INTRODUCTION:
While rating ships one against another is sometimes an easy task, and other times an exercise in futility, we attempt to do it because it gives the reader a quick impression of how we feel about a ship, without going into too much detail as to why. Naturally, that does not say much for the value of "stars" when rating a ship. The devil is in the details.

Suffice it to say that stars are a rough guide when it comes to evaluating a ship, simply an overall impression and not a factor arrived at scientifically. Why not do it scientifically? It is a question of weight. We could rate each aspect of a ship with a certain number of stars, and then find the average and give them an overall rating. But what if a ship has 5-star food and service, but no carpet and hence zero stars in decor. Should we let that bring down the overall rating? Of course not, because each individual category in a review has different importance/value to each reader. No two cruisers are looking for the exact same thing in a ship.

Therefore, our star ratings are mere subjective overall opinions about the ship - regardless of price. They simply reflect how this ships compares to all the other ships we rate.

On the other hand, the value rating is another subject entirely, Also a purely subjective rating by CruiseMates staff, the simple criteria is, "If you paid the asking rate to sail on this ship, how would you feel anbout what you got for your money?" A simple concept - "Value for money." Perhaps the most important ranking of them all, at least as far as CruiseMates editorial staff is concerned.

Cruise Line Categories: these are accepted standards in the industry to describe various ships and cruise lines

Budget: Under three stars. There are no true Budget Cruises Line Operating Now A budget cruise line is one where all the ships are old, and have not been recently upgraded. In reality, while there were such cruise lines working less than a decade ago, they have all given way to competition from the current assortment of fairly new ships, all well-maintained. There really are no budget ships serving the North American Market right now.

Mainstream: Costa, MSC, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Carnival, Royal Caribbean. A mainstream ship may be sailing in a fleet with a lot of other similar ships, or it may be an older ship within a cruise line of newer ships. These ships are older (built between 1985 and 1995), but they are expertly staffed and maintained, with furnishings and facilities upgraded on a constant basis.

Lower Mainstream:
Three stars: These are the oldest, most run down ships of the main stream cruise lines.

Upper Mainstream:
Four 1/2 Stars: These are the newest, cream of the crop ships in their price range.

Premium Cruise Lines:
Holland America, Princess Cruises, Celebrity Cruise Lines

Lower Premium:
Three 1/2 stars: These are the oldest, ships of the premium cruise lines.

Upper Premium:
Four 1/2 stars: These are the cream of the crop of the premium cruise lines

Luxury Ships:
Cunard, Crystal, Silversea, Regent, Seabourn,

Lower Luxury:
Four 1/2 stars - the oldest, smallest and least maintained of the luxury ships

Upper Luxury:
Five 1/2 star - the best you can get.

Remember that these are objective ratings, and that stars have very little to do with COST! You may love a budget ship if all you want is to travel in comfort and rarely leave your cabin.

VALUE RATING:

Also known as "Bang for the Buck!" to CruiseMates - the VALUE RATING is the thing. Did you get more than what you expected for the price? Then that is a great deal and we are happy for you. Anyone can rate a ship, but finding a value on a ship is a different story.

Cruises come in many different price ranges, but do you always get what you pay for? This "Bang for your Buck" rating compares what you get against what it costs. Rated from one to five dollar signs, the greater the number of dollar signs the bigger the "Bang for the Buck" value this ship generally offers.