As none of us want to waste our precious
vacation time and money on anything but those cruise lines on top of their game, I've
been diving into the latest cruise reviews, pouring over the thousands of
comments and messages I get, and been cruising on many cruise lines to see
which are hot - and which are not - right now. Based on all that here are the lines I think
you may need think about carefully, and why. I found there is a rocky storm at sea
driving passenger frustrations. First, many lines are cutting back, charging for things
that used to be included, and increasing charges. Secondly, ships are sailing fuller than
ever in many regions as demand is high, stretching the crew and
testing passengers’ patience. Third, cruise lines are obsessed with attracting
new-to-cruise passengers, including families, and making ships and everything they do
more appealing to those, so on some lines, as I will discuss, existing cruisers are seeing
changes that don't really appeal. I certainly am. And fourthly, almost all lines now have bigger
ships post shutdown both from selling small ones and launching new ones, which is changing
the experience on many established lines. By the way, if you're new here,
welcome aboard. I'm Gary Bembridge, making it fun and easy to discover
and enjoy incredible cruise vacations. There are seven cruise lines, that's right
seven, that I'm seeing – or personally have - a lot of grumbles about. Let me start
with those in the mass resort lines first. First, the cruise line that gets lots
of the grumbles is Costa Cruise lines. Of course, many English-speaking travellers
are not looking at Costa Cruise lines because it is an Italian-centric line and so it's not
on many radars. Though as Carnival Corporation moved two of their ships (Venezia and Firenze)
to sail under the Carnival name as “Carnival Fun Italian Style” concept out of the USA,
many did start trying the original line. However, on that main Costa line most
English-speaking passengers found it a bit alien, as on board they were the minority and the lead
language in all activities, announcements and so on is in Italian. Also, as most passengers
are too, meeting and mixing is more difficult. It tends to attract families with younger
kids. The food is so-so as a value line, there are more smokers and although its newer
ships are modern and up to date, it really is a line that just doesn't seem to resonate with
travellers used to the American or British style of cruising. It has some of the lowest ratings
of any line as a result by those travellers. The next which is also rated low right now
for many of the same reasons, is MSC Cruises. However, MSC Cruises are making a big push
in many regions beyond their European base, including the UK, where they have ships like
MSC Virtuosa based, and in North America, particularly sailing out of Miami with
many of their new glitzy mega ships. Many have tried MSC Cruises because of
their incredibly good value, and the policy of kids travelling free which makes it extremely
appealing to families. But many have not liked it. MSC Cruises gets criticism for a couple of
reasons. First, they tend to be really packed, partly driven by the kids travelling free rule
so many cabins in vacation time have 4 people in. For example, on my MSC Virtuosa cruise
earlier this year the sailing after me in school holidays had 6,000 people on
board versus the double occupancy of 4,500 that I had which already felt crowded.
That 1,500 additional all being kids. This has a knock-on effect leading to customer
service tending to be poor and off hand, long lines for events, long waiting times to get served
with drinks, speciality restaurants and shows being sold out at popular times, or even easily
finding places to sit in the evenings in the bars. As the service and approach is more European
too, I think many North American guests find and criticize it for being aloof, less engaging
and bubbly versus more US-Centric lines. The food gets rated at best as
okay. It's not particularly amazing. They do have the Yacht Club, which is
their more premium ship-within-a-ship with dedicated concierge, lounge, bar, deck, and restaurant that gets better ratings as it is
the best value suites in the category probably. The ships themselves though are beautiful,
but we’re not paying a lot of money and critics maybe not factoring in we’re
getting what we pay for. Either way, a line that overall many passengers do rate low. Another cruise line I need to mention,
which is an absolute juggernaut and the biggest cruise line in terms of number
of passengers carried, is Carnival. Carnival is getting very poor to mixed
reviews now. And I did debate whether to include it in this list as I suspect there
is a different reason for the poor reviews. These are big, fun ships. They're boisterous, they're rowdy, and they are for people who
want high party and buzzing atmosphere. They have a loyal following who adore that.
And looking at the critics I felt that most of the poor reviews are from passengers
that the line is not best suited for.
Because a lot of the criticisms are around
the ships being too busy, too boisterous, too rowdy and the entertainment program not
being what they are looking for. Overall people like the value, food, and service
– and the newer ships like the Mardi Gras So, I have included Carnival in my list as I think
it reminds us all that going on a cruise line that is right for us, even if a line like Carnival is
cheaper, is so essential when picking our cruise. I was also surprised to
see Norwegian Cruise Lines, which generally has very good reviews,
is getting fewer good reviews. That seems to be mostly focused on three
issues vexing passengers right now. First, they have made some very public cuts in
service, like moving to one a day cabin service, cutting numbers of cabin stewards, all while
increasing gratuities, and they have started to cut back on some of the production shows they
are known for, cutting seven of the big well-known brand and Broadway shows on nine of the ships
including “Six”, “Footloose” and “Kinky Boots.” Second, they seem to be getting more criticism
for nickel-and-diming than ever before, although Norwegian has always been a line
that has charged for all the many choices on board so that may be a reaction more to some
of the very public cutbacks that have been made. And thirdly, especially with the
introduction of new ships Prima and Viva, critics complain about the amount
of space taken up by The Haven, which is their premium suite only
area with restaurant, pool deck, lounge and so on, as it closes increasingly
larger parts of the ship to regular guests. So, there is much more criticism of Norwegian at present, which may even out as
some of these changes bed in. A cruise line closer to my home that's
getting a very poor rap these days is P&O Cruises. I must admit this is
a line I find not great right now. I think a lot of the criticism
and poor ratings, including mine, is partly because this is a cruise line that's
actively changing from being a traditional cruise line focused on couples over 50, with
formal nights and classic daily program, into a mega ship more family cruise line. It's really
shifting its focus into attracting families. It is also a bit more confusing and
less consistent which I think fuels the reviews as it has a wide range of ships,
ranging from the large modern Iona and Arvia, which is the same ship as Carnival Mardi Gras,
to smaller ships like Aurora and Arcadia, which are smaller adult-only ships. And very
different entertainment, venues, and program. Looking at it, I think a big part of the
complaint is people who used to love P&O for what it was are not enjoying
it as it's becoming something very different. First time cruisers and
families seem way more enthusiastic. So again, if considering check if
the evolving line is right for you. Which brings me to another well-known line that
seems to be suffering from the same issues. Princess Cruises is a line that I personally have not been that positive about recently as
I think it has lost a lot of momentum, particularly in relation to the
food, which is still not up to speed. However, they are making changes, introducing
a new culinary council led by Rudi Sodamin, who reinvigorated Holland America food recently. Princess is getting very mixed
reviews for two other reasons. First, they have taken many things that were
included in the base fare to now paid for in their “Princess Plus” add-ons which can
cost from $75 (£50) a day and upwards. Things like the amazing previously included
pizzas I must pay for unless I buy Princess Plus, also things like premium desserts, ordering
drinks and snacks to where I am sitting and so on. And secondly, they're also getting poor reviews
for an issue like P&O Cruises. They're going down a similar path launching bigger ships, like
Sky Princess, Discovery Princess, which have 3,600 or more passengers, and getting rid of
their smaller ships during the pandemic. So, a different experience and with that they
are focusing on attracting more families. For the traditional Princess
traveller, these are big changes, which is why I think we've seen some
of those negative reviews. However, if you look at reviews from multi-generational
travellers and families, we are seeing a more positive situation. So, again something
to consider if thinking of them. One of the cruise lines that
I do have to put in here, as it is getting very mixed reviews now,
but I think will improve, is Azamara. Azamara was sold during the cruise
shutdown by Royal Caribbean and its new owners clearly struggled a little
bit when it first came up and running. I went on Azamara not long after cruising started
up with new owners and it was very under par and not really performing as it used to be. There
were cutbacks, food was okay and service mixed. Then they have had lots of issues with their IT, as they shifted onto their own systems with
lots of things going wrong from that. Like booking excursions and other things for on board
not showing up, errors in bookings and so on. However, although it's got a lot of negative
reviews, it does seem to be on the change. So, that's one to keep watching, as it
seems they could be finding their feet. If you’d like to know which lines are
sailing high and getting strong reviews, then join me over in this video where
I start with the line that has beaten all the doomsayers to be amongst the
best right now. See you over there.
