships like Symphony Of The Seas that I
1:39
was on recently and their other huge
1:40
Resort ships are driving higher scores
1:43
that the ratings and reviews are pulled
1:45
down by cruisers on the older Royal
1:47
Caribbean ships which are felt to be
1:49
increasingly dated and worn and as Royal
1:51
Caribbean kind of leads their
1:53
advertising with big bald action-packed
1:55
glitzy ships when people get on the
1:57
older ships they're not surprisingly
1:59
disappointed more than ever before
2:02
reviews and ratings are also dampened by
2:04
the numbers and crowds on ships
2:06
especially as many ships now sale over
2:08
double capacity with kids sharing
2:10
parents cabins and that leads to many
2:12
lines and everything from the winda
2:13
buffet to the water slides the worst of
2:16
the resort lines right now is MC
2:18
Cruisers with just 2.7 out of five and
2:21
they got the most one-star ratings of
2:23
all 25 lines are reviewed so why do
2:26
Cruisers rate MSC so poorly well many
2:28
say they find MSC attractive there are
2:31
five things they consistently bring up
2:34
first the ships are overly crowded MC
2:38
does have kids traveling for free and
2:40
lots of shared family rooms so these
2:42
ships can be extremely packed and spaces
2:44
are always busy it can be hard to find
2:46
places around pools or often in many of
2:49
the venues second as a result service is
2:52
slow and there is poor and dismissive
2:55
customer
2:55
service thirdly entertainment is average
2:59
especially though compared to the other
3:02
lines in this category fourthly the food
3:05
is at best average with many people
3:07
saying the buffet is disappointing and
3:09
repetitive and lastly there is a lot of
3:12
upselling on board which brings me to
3:15
what people like most about them in the
3:17
reviews the low fairs and kids traveling
3:20
free those that like them feel they are
3:22
the best option of all the lines in
3:25
terms of value if that was the best and
3:27
worst of the resort style lines which
3:29
lines are doing well and badly these
3:31
days in the premium category as the
3:33
industry calls it the premium category
3:36
lines tend to have smaller ships than
3:38
the resort lines carrying from about
3:40
2,000 to say 3,500 passengers they don't
3:43
have features like water parks and
3:44
slides but they do still have a wide
3:47
range of cabins from inside through to
3:49
Suites it mostly includes long
3:51
established lines at kmore for all the
3:53
couples with a pretty traditional Cruise
3:56
program the lines in this category
3:58
includes holl in America kunard
4:00
celebrity but it also does include
4:02
Disney for families and virgin voyagers
4:04
for 18 plus Travelers only the best
4:07
scoring line with 3.6 out of five and
4:10
one of the few that saw a growth in its
4:12
ratings recently is celebrity which is
4:14
part of the Royal Caribbean group who
4:16
also topped the resort category right
4:18
now as you just heard unlike most lines
4:21
many Cruisers talk about how celebrity
4:22
have improved their product better ships
4:25
improved service and food what I'm
4:27
seeing is their decision to Launch The
4:30
Edge class ships Edge Apex Beyond and
4:32
Excel is driving their improved ratings
4:35
and their reviews for sure these new
4:37
modern ships have the most positive
4:40
reviews even though the infinite balcony
4:43
cabins do definitely divide opinions in
4:46
the reviews however cruises traveling in
4:48
the older Solstice and Millennium class
4:50
ships feel that those are being
4:52
neglected and are starting to look a bit
4:54
dated less wellmaintained and they're
4:56
losing excuse the upon their Edge the
4:59
other dampling fact in the reviews is
5:01
the impact of kids the new ships are
5:04
attracting younger Cruisers with kids
5:06
and this is proving fairly divisive
5:09
those used to cruising on Celebrity
5:10
without kids are complaining about the
5:12
disruption that kids are causing while
5:15
those taking kids are complaining that
5:16
there's not enough for their kids to do
5:19
and that the kids clubs are not good
5:21
enough so while the new ships have
5:22
driven celebrities ratings and reviews
5:25
upwards the premium line that's getting
5:27
the worst score these days had theirs
5:30
driven downwards largely due to their
5:33
new ship the worst scoring premium line
5:36
right now is kunard with 3.1 out of five
5:39
their scores and reviews have been
5:41
dragged down since the launch of Queen
5:43
Anne largely as many existing Cod
5:46
Travelers feel it's not Cod enough and
5:49
they dislike some of the features like
5:50
the Queen's room and the overall layout
5:52
and design of the ship the flagship
5:55
transatlantic Queen Mary 2 liner is
5:58
still pretty much getting getting
5:59
overall good ratings and reviews
6:01
although many reviewers generally feel
6:03
that kunut is kind of watering down the
6:05
experience and feels more mainstream
6:07
than luxury these days now personally I
6:10
think that kunard create this issue
6:12
because their advertising suggests a
6:14
luxurious experience with white glove
6:16
service and loads of Glamour but once
6:18
you're on board it's not quite like that
6:21
and it's broadly a similar experience to
6:22
princess or H in America unless you're
6:25
cruising in a Grill's Suite talking of
6:28
luxury many Cruis in the premium
6:30
category seem to have upgraded or tried
6:33
smaller luxury ships in the last few
6:35
years and I can see in the ratings and
6:37
reviews of this next category what
6:39
effect that is having on which lines do
6:42
well and which do badly the lies in the
6:45
small ship luxury category like Azamara
6:47
Oceania Viking and Saga mostly operate
6:50
with ships between about 700 and 1,200
6:53
passengers there some like Windstar are
6:56
much smaller most have a wide range of
6:58
cabin types starting from inside an
7:00
ocean view up to Suites and make much of
7:03
being able to call into smaller ports
7:04
than bigger ships can or about docking
7:07
in City centers while of course bigger
7:09
ships must stock in further away
7:11
industrial ports there is a line that
7:13
stands up by some margin in this
7:15
category and is actually the second
7:17
highest scoring of all 25 lines I
7:20
reviewed with an impressive 4.6 out of
7:22
five at the moment and that is Viking
7:25
ocean being adult only pushes up the
7:27
reviews and ratings attract active to
7:29
some as more families are cruising on
7:31
premium lines but the main reason for
7:33
their High rating is their consistent
7:35
quality and there's no sense of them
7:37
cutting back as Cruisers accuse other
7:39
lines of doing that's certainly what
7:41
they're saying in the reviews they do
7:43
have a very loyal audience that tends to
7:45
be the over 60s and 70s and they do seem
7:48
to be a more cautious Travelers who
7:49
frequently talk about how Viking takes
7:52
care of all the details as they include
7:54
transfers and so on and people
7:56
definitely like that I saw many reviews
7:58
and high ratings though by first timers
8:00
who really like the lack of onboard
8:02
upsell that they got on premium lines
8:04
because Viking does have many more
8:07
inclusions The Limited negative reviews
8:10
are by younger Cruisers who feel that it
8:13
caters only for an older crowd with
8:15
stayed and less relevant entertainment
8:18
and I do have to agree with that
8:19
personally the worst of the small ship
8:21
luxury lines right now is Oceania still
8:24
with a relatively good score of 3.7 out
8:27
of five Oceania gets mark down as
8:30
existing Cruisers that the lofty promise
8:32
in their marketing is no longer being
8:34
delivered and first timers say they
8:36
expected more for their money based on
8:39
This Promise Oceania have created a rod
8:41
for their own back because they
8:43
advertise that they have the finest
8:45
cuisine at sea but almost universally
8:49
recent reviewers say they don't these
8:51
days and several other lines have caught
8:53
up and even exceeded them in their view
8:56
another thing that is affecting the
8:58
reviews is their inconsistent Fleet they
9:02
have these new modern ships like the
9:04
Vista which seem well liked but they
9:07
also have old and increasingly dated
9:09
Rass ships with tiny cabins and very
9:12
small bathrooms and these pull the
9:14
rating and the reviews down Oceania also
9:17
changed their Fair inclusions and
9:19
exclusions during the time that I did
9:21
look at the reviews to something called
9:23
simply more and that was really
9:25
unpopular they've also by the way just
9:27
changed that again and I think that's G
9:29
to affect their results going forward
9:31
talking of inclusions the next Cruise
9:32
category has the greatest level of these
9:34
those you will see those are having an
9:37
unwelcome impact on the ratings of some
9:40
of the lines the ultr Lu Tre category
9:42
often style themselves as offering six
9:45
star service with all sweet ships and
9:47
inclusions like drinks gratuities Wi-Fi
9:50
and special dining there some actually
9:52
have even more than that this category
9:55
has seen new entrance like Explorer
9:57
Journeys the Resurrected C and Ritz
10:00
Carlton Yachts who join the long
10:02
established silver sea Seaborn and
10:04
Regent 7even Seas scores overall are
10:07
really high in this category but the two
10:09
highest scoring are the new lines
10:11
Explorer Journeys launched by MC scores
10:13
an incredible 4.8 out of five with the
10:16
most five-star reviews of any of the 25
10:19
I studied the second highest scoring in
10:21
this category was crystal with 4.4 out
10:23
of five Explorer Journey ships carry 922
10:26
guests and the reviews say things like
10:28
Explorer is a festar floating
10:31
Masterpiece reviews constantly say the
10:33
ships feel luxurious cabins are plush
10:36
and Rave about the dining the only
10:38
negative spoken about is that evening
10:40
entertainment is pretty much everyone
10:43
says underwhelming the worst performing
10:45
line in this category is another
10:47
Norwegian Cruise group line region 7even
10:50
seats with 3.5 out of five now region
10:54
offers more inclusions than some in the
10:56
category like flights prestay Hotel
10:58
based on grade transfers and multiple
11:01
excursions in ports they recently they
11:04
have actually started offering a fair
11:06
option with less inclusions as well
11:09
there are two key issues I saw in the
11:10
region reviews and ratings that I want
11:13
to highlight first cruises feel overall
11:16
they don't recently match the quality of
11:19
the other luxury lines and although many
11:21
in the reviews compare them to Seaborn
11:22
and silvery increasingly I see reviewers
11:25
compare Regent and in fact the other
11:27
ultr luxury lines to Explorer and
11:29
Crystal as these seem to be the new
11:31
elevated gold standards in the category
11:33
second for region the biggest impact on
11:35
their reviews and ratings were directly
11:38
related to their more all-inclusive
11:40
experience I saw repeated complaints
11:43
about complicated flight routings and
11:45
pre- hotels I have to say I agree that
11:48
based on the region trips I've done they
11:49
haven't had great pre- hotels and they
11:52
offered not great flight
11:54
routings also there are many complaints
11:57
about the choice and quality of the
12:00
included excursions with the best ones
12:02
being sold out and really hard to get
12:05
there is another category I want to talk
12:06
about local focused Cruise Lines which
12:09
are sold exclusively or mostly to
12:12
residents of one particular country the
12:14
UK is the most noticeable of these with
12:17
many including Pino cruises Fred Olsen
12:21
Mela Ambassador and Saga the best
12:24
scoring of these is actually Fred Olsen
12:27
with a score of four out of five
12:29
where a fleet change seems to have had a
12:32
really big impact they retired some
12:34
ships and bought two of the older
12:36
Holland America ships during the
12:37
pandemic shutdown we launched them as
12:40
Borealis and the bolet after some
12:43
negative reviews early on about the
12:45
condition of the ships they seem to have
12:47
worked on them and these days reviewers
12:49
seem to like the ships the food and the
12:52
service the worst scoring of the UK
12:54
Lines by a really long way was P cruises
12:58
which gets one of the low scores of the
13:00
25 lines are analyzed with a low 2.6 out
13:03
of five now P used to be a very
13:05
traditional couples line that's
13:07
transformed in the last few years by
13:09
launching Mega ships and value pricing
13:12
so they're becoming a family focused
13:14
fun-packed line they kind of want to be
13:16
in the UK what I think Carnival is to
13:18
the United States the new ships are big
13:21
and crowded and past Travelers talk
13:23
about p as now being distinctly average
13:26
with a real sense of cutbacks in the
13:27
product food and service
13:29
mov to things like once a day cabin
13:32
service they do have though two adult
13:34
ownerships Aurora and Arcadia but those
13:37
reviews aren't great either because
13:39
people talk about the ships looking kind
13:41
of old and dated these days in terms of
13:44
the US the regional line that does
13:46
incredibly well is Margarita vet SE with
13:49
4.1 out of five score I was to be honest
13:52
quite surprised at that from what I've
13:53
seen of the line however it's clear that
13:55
they know their audience and Their
13:57
audience loves the Great value short
13:59
breaks that they provide if I haven't
14:02
mentioned one of your favorite lines it
14:04
means they're basically in the middle
14:05
neither good nor bad right now let me
14:07
know what you think of your usual line
14:09
these days in the comments and join me
14:12
over in this video where I reveal what
14:14
we're all doing that is currently
14:16
driving cruise ship Crew crazy see you
14:19
over there
#Arts & Entertainment
#Travel & Transportation
#Cruises & Charters
#Specialty Travel
#Adventure Travel
#Luxury Travel
#Transportation