paul1439

There is no such thing as a six star cruise line unless that designation is given to the cruise line by itself. Just like Burj Al Arab calls itself a seven star hotel. I can call myself anything I want, that doesn't make it true. I know someone who says he's worth ten billion dollars yet I bet his unreleased tax forms would tell a totally different story.

So how do experts distinguish the deference in the quality of certain product. How do the public distinguish the difference between luxury car or cruise line vs chevy or carnival cruise line. Experts test drive and cruise on ships and they determine what is luxury or 6 star. The public buy a product or take a cruise and giver their opinion. To be fair the public would have to buy every car product or cruise on every line to give their opinion if they don't they have a bias opinion of the product or cruise they where on. Bottom line it comes down to opinions. The cruise industry must have set standards for cruise line ratings. Also at some point all cruise lines fail inspections at one time or another just like restaurants.

Hapag Lloyd's Europa 2 and MS Europa, as English Voyager noted, have the highest Berlitz rating. Why does the OP ignore them in his definition of luxury? Perhaps he is only referencing English language ships, as this is an English site, but then he should say so. Scenic Eclipse would also be joining the English language list soon.

 

Otherwise, why does he believe ships must have included wine to be considered luxury, rather than considering the very important issue of quality of food and wine available (e.g., there are 1000 excellent wines to select with limited markup on HL ) instead?

 

These are very small ships, entry level accomodations are > 300 square feet, staff are impeccably trained (though Seabourn had some awesome staff on my recent cruise, they also had quite a few inadequately trained ones, see e.g., my latest CC Barcelona to Dover Seabourn Quest review about various non-luxury issues including violations of DND signs, Colonnade food cutbacks, and almost certain negligent misuse of my on-board filed credit card on disembarkation day ( resulting in my having to cancel that card and all accounts associated with it), plus spotty understaffing).

 

I am not sure where the OP came up with his criteria for luxury that are so different from Berlitz, which does not exclude HL. Of course I realize most people reading here are only interested in sailing on primary English language ships so the exclusion of HL may not matter. I also hope HL does not start cutting corners like the rest of the luxury lines have been doing, or Berlitz will no longer rank them at the top.

Berlitz is not the best for cruise reviews. They take money for advertisement. They have numerous mistakes in the books about description of the ships. They are trying to sell their books. The best reviews come from cruisetruth.com They receive no money from advertisement. Completely unbiased reviews.

Europa is highly ranked cruise ship. There biggest problem is smoking on the ship. All the top 6 star cruise lines have all alcohol beverages included. And yes alcohol does play a part on all cruise ships if you drink or not.

I would say Oceania is a 5 star as well. Gratuities are included if booked during a promo period, as are beer and wine for lunch and dinner, or excursions. They give you a choice of inclusions.

 

 

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Oceania is 5 1/2 star but not a 6 star cruise line. Cabins must start at suite level and all non and alcohol beverages must be included.

A bit debatable.

 

Interesting that you don't have Europa on the list.

 

Keith

Europa is 5 1/2 star, I forgot to add this to the list.

I would suggest that the premise that there are 6 star cruise lines is highly debatable.

 

As is the contention that Azamara, and Oceania are 5+ stars bearing in mind the size of their entry level accommodation.

 

As for the inclusion of alcoholic drinks there are valid reasons, such as breadth of choice, and quality, for not including them.

 

Berlitz Guide's highest rated ships do not include alcoholic drinks other than beer in suite.

 

Even accepting the OP's listings, why the exclusion of Viking Ocean?

 

 

You are correct about Viking, I forgot to mention Viking as 5 1/2 star.

1 stop means the ship stops at one port during the cruise.

1- Size of ship (less than 800 passengers)

2- Cabin (cabins start at suite level)

3-All inclusive (all beverages and tipping)

4-Service (impeccable-trained staff)

These are the basic criteria for 6 star cruise line

Regent, Seabourn, Silversea

5 1/2 star cruise lines

Azamara, Crystal, Oceania, SeaDream Yachts

I did some research on the scenic Eclipse. This ship is the first new yacht built for cruising. There is some cruise lines that have a refurbished yachts like Crystal and Sea Dream. This yacht is so unique in design inside and out. This ship will be in competition with the six star cruise lines. The only downside is the Eclipse itineraries. Example for 8 days 1 stop or 14 days 1 stop. These are not transatlantic crossings. They have to fix their itineraries.