There are a number of sources to turn to when attempting to find the best of the best in the cruise industry. For example, we recently ranked the top cruise lines according to Condé Nast. To determine the best new cruise ship, we looked at a few different sources, like Cruise Critic, a website with tons of cruise industry-related content, including lots of reviews submitted by passengers. (For more information on similar sites, check out our article on cruise critics and cruise reviews.) Cruise Critic put together a list of the “top new ships,” although their selection criteria is a little bizarre because this list contains both recently released ships and soon-to-be-released ships, as opposed to one or the other. We’re concerned with the cruise ships that are already out sailing, so we’ll select the best cruise ship from this set.

Cruise Critic employs a percentage system, in conjunction with a star rating, to rank cruise ships, such that the cruise ships with the most positive reviews submitted by passengers get the highest percentage assigned to them. Ships also get one to five stars – the more stars the better. A lot of websites that focus on the cruise industry, like Cruises Only, use similar ranking systems (smiley faces are used instead of stars, though), whereas other sites simply compile passenger reviews without assigning any specific rating (in stars, smiley faces, etc.) to a ship.

Based on a few of these websites, the following three ships emerged as some of the best new ships: Celebrity Silhouette, Allure of the Seas, and Oasis of the Seas. Other new ships that were highly rated include the Carnival Magic and the Norwegian Epic.

Of these ships, the Celebrity Silhouette seemed to come out on top. It received very favorable review on a few sites (e.g., five stars on Cruise Critic and five smileys out of six on Cruises Only), and for this reason, we crown the Celebrity Silhouette the best new cruise ship, or in any case it is one of the top new ships (ratings are constantly being updated, so the top ship of today may well be supplanted by another tomorrow). At 122,400 tons and with a passenger capacity of 2,886, according to Celebrity Cruises’ website, Celebrity Silhouette is a fairly large ship that started sailing in the middle of July 2011. One of its coolest features is the Lawn Club Grill, an outdoor venue which allows passengers to select a cut of meat, which they then get to grill alongside a chef of the restaurant. There is also a bar called Michael’s Club that has up to 50 international craft beers, which is one of many places you can relax with a drink. If drinking isn’t your thing, there are also a number of quite places – like The Hideaway, where can get coffee, or the Sky Observation Lounge, an expansive room with epic views of the sea – where you can, say, read a book or listen to music. So, there is a place for the booze hound and the bookworm.

It is worth mentioning that the two other new ships listed above that were highly rated – Allure of the Seas and Oasis of the Seas – are also the world’s largest cruise ships. So, these two ships, both of the Royal Caribbean International fleet, are not only enormous, but also well-regarded by the passengers who have sailed with them.

Celebrity Silhouette, Allure of the Seas, and Oasis of the Seas are all amazing new ships that people have so far enjoyed, so they are certainly worth considering if you are looking to book a cruise vacation.

First, a brief recounting of the Costa Concordia accident is in order. On the night of January 13th, a Friday, the massive Costa Concordia, holding 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members, crashed off Isola del Giglio, Italy. The ship hit a reef, causing it to keel over and partially sink. As of this writing, 11 people have been confirmed dead and over two dozen are unaccounted for, meaning the death toll will almost certainly rise in the coming days as the ship continues to be frantically searched.

Almost immediately following the disaster, blame was placed squarely at the feet of the captain of the vessel, Francesco Schettino. Prosecutors and the owners of the ship have alleged that Schettino deviated from the course set for the ship, which is plotted in advance. Schettino is expected to be charge with manslaughter and abandoning ship.

The shocking cowardice of the captain came to light a few days after the accident, when a transcript of the exchange between Schettino and the Italian Coast Guard, occurring sometime in the hectic hours after the crash, was published by Italian media.

The Costa Concordia, weighing 114,500 tons, is the largest passenger ship ever wrecked. By way of comparison, the Titanic was only half the size of the Costa Concordia.

As tragic as the accident is, it is important to keep in mind, particularly for those who are currently on cruise ships or know people who are on a cruise vacation, that this is an exceedingly rare occurrence. Thousands of cruises are safely completed each year, and if anything does happen during these voyages, it is almost always something relatively minor, like the theft of a passenger’s valuables. The odds of a cruise ship sinking are extremely small. Cruise ships are subject to rigid regulations, and the seaworthiness of vessels, as well as the safety systems they have in place, is evaluated on a quarterly basis. And even when something does go terribly wrong, passengers and crew members are often able to escape unharmed. For example, a Canadian cruise ship hit submerged ice off Antarctica a few years back, but everyone was able to make it off the ship safely on life boats.

From all that has been learned so far, the Costa Concordia disaster is largely – if not entirely – the captain’s fault. If it weren’t for Schettino’s reckless handling of the vessel (he was reportedly trying to show off the half-billion dollar ship to the residents of Giglio), this tragedy would have never happened. The Costa Concordia disaster is about the careless vanity of a thoughtless man, and it does not speak to the larger issue of cruise ship safety.

Of course, none of this is remotely comforting to the passengers who were on board the Costa Concordia when it wrecked, and the same applies to their suffering families. Nevertheless, we must always strive to view a disaster rationally, even if we must do so through tear-filled eyes.

Coastguard: Hello.

Captain: Good evening, chief.

Coastguard: Listen, this is De Falco from Livorno. Am I speaking with the captain?

Captain: Good evening, Chief De Falco.

Coastguard: Tell me your name, please.

Captain: I am Captain Schettino, chief.

Coastguard: Schettino?

Captain: Yes.

Coastguard: Listen, Schettino. There are people trapped on board. Now, you go with your lifeboat. Under the bow of the ship, on the right side, there is a ladder. You climb on that ladder and go on board the ship. Go on board the ship and get back to me and tell me how many people are there. Is that clear. I am recording this conversation, Captain Schettino.

(Captain tries to speak but Coastguard can’t hear him clearly.)

Coastguard: Speak up! (Captain tries to speak) Captain, put your hand over the microphone and speak in a louder voice!

Captain: At this moment the ship is listing.

Coastguard: There are people who are coming down the ladder on the bow. Go back in the opposite direction, get back on the ship, and tell me how many people there are and what they have on board. Tell me if there are children, women and what type of help they need. And you tell me the number of each of these categories. Is that clear?

Listen Schettino, perhaps you have saved yourself from the sea but I will make you look very bad. I will make you pay for this. Dammit, go back on board!

Captain: Please …

Coastguard: There is no ‘please’ about it. Get back on board. Assure me you are going back on board!

Captain: I’m in a lifeboat, I am under here. I am not going anywhere. I am here.

Coastguard: What are you doing, Captain?

Captain: I am here to coordinate the rescue…

Coastguard (interrupting): What are you coordinating there! Get on board! Coordinate the rescue from on board! Are you refusing?

Captain: No, I am not refusing.

Coastguard: Are you refusing to go aboard, captain? Tell me the reason why you are not going back on board.

Captain: (inaudible)… there is a another lifeboat…

Coastguard (interrupting, yelling): You get back on board! That is an order! There is nothing else for you to consider. You have sounded the ‘Abandon Ship’. Now I am giving the orders. Get back on board. Is that clear? Don’t you hear me?

Captain: I am going aboard.

Coastguard: Go! Call me immediately when you are on board. My rescue people are in front of the bow.

Captain: Where is your rescue craft?

Coastguard: My rescue craft is at the bow. Go! There are already bodies, Schettino. Go!

Captain: How many bodies are there?

Coastguard: I don’t know! … Christ, you should be the one telling me that!

Captain: Do you realise that it is dark and we can’t see anything?

Coastguard: So, what do you want to do, to go home, Schettino?! It’s dark and you want to go home? Go to the bow of the ship where the ladder is and tell me what needs to be done, how many people there are, and what they need! Now!

Captain: My second in command is here with me.

Coastguard: Then both of you go! Both of you! What is the name of your second in command?

Captain: His name is Dmitri (static)”

Coastguard: What is the rest of his name? (static) You and your second in command get on board now! Is that clear?

Captain: Look, chief, I want to go aboard but the other lifeboat here has stopped and is drifting. I have called …

Coastguard (interrupting): You have been telling me this for an hour! Now, go aboard! Get on board, and tell me immediately how many people there are!

Captain: OK, chief.

Coastguard: Go! Immediately!

Of course, what constitutes the best cruise line depends on what you value in a cruise line. If you are only interested in taking cruises to a particular part of the world – like, say, the Caribbean – then the best cruise line is probably the one that offers the most cruises to the places of the Caribbean you wish to visit. If you are really taken by enormous cruise ships, then you might consider the Royal Caribbean International cruise line the best, as two ships in its fleet, Allure of the Seas and Oasis of the Seas, are the world’s largest cruise ships. But for a more general list of the best cruise lines, one that doesn’t place too much weight on any given characteristic of a cruise line, let’s consider which cruise lines are the top rated. (We used the same metric in our article about the top three cruise ships; it seemed to work in that case, so we have to assume it will work in this case as well.)

There are a number of sources on the Internet that rank the most highly rated cruise lines, so let’s take a look at a list composed by one well-regarded source, Condé Nast Traveler. A recent issue of this magazine listed 13 cruise lines as the top rated, as determined by the readers of this magazine (who, presumably, have sailed with these cruise lines). Although each of these 13 cruise lines is given a numerical score, the magazine does not place them in order from highest to lowest (or vice versa), but rather lists them in alphabetical order. So, allow us to reorganize the list from highest rated to lowest rated, as that seems more helpful for our purposes:

1. Yachts of Seabourn
2. Crystal Cruises
3. Regent Seven Seas Cruises
4. Disney Cruise Line
5. Grand Circle Small Ship Cruises
6. SeaDream Yacht Club
7. Oceania Cruises (tied in rating to SeaDream Yacht Club)
8. Cunard Line
9. Silversea Cruises
10. Oberoi
11. Windstar Cruises
12. Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection
13. Abercrombie & Kent

Depending on your knowledge of cruise lines, you might notice that many of these are small, luxury cruise lines. This makes sense, as the more expensive and luxurious cruise lines surely provide excellent service and accommodations. Otherwise, they couldn’t get away with charging more for a cruise vacation than other, more major cruise lines. (Interestingly, though, Disney Cruise Line is rated very highly, and it is definitely not a small cruise line.)

So, if you are looking for a highly rated cruise line to book a cruise through (and you can afford to do so), the list above points you to several excellent possibilities. Again, though, these aren’t necessarily the best cruise lines for everyone, as people want different things from their cruise vacations. We’ll keep posting articles that rank cruise lines by other methods, so stay on the look out for those.

The fleet of the Royal Caribbean International cruise line is composed of 22 ships, all of which, as of 1991, have a name that ends in “of the Seas.” These 22 vessels are separated into six class: Freedom, Oasis, Voyager, Vision, Radiance, and Sovereign. Each of these classes has multiple ships, with Vision class being the largest with six ships, and Oasis class and Sovereign class, with two ships each, being the smallest. However, Oasis class is small only in terms of the number of ships within it, as the two vessels in this class, Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas, are the largest cruise ships in the world. For more vessel-related information, check out this article about the cruise ships of the Royal Caribbean cruise line.

Like other major cruise lines, Royal Caribbean International offers cruises that sail all over the world. In fact, this might be especially true of Royal Caribbean, as its ships reach 233 destinations worldwide in 72 countries on six continents. The major areas of the world that Royal Caribbean sails to are as follows: Alaska, Asia, Australia/New Zealand, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Canada/New England, the Caribbean, Dubai/Emirates, Europe, Hawaii, and South America. Each of these locations has multiple voyages associated with it – some are quick and inexpensive, like a four-day trip to the Caribbean, others are lengthy and can cost thousands of dollars, like transatlantic trips that last for over two weeks. Since all of the ships in the Royal Caribbean fleet are large (the smallest vessels, which are a little less than 900 feet long, can accommodate over 2,000 passengers), there will be several lodging options associated with the many vacation packages available, ranging from small rooms that lack a view of the ocean to grand suites with royal accommodations.

Whether you book a majestic suite or a humble cabin, there will be plenty of activities and entertainment on board a Royal Caribbean ship. You can participate in any number of games, sporting events, and other tournaments, as well as work out at fitness centers and relax in spas. You can also have a good time at the bars, clubs, and lounges on board the ships, or, if you’re feeling lucky (or just drawn to risk-taking), you might be inclined to stop by the casino. And this is to say nothing of the plays and musicals you can attend or the restaurants and shops you can visit.

No matter what type of cruise you are interested in booking, and no matter what kind of activities you want to do while on your vacation, there is good chance that Royal Caribbean International has you covered. Accommodating all passengers and their expansive interests is what the major cruise lines are all about.

For more information relating to Royal Caribbean International, visit their website here:

Royal Caribbean International

Carnival Cruise Lines jobs come in various forms, which makes sense given the many different positions that cruise lines must staff. A ship with thousands of passengers needs to offer a wide array of goods and services, and offerings lots of goods and services requires lots of employees.

Carnival Cruise Lines jobs are split into two basic categories: land-based employment and on-board employment. The former category includes jobs that many wouldn’t necessarily call “cruise ship jobs” because they are performed in standard business settings, like offices (in particular, offices in Florida, where the majority of Carnival Cruise Lines’ land-based employees work). Such jobs for Carnival Cruise Lines, which can be part-time or full-time, include positions in marketing, sales, accounting, public relations, and so on. These are the jobs of any given business, so people looking for cruise ship jobs won’t necessarily seek these out, unless they are particularly taken by the business operations at Carnival Cruise Lines.

What a lot of people mean by “cruise ship jobs” are the positions that require you to sail around on an actual cruise ship, and of course, Carnival Cruise Lines has plenty of these positions available as well. In fact, there are over 100 distinct positions available on board the ships of Carnival. Obviously, we can’t cover them all, so we’ll list the broad categories instead.

Of the on-board employment opportunities, there are two main categories, the first of which is called “Hotel Operations.” Positions in this category are very people-oriented and include jobs in the ship’s restaurants, bars, clubs, and casinos. “Hotel Operations” also covers housekeeping, laundry, and guest services, as well as entertainment and photography, among several other areas – basically any position that you would find in an upscale, land-based hotel counterpart. Think ‘hotels in Vegas.’ So, bartenders, blackjack dealers, musicians, and housekeepers all work for the same division of Carnival Cruise Lines. Even so, the many different positions listed so far should give you a good idea of just how many different positions are available on cruise lines. A passenger’s vacation experience, which can last for well over a week, largely takes place on a single ship. As a result, this ship must have employees who can perform various tasks, and hence the great diversity of cruise ship jobs.

The rest of the on-board jobs offered by Carnival Cruise Lines’ falls under the category “Marine and Technical.” This category is much smaller than “Hotel Operations,” but offers plenty of employment opportunities just the same. Deck Department, which is one part of the “Marine and Technical” category, employs people who are responsible for security and deck safety (like maintaining life boats), as well as the medical staff of the ship. The captain of the vessel is also part of the Deck Department. The Engine Department is the other part of the “Marine and Technical” category; this department is responsible for operating the ships engines and maintaining the engine room.

Clearly, there is no shortage, in number or variety, of Carnival Cruise Lines jobs. You can contact Carnival about jobs here:

Carnival Cruise Lines Jobs

Technically, the world’s largest cruise ship is Allure of the Seas, belonging to the Royal Caribbean International cruise line, so we’ll focus on this behemoth in this present article. However, it is worth nothing that Oasis of the Seas is almost the exact same size as Allure of the Seas. Oasis weighs the same as Allure and it is the same length (well, Allure is actually 50 mm longer than Oasis, but who’s counting…other than us), and virtually all of the other basic measurement statistics are the same. The only “notable” difference is that Allure can hold 64 more people than Oasis at its max capacity, which is 6,360 passengers.

Anyway, here are some key facts about this leviathan of a ship, just to give you some raw data relating to the enormity of this thing:

• Gross Tonnage: 225,282
• Length: 1,187 feet
• Width: 208 feet
• Height: 213 feet (from the water line)
• Cruising Speed: 22 knots
• Number of Staterooms: 2,700 (plus 28 “ultra-modern loft suites”)
• Number of Passenger Decks: 16
• Number of Elevators: 24

Of course, those are just numbers, which can only go so far in revealing the nature of Allure. But consider this: the ship is nearly four football fields long, but over twice as wide as a football field. Or, if you don’t follow football, the ship would stretch for over two blocks in New York City. As for its height, the Allure is about as tall as a 20-story building.

As you can see, it is no exaggeration to call this ship a small city, especially since Allure has seven distinctly designed “neighborhoods” (which is actually the language that Royal Caribbean International uses to describe the different areas of the ship). The ship also has all the amenities of a small city, including a large casino, tons of stores for shopping, and a number of different recreational areas. There are also multiple night clubs, bars, and restaurants on-board, among many other things.

The Allure may sound like a lot of other cruise ships, but it’s actually huge even when compared to other vessels. For example, the third largest ship in the world (after the Oasis, which is obviously second) is Norwegian Epic, which weighs nearly 75,000 tons less than Allure and holds 1,200 fewer people. It’s also only slightly more than half as tall as Allure. (Interestingly, though, Norwegian Epic is nearly as long as Allure, as the former has a length of 1,801 feet.)

Allure is truly impressive. If you ever want to take a cruise and feel like you’ve never left land, Allure is your ship.

Our first bit of advice is very general; in fact, it’s so general that it is basically a rule of life: be aware of your surroundings and stay alert. Many cruise vacations involve thousands of people, and there is no reason to assume that everyone is a paragon of virtue – this includes the crew too. So, exercise the same caution that you exercise when going about your daily life. It is wise not to walk around dark parts of the ship late at night, for example. This all seems quite obvious, but people tend to let down their guard on vacations to a degree that is often not wise. The warmth of the sun feels glorious as you sip your third delicious cocktail of the day and chat with your friends – all is well – but remember to keep an eye on your cell phone and iPod sitting nearby. That you feel full of good will does not mean that everyone else on the ship does.

These last couple of sentences hint at two more specific safety tips. First, keep your valuables in the ship’s safe, not the safe in your cabin. The cabin’s safe is fine for small amounts of cash and items like your watch (as long as it’s a cheap watch – no need to bring an expensive one anyway), but for really important documents, like your passport and tickets, as well as valuables, like jewelry, it is best to keep these in the ship’s safe. Second, take it easy on the booze, not only because it compromises your judgment, thereby making you susceptible to the types of mistakes cautioned against above, but also because cruise ships are moving vessels, going forward at 20 knots per hour (23 mph) and often moving back and forth when the sea is rough. Lots of drink on an unsteady surface could be a recipe for – how should we put it – discomfort.

Finally, be sure to report anything suspicious while you’re on your cruise. The best defense is a good offense, as the saying goes. Most cruises have an abundant staff, so there should be employees around to inform of any issues no matter your location on the ship, and in any event there is always an administrative office to report problems to.

Overall, ships are secure places, but you should always exercise due caution and common sense while taking a cruise vacation. What is true of life can hardly fail to be true of cruises.

With a vast fleet of 23 cruise ships (labeled “Fun Ships” by the company) that travel all over the world, Carnival Cruise Line offers scores of voyages every year. Given the vastness of its operation, it should come as no surprise that they offer all sorts of Carnival cruise deals. Carnival offers tons of cheap cruises – or, in any event, they offer a lot of discount cruises (“cheap” is relative term) – leaving future passengers with an abundance of cruise deals to pick from.

How do you go about finding a Carnival cruise deal? There are two main ways, one direct, the other more circuitous. The direct way involves booking your cruise through the Carnival Cruise Line website. If you point your browser toward Carnival’s homepage, you’ll see a tab at the top, near the right side of the screen, that says “Special Offers.” You will also see a box in the middle of the page on the left side that says “Special Offers.” Click on either of these and you’ll be brought to the same discount cruise page. On this page, you’ll see a list of “Quick Getaways” that offer some great cruise deals. The trips are short, ranging from two to five days longs, but they are also very cheap. A four-day trip to the Bahamas, for example, costs about $200, and even the most expensive of the “Quick Getaways” cost only slightly more than $300. (These are per-person rates, for the record, but still.)

There are also some “Early Saver Offers” offered through Carnival’s website. As long as you’re willing to book your cruise relatively far in advance (which is, by the way, one of our tips for how to find a cheap cruise), you can capitalize on some great offers, like a three-day trip to the Bahamas that leaves on September 15, 2011. The price? $179.

Great deals can also be found under the “Pack and Go” tab, which is located on Carnival’s specials page. These are last-minute cruise deals, offered so that Carnival can sail as full of a ship as possible. As long as you can more or less “pack and go,” last-minute cruise deals are great options for those who want to sail cheaply.

Finally, if you’ve been on a Carnival cruise before, you may be eligible for “Past Guest Offers.” The Carnival website asks you for a “Past Guest number,” and once you have supplied this information, you’ll have access to additional cruise deals.

Carnival cruise deals can also be found on websites that offer discounted cruises. There are many sites like this (e.g., CruiseCheap.com, CruiseDeals.com, etc.), and most of the major ones allow you to search for cruises offered by specific cruise lines. So, you can obtain a deal on a Carnival cruise without every visiting the Carnival website. However, if you are interested in checking out some of Carnival’s discounted cruises, the Carnival specials page is never a bad place to start:

Carnival Cruise Deals

With 23 ships in their fleet, Carnival Cruse Line is “the world’s most popular cruise line,” and for this reason Carnival actually has a registered trademark for the phrase “the world’s most popular cruise line.” In the present article, we examine the cruise ships that belong to the Carnival Cruise Line, explaining their measurements and the classes into which each ship fits.

Virtually all major cruise lines classify their ships into classes, and Carnival Cruise Line is no exception. The largest class in the Carnival fleet is the Fantasy class, which is comprised of eight ships: Carnival Fantasy, Carnival Ecstasy, Carnival Sensation, Carnival Fascination, Carnival Imagination, Carnival Inspiration, Carnival Elation, and Carnival Paradise. All of the ships in the Fantasy class were built in the 1990’s, with the oldest ship, Carnival Fantasy, being built in 1990, and the newest ship, Carnival Paradise, being built in 1998. All of the cruise ships in this class weigh 70,367 tons, making them the smallest ships in the fleet.

As you may have noticed, the name of every ship in the Fantasy class begins with “Carnival,” and in fact this is true of every ship in Carnival’s fleet.

With five ships, the Conquest class is the second largest class of the Carnival fleet. Carnival Conquest, Carnival Glory, Carnival Valor, Carnival Liberty, and Carnival Freedom were built in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006, respectively. All five of the ships have a gross tonnage of 110,000.

The third-largest class, composed of four ships, is the Spirit class. Carnival Miracle was built in 2004, Carnival Legend in 2002, and the remaining two ships – Carnival Spirit and Carnival Pride – were both built in 2001. Just like the other two classes, the ships of the Spirit class have the same gross tonnage, 88,500.

There are two classes that are comprised of only two ships: the Triumph class and the Dream class. The former contains 101,509 ton ships – Carnival Triumph and Carnival Victory – and the latter has 128,000 ton ships, Carnival Dream and Carnival Magic. The Dream class is notable for two reasons. First, it has the newest ships in the fleet (Carnival Dream was built in 2009, Carnival Magic in 2011), and second, these ships are the largest of the entire Carnival fleet, with each weighing 128,000 tons. A third ship, Carnival Breeze, will join the Dream class in 2012. It will also weigh 128,000 tons.

The final two classes of the Carnival fleet are made up of only one ship each. In the Destiny class is the Carnival Destiny, which weighs 101,353 tons. When it was built in 1996, it was the largest cruise ship in the world. It was also the first cruise ship to have a gross tonnage that exceeded 100,000. The Splendor class is home to Carnival Splendor, a ship built in 2008 that weighs 113,300 tons.

Before concluding, it’s worth mentioning that every ship in the Carnival fleet, regardless of which of the seven classes it fits into, is called a “Fun Ship,” presumably because cruise passengers are known to enjoy themselves while travelling on a Carnival cruise ship.

For more information about the Carnival fleet, check out this page on the Carnival Cruise Line website:

The Cruise Ships of the Carnival Cruise Line