Ship Rating

Ship Ratings are a guide to the standards of accommodation, food, service and facilities that you can expect aboard your cruise ship. We also look at the passenger crew ratio as a rough guide to service levels aboard and the passenger space ratio (expressed as tons per passenger) to assess how crowded the ship can get when full. Both our rating and these ratios are shown on the individual Ship Details pages.

Budget
These tend to be older ships providing value for money cruises or small adventure ships with basic facilities. You may be cruising in somewhat crowded surroundings - the space ratio is often below 20. Cabins will be compact and the food and service will be acceptable. The adventure ships of Clipper, Cruise West and Quark will be included here along with the classic liners of Louis Cruise Line.

Standard
Mainly ships built in the 1980s and early 1990s providing an enjoyable cruise with reasonably good food and service - around one crew to every 3 passengers. The facilities will be quite good but sometimes crowded with space at between 20-30 tons per passenger. Principal cruise lines providing this level of ship are Carnival, Costa, NCL, Royal Caribbean and Thomson.

Superior
Predominantly large modern ships, from the mid 1990s on, with reasonably sized accommodation on attractive ships providing good food, service and entertainment from a range of public rooms and restaurants. The cruise experience should be very good and there will be more space (30-40 tons per passenger) and plenty of activities for all age groups. There are some older and smaller gems in the group with less facilities but excellent service. The major Cruise Lines in this group are: Carnival, Costa, Fred Olsen, MSC, NCL, P&O, Princess and Royal Caribbean.

Premier
Expect a classier cruise experience on these ships with more space and better service. The ships are modern and come in all sizes offering a space ratio of 40-50 tons per passenger and high quality food, service and facilities. The principal providers are Celebrity, Cunard, Holland America, P&O, Princess, Radisson and Windstar.

Luxury
Luxury shps will offer you true luxury, excellent cuisine and personal service in spacious and elegant surroundings. The space ratio will be around 50 tons per passenger. Meals should be a memorable experience and service attentive yet unobtrusive. Here you will find the ships of Crystal, Hebridean, Cunard, Seabourn, SeaDream and Silversea.