- Exquisite details on 280 cruise ships - 1 or more pages on each ship
- Excellent advice for planning your first or next cruise
- Authoritative guide to all important cruise ship statistics
- Superb analysis/comparison of ten major cruise lines
- Not all ships are updated each year
- Those looking for information on cruise destinations should look elsewhere
- Different ships in the same cruise line sometimes have almost identical reviews
- May be too detailed for those who like to cruise on only one cruise line
- Alphabetical ratings for 280 cruise ships covering over 700 pages
- Complete analysis of ship accommodations, food, service, entertainment, and destinations based on Mr. Ward's 5400 days at sea
- Guidance on what to look for in a cruise ship and crew
- Information on ships debuting in 2008 and a listing of ships set to sail from 2009-2012
- Charts that compare cabins, food, service, homeland ports, and destinations for ships in different cruise lines
- Describes different types of cruises (romantics, families, physically challenged)
- Over 170 pages of relevant general cruise information and over 500 pages of cruise ship reviews
- Discusses alternatives such as river cruises, expedition cruises, and coastal cruises
The first 170 pages of this 700 page guide also offer great general information useful for cruise planning and an interesting comparison of the ten major cruise lines.
The next 600 pages rate 280 ocean-going cruise ships. The point system used to evaluate the ships provide an excellent basis for comparing ships and cruise lines. The only small downside is that "sister" ships for the same cruise line often have the same rating and almost identical narratives. Those of us who have sailed on sister ships know that these ships are not always identical. However, this book is still one of my favorite resources for learning about ships and comparing features that are important for travelers.
For the 8th consecutive year the highest ranked cruise ship is the Europa, which is the flagship of German line Hapag-Lloyd. The Europa scores 1860 points out of a possible 2000. Thirteen other cruise ships scored well in the Berlitz book, with scores totaling 1701 to 1790 points These 14 ships scored highest because of their outstanding cuisine, accommodations, service, and attention to detail.
