Best Premium Cruise Line? Princess, Celebrity, Cunard, Holland America OR Virgin?

I’ve recently revisited all five of what the industry calls “Premium” cruise lines, as I keep getting asked which is the best premium cruise line these days as so many cruisers are confused by all the recent changes in the fleets, new on-board offerings, tweaks to inclusions and exclusions, and the seeming push by all to attract a different passenger type.

I’m going to compare each line including what they’re best known for, good at, what they’re less good at, and who I think should cruise with them right now – and why.

But, before I dive into the individual lines, let me talk about the Premium category, what it is and isn’t.

What is “Premium” Cruising?

The cruise industry divides cruise lines into five key categories.

Cruise Categories?

The biggest by far, carrying almost two-thirds of passengers annually, is the mainstream, resort, value line category. This includes Royal Caribbean, Carnival, MSC Cruises, and Norwegian.

The second biggest category, carrying almost 20% of passengers a year is the Premium category.

The main lines in here are Princess Cruises, Holland America, Cunard, Celebrity Cruises, and Virgin Voyages. Disney are also considered to be in here due to their pricing, while P&O Cruises UK used to be in here, but they have moved to become a more mainstream, resort, value line.

The third category is small ship luxury cruising, with ships of around about 1,000 passengers, with lines like Viking, Oceania, Windstar, Azamara, and Explora Journeys.

Then there is the Ultra-luxury category with even smaller ships, all suites, and many inclusions with lines like Regent Seven Seas, Seabourn, Silversea, Crystal, Hapag Lloyd, and the new ultra-luxury yacht lines

The fifth category is regional and local lines ranging from Margaritaville At Sea in the USA, to Fred Olsen and Saga in the UK, and AIDA, Mein Schiff, and Costa in Europe.

Next, all the premium lines have similar characteristics.

Premium Features?

First, they tend to be mid-sized to large ships, mostly carrying from 2,000 to 3,500 passengers and have more space and crew per guest than mainstream resort lines, so are less crowded and have better service.

They have classic cruise ship designs and layouts, and don’t have resort features and attractions like waterslides, flow riders, amusement arcades and climbing walls. But they do have a sizeable choice of bars and dining options.

They offer a classic cruise program, with emphasis on enrichment, trivia, dancing, and live music. They do have production shows, but not as big and glitzy as on the resort lines, and most have decent but not expansive Kids’ Clubs.

They have wide range of cabins from inside to suites. Their fares are roughly about twice the price of those of resort lines, but still have many add-on charges like Wi-Fi, gratuities, drinks packages, and speciality dining.

They also cruise more across the world than those mainstream resort lines who mostly offer Caribbean, Mediterranean, and Alaska cruises.

Ownership?

The Carnival Corporation is most heavily invested in this category, owning three of the five Premium lines: Princess, Holland America, and Cunard.

So, with all that in mind, let’s dive into each of the lines. And I’m going to start with the largest, based on passengers carried to the smallest. And the biggest of them is Princess Cruises.

Princess Cruises

They have the biggest fleet with 17 ships across five different classes of ships ranging from the new 4,300 passenger “Sphere” class to the over half that number 2,000-passenger Coral Class.

These days they’re best known for their wearable Medallion-based technology approach to classic premium cruising. It helps speed check-in, unlocks your cabin door as you approach, is used for purchases on the ship, let’s you track and find friends and family, and allows the crew to recognise and call you by name.

Because they have the biggest and most diverse fleet, they home base ships in various parts of the world, so can offer a wide range of itineraries meaning cruisers who like the line can keep finding new routes to explore. They are also very strong in Alaska, with many ships there in the season as well as running trains and lodges.

Princess is also becoming increasingly well-known for offering family and multi-generational travel and has the most active and packed daily progam of all the Premium lines ranging from dance classes, game shows, trivia, silent discos, and high-tech production shows.

Their ships are focused around the Piazza, the atrium, which acts as heart of the ships with many bars, restaurants and entertainment venues radiating around it, and many activities and live music held here. Making it buzzy and vibrant.

They also have shifted to a big focus on all-inclusive packages with their Princess Plus and Princess Premier packages where you can buy a bundle which includes things like drinks package, Wi-Fi, and casual and specialty dining.

In my view, their biggest weakness is the move into larger and larger ships which is timed with a clear shift to appeal to younger, multi-generational, and family travellers.

Their newer classes of ships are busier and rowdier, especially in vacation times when they are sailing over capacity with many kids sharing parents’ cabins. For example, this was the case on my recent Sun Princess cruise where kids took over the main pools.

Another weakness is the push on selling and upselling. Up to 30% of the daily program activities on sea days on my two recent cruises were revenue raising based.

Despite all that they have a strong 3.8 (out of five) passenger rating on sites like Cruise Critic. Although I’m seeing more mixed reviews recently, mostly driven by traditional older cruisers finding the new bigger ships less appealing.

So, who are Princess best for these days?

They are still ideal for anyone wanting a busy classic cruise experience with lots going on, even late into the evening.

They’re one of the best Premium options for families and multi-generational travel, especially on the new Sun and Star Princess. While across the rest of the fleet it is still well suited for 50s+ couples looking for a busy, lively, energy classic experience.

Having no solo cabins and usually no solo deals they cater less well for solo travellers.

So, let’s move onto Celebrity Cruises, which is the next biggest premium line based on passengers carried.

Celebrity Cruises

Celebrity has 13 ships in their classic fleet, and one expedition ship in the Galapagos. Their classic fleet has three classes , the new 3,000-passenger Edge class, the 2,800-passenger Solstice class, and the smaller 2,200-passenger Millennium class.

Celebrity is trying to be most luxurious of the Premium lines, claiming to offer “modern luxury”. They do tend to have slightly higher fares than their competition too.

They are one of the two more overtly status-based lines in the category with dedicated spaces based on cabin grade.

They have “The Retreat” ship-in-ship for suites, which includes the exclusive Luminae Restaurant, Retreat lounge and deck. These are especially large and elevated on the Edge class ships.

They then have Aqua class with the dedicated Blu restaurant, which are for Concierge / Mini-suite cabins, with regular cabins allocated to the Main Dining Room, although on Edge Class instead of one there are four restaurants with different cuisine themes that guests move between offering more variety.

They are also known for trying to attract younger cruisers and families, particularly with the trendier, sophisticated, and modern Edge class ships with their strikingly different hull, internal layout, décor, Infinite balcony cabins, and the Magic Carpet on the side of the ships used as a bar and restaurant and lowered to act as a tender boat platform too.

While offering a classic daily program, they do try to give events a more modern twist, with more game show style trivia, deck parties, and more contemporary and recent live music and production shows, which use more technology and acrobatics. The program is not as packed as Princess though.

They do have some obvious weaknesses, though these may be a strength based on your point of view, but in my experience, you get different experiences based on the ship class that you’re going on. So much so it can feel like you’re on a different cruise line.

If on the Edge class ships, it has more youthful and trendier vibe, look, unique layout, experiences and dining venues, while I found the Solstice and Millenium Class to be way more conservative, traditional and classic in every respect. The ships have a darker palette overall and are a bit dated, both venues and cabins.

Although they have announced that they will be updating all the Solstice class ships, that is going to take some years to do.

But saying all that, they get the highest passenger rating of all the long-established premium lines with a 4 out of 5 rating on Cruise Critic, with the new Edge class ships helping elevate ratings.

So, in my view they are best for people who want a classic cruising experience, but with a contemporary, modern, and sophisticated spin, but without going rather edgy as Virgin has done that I talk about later.

They are great for couples, with younger ages (30s and 40s) likely to find Edge Class more to their taste while older likely to find the Solstice or Millenium a better fit. They’re also a good option for LGBT cruiser couples who they market to and attract. Solos will find some solo cabins, with Edge class catering best for them.

This brings me on to the third largest line: Holland America.

Holland America

Holland America has 11 ships across four classes: the newer 3,200-passenger Pinnacle class, the 2,500-passenger Signature class, the 2,400-passenger Vista class, and the older 1,700-passenger Rotterdam class.

Holland America offers a more traditional cruising experience but without being too formal. It’s also known as being a little bit more quiet and sedate, certainly versus the two I’ve covered so far.

They’re especially well known for offering probably the best destination range and options in the Premium category, and cover much of the world often with longer and immersive journeys. They are also an Alaska expert, sailing there for over 70 years and run trains and lodges too.

On those longer journeys they are also known for good destination talks and immersion, like I experienced first-hand on my South America partial circumnavigation.

They have a big focus on live music although, much to regular cruisers annoyance, they dialed back on classical music by ending their partnership with the Lincoln Center. On the newer Pinnacle class ships they have Rolling Stone Rock Room, BB Kings, and Billboard Onboard with two pianists. While the smaller ships just have a Rolling Stone Lounge with large band playing mixed sets of music genres, and the Billboard Onboard.

I find dining competitive but not groundbreaking in the category, with 4 main speciality venues: Pinnacle Grill, Tamarind, Rudi’s Sel de Mer, and Canaletto.

While they have some areas like a small lounge and dedicated dining areas for guests in suites, it is not as elevated or expansive as Celebrity and any cabin grade can access some areas, like dining, by buying the “Club Orange” package.

In terms of weakness, their production shows are probably the weakest of all the premium category lines currently, and for some they find it too sedate, quiet, with not much energy or going on later in the evenings.

In terms of passenger rating, they get the same as Princess at 3.8 out of 5 on Cruise Critic. So, strong.

In my view, Holland America is best for couples who are looking for a classic, traditional cruise that is more sedate and less boisterous and busy compared to Princess and Celebrity, and who are looking for more enrichment and destination led options, and especially longer cruises.

This brings me to the most formal of all the lines: Cunard Cruise Line.

Cunard Cruise Line

Cunard have four ships in three different classes. The 2,700-passenger Queen Mary 2, 2,000-passenger Vista class (Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria), and a Stretched Holland America 3,000-passenger Pinnacle Class.

Cunard offers a few unique things.

First, two classic heritage routes. The scheduled regular Transatlantic Crossings between Southampton and New York on Queen Mary 2, and world voyages which all the fleet do at the start of every year.

Second, they’re the only Premium line offering a traditional British cruising experience, while all the others offer a more American one.

Their ships have rich art-deco décor, although Queen Anne has dialed that back.

Next, they are most associated with having a class-based structure on board but, as you have heard, they are not the only ones with Celebrity also doing that.

Like Celebrity, on Cunard the restaurant you dine in depends on your cabin type. So, here it’s Queens Grill for suites, Princess Grill for mini-suites, and Britannia Club or Britannia for everyone else. Queens and Princess Grill have a different menu and dedicated kitchen from the Britannia Main Dining Room with elevated food, and off-menu ordering possible.

Fourthly, Cunard is known for being the most formal and traditional of the Premium lines, while more relaxed than a few years ago it has a stricter dress code that is enforced, and on formal nights almost all gents will be dressed in black tie/ tuxedo or suit and tie, and ladies in smart gowns.

Fifthly, they have a large orchestra and ballroom dancing every night, major daily afternoon tea event, and the focus of the daily program is enrichment talks, with up to four speakers on most sailings.

In terms of their weaknesses, the first is their advertising and marketing makes Cunard sound very luxurious and sophisticated, but once you’re on board you find it’s not different to other premium lines, with food offerings in Britannia basically matching other lines, and service the same as those others.

I see another weakness emerging is the visible cost cutting and added charges, for example charging for room service for Britannia cabin guests after 10am, as well as noticeably more upselling and revenue generating activities.

Another weakness is the ships are getting dated, especially Queen Mary 2 cabins, thought those on Queen Victoria and Elizabeth are too.

I can see in recent ratings that cruisers are much more critical of Cunard than ever, and they get the lowest rating of Premium lines with just 3.2 out of 5 based on last 6 months of reviews in Cruise Critic, but 3.7 all time.

But I still feel they are good for people wanting a very traditional, more formal and classic British cruising experience, where passengers will all be dressed up on formal nights, and where enrichment and ballroom dancing is important. This is the only premium line you can be sure to get all of that.

This does tend to mean most fellow passengers will be 60s, 70s and above, and British as the ships are mostly UK home based.

The next line that I want to talk about is Virgin Voyages.

Virgin Voyages

They have four identical ships carrying 2,700 passengers.

They’re best known for being the only 18+ adult only Premium line, and for trying to be different to the other Premium cruise lines with more edgy entertainment, more party events, focus on wellness, and more inclusions in the fare, like all food, gratuities and Wi-Fi.

They do not have a Main Dining Room, but a series of restaurants like The Wake, Razzle and Dazzle vegetarian, Gunbae Korean BBQ, Pink Agave Mexican, and Test Kitchen instead. The food is extremely good and a big strength.

They also claim to not have a buffet, and instead have The Galley, which a food court concept.

One of the weaknesses of Virgin Voyages is they have very limited destinations focused on the Mediterranean and Caribbean. Though now starting some West Coast and Alaska cruising. They tried cruising in Australia but pulled out.

They have the highest passenger ratings of the premium lines, just beating out Celebrity with a rating of 4.1 out of five on Cruise Critic.

They’re ideal for adults 30s to 50s who want a classic cruise without big ship resort features, that is premium, but trendier and more hip than all the others, but still has good food and many wellness options .

It is worth noting that the average age on board, based on comments in the Trade Press is around 50, so not as young as many expect so don’t be out off if you are older. It’s also suitable and popular with LGBT travellers too.

As you reflect on all this, why not join me over in this article where I look in more detail at the pros and cons of the new Princess Sphere class ships, Sun and Star. See you over there.

 

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