Berlitz Announces Ratings For Top Five-Star Cruise Ships ..............

[uk1]

BERLITZ N E W S R E L E A S E

 

The Oscar-of-the-Sea goes to…

 

 

· Berlitz Announces Ratings For Top Five-Star Cruise Ships in The Complete Guide To Cruising & Cruise Ships 2006

· World Famous Cruise Authority Scores Virtually all of the World’s Cruise Ships in Annual Guide

 

For the sixth consecutive year, Europa, the luxury Hapag-Lloyd ship tops the list with the highest score in the most categories in the definitive annual cruising guide: the Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships 2006, which is to be published on October 31, 2005.

 

The winning ship is so high-scoring in all possible areas that author Douglas Ward, world renowned authority on cruise ships, created a new class for the ship in an earlier edition: Five-Stars-Plus.

 

“Any ship on the Top 18 Five-Star list can be considered to deliver the utmost in luxury,” says Ward. In this year’s edition, he devotes a special section to delineating what cruise passengers can expect on a luxury cruise, as opposed to most cruises. “Luxury cruises are very special. Staff will know passengers by name, and provide them with the finest in amenities. Guests don’t have to endure announcements and mindless background music in public rooms, and the menus are highly creative, with items like caviar, foie gras and fresh, not frozen vegetables in abundance,” he says.

 

While the Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships 2006, now in its 21st year, delivers the most far-ranging analyses and ratings for the 269 cruise ships that sail today's seas, Ward says that there is no best cruise line in the world. Different ships will be suitable to different people depending on what they’re looking for in a holiday – luxury, culture, romance, rest, adventure, teen fun or sports for the children.

 

This year, only 18 ships scored the numbers necessary for membership into the prestigious Five-Stars Club, as opposed to 20 which earned the rating in last year’s guide. Hebridean Spirit and Hebridean Princess are off the list, while Queen Mary 2 went down several places, from 1764 points to 1712 and fails to get into the Top Ten. See below for a list of all the Five-Star Ships in the world, according to the Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships 2006.

 

The Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships 2006 (ISBN 981 246 739 4), to be published on October 31, 2005 at £18.99, is available from all good bookshops or visit http://www.berlitzpublishing.com

 

Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships 2006

 

FIVE-STARS-PLUS («««««+) CLUB

 

Europa (Hapag-Lloyd Cruises) with 1,858 points out of a possible 2,000

 

FIVE-STARS («««««) CLUB

 

1. SeaDream I with 1,790 points

 

2. SeaDream II with 1,790 points

 

3. Seabourn Legend with 1,786 points

 

4. Seabourn Pride with 1,785 points

 

5. Seabourn Spirit with 1,785 points

 

6. Silver Shadow with 1,757

 

8. Silver Whisper with 1,757

 

9. Hanseatic with 1,740

 

10. Silver Cloud with 1,722

 

11. Silver Wind with 1,722

 

12. Queen Mary 2 (Grill Class) with 1,712 points

 

13. Sea Cloud II with 1,706

 

14. Sea Cloud with 1,704

 

15. Crystal Serenity with 1,702

 

16. Crystal Symphony with 1,701

 

17. Seven Seas Mariner with 1,701

 

18. Seven Seas Voyager with 1,701

 

 

 

- Ends -

 

 

 

Notes to Editors:

 

If you would like to receive a copy of the guide for a published review, or an interview with author Douglas Ward, please call Julia Spence Public Relations on the number below.

 

 

 

PRESS ENQUIRIES: Julia Spence or Angela Lewis

 

Julia Spence Public Relations

 

Tel: 01491 824524 or Mobile 07802 443113

 

Email: julia.spence@ukonline.co.uk

 

 

 

Issued 25 October 2005

 

By Julia Spence Public Relations

[Luxury Traveler]

It is interesting how Berlitz rates the ships as it does not seem like a popularity contest with people voting for their choices. I understand that all vessels are graded from the same system and not but popular vote.

Interesting to see the Europa and SeaDreams are rated so high. I have been on both and I would agree they do a wonderful job without the big advertisements that everyone else seems to make. I guess they are silent but wonderful....Well kept secrets...

I still enjoy Silverseas but with a greater number of guests they can't compare to a SeaDream which gives such personal attention to each guest.

 

I just thought that this was a very good survey and it is right on the money...

 

Lux:):cool:

[uk1]

It is interesting how Berlitz rates the ships as it does not seem like a popularity contest with people voting for their choices. I understand that all vessels are graded from the same system and not but popular vote.

Interesting to see the Europa and SeaDreams are rated so high. I have been on both and I would agree they do a wonderful job without the big advertisements that everyone else seems to make. I guess they are silent but wonderful....Well kept secrets...

I still enjoy Silverseas but with a greater number of guests they can't compare to a SeaDream which gives such personal attention to each guest.

 

I just thought that this was a very good survey and it is right on the money...

 

Lux:):cool:

 

An inverse logic might partly explain this.

 

Seabourn and Seadream are smaller than Silversea (group alliances excepted) and it is my impression that they rely much more on focussing on customer retention, whereas Silversea seem disproportionately focussed on attracting new customers and there attention appears diverted distracted a little too far away from retention programmes and looking after customers they have already attracted. So the first two possibly have more returnees as a % on each cruise than Silversea achieve. It's also my unscientific impression that Seabourn and Seadream customers have a higher satisfaction rating than those from Silversea overall, and are much more loyal. For example customers who have been on both Seabourn and Silversea seem likely to forgo balconies for what they consider to be a product that has a slight edge.

 

Just my impression.

 

Jeff

[bldsld]

Hi Jeff,

 

Nice to see you posting again!

 

I think you are spot-on in your analysis. There is a great deal more emphasis on service, and in engendering customer loyalty. All you have to do is visit the boards of both SD, and particularly SB, and there is an overwhelming sense of satisfaction and comraderie among passengers. And, most of us on SB return again and again.

 

The one rub lately for SD seems to be the large number of kids onboard, and as the ships are really small (I sailed them when they were under Seabourn), there is virtually nothing for kids to do, and nowhere on the ship for them to mingle. With a passenger to space ratio that is exceedingly small, unruly kids can ruin it for everyone else. Many posts on the SD board seem to indicate that passengers are moving to Seabourn because of this issue. Also, their itineraries are more limited, and the cruises are short.

 

Best,

Denyse

[ltsally]

So where does one find information on

 

Europa (Hapag-Lloyd Cruises)?

 

I did a quick google w/ no success.

 

Thanks!

[Luxury Traveler]

You can use this link to find info on the Europa.

 

http:///www.hlkf.de/redwork/do.php?layoutid=100&node=74553&language=2

 

It is really a very Germantic product and did not cater to USA clients, but is a great Physical plant and super-experience. Still nothing comes close to the very personal service I got on the SeaDreams...I have also been on Seabourn many times but really like the unstructed programming of the little SeaDreams best.

Hey, Different strokes for different folks...But the I know that Bigger is not better anymore...(In Crusing that is)...

 

Smile,

Lux

[ltsally]

Thanks, Lux! Looks like it's going to take some doing to get real info though; when you ask Google for a translated page, apparently it comes via a word-for-word software program. So the info such as it is reads like this:

 

Ms HANSEATIC - your completely personal expedition

 

The HANSEATIC has a passion for new ground. Competent, world-experienced experts accompany each expedition. Unaffected and strange goals come you completely near, apparently confidence experience you with the HANSEATIC from a completely new perspective and particularly intensively.

 

Almost more amusing reading than the instruction manual for a Chinese import power tool!

[English Voyager]

Hapag-Lloyd have an english language website:

http://www.hl-cruises.com

[English Voyager]

Luxury Traveller,

under the "Other Cruise Line" thread I have posted a request for specific information on the Europa.I would appreciate any information you can provide.

Many thanks.

[Luxury Traveler]

Luxury Traveller,

under the "Other Cruise Line" thread I have posted a request for specific information on the Europa.I would appreciate any information you can provide.

Many thanks.

 

Hi ET,

 

I am glad that I speak German but I guess that I am just too spoiled of an American to have really been at ease on my cruise...As I mentioned, the vessel is great and the service almost too professional (Stuffy) for me. Plus I thought the attitude was very serious onboard and I wish they would have lighten up a bit.(It ain't Brain Surgery ...It is just a Cruise)

The Big picture was ...It was not really my cup of tea if you know what I mean. But the Berlitz Guide is right as it is a super ship...Very clean and confortable.

I still like the real small ships best...and the more unstructured the better.

Keep in mind that is only my opinion and not the rest of the Worlds.

If you are from Europe, you might really enjoy it....

 

Lux

[English Voyager]

Hi LT,

many thanks for your comments.

Formal ( = stuffy? ) is a view expressed to me by Germans who have cruised on the Europa.

In fact it was moored in front of us in St.Petersburg last August,and certainly looked impressive.

[lk4xits]

About.com: http://www.eurolloyd.com.

 

I am moving up a notch to QM2 Panama sailing on 1/3. They discounted fares for Britannia cruisers substantially. Hope to make it to your class one day!

 

Marty

[goeurope]

An inverse logic might partly explain this...(snip)

 

Berlitz ratings are based on Doug Ward's checklists and opinions, not on reader polls. Doug is like a cross between a Michelin inspector and Robert Parker, the wine critic (like a Michelin inspector because he uses a comprehensive rating system, and like Robert Parker because he's known and feared by cruise-ship personnel).

[meow!]

Hapag-Lloyd have an english language website:

http://www.hl-cruises.com

From this list, it seems that the Europa charges on average at least as many euros per diem as Silversea charges US$ per diem!

[Luxury Traveler]

A a certain point, the tarrifs become a second thought as long as the Service Level and aminities are what you want and expect. This is why I feel that The Berlitz Guide and ratings are spot on with their evaluations..

All of the cruise companies can hype up everything they can do, but the real test is in the delivery and Service..

It is interesting how Berlitz really differs from the Conte Nast popularity contests...

I have to agree and value the Berlitz rating system..as I have traveled on the top 7 ships listed.

 

LUX:)

[dougnewmanatsea]

Interesting that the Grills on QE2 do not get five stars any longer. I am sure to Cunard, this hurts - especially since the author and the ship have a deep personal connection.

 

Also interesting that the press release says that the five-stars-plus category was "created" for EUROPA... It actually has existed far longer than the ship herself.

 

In fact, the "five-stars-plus" rating was not created by Douglas Ward at all - it was actually created in 1981 when the first Fielding's Guide to Cruise Ships, by the late Antoinette DeLand, was published. (I believe this was the first guidebook to use star ratings for ships.) I have a copy of that book and it makes interesting reading. The Berlitz guide came about in, as I recall, 1986 and eventually became the most popular and respected book of its type. (Fielding bit the dust in 1998, leaving Berlitz little competition in this field. In the meantime, in 1996, Fielding got rid of the confusing pluses and invented "six stars". I think the Stern's guide might have taken it even further with six stars plus, but Berlitz is the one that everyone really pays attention to and that rating system is still the same as it's always been.)

 

As for Berlitz, as far as I know, the five-stars-plus rating was used from the very beginning... I recall that the previous EUROPA (1981-1999) was rated five-stars-plus for most of her career. The Royal Vikings, SAGAFJORD/VISTAFJORD, the SEA GODDESSES (now the SEADREAMs), Seabourn trio, and SILVER CLOUD/WIND were also all five-stars-plus once. As I recall, the Grills on QE2 were as well. (I'm saying this from memory since my old copies of this book are packed away in a box somewhere at the moment.)

 

These ships - the ones that were still around in their original form - were "bumped down" to five stars, as I recall, sometime in the late 1990s. A couple of years ago - maybe 2002 - EUROPA got five-stars-plus for the first time of any ship in a few years and she has been the one five-stars-plus ship in the world ever since. I think it is fair to say that she is the benchmark against which the author measures all other ships, or at least other luxury ships anyway.

 

On average, I think ships get a half-star less than they would have ten years ago, e.g. what now rates five stars would have been five-stars-plus then... So I guess in a way the five-stars-plus category occupied by EUROPA is a new category (as of 2002 or whenever she regained her "plus") as there was never before one single ship which had more stars than all the rest. Actually, I this year's five-star list is almost the exact equivalent of what the five-star-plus list would have looked a decade ago, except that some of these ships (e.g. SHADOW/WHISPER) weren't around then.

 

I also agree with Durant's Michelin analogy... Like the Michelin guides, the Berlitz guide is a bit controversial - Peter Deilmann even got a court order (in Germany) to have his ships excluded - but in the end it is still the benchmark that is generally used. As I mentioned, there is also the Stern's guide but there is no doubt that when it comes to cruise guidebooks, Berlitz is the gold standard, for better or for worse.

[blackbird71]

In fact, the "five-stars-plus" rating was not created by Douglas Ward at all - it was actually created in 1981 when the first Fielding's Guide to Cruise Ships, by the late Antoinette DeLand, was published. (I believe this was the first guidebook to use star ratings for ships.)

 

I loved Antoninette DeLand and her rating. One point you did not get a 5 star plus rating without single seating dining, that was one of her main benchmarks.

 

As for the SeaDream ships,,, I love my balcony rooms and even the Vista rooms on Silverseas are good because of the large window with seats to view the sea outside. OTOH, SeaDreams rooms are small and have the bed near the window.. Sorry just not for me....

[Luxury Traveler]

I have dined with the Delands and agree that they were very well respected with their rating of Ships in Fieldings...

It is funny that you mentioned the SeaDream Yachts as I have just come off another voyage and must tell you that if you must always stay in your cabin I guess the Balcony is a big deal...But on those little yachts in is not needed as you are only a few feet away from the outdoors and UNREAL service...

The control that the crew has in servicing the guests when you only cater to 100 is much different than anyone one else when you have almost 100 staff and crew to be of service.

It is because of this ratio that No other cruise operation has such a level of service and food presentation such as SeaDream. It has taken me a few years of Silverseas and Seabourn cruises to realize the difference...

Just my 2 cents and I really liked the casual and unstructred ambiance that they have perfected...It is a really different experience.

 

Smile,

LUX:)