Best Cruise Lines Awards Announced and more

This year, I happened to miss an invite to Conde Nast Traveler magazine’s gala festivities at the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum in New York on October 10 for the 2007 Reader’s Choice Awards ceremony; in fact, I also was elsewhereing when over 28,000 readers completed a questionnaire to identify the world’s best cities, islands, resorts and of course, the best cruise lines.

First, the formal results – I must admit, it’s a bit of a read, but it makes for real interesting observations. However, if you don’t manage to get through it, you’ll find my comments, translating the complex into simplicity, at the end to give you Cruisin'Genie’s take on the reality behind the gloss and glamor.

For the Reader’s Choice Awards, cruise ships were divided into two categories: Best Large Ships (at least 500 passengers) and Best Small Ships; readers were asked to rank pre-set entrants (write-in entries were allowed to give a sense of a level playing field) according to:

● Activities/Facilities
● Cabins
● Crew/Service
● Design/Layout
● Food/Dining
● Itineraries/Schedule
● Shore Excursions

Competition is fierce for this prestigious award – in existence since 1988, the “Reader’s Choice Poll” is one of the oldest and most respected awards in the travel industry. The invitation list to the award festivities reads like a “Who’s Who” of travel, with the CEOs of major travel industry companies reigning in their excitement and anticipation while emcees Debra Messing and Scottish actor Alan Cumming provided amusing tales of their travel adventures.

It’s interesting to note that this year, not one of the best cruise lines, large or small, made it to the “Top 100 Best of the Best” list (in 2006, SeaDream Yacht Club was #95 on this list and #1 on the Best Small Ships list). For 2007, Crystal Cruises regained its #1 position in the best large ship category, sending Regent Seven Seas down to the #2 spot, but Regent Seven Seas took the #1 spot in the best small cruise ships category. SeaDream fell to the #4 position.

Hmmm…. on the day press releases from cruise lines that fared well in the Reader’s Choice Awards were circulated, Cunard (in the #7 spot for Large Cruise Ships) announced its selection as the number one best large cruise ship in the 2008 Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships and best overall for food and for service. Is it the very best, or not?

There are a lot of travel awards for the Best Cruise Lines: Conde Nast also produces the “Gold List 2007” (SeaDream pulled the highest score in this poll) and the “Cruise Poll 2007” (Celebrity’s Constellation was chosen for the #1 spot for Best Large Ships – but for this award, a “large” ship must be over 1,500 passengers. Cunard doesn’t appear until the 25th position).

Travel + Leisure published its 2007 “World’s Best Awards” earlier this year. For the cruising awards, a ranking for “value” was included in the survey tabulations. Crystal Cruises received the top honors for the Large Cruise Ship category and SeaDream was #1 for Small Cruise Ships.

Trying to keep the rankings for all of these awards straight can be a challenge – and what does it really mean that a ship you’ve chosen for your next cruise vacation hasn’t made it to the top, or even the top 10 of the best cruise lines awards?

The very best cruise experience for me – or for you -- may not be the #1 cruise ship on the latest “World’s Best” awards. The awards are a good form of recognition for quality in the industry, but they don’t guarantee that the award winners will deliver the very best experience for every passenger – it depends on the ship, the other passengers on the sailing and the experiences we want.

Before signing off, there’s a great event this month – “World’s Largest Cruise Night” – an annual event in the cruising world, sponsored by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA) and its member cruise lines. Many cruise lines, whether or not they are members of CLIA, offer special deals and promotions today, this week and for some, through the end of this month.

For the most part, these offers are better than other special sales held during the year, so if you’re thinking of a cruising vacation, it’s worth taking the time to check out the October deals. For a sampling of what is available, I’ve listed some of the specials from the best cruise lines on our website. Hey click on our 'website' link back a bit if you missed it... Enjoy!

Here’s to sharing the best cruise lines experiences.