World’s Most Popular Cruises for 2018 – Cruise Critic
Cruise Critic announced the winners of its 8th annual Cruise Critic Cruisers’ Choice Awards – naming the most popular cruise ships of the year, based on consumer reviews shared on Cruise Critic over the past 12 months. The site boasts the largest online cruise community in the world with more than 350,000 cruise reviews, covering approximately 500 of the most popular cruise ships.
Large Ship Category
- Celebrity Cruises was this year’s big winner in the Large Ship Category, winning five awards, including Best Overall, Best Dining, Best Public Rooms and Best Service for Celebrity Equinox, and Best for Value for Celebrity Silhouette. Celebrity Silhouette sails a number of itineraries, including the Caribbean, Mediterranean and Baltic and has been praised for its wide range of dining and entertainment options onboard.
- Royal Caribbean International received four awards in the Large Ship Category, including Best Cabins, Best Embarkation and Best for Fitness & Recreation for Harmony of the Seas, and Best Entertainment for Allure of the Seas. Allure of the Seas features a number of chart-topping shows including Mamma Mia! and How to Train Your Dragon performed on ice.
Mid-Size Ship Category
- Oceania Cruises was awarded the most accolades in the Mid-Size Category, snagging five awards for Best Overall, Best Cabins, Best Dining, Best for Fitness & Recreation and Best Public Rooms for its ship, Riviera. This is the fourth consecutive year that the line was awarded in all five categories. Riviera offers Caribbean, Baltic and Mediterranean sailings, and will begin sailing to Cuba in 2019.
- Celestyal Cruises won two awards in the Mid-Size Category for its Celestyal Crystal – Best Shore Excursions and Best for Value. The ship sailed Cuba year-round, but will be redeployed to sail in the Mediterranean later in 2018.
Small-Mid Ship Category
- Viking Ocean Cruises was the runaway winner in the Small-Mid Category, winning in every category but one – Viking Sea was named Best Overall, Best Cabins, Best for Fitness & Recreation, Best Shore Excursions and Best for Value; Viking Sky was named Best Entertainment and Best Public Rooms; and Viking Star was named Best Dining and Best Service. Viking Sea was also named Best for First-Timers across all size categories.
Small Ship Category
- Windstar Cruises won four awards in the Small Category – all for different ships in its fleet. Star Pride was named Best Cabins, Wind Spirit named Best for Fitness & Recreation, Wind Star named Best Service and Star Legend, Best Public Rooms. Wind Star and Wind Spirit are both four-masted sailing ships, while Star Pride and Star Legend are luxury yachts.
- Silversea Cruises won three awards in the Small Category – Best Overall, Best Shore Excursions and Best for Value – for its 100-passenger Silver Galapagos. The ship is all-inclusive and offers year-round Galapagos cruises.
The winners of the 8th annual Cruise Critic Cruisers’ Choice Awards are awarded in four ship size classes, based on passenger capacity (Large: 2,000+ passengers; Mid-Size: 1,200 to 1,999 passengers; Small-Mid Size: 400- 1,199 passengers; Small: Fewer than 400 passengers.) The rankings are calculated using ratings published with user-submitted reviews on Cruise Critic.
First-place winners include:
Best Cruise Overall
Celebrity Equinox (Large) – Celebrity Cruises
Riviera (Mid-Sized) – Oceania Cruises
Viking Sea (Small-Mid) – Viking Ocean Cruises
Silver Galapagos (Small) – Silversea Cruises
Best Cruise Ship Cabins
Harmony of the Seas (Large) – Royal Caribbean International
Riviera (Mid-Sized) – Oceania Cruises
Viking Sea (Small-Mid) – Viking Ocean Cruises
Star Pride (Small) – Windstar Cruises
Best Cruise Ships for Dining
Celebrity Equinox (Large) – Celebrity Cruises
Riviera (Mid-Sized) – Oceania Cruises
Viking Star (Small-Mid) – Viking Ocean Cruises
National Geographic Explorer (Small) – Lindblad Expeditions
Best Cruise Ships for Embarkation
Harmony of the Seas (Large) – Royal Caribbean International
Amsterdam (Mid-Sized) – Holland America Line
Pacific Princess (Small-Mid) – Princess Cruises
Celebrity Xpedition (Small) – Celebrity Cruises
Best Cruise Ships for Entertainment
Allure of the Seas (Large) – Royal Caribbean International
Disney Wonder (Mid-Sized) – Disney Cruise Line
Viking Sky (Small-Mid) – Viking Ocean Cruises
L’Austral (Small) — Ponant
Best Cruise Ships for Fitness & Recreation
Harmony of the Seas (Large) – Royal Caribbean International
Riviera (Mid-Sized) – Oceania Cruises
Viking Sea (Small-Mid) – Viking Ocean Cruises
Wind Spirit (Small) – Windstar Cruises
Best Cruise Ships for Public Rooms
Celebrity Equinox (Large) – Celebrity Cruises
Riviera (Mid-Sized) – Oceania Cruises
Viking Sky (Small-Mid) – Viking Ocean Cruises
Star Legend (Small) – Windstar Cruises
Best Cruise Ships for Service
Celebrity Equinox (Large) – Celebrity Cruises
Amsterdam (Mid-Sized) – Holland America Line
Viking Star (Small-Mid) – Viking Ocean Cruises
Wind Star (Small) – Windstar Cruises
Best Cruise Ships for Shore Excursions
Carnival Breeze (Large) – Carnival Cruise Line
Celestyal Crystal (Mid-Sized) – Celestyal Cruises
Viking Sea (Small-Mid) – Viking Ocean Cruises
Silver Galapagos (Small) – Silversea Cruises
Best Cruise Ships for Value
Celebrity Silhouette (Large) – Celebrity Cruises
Celestyal Crystal (Mid-Sized) – Celestyal Cruises
Viking Sea (Small-Mid) – Viking Ocean Cruises
Silver Galapagos (Small) – Silversea Cruises
Best Cruises for Families
Carnival Breeze – Carnival Cruise Line
Best for First Timers
Viking Sea – Viking Ocean Cruises
For the full list of winners, visit the 2018 Cruise Critic Cruisers’ Choice Award
