Are you wondering which cruise line is the best for you? I’m going to tell you all about the different types of cruise lines. Then I’ll compare them so you can decide which cruise line you should choose. There’s cruise tips for first timers and even more experienced cruisers!
Once upon a time… wait, this isn’t a fairy tale! OK go back a few years and you would’ve heard me say that you couldn’t PAY me to take a cruise. I used to think that all cruises were huge boats full of drunk people partying, and screaming kids, and to top it off, with no access to wifi. Which pretty much describes my worst nightmare!
Then I learned that there are different types of cruise lines, to suit all kinds of people. And I was hooked! Many cruises later I want to share the wonderful world of ocean cruising with everyone. Read on for cruise tips about which cruise line to book.
So, if you’ve been thinking cruising isn’t for you or perhaps you’re interested in taking a cruise but aren’t sure how to get started, I’m here to help!
When I learned that there were different types of cruise lines, my mind was blown! I’d only known about the mainstream or mass market ones but there’s so much more to it than that!
I’m focusing on ocean cruising here, but in addition to ocean cruising there’s expedition and river cruising. There’s some overlap in cruise lines across these three categories. For instance Seabourn and Silversea, amongst others, do both ocean and expedition cruises, and Viking does ocean and river cruises. And Celebrity has just announced they’re getting into river cruising. But the ships used for each, and the cruising style, are very different.
Ocean cruising has four types of cruise lines, and I’ll go through each of them. And I’ll include a list of which cruise lines are in each type. Even within each of these cruise line types you’ll experience different cruises depending on the length of the cruise, the itinerary and the time of year. Read on to learn more and to help you find your favourite cruise line.
Contents
- Mainstream cruise lines
- Premium cruise lines
- Luxury cruise lines
- Ultra-luxury cruise lines
- Before you choose your cruise line
Mainstream cruise lines
Mainstream or mass market cruise lines were the only ones I was aware of all those years ago when I wouldn’t even consider cruising. But don’t let that put you off mainstream cruises! Once I learned more and started to sail the seven seas myself, I discovered that it’s rare that cruising is the nightmare I once thought!
The shorter, two-to-three-day itineraries are most likely to be the party cruises, so if you aren’t into that take a longer cruise – I’d recommend any cruise should be for at least a week. Similarly, if you don’t like being surrounded by kids don’t cruise in the school holidays!
Mainstream cruise lines mostly have the larger ships, plenty of activities on board, kids’ clubs and late-night bars and nightclubs.
Cruise lines in the mainstream or mass-market category include Royal Caribbean, Carnival, P&O, Norwegian, MSC, Costa, Marella and Margaritaville at Sea.
Their ships range from full double occupancy of 1,300 for Margaritaville at Sea Paradise, to 7,600 for Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas.
We’ve cruised on Norwegian Prima, which has double occupancy capacity of just over 3,000 when there were approximately 3,500 people onboard, during Thanksgiving week out of New York. The greater than double occupancy indicates lots of children, as does it being Thanksgiving week. But we were pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed the cruise and didn’t feel over-run by kids. In fact, I don’t recall any kids being annoying. But there were a few adults blaring noise out of their phones that made me want to punch them!
You’ll find on mainstream cruise lines that apart from food not much else is included. Some people complain about the “nickel and diming” on these lines. Most, if not all, mainstream cruises charge daily gratuities on top of the fare. The good news is that they all have packages that include drinks, and some include extras like wifi in the packages too. Make sure you research the packages before you book!
I like to book a package so I know what the complete cost of the cruise will be, and I won’t get any nasty surprises in my onboard account at the end. So don’t rule out mainstream cruise lines! Plus, some of them have the ship within a ship concept. Examples are The Haven on Norwegian, and MSC Yacht Club. These give you an elevated experience but with all the activities and fun found on board a bigger ship.
Premium cruise lines
Premium cruise lines generally cost more and may not have as many activities on board. Some still have kids’ clubs but many don’t. Our experience is that the food experience is sometimes slightly elevated from mainstream cruise lines.
Cruise lines that are considered premium are Princess, Virgin Voyages, Cunard, Holland America, Celebrity, Disney, Fred. Olsen, Celestyal, Saga and Ambassador.
They mostly have larger ships although they range from occupancy of just under a thousand on all of Saga’s ships, to 4,300 on the Sun Princess.
We’ve cruised on Princess and have an upcoming Celebrity Cruise. We enjoy premium cruise lines. But like mainstream cruise lines, you need to pick the right cruise to ensure you don’t experience the things that might put you off cruising.
We haven’t found shorter itineraries to be drunken party ships. But you can be over-run with children since there are less activities on board. So avoid school holidays if kids aren’t your thing.
Like mainstream cruise lines, some premium cruise lines have ship within a ship concepts. Examples are the Celebrity Retreat and Princess’s Sanctuary, which is being introduced on Sun Princess. These give you a luxury experience on a larger ship.
We’ve cruised on premium lines and enjoy them a lot. And not we’re having our first ship within a ship experience on Celebrity Edge in a couple of months. I’m really looking forward to seeing what that’s like and coming back with ship within a ship cruise tips. Not all the premium lines have packages available, so again, do your research before you book! A great place for research is the Cruise Critic forums – they aren’t sponsoring this, but I can highly recommend them! I’ll put a link in the description below.
Luxury cruise lines
Let’s move onto luxury cruise lines. These sit between premium and ultra luxury. In fact since there is no official classification system for cruises there are arguments for some of these to go into the premium category, and the rest into ultra luxury!
Cruise lines considered luxury are Viking Ocean, Azamara, Oceania, Hapag-Lloyd and Windstar.
You’ll notice that the ships are getting smaller. All Windstar’s ships hold 312 passengers, with the largest in this category being Oceania’s Riviera and Marina at 1,250 passengers. So, you can see that size isn’t necessarily the differentiator between cruise ship categories. Although the higher up the luxury ladder you go, the smaller the ships tend to be.
There are less activities on these cruise lines, and they have smaller entertainment teams. Some offer enrichment lectures, and most focus on things like afternoon tea and trivia. My cruise tip is to read the daily program to find the things you are interested in.
We enjoy cruising on luxury lines. It’s a quieter experience, but we always find our own routine and the places we like to hang out during the day.
You won’t like these cruise lines if you like big shows and lots of onboard activities. You won’t find any water slides here! They don’t usually have kids’ clubs and although most allow children you usually won’t find many, if any, children onboard.
We cruised on Oceania Insignia in Canada and New England. We we’re in our mid to late 50s but we felt like we were right at the younger end of the age range onboard. And that’s fine, we tend to keep to ourselves rather than seeing a cruise as an opportunity to socialise with new friends. But if you like to meet people onboard and aren’t in an older age bracket, these cruises probably aren’t for you! These lines often have more inclusions in the basic fare – drinks, speciality dining, wifi, gratuities. So it pays to understand what you’re getting so you can make a true comparison with other lines. At the moment Oceania is our favourite cruise line!
Ultra-luxury cruise lines
Let’s look at the cruises at the top of the tree – at least when it comes to the fare!
The ultra luxury cruise lines include Silversea, Regent Seven Seas, Crystal, Seabourn, Explora Journeys, Ponant, Paul Gauguin Cruises, Ritz-Carlton Yacht Club and SeaDream Yacht Club.
We’re at the smallest end of the ship scale here, ranging from 64 on Le Ponant to just over a thousand on Crystal Serenity.
Like the luxury lines, the activities are more limited. But the benefit of these cruises is that the smaller ships can often go to places that big ships can’t, such as right into the heart of London. And in ports where the big ships must tender these little ones can still dock, meaning it’s easier to get into port.
These days many ports are starting to restrict cruise ship passenger numbers too. So being on a ship that holds less than a thousand people is a huge benefit.
These cruise lines are all inclusive, or very close to it, meaning that the high fare you pay to start with may be competitive against a premium or mainstream cruise fare. So don’t rule them out thinking they’ll be too expensive for you!
And the service is incredible, from what I hear. Many have butlers for every stateroom! I haven’t had the pleasure of an ultra-luxury cruise yet. We were booked on a Silversea cruise, but it was cancelled, and we haven’t decided on a replacement yet. But I’m very much looking forward to going on one and the only problem is deciding which to try first!
Before you choose your cruise line
Your takeaway from this might be that for your budget you will only be looking at, say, mainstream or mainstream and premium cruises. And it’s true that the price goes up as you go up the category ladder. But what you may not realise is that sometimes the cruises in the luxury or ultra luxury categories have more inclusions than the ones in mainstream and premium categories.
I strongly recommend that before you book a cruise, if price is a strong factor for you but you like a bit of the good life, that you fully price options from a range of cruise lines. Sign up for email newsletters from cruise lines you’re interested in to find out when they have sales!
And as I mentioned earlier, another thing that luxury and ultra luxury cruises have going for them is that in a smaller ship you can access ports that larger ships can’t, or you may dock in the central port for a city rather than having to dock in an industrial port and get bussed an hour each way to the town or city advertised in your itinerary. When you only have a certain number of hours in a port this will maximise your port experience! And watch out for gratuities – many cruise lines charge a daily gratuity amount per person, which can really add up. Check the fine print of the cruise you’re thinking of booking to make sure that you don’t get a big, unexpected bill for this at the end of your cruise!
Now that you know how to decide which cruise line to book, to learn what to pack click here, and to find out the secrets behind the cruise ships, click here! Or click here for all my cruise tips.
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About
We are Mardi and Michael Linke. We’ve been travelling together for over 25 years and we love to share our experiences, showing the places we go and reviewing hotels, airlines and cruises.
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