Ranked near the bottom of recent issue of consumer reports

[john sl]

time to start trying other cruise lines

[Matt]

Did you look at the rankings? Their top 3 are Nat Geo, Windstar, and Viking.  Expedition and ultra luxury lines that cost 10x what Royal Caribbean costs.

That's like saying your car is terrible because Rolls Royce and Bentleys are better.

[loki007]

I tried one...NCL...it was a good reminder why I'm loyal to Royal and Celebrity 

[OCSC Mike]

2 hours ago, john sl said:

time to start trying other cruise lines

See ya! Enjoy the other lines!

[smokeybandit]

The fact that Celebrity and HAL were listed as top "family friendly" cruise lines really invalidates the whole list.

[DuckHunter]

I am not sure what the actual rankings are and do not wish to buy a subscription to check, but I will say that recently, in the last 3 years, we sailed 3 other cruise lines mainly for the itineraries and although they each had some things we really liked, overall, we felt like Royal was so much better for us.  In fact, the last 3 cruises we took with Royal were all revenge cruises for those other 3 that were not so good.  

I would be interested in the demographics and ranking criteria though.

[HeWhoWaits]

42 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

The fact that Celebrity and HAL were listed as top "family friendly" cruise lines really invalidates the whole list.

I noticed that HAL was extremely friendly to the families on the one trip we took with them.

Of course, the families consisted of a German couple with two under the age of 3, a Puerto Rican abuela with her 10 year-old granddaughter, and a family of Indian descent who had teenage triplets. That accounts for the six total kids on the ship.

[smokeybandit]

I don't mean those cruise lines discourage or resent families. But those cruise lines certainly are not designed and marketed towards families like RC (or even Carnival and Norwegian) 

[SPS]

I suspect you may be trying to grind an axe here based on your "you have now been cheated" post from yesterday.

 

[teddy]

I prefer to use my own actual real world experiences to decide where to spend my money rather than read something that tells me where to spend it 

[DuckHunter]

5 minutes ago, teddy said:

I prefer to use my own actual real world experiences to decide where to spend my money rather than read something that tells me where to spend it 

However true that may be, most reviews and people looking at reviews are geared towards people who don't have the "real world experience" to draw from.  Hindsight is 20/20.  In fact, I would argue that one of the primary purposes of a fan site like this one (Royalcaribbeanblog.com) is to provide that hindsight to future/new cruisers.

[Scotsman]

It would be interesting to see the data behind this nebulous discussion point. @Matt is right it may be low compared to luxury liners, the same as saying my wifes high heel shoes are ranked low compared to adidas in the running shoe category. For 2025/6 i see this so not all bad

Ranking Source (Year)	Category	Royal Caribbean Placement	Citation
U.S. News & World Report (2026)	Best Cruise Lines for the Money	#3
U.S. News & World Report (2026)	Best Cruise Lines for Families	#2
Travel & Tour World (2026 Global Ranking)	Best Cruise Line Overall	#1
Royal Caribbean Blog (2026 summary of U.S. News)	Best Cruise Lines for the Money	#3
Royal Caribbean Blog (2026 summary of U.S. News)	Best Cruise Lines for Families	#2
CruiseKick (U.S. News 2026 coverage)	Best Cruise Lines for the Money	#3
Global Cruise Rankings (2026)	Best Cruise Line Overall	#1

Everyone has their own preferences which allows us to choose the cruise line of choice 

 

[PhillyLady]

 

As someone who has been cruising for more than 50 years, and sailed on more than ten different cruise lines, I 100% PAY NO ATTENTION to lists!  I am an original subscriber of Conde Nast Traveler, and my grandparents were original subscribers of Consumer Reports, and even National Geographic.

Lists are often compiled based on subscriber feedback, and popularity and interests come and go with the decades. I agree--I sail on the lines I like based on my own personal experience.

RC is a FANTASTIC cruise line for families, and the bells and whistles are over-the-top.  My husband ALWAYS does the rock climbing wall, and he is much older than the teens and children climbing next to him. But, when we want a fabulous itinerary, we choose Princess or Celebrity. 

I actually prefer Cunard as a luxury cruise line over Viking, because I find Viking DULL in the evenings, and I LOVE to dress up on formal nights.   But, I will never say NO to any cruise line (except maybe Costa), and I am always happy to be on the water. 

I rarely read cruise reviews, either, because many complaints are silly, mundane, and a waste of my time.  

And no, I do not own a Rolls-Royce, but if I wanted to splurge, I would ALWAYS choose a sports car, because I prefer speed and agility over comfort and gilt.  By the way, the new Corvette ZR1X 2026 can do 0-60 in 1.68 seconds--but where can I possibly drive it?  Sadly, it is not in my garage--I will have to choose something a little more practical...

 

First cruise:  1973--Chandris Romanza--bunk beds, no television, no Internet, one dining room for all, dress up for dinner every night. Venice RT, to  the Med and the Black Sea  (Istanbul, Odessa, Athens, Mykonos, etc.).

[Traveling Mike]

I just got off a 25-day Trans-Pacific cruise on Voyager of the Seas.  I can give you 10 things I did not like on the cruise.  But, I can just as easily give you 10 things I liked about the cruise.  My question for you is the glass half empty or half full?

[Ryan79]

People still put faith in Consumer Reports in 2026?? Haven't they been exposed to be not exactly unbiased in some of their reviews?

[dustfsu]

21 hours ago, Matt said:

Did you look at the rankings? Their top 3 are Nat Geo, Windstar, and Viking.  Expedition and ultra luxury lines that cost 10x what Royal Caribbean costs.

That's like saying your car is terrible because Rolls Royce and Bentleys are better.

Is there a report that say not all Royal passengers are smart? I thought that was more of the Carnival crowd

[Matt]

7 hours ago, Ryan79 said:

People still put faith in Consumer Reports in 2026?? Haven't they been exposed to be not exactly unbiased in some of their reviews?

Their car testing and appliance reviews are usually pretty solid.

But clearly their cruise line rankings are absurd to lump every cruise line in together. Is it any shock the ultra luxury lines are the best when you completely take price out of the equation?

[smokeybandit]

Consumer reports has gotten lazy over the years trying to review everything instead of their bread and butter.

 

https://www.gadgetreview.com/is-consumer-reports-faking-product-tests

[SchoonerBarb]

I was disappointed in this survey as well. I collaborated with Consumer Reports in the early 2000's as part of my work. Based on that experience, I found that they surveyed their subscription population for this type of report. So, consider that this group surveyed likely older, well-educated and therefore likely to have resources to cruise the luxury lines. If you note, they didn't break out the general types of cruises -- mass market, premium, luxury, ultra luxury, and exploration. To me it reflected comparing apples to oranges, grapes, and bananas!!!  They had some good recommendations for cruising in general, but I think this ranking is not reflective of general cruiser satisfaction and comparison of similar cruise lines.

[wordell1]

20 hours ago, Ryan79 said:

People still put faith in Consumer Reports in 2026?? Haven't they been exposed to be not exactly unbiased in some of their reviews?

Consumer Reports is trash and has been for a while. It used to be great but it lost its way a while ago.

[Leighq]

I tried NCL once and that was a horror show from embarkation.  It was the worst most stressful cruise I ever been on. Free at sea allows 2 drinks at once yet a bartender decided to yell at me for asking for two!  Secondly I had 2 excursions cancelled due to "unforeseen circumstances " ok I get it things happen, just REFUND MY CARD nope they called our room asking us to to to guest services to I kid you not give us cash for this, why can't you put it on the card it came from? The response was baffling as they claimed I never bought anything on the card that's not part of a package so it's considered inactive.  Getting off the ship my MIL was pulled to the side like she owed money or did something wrong to tell her they owe her money and again why can't you put it back on the card nope same thing cash back.  Im still confused!

[skywalk640]

On 5/13/2026 at 7:13 AM, john sl said:

time to start trying other cruise lines

Honestly, looking at the rankings, the only real surprise is how high Disney scored and how low NCL scored. Royal scored a good amount higher than Carnival, MSC and NCL and just a point below Princess. It’s always a good idea to try different cruise lines to find the right fit for you, but for us, Royal has been great. 

 

[Carlos A.]

5 hours ago, skywalk640 said:

Honestly, looking at the rankings, the only real surprise is how high Disney scored and how low NCL scored. Royal scored a good amount higher than Carnival, MSC and NCL and just a point below Princess. It’s always a good idea to try different cruise lines to find the right fit for you, but for us, Royal has been great. 

 

To Disney Adults Disney can do no wrong, so every DCL score should be taken with a grain of salt. 

[remiso929]

On 5/13/2026 at 7:13 AM, john sl said:

time to start trying other cruise lines

Consumer Reports been roasting cruise lines lately but honestly every line has gone downhill a bit after covid. Still depends more on the ship than the company sometimes.

[jbrinkm]

"We rated 19 cruise lines based on a CR Member survey of 18,850 people who took a cruise in the last 36 months."

 

 

[jbrinkm]

On 5/14/2026 at 10:09 AM, SchoonerBarb said:

I found that they surveyed their subscription population for this type of report. So, consider that this group surveyed likely older, well-educated and therefore likely to have resources to cruise the luxury lines. 

This ! I get asked to do this survey and I'm too busy. So it is a very specific population who answers it, and I would add "has free time" to @SchoonerBarb's list.

With that said, when I look at the actual specific categories, I agree to some extent with several of them, and I hear people complaining on this board about some of them as well. BUT, I would also argue that the whole is much greater than the sum of it's parts. There's something really special about cruising RC overall that can't be broken down like these ratings do. 

 

[Doug_Texas]

I do 80% of my cruises on Royal and love the value and perks that Royal offers.  For me there is nothing like the Caribbean on an Oasis or Icon class ship.  I love the new NCL ships like Viva / Aqua but normally Royal value edges out NCL as a D+ customer.  I took one older NCL ship and won’t be doing that again.  Then again, on Royal I’m done with anything older than Voyager class ships.  I’ve had wonderful times on Radiance and Vision class ships but I’m done with those.  I’m on to trying Japan and Europe ocean and river on Celebrity - hate giving up the D+ drink vouchers but the itineraries available on Celebrity provides different options than Royal.  We went to French Polynesia on a 680 passenger Oceania sailing and we got into amazing ports not possible with Royal - phenomenal sailing with great cuisine and not much entertainment.  Still, Paul Gauguin probably the gold standard for those islands. 

Cruise ratings and lists are kind of stupid and I can't figure out how you would compare different types of cruising vacations.  Royal is great at what they do and will dominate my bookings going forward.

[Matt]

Something else to remember is surveys of regular people are a poor source of objective data. 

Regular people are the sort that say “worst cruise ever” because of a minor issue and rate things 1/10. 

[steverk]

12 hours ago, Doug_Texas said:

I’m done with anything older than Voyager class ships.  I’ve had wonderful times on Radiance and Vision class ships but I’m done with those.

I get your point, but I have a minor correction.  Radiance class came out after Voyager and is therefore older than Radiance. 

[Rackham]

17 hours ago, Doug_Texas said:

Cruise ratings and lists are kind of stupid and I can't figure out how you would compare different types of cruising vacations.  Royal is great at what they do and will dominate my bookings going forward.

Comparing directly different experiences is kinda dumb, CR really should be running charts for different categories of cruise lines and another for world regions (or maybe one chart that allows the user to have the ranking list shift based on those). 

Something that I'm finding interesting with this data is dividing the cost per adult by the line's score for a $/point comparison. National Geographic (1st) $117.07/pt; Celebrity $34.69/pt; and Royal Caribbean $26.28/pt. NatGeo's 337% $/pt to Celebrity and 445% to Royal. However, when dividing out the cost per adult between lines, NatGeo is 455% to Celebrity and 690% to Royal Caribbean. So if we divide the cost per adult% by $/pt%, NatGeo score is 135% to Celebrity while it's 155% to Royal Caribbean.

In plain English.

1. NatGeo isn't close to being in a category with Celebrity or Royal Caribbean. There's a definite premium paid, which they're delivering on.
2. However, based on dollars spent, peeps in the survey are only finding NatGeo to be 35% or 55% better than Celebrity or Royal Caribbean respectively.
3. Lastly, if we compare Celebrity to Royal Caribbean using the above process (132% Celeb to Royal $/pt | 152% fare difference), Celebrity is 15% better than Royal based on dollars spent from survey results.

[Scotsman]

12 hours ago, Matt said:

Regular people are the sort that say “worst cruise ever” because of a minor issue and rate things 1/10

I feel this was a perfect opportunity to give your Great Wall of China anecdote regarding ratings

[smokeybandit]

If their conclusions are based solely on a survey of a tiny subset of cruisers, then that's kind of wrong to make global recommendations for the masses.

 

[alfaeric]

You all need to see the half full cup of this story.

It's pretty clear that few here are going to change much in their cruising vacations.  

But we all suffer from elevated prices, especially on Icon class ships.  

So if this "bad" press results in lower demand and then lower prices, we all win.

I've gotten tired of trying to defend what makes us happy and feel good, so I don't bother anymore.  If someone is wary of doing what I do, that's fine with me- its one more cabin that doesn't raise prices for the rest of us.

Same for all of the other travel we do.  Less crowded campgrounds rule, and everyone can deal with lower theater prices.

[Ditchdoc]

 

When you see lists like this

 

https://www.newsweek.com/readerschoice/best-cruise-ship-families-2025

 

That rank Margaritaville at Sea as best cruise ship for families ....

 

Well ... it just makes you wonder.

 

I mean, I love Jimmy Buffett but but the ships look like pigs in lipstick.

 

So ... yeah ... take 'best of' lists for anything with a big grain of salt.

[smokeybandit]

That one is another "internet survey" type ranking.

[BB1]

I am so happy i read this. I have subscribed to Consumer Reports for years and I have felt like it has gotten more and more biased and that the information has become poorer and poorer. It pushed me to cancel my subscription. 

Thanks

[smokeybandit]

I'm not sure it's biased as much as it is lazy and incomplete.

[Eddie305]

When you see a survey that rates HAL higher than Royal, really? That, should tell you right away demographics criteria  from responders (and I’m no teen but baby boomer).  Just my honest opinion.

[Doug_Texas]

On 5/17/2026 at 12:04 AM, steverk said:

I get your point, but I have a minor correction.  Radiance class came out after Voyager and is therefore older than Radiance. 

My preference is for the 138,000 GT Voyager class with a Royal Promenade over the 90,000 Radiance class with a Centrum.  I’m sure there are cruisers who prefer Radiance and Vision class and that’s why Royal has something for most people.  I did a transatlantic on Enchantment and was bored out of my mind.

[ChessE4]

The cinema on Radiance class is an upgrade to Vision class, but I admit a promenade is helpful on long voyages with many sea days.