The best cruise ships of the year, based entirely on UK reviews posted to the Cruise Critic website, have been anounced. So what do UK cruise holidaymakers think?
Cruise Critic is one of the best websites for cruise reviews and a growing online cruise community – it may certainly provide you with food for thought if you’re thinking of taking a cruise any time soon.
The 2016 UK Cruise Critic Cruisers’ Choice Awards have revealed that Norwegian Cruise Line continues to be popular with the Brits with it scooping no less than eight awards.
Of the line’s Large Ship category award wins, Norwegian Spirit took four, including Best Overall, while Norwegian Escape, which launched in 2015, won Best Entertainment. The line’s three Mid-Size Ship awards all went to Norwegian Sun, including Best Entertainment. These successes follow Norwegian Cruise Line’s recent announcement that from 2017, for the first time in seven years, the UK will receive a dedicated ship sailing from Southampton.
Oceania’s Riviera created big waves amongst UK cruisers, not only holding onto its five Mid-Size Ship class wins from 2015, including Best Overall, but also added a sixth award for Best Dining. MSC Cruises’ MSC Lirica was highlighted as being the Best Value Mid-Size Ship.
In the Small Ship category, Regent’s Seven Seas Voyager was named Best Overall and also awarded Best Embarkation and Best Shore Excursions. Viking Ocean Cruises, which launched in 2015, has already made a significant splash with first ship Viking Star, which won seven accolades including Best Dining and Best Service.
A new award for 2016, Best for First-Timers, went to P&O Cruises’ Arcadia, which offers a variety of itineraries including destinations such as San Francisco, Auckland, Hong Kong, and Cape Town as part of a new world cruise offering in 2016.
The UK Cruise Critic Cruisers’ Choice Awards are awarded in three ship classes, based on passenger capacity (Large: 2,000+ passengers; Mid-Size: 1,200 to 1,999 passengers; Small: 1,199 or fewer passengers) and are calculated using the ratings submitted with each Cruise Critic member review.
This year’s UK winners include:
- Norwegian Spirit (Large)
- Oceania Riviera (Mid-Size)
- Seven Seas Voyager (Small)
- Celebrity Reflection (Large)
- Oceania Riviera (Mid-Size)
- Viking Star (Small)
- Island Princess (Large)
- Oceania Riviera (Mid-Size)
- Viking Star (Small)
Best Cruise Ships for Embarkation
- Explorer of the Seas (Large)
- Oceania Riviera (Mid-Size)
- Seven Seas Voyager (Small)
Best Cruise Ships for Entertainment
- Norwegian Escape(Large)
- Norwegian Sun (Mid-Size)
- Viking Star (Small)
Best Cruise Ships for Fitness & Recreation
- Norwegian Spirit (Large)
- Norwegian Sun (Mid-Size)
- Viking Star (Small)
- Queen Elizabeth (Large)
- Oceania Riviera (Mid-Size)
- Viking Star (Small)
- Island Princess (Large)
- Oceania Riviera (Mid-Size)
- Viking Star (Small)
Best Cruise Ship Shore Excursions
- Norwegian Spirit (Large)
- Norwegian Sun (Mid-Size)
- Seven Seas Voyager (Small)
- Norwegian Spirit (Large)
- MSC Lirica (Mid-Size)
- Viking Star (Small)
- Thomson Cruises’ Thomson Majesty
- P&O Cruises’ Arcadia (Large)
For the full list of winners, visit the 2016 UK Cruise Critic Cruisers’ Choice Awards.
Cruise Critic boasts to have the largest online cruise community in the world with more than 150,000 cruise reviews, covering approximately 500 of the most popular cruise ships.
