The cabins of a cruise ship on the Garonne river in Bordeaux, France. Cruise tourism has done very well for itself post-pandemic. — AFP
Conde Nast Traveller recently unveiled its 2023 readers choice awards, which saw thousands of the travel site’s readers voting on the world’s best destinations, airports, hotels, resorts and cruise lines.
The resurgence of the latter might have been unimaginable in March 2020, but there’s no doubting cruise tourism’s comeback. New and refurbished ships are sailing, and first-timers are clambering aboard for domestic cruises, CN Traveller’s editors note.
Globe-spanning cruises, such as Regent Seven Seas’ 55,000km itinerary for 2024 – a US$400,000 (RM1.9mil) cruise for two with stops in 31 countries – sold out in 2.5 hours, according to ThePointsGuy’s Gene Sloan. And the company’s 2025 lineup broke that record, with every cabin booked before reservations even opened to the public.
The CN Traveller awards divide cruise lines into six categories, with Norwegian Cruise Line topping the “mega ships”, which carry 4,000 or more passengers, and first place nods for Virgin Voyages in the large ship (2,500 to 4,000) category; Viking in the medium ship (500 to 2,500), river and expedition categories; and Emerald Cruises for small ships carrying fewer than 500 people.
Here’s a look at the river cruises ranking. – The Mercury News/dpa
Top mega ship cruises
1. Norwegian Cruise Line
2. Royal Caribbean International
3. Carnival Cruise Line
4. MSC Cruises
Top 10 large ship cruises
1. Virgin Voyages
2. Disney Cruise Line
3. Cunard
4. Princess Cruises
5. Celebrity Cruises
6. Costa Cruises
7. Holland America Line
8. Norwegian Cruise Line
9. Royal Caribbean International
10. MSC Cruises
Top 10 river cruises
1. Viking
2. American Cruise Lines
3. Tauck
4. Oberoi Hotels & Resorts
5. Les Bateaux Belmond
6. Grand Circle Cruise Line
7. Pandaw
8. Uniworld River Cruises
9. Sanctuary Retreats
10. AmaWaterways
