Cruise Lines – The BEST and those needing HELP

The best and those who need help of 2011 are simply subjective to my own personal experiences and those taken from the many cruise passengers who have booked with me during the 2011 year. I won’t mince words and hold back as honesty is the best policy for a travel professional who must decipher the good, the bad, and the ugly. Yes, all three coexist in the fantasy world of cruise travel. By saying “needing help”, creates a fear that the cruise line is not good. This simply isn’t the case. It just demonstrates an area wherein a particular cruise line did not deliver up to par in 2011.

LUXURY LINE

Crystal Cruises – The Best
Consistently the best luxury brand across the board and rates the highest among guests year after year. This cruise line should be the model of the cruise industry while having  two older ships. Crystal continuously refurbishes, polishes, and delivers the best all-around luxury product…period!

Silversea Cruises – Needing Help
The onboard service continues to be erratic according to sailed guests. It varies from ship-to-ship and sailing. I would hope this issue had rhyme or reason but it appears to be a moving target. Polish that service Silversea and you will have a complete winner as your ships are beautiful, unique, and provide superb cuisine.

PREMIUM LINE

Oceania Cruises – The Best
Ocean delivers the best in class with its mid-sized 700-1200 passenger ships that offer excellent food, service, and value. It’s itineraries are superb and country club casual dress code-creates a winner for sophisticated travelers looking for the perfect ambiance. This line consistently delivers a wonderful and innovative product.

Celebrity Cruises and Holland America – Needing Help

Both suffer from inconsistent fleets of ships in need of refurbishment and repair. While Celebrity is refurbishing its older ships in a fast track move ( several years overdue), these older ships have been overshadowed and neglected as the new and spectacular Solstice Class ships emerged over the past few years.  Celebrity, however, continues to be a brilliant cruise line, innovative, and has the best maritime architecture in the premium sector of the cruise industry. I suspect Celebrity will overshadow its main competitor Holland America in 2012 with a “finally” refreshed fleet of ships.

Holland America has done a mixed job of refurbishing its fleet of elegant mid-sized ships. It appears that the Signature of Excellence 2.0 initiative slowed exponentially in 2011 and guests have returned commenting on how this fleet of popular ships suffers from mismatched décor and partial refurbishment. The word tired comes to mind and is often mentioned by returning guests. While HAL delivers superb onboard value, excellent service, and cuisine, it needs to continue to tend to its fleet a bit more lavishly. This line could out shadow all of its competition as the true winner as is it has the makings of perfection with its brilliant fleet of mid-sized ships –just finish the upgrades properly Holland America.

CONTEMPORARY LINE

Norwegian Cruise Line – The Best

This line is often overshadowed but giants Royal Caribbean, Princess Cruises, and Carnival but has been the comeback kid re-inventing itself over and over. The Norwegian Epic although widely criticized for its innovative bathrooms has been a hallmark of the cruise industry in 2011. Its older ships have been upgraded and include the best dining options, spectacular entertainment, and staying true to its ever popular Freestyle dining. The Haven, a series of unique  exceptional suites offers a luxury cruise experience and services not offered by the other contemporary brands.

MSC – Needing Help

This new and exciting cruise line with beautiful new spotless ships continues to suffer from inconsistent food and service. It has become the bottom barrel price point in North America and it makes no sense to me why MSC cannot pull itself up by its boot straps and deliver a truly great product. They have an award winning formula but seem to be caught in the doldrums of fine tuning its product. Come on MSC, take heed and deliver! The MSC Yacht Club is one winning piece delivering a unique all-inclusive luxury product on three of its largest ships. This product offers superb value and service and overshadows the experience found throughout the rest of the ships.

Challenges Ahead for 2012

The cruise industry will likely suffer from continued lower price points in 2012 as the world economy continues to languish. The problem is that many lines have indeed cut back and in some cases significantly. While it might be partially acceptable to do so, the problem seems to be that overall delivery by most lines varies from ship-to ship as the customer experience is sometimes impaired by continuous push for onboard revenue, possible cut backs in food, staff, and some services. These are noticeable to avid cruisers who travel frequently and remember every item that is cut back. I suggest the cruise industry stay true to its promises in the brochures which do unfortunately over-glamorize the experience that is actually delivered. This applies to all three cruise categories.

Nonetheless, cruising offers a brilliant vacation and one that cannot be matched value for dollar ashore. Congratulations to the winners and the best to those needing some help.

What is your favorite cruise line and why? Which ones do you think need the most help?  You can comment by hitting the reply link at the top of this post.

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