Cruise reviews are useful, but only if you read them the right way. A review tells you about one person’s week, on one sailing, with their own expectations. Your job is to find the patterns.
Five Rules for Reading Reviews
- Check the date. Ships are refurbished, menus and policies change, and a review from several years ago may describe a different experience.
- Match the reviewer to yourself. A family of six and a honeymoon couple will judge the same ship very differently.
- Count themes, not stars. If many recent reviews mention long waits at one venue, believe them; if one mentions rude staff, keep an open mind.
- Separate the ship from the sailing. Weather, a missed port or a holiday-week crowd can sour a review through no fault of the line.
- Look for specifics. “The food was bad” tells you little; “the buffet was crowded at breakfast but the dining room was calm” tells you a lot.
Where Reviews Help Most
Reviews are at their best for practical details the brochures leave out: how busy the pool deck gets on sea days, whether a particular cabin is noisy, how embarkation ran at a given port, which shows are worth booking. They are less helpful on subjective questions such as whether the food is “good,” because tastes vary so much.
Photos and videos from real guests are especially valuable for cabins. Compare them with the deck plan to see exactly what you are booking.
Red Flags in Reviews
- Reviews that are all five stars or all one star with no detail.
- Complaints about things the line clearly states, such as extra charges listed in the fare terms.
- A reviewer comparing a mainstream line with a luxury line and judging it for not being luxury.
- Strong opinions about a ship the reviewer did not actually sail on.
Combine Reviews With Expert Advice
An advisor who sends many clients on the same ships hears what happens after the reviews are written: what improved, what changed and which cabins to avoid. Our cruise advisors at Mister Cruise gather that feedback constantly. The reviews and ship information on Mister Cruise are another place to start.
Review Questions
Should I avoid a ship with some bad reviews?
Almost every ship has some. Look at what the complaints are about, how recent they are and whether many reviewers say the same thing. A pattern is a warning; an isolated bad experience usually is not.
Are cruise awards a good guide?
They can point you toward lines worth a look, but award categories and methods vary widely. Treat them as a starting point, not a verdict.
Reviews for Different Kinds of Decisions
Use reviews differently depending on what you are deciding. When choosing a line, read broadly across several ships and look for consistent comments about service, food and atmosphere. When choosing a ship, focus on recent sailings and on comments about crowding, refurbishments and venues. When choosing a cabin, search for reviews and photos of the exact cabin number or its neighbors. And when choosing a sailing, consider the season: a spring-break week and a quiet autumn week on the same ship can feel completely different.
Ask Someone Who Hears the Feedback
Tell us the ships you are reading about. Our cruise advisors at Mister Cruise will share what clients report and send free quotes.
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