Independent cruise research
Every sailing scored on the ship, the reviews and the fare. The same maths for every line.
Every fare is CruiseDirect’s own price, checked before it is published. No markup, and no ranking anyone can pay for.
23,348 sailings · 172 ships · 14 lines
Every sailing is judged three ways: how good the ship is, what passengers make of her, and whether today's fare is a deal. Together, they tell you what a cruise is actually worth.
The physical ship itself: half space per guest, a third guests per crew member, the rest condition. Food and service are shown separately, because passenger ratings only compare ships within their own line.
Every ship lands on one curve. The sixth star belongs to the top 2%, so no ship starts with it.
Every input is a measurement or a public record. See the full fleet ranking →
Actual passenger ratings from the major review sites, pooled into one comparable number.
One site's 4.2 isn't another's, so we align the scales first. Then volume decides: 3,100 reviews pull hard, 240 barely register.
Shown as-is. We compute from the ratings and never republish anyone's review.
Today's fare against what this class of ship normally costs at this length and season.
Scored inside its own class, so a six-star ship can still be a bargain. Reviews nudge it by at most ±6%.
5.0 fairly priced · 7.5+ a good deal · 9+ a great one.
Same math for every line: no sponsored placements, no pay-to-rank.
Read the full methodology →
We measure the things you can count: how much room each guest gets, how many crew there are to look after you, and how new or recently refitted the ship is. Then we subtract points for failed health inspections and for accidents.
Six stars goes to about the top 2 in every 100 ships, so most good ships land near four.
We add up the ratings real passengers left on the big review sites and turn them into one number. A ship with 3,000 reviews counts for more than a ship with 30, because more people agreeing means we can be surer.
We never edit the reviews or write our own. If a ship has too few, we say so instead of guessing.
First we work out what cruises like this one normally cost: same kind of cabin, same part of the world, same number of nights. That is the going rate. Then we check what this cruise gives you for the money, counting both how nice the ship is and what passengers said about it.
Five means an ordinary price. Higher means more cruise for your money. Nothing scores a ten, and only about one sailing in a thousand gets past nine.
Every fare here is a real, current CruiseDirect price: sailings without one are withheld rather than shown at an estimate. · How the Index works →
Every line in the index, graded on one curve
Every ship in the index, graded and ordered by Vessel Class. Click a ship for her full dossier.
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