Because they're so subjective, cruise ship awards and surveys can be construed as somewhat meaningless, not to mention redundant. Whose "best cruise ship carrying more than 3,000 passengers in the Caribbean on the third Saturdays of January" means the most. (Weak attempt at humor.)
So when Cruise Critic reveals its latest Cruisers' Choice Awards, as it did this week, you have to take it with a grain of salt…as our buddy Phil Reimer did at Ports and Bows by pointing out in today's blog there's a "caveat" at play here.
Having said all that, there's one category in the Cruise Critic awards that we hadn't seen before, which doesn't necessarily mean that it wasn't there.
Destination ships.
That's not which ships are destinations, as Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas — and no doubt their followers — are sometimes called. It's which ships are considered the best ones to take going to or from different parts of the cruising universe. Clever. Helpful even, for the first time cruisers who would like something — anything — to help them decide on which ship to sail to the Caribbean.
Going to Alaska?
Cruise Critic readers recommend Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Seas (right).
Bahamas?
The Disney Dream.
Mediterranean?
Sailing from the Northeast?
Try Explorer of the Seas, from Bayonne, New Jersey.
Across the ocean out of England?
From Florida?
Disney's Fantasy, again.
From the West Coast?
Nobody says why these ships are the best ion category, of course, so if you buy into the thinking it's because so many people picked these ships.
Just remember one thing.
It is subjective.
Sapphire Princess
4 nights
March 19, 2014
Los Angeles (return): Catalina Island, Ensenada
Inside: $329
Cost per day: $82
www.princess.com