Cruise ship ratings ...

[tedski]

My wife and I would like to take an Alaska cruise later this summer ... Aug or early Sep ... so I'm doing some initial investigation. I went to the Find A Cruise link off the main page, selected Alaska and got 40 total ships from the search. I then sorted by Rating and was looking through the reviews.

 

While reading the posted ship review of the HAL Ryndam (which was rated 4+), I was surprised at the number of negative points brought up.

 

How are the Cruise Critic ratings for a ship determined and why would a ship with such a high rating be paired with a written review that IMO, shows it in a much lower light?

 

Should I even give these ratings any weight? If not, it seems like it's going to take a long time to make a choice if I have to read through many personal reviews. Is there a simpler way to make an informed choice?

 

Thank you.

[tomko2]

Narrowing down the choices is best done by deciding what features you would enjoy on a cruise, e.g. balcony, itinerary, length of cruise, newer or older ship, dining options, and so on.

Once you have narrowed the options down to three or four, then you should read a number of the cruise critic reviews. It doesn't take long to get a sense of the writer's bias or impartiality. The good part of Cruise Critic reviews is that they do provide various perspectives and are not just a glossy marketing brochure. Every type of travel has some negative elements, you usually don't hear about them in advance as you do here.

On the other hand, through the posts we have gained terrific information about the ships and ports of call which truly enhanced our experience.

My personal perferences are: ships that are relatively new, booking a cabin with a balcony, early seating for dinner, eight days or longer cruises, larger vessels (no worries about motion) and a casino on board.

 

Good luck and happy cruising.

[SailAways]

Hi Tedski:

We too are cruising for the first time this September to Alaska. Being first time cruisers is very confusing.

 

I would agree with tomko in that the itinerary should be your first consideration.

 

After reading reviews, both personal and professional, we came to the conclusion that there are positive and negatives on every single ship.

 

You will find pros and cons on these boards for each and every cruise line.

 

It boils down to you just biting the bullet, after your own research.

 

Select the cruise line which fits your budget, itinerary, and length of cruise.

 

We did not find that star ratings, or plus and minus ratings held up from one site to the other.

 

Many ships are rated from three star all the way up to five. This is very subjective on the part of the person doing the review.

 

When we first started our research, the ship which we eventually selected, was getting some poor press.

 

But, we watched, and continued to read every review - on any ship, and quickly came to the conclusion that if we read long enough, we could find "dirt" about even the most pretigious cruise line. And, we did.

 

Ultimately, our choices were narrowed down by when we wanted to cruise, what we wanted to see, what we wanted to pay, and how long we wanted to be out on our first cruise.

 

We were fortunate to find many people who had been on our chosen ship previously who were willing to share their personal thoughts. They were of great help in making our decision.

 

Good Luck, and perhaps we will see you on the Norwegian Spirit this September!

 

:)