Carnival Cruise Lines is proud of its slogan ‘The World's Most Popular Cruise Vacation’. It sounds like quite a claim, but it has been borne out by dozens of awards, both those given by the leisure industry and those voted for by passengers. ...read more

Since 1989, when the line was established, Celebrity has said its aim is to take the best aspects of classic cruise elegance and update them to meet modern lifestyles. ...read more

The Costa fleet may be part of the Carnival Corporation but its slogan ‘Cruising Italian Style’ is borne out in everything from food to décor, from excursions to art. There is a very European atmosphere and French, German, Russian and Dutch passengers ar...read more

Crystal Cruise Line is owned by the NYK Line of Japan and was established in 1990. It’s more or less always been a two ship fleet: starting with Crystal Harmony and Crystal Symphony, then the 1,080 passenger Crystal Serenity joined the line in 2003, but b...read more

The Cunard cruise line is famous for reminding its passengers of a time when travel was itself both a luxury and a pleasure. Cunard focuses on comfort, privacy, and service – linking the traditional elegance of nineteenth century with the state-of-the-art...read more

The Fred Olsen slogan is ‘It’s all about the people’ and this line has a very specific appeal to a very specific audience – a large part of their business is from repeat travellers. This is a family-operated company with a fleet of five ships, all of whic...read more

Holland America is a cruise line with history, its first ship, the Rotterdam travelled between Holland and New York in 1873! Having spent a hundred years conveying immigrants to the ‘new world’ Holland America built its first cruise liner in 1973 and bega...read more

Hurtigruten (meaning "fast route" in Norwegian) are nothing like any other cruise ship you’ll ever travel on. To begin with, many of them are cargo vessels as well as passenger-carrying liners, and that means that planned stops aren’t necessarily made on...read more

The Island Cruise element of Royal Caribbean Cruises caters very deliberately for the young and the young at heart, offering lots of chances to mingle, entertainment that is at least half provided by fellow passengers getting up and doing their thing, lot...read more

MSC Cruise is based in Naples, making it the second big Italian cruise line, or the first, depending on whether you prefer MSC or Costa, which comes down to the difference between Naples or Rome!...read more

Since 2000, this line has been owned by a Malaysian company, although CCL is based in Miami. Norwegian is credited with changing the face of the cruise industry by introducing Freestyle Cruising – allowing passengers to define how they dine, with a choi...read more

Ocean Village holidays pride themselves on not having any of the ‘stuffiness’ that can be associated with traditional cruises. Instead the concept focuses on casual dress, sporty activities, eating when you please, and entertainment provided by stand-up c...read more

P&O Cruises was originally the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation company and its long history in both commercial and holiday travel has given it an unmatched pedigree in ocean travel. In April 2004 P&O Princess plc, the parent company of P&O Cruise...read more

Princess Cruise Line became part of Carnival Corporation in 2003. By and large the very ‘British’ style of this cruise line has remained solid, although regular passengers say they are beginning to notice the Carnival influence; especially in spelling on ...read more

Regent Seven Seas Cruises is a section of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, one of the world’s biggest ‘hospitality’ companies. RSSC ships are known for spacious, elegantly appointed staterooms, and outstanding service and dining – the cruise experience is e...read more

Royal Caribbean International has a reputation for innovation that has led to it pioneering new cruise destinations like Alaska and, more recently, Croatia, and bringing new on-ship experiences to its passengers, evidenced in their rock climbing walls and...read more

The Seabourn Cruise Line was founded in 1987 and has found its niche in the competitive ultra-luxury cruise market. Carnival Corporation purchased the company in 1999 but Seabourn operates independently from other Carnival Corp. brands. Looking ahead, Se...read more

Silversea’s slogan is ‘The art of travel. The art of good living.’ The line certainly lives up to both parts of this aim. It was founded by an Italian family and has a focus on personal attention, intimacy and luxury. ...read more

This is the cruise division of Britain's largest travel and as a result has a unique place in the British cruise market. After a failed start in 1975, the line relaunched in 1995. Thomson’s purpose is to shift cruise holidays from a niche market to the m...read more

Windstar describes its cruise vessels as motor sail yachts – which means the sails are computerised and not actually needed for navigation. When conditions are good, the engines are turned off and the ships sail by wind power, but there’s no risk of miss...read more