2023 Member Choice Awards: Best Ships Overall & Best New Ships
It's safe to say that this past year cruising came back with a big ‘splash.’ Over the course of 2022, we saw cruise lines bring back almost all of the ships in their fleet and welcome all guests onboard with limited to no restrictions. We also saw the return of cruising back to all the corners of the world, with ships once again sailing to ports in the Caribbean, Canada, Europe, Australia, South America, the South Pacific, and everywhere in between.
In our 2023 Member Choice Awards for the best ships, we gathered the review data received from members between January-December 2022 to rank the overall best ships of the year. Our rankings combine cruise ships of all sizes and varieties, ranging from mainstream to premium, luxury, and river vessels.
Here are the 2023 Member Choice Awards for Best Ship Overall and Best New Ship winners.
Best Ship: Overall
- Allure of the Seas - 4.37
- Oasis of the Seas - 4.32
- Adventure of the Seas - 4.31
- Harmony of the Seas - 4.302
- Symphony of the Seas - 4.301
Honorable Mentions:
- Mardi Gras - 4.30
- Navigator of the Seas - 4.28
- Carnival Horizon - 4.27
- Mariner of the Seas - 4.258
- Independence of the Seas - 4.257
The overall best cruise line of the year has also swept the list for the top five spots of best ships overall. Congratulations to Royal Caribbean on this great accomplishment and the great reviews from our members.
The top-ranked ship for 2022 was Allure of the Seas. At the end of 2019, the Oasis class Allure re-entered the market for Royal Caribbean after a refurbishment, returning with shiny-new Royal Amplified upgrades. Flash forward mere months later, in early 2020, the mega-ship with its great new features was taken out of service due to the line’s pause in operations. In 2022, Allure of the Seas sailed uninterrupted for an entire year, allowing guests to experience the eagerly anticipated new additions. The amplification was clearly a hit, garnering rave reviews and top marks from Cruiseline.com members.
For a large chunk of 2022, Allure of the Seas was homeported from Galveston, offering 3-7-night Caribbean sailings. Most of the reviews we received for the ship came from family travelers (a target market for this ship) and first-time cruisers who ranked the ship very highly. The blend of great onboard amenities, stateroom offerings, dining, and great service, catapulted Allure of the Seas to the top of this list to make it the best ship overall.
Sister ship Oasis of the Seas was the number two best ship of the year. Similarly to Allure, Royal Caribbean completed Oasis of the Seas’ Amplified upgrades in 2019 to make 2022 its first full year for guests to experience the new additions. Number three best ship overall, Adventure of the Seas, is a unique ranking as it is an older ship in the Royal Caribbean fleet. It last went through a refurbishment in 2018, so it’s seen many guests over the past years. The ship was positioned in numerous ports throughout 2022, sailing a wide range of itineraries. The ship homeported in Galveston and Cape Liberty, sailing Caribbean, Bermuda, and Canada/New England cruises.
Numbers four and five, Harmony of the Seas and Symphony of the Seas were separated by only one-thousandth point in the yearly rankings. The ships are incredibly similar, with capacities of over 5,000+ guests and many of the same onboard amenities and features.
Carnival Cruise Line’s Mardi Gras and Carnival Horizon both made honorable mentions in the best ship overall category. This was Carnival’s first full year sailing with Mardi Gras and also the newest ship in 2022 to make it into this awards category. It trailed a tiny one-thousandth point just behind Symphony of the Seas to come in at number six. Number eight was the Vista-class ship Carnival Horizon. This ship was homeported in Miami for 2022, sailing various short and long Caribbean cruises. Although it’s not one of the newer ships in the Carnival fleet, the vessel scored highly, with members remarking in reviews about how comfortable they felt on this ship and that its size offered tons of things to do onboard without ever feeling overwhelming.
Best New Ships
- Wonder of the Seas - 4.23
- Discovery Princess - 4.09
- Celebrity Beyond - 4.02
- Norwegian Prima - 3.90
- Carnival Celebration - 3.58
Honorable Mentions:
- MSC Seascape - 3.29
- Disney Wish - 3.22
- Viking Octantis - 2.99
- Viking Egdir - 2.88
- Viking Gymir - 2.80
Our top five best new ships represent an eclectic mix of cruise lines. Some of these ships were slated to debut in prior years, but due to pandemic-related delays, they made their maiden voyages in 2022. The top four on this list were incredibly close, with small percentage differences.
Coming in at number one was Wonder of the Seas. This Oasis-class Royal Caribbean ship debuted with the title of the ‘world’s largest cruise ship’ (and still is upon publication of this award). The Wonder of the Seas came out in March 2022, sailing an inaugural spring Caribbean season from Fort Lauderdale before repositioning to the Mediterranean for the summer. The ship returned to Florida this past November to sail Caribbean cruises from Port Everglades. Wonder of the Seas was a highly-anticipated ship from Royal Caribbean fans, and our member reviews show that the wait was worth it. The ship was designed to bring together several fan-favorite Royal Caribbean venues and activities with new amenities like its Suite Neighborhood, the Mason Jar restaurant, and the kid-friendly Wonder Playscape outdoor area.
Numbers two to four in the best new ship category were very close in rankings, separated by just a few hundredths of a point difference. Princess Cruises’ Discovery Princess was originally slated to come out in 2021 but was delayed until March 2022. This ship is the sixth in the Princesses’ Royal class of ships, offering PrincessMedallion technology, cabins with some of the largest balconies on any Princess ship, exceptional dining options, and more. Number three, Celebrity Beyond (the third ship of Celebrity Cruises’ Edge class), debuted in April 2022. It spent an inaugural summer season sailing in Europe before repositioning to Fort Lauderdale for the fall/winter. This shiny-new ship offers member-favorite Edge class amenities like Eden, a Magic Carpet, The Retreat, and highly-ranked staterooms.
Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Prima debuted this past August in Iceland before repositioning to Miami in November. This ship was the first of the groundbreaking Prima class for Norwegian and its first new class of ship in ten years. Norwegian Prima offers a number of special highlights onboard, such as the line’s first-ever food hall, a three-level go-kart track, the world’s largest free-fall slide at sea, a redefined ship-within-a-ship Haven area, and the most pool deck space of any ship in the Norwegian fleet.
Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Celebration debuted in November 2022. This ship is the sister to Mardi Gras (our winner last year for this category) and offers a lot of unique elements to celebrate Carnival Cruise Line’s 50 years of cruising. When the debut of a new ship is later in the year, the ship doesn’t have the luxury of time to accumulate reviews as ships earlier in the year. Even in a short period of time, the Norwegian Prima and Carnival Celebration received high marks and made quite an impression, making their top five debuts. We look forward to seeing where these two will rank in future awards.
Our honorable mentions for best new ships come from MSC Cruises, Disney Cruise Line, and three Viking Cruises vessels. MSC Cruises MSC Seascape (number six) debuted in late November, with just a handful of cruises for members to review for these awards. Number seven, Disney Wish, had an interesting year to debut, with Disney Cruise Line’s health and safety protocols evolving over the months and somewhat more restrictive than other lines. This ship was a groundbreaking and highly-anticipated new offering from Disney Cruise Line. However, due to the cruise line’s family-focused crowd, there were several months when sailing on Disney Wish was simply unavailable to younger cruisers. By the end of the year, protocols had changed, and more families could sail on Disney Wish, which is when we saw the biggest influx of reviews. Our seven through ten on the list, Viking Ocantis (Viking Expedition) and Viking River Cruises’ Viking Egdir and Viking Gimir, all made strong first-time debuts. These ships offer much smaller capacities than some of the higher-ranked ocean-going vessels, so it’s a little tougher for them to receive the same amount of reviews to compare, but impressive nonetheless to see them debut to such rave reviews from our members.
More 2023 Member Choice Awards:
Best Cruise Lines Overall
Best Cruise Lines Onboard Experience
Best Cruise Ships Onboard Experience
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