Luxury Cruises

While every cruise line offers a luxurious experience, some push the bar to such an extent that they are referred to as a Luxury Cruise Line. These lines go beyond what is typically thought of as a great experience. They provide an experience rated six on a scale of one to five. Some of the most notable luxury lines are: Crystal Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Seabourn Cruise Line, Silversea Cruises, and Windstar Cruises.

Typically, luxury cruise ships offer amazing service, have more staff, and are smaller than mainstream liners, have a more exotic itinerary, and have a truly all-inclusive nature.

Service
Service on board a luxury liner is almost telepathic. Crew and staff are trained to anticipate and provide for your every need, whim or desire with quick, courteous service. This includes knowing you by name before you step on board, remembering your preferences (martini with a twist of lime, three pillows instead of two, orange juice and decaf coffee at breakfast), and providing you with the best food, wine, champagne, linens, toiletries, and entertainment available. Luxury brochures describe this as "an uncompromising commitment to flawless service."

Staff
Staff-to-passenger ratio on luxury cruise lines is exceptionally high. For example, the Regent Seven Seas ship, The Paul Gauguin, carries 320 passengers and has a staff of 211 on board. Every luxury line has, at minimum, a staff-to-passenger ratio of 1:2. This ensures that every guest walks away with the most luxurious experience possible.

Ships
Luxury ships tend to be smaller than mainstream liners with an average capacity of between 148 and 388 passengers. The one exception is Crystal Cruises whose three ships each have a capacity of around 900 passengers. Every luxury vessel displays expensive art, delicate china, rare woods, fine fabrics and leathers, expansive wine cellars, down pillows and comforters, deluxe public areas and relatively large accommodations. In essence, they provide the best of the best.

All luxury vessels have the obligatory main dining room, casual buffet-style cafe, lounge, library, pool, spa, and casino. These facilities are generally smaller than those on larger, mainstream liners due to the vessel's smaller passenger capacity. Windstar and Regent even have a water-sports platform on the aft of their ships for passengers to use when in port.

All-Inclusive Price
The cost for taking a luxury cruise is anywhere from $300 - $2,000 USD per person, per day. This depends on the ship, length of cruise, destination, and the type of accommodation. While the price may sound high, consider that the five-star accommodations, gratuities, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, meals, and entertainment are all included in the price. Silversea Cruises also includes round-trip airfare, port charges, and travel insurance in their pricing. Seabourn includes most shore excursions. Add this to the highest quality service, decor, and food, and the price is actually very moderate.

Destination
Due to the smaller size of most luxury vessels, the ships can sail into ports that are not available to larger cruise lines. Luxury liners have itineraries in the Far East, Southeast Asia, the South Pacific, Africa, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, and Alaska. Both Regent and Silversea offer a world cruise.