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 about 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

Budget: Under three stars.
There really are no budget cruise lines serving the North American Market right 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 over a decade ago, they have all given way to competition from the current assortment of well-maintained older mainstream cruise ships.

Mainstream: Costa, MSC, Norwegian Cruise Line, Carnival, Royal Caribbean. Three to four-1/2 stars.
A mainstream ship may be an older ship sailing in a fleet with a lot of other similar ships, or it may be the older ship within a fleet of newer ships. These cruise lines may range from three stars: (the oldest, most run down ships of the mainstream cruise lines generally only offering three to five day cruises which fall into the "bargain cruise" category), to four 1/2 Stars which are are the newest, cream of the crop ships operated by the named mainstream cruise lines.

Premium Cruise Lines: Holland America, Princess Cruises, Celebrity Cruise Lines, Disney Cruise Line, Cunard Britannia-class.
The Lower Premium ships may be three-1/2 stars (the oldest, ships of the premium cruise lines) to Upper Premium five-star ships such as the very impressive Celebrity Solstice class which were first inreoduced in 2010.

Upscale Cruise Lines:
Azamara, Oceania Cruises, Windstar.
This relatively new group of cruise lines generally come in at four to five stars. They are small, very destination oriented and similar to luxury ships except in a few key differences; they are not inclusive for alcohol or gratuities and tend to be very focused on destinations.

While most of these ships were built in the 1990s, the exceptions are the brand new Riviera and Marina, operated by Oceania Cruises. These two brand new ships are just amazingly good with excellent gourmet cuisine, very comfortable accomodations and onboard exoeriences that rival any other cruise line. These are the ships rated highest of all for value.

Lately, these are among the most popular cruise lines as they represent a similar style to luxury cruise lines but with a much better value proposition. They tend to feature very good food, gourmet in the case of Oceania, and very comfortable cabins although they may be small for a luxury cruiser. These ships are for non-cruisers who want to see the world in comfort with nice rooms and excellent food, but who do not care about the shipboard activities, trivia games, children's programs, etc. These ships tend to rate at four-1/2 to five stars - and rate the highest in terms of value for your money.

Luxury Ships:
Cunard Queens-class, Crystal, Silversea, Regent, Seabourn.
Lower Luxury ships may be rated the lowest at Four-1/2 stars for the oldest, smallest and least maintained of the luxury ships in the cruise lines named just above. The best of the Upper Luxury ships come in at Five 1/2 stars - the best you can get. Luxury ships are as nice as cruise ships can get with excellent service and gourmet cuisine. They include alcohol and gratuities in the cruise fare, and some (Regent) even include pe-cruise hotels and shore excursions. But they are pricey. These are the ships for the people who want the best at any cost.

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.