Luxury Cruises

Book a luxury cruise and you’re paying for smaller ships, roomier suites, more crew per guest, and a fare that already covers your gratuities, drinks, and often your flights and shore excursions too. Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Silversea Cruises and Seabourn Cruise Line sit at the top of that pile, with boutique names like Windstar and SeaDream doing their own version of it. Mainstream cruising just doesn’t come close on the inclusions front.

About2Cruise has spent a good while comparing all-inclusive luxury cruises against the mainstream market, and it comes down to one thing: which companies deliver something bespoke, rather than just charging more for the same ship. This guide covers the named lines, the terms that matter, and the practical stuff that catches people out before they book.

What counts as a luxury cruise

Ask ten people what makes a cruise luxury and you’ll get ten different answers, but the industry does agree on a few measurable things. Luxury ships typically carry somewhere between 200 and 700 guests, against 3,000 to 7,500 on the biggest contemporary ships, and cabins are usually suites rather than standard staterooms.

The staff-to-guest ratio, how many crew members there are per passenger, tends to sit around 1:1.3 on luxury lines against roughly 1:3 on mainstream ships. That’s most of why the service feels so much more personal, there are simply more hands on deck for fewer of you. Luxury ships are still a tiny slice of a much bigger picture though: the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) puts worldwide ocean-going passengers at 34.6 million, with cruise ships as a whole making up less than 1% of the world’s commercial fleet.

Contemporary cruises vs high end cruises: what luxury actually buys you

The gap between contemporary and high end cruising isn’t just marketing spin. On a luxury line, the fare typically already covers your gratuities, fine wines and spirits, specialty dining, and often a decent number of shore excursions too, rather than nickel-and-diming you for each one as you go.

Longer port stays, sometimes overnight, are another giveaway. Plenty of luxury itineraries hang around in a destination after dark, so you get a full evening ashore rather than a few daylight hours before the ship pushes off to the next stop.

The named luxury cruise lines worth knowing

A handful of lines keep turning up together at the top table of ocean luxury: Viking Ocean Cruises, Seabourn Cruise Line, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Silversea Cruises, Crystal Cruises, Oceania Cruises, Explora Journeys, and Azamara Cruises.

Viking Ocean Cruises, Oceania Cruises, Explora Journeys and Azamara Cruises make up the rest of that top tier, each putting its own spin on smaller ships and inclusive pricing.

Is luxury cruising right for you?

• You’d rather pay one fare upfront than watch extras add up onboard.
• You want longer, sometimes overnight, stays in port rather than a few hours ashore.
• You prefer a quieter ship with a few hundred fellow passengers rather than a few thousand.
• You want a suite as standard, not an upgrade you pay for.
• You’re comfortable booking well ahead, since smaller luxury ships sell out further in advance than contemporary ones.

Luxury cruises for couples

Couples looking at luxury cruising tend to end up drawn to the smallest, most intimate ships, the ones where the atmosphere feels closer to a private yacht than a floating resort.

Boutique and small ship luxury

Below that named top tier sits a group of boutique, yacht-style lines that go even further into intimacy. SeaDream, Ponant, Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons, Emerald and Orient Express all put suites, fine dining and spa facilities ahead of headline-grabbing size, according to Cruise Critic.

Windstar fits in here too, with its Wind-class sailing yachts pulling into tucked-away ports and secluded coves that bigger ships couldn’t dream of reaching. Quite a few stops on these itineraries involve swimming straight off the back of the yacht, so pack a reef-safe sunscreen if that’s on the cards.

Luxury sailings from the UK

Southampton, the UK’s main cruise port, is where most of this happens. Seabourn Cruise Line and Regent Seven Seas Cruises both sail from there, alongside P&O Cruises, Cunard, MSC Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, Princess Cruises, Fred. Olsen, Ambassador, Norwegian Cruise Line and Holland America Line.

Cunard and P&O Cruises get marketed as six-star fairly often, on the strength of their fine dining and opulent surroundings, but they sit somewhere between premium and true luxury depending on which ship and cabin grade you book.

Demand keeps climbing too. UK and Ireland passengers took 2.54 million ocean cruises last year, according to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), beating the previous record, with the Mediterranean the most popular region by some distance and Northern Europe close behind.

For itineraries further afield, Antarctica or Asia say, most luxury lines run as fly-cruises, so you fly out to meet the ship rather than sailing round trip from the UK. Since the Mediterranean is where most UK demand sits, many luxury fares from lines such as Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Silversea Cruises bundle flights, hotel pre-nights and shore excursions into one price for that region. Exactly what’s covered still varies by line and by sailing though, so check the inclusions list before you put two fares side by side.

What “all-inclusive” actually means on a luxury cruise

There’s no single industry standard for what “all-inclusive” actually means. Generally though, an all-inclusive cruise fare covers your cabin, based on two people sharing, port fees and taxes, most meals, gratuities, and both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.

The more generous lines take it further still, throwing in complimentary Wi-Fi, flights (economy, chartered or business class depending on the line), all specialty dining rather than just a couple of venues, and shore excursions rather than one solitary complimentary tour per port.

Regent Seven Seas Cruises is usually the one everyone points to as the benchmark, folding unlimited shore excursions, business-class airfare on many promotions, specialty restaurants, all spirits and wines, gratuities and transfers into a single fare.

When a luxury line disappears: the Crystal Cruises story

Crystal Cruises stopped sailing after its parent company, Genting Hong Kong, collapsed. The brand was later bought by A&K Travel Group, the parent company of Abercrombie & Kent, and brought back, with Crystal Symphony returning to service first and Crystal Serenity following.

There’s one snag before you book, though. The relaunched Crystal Cruises is a separate legal entity from the original company, so credits, future cruise deposits and loyalty status from bookings made before the collapse don’t automatically carry over. The fix is simple enough, contact A&K Travel Group directly to confirm what, if anything, from an old booking still applies before you pay for a new one.

Crystal’s expedition ship, a small ice-strengthened vessel built for remote itineraries like Antarctica, didn’t come back with the relaunch. Creditors sold it on to Royal Caribbean Group, who’ve since put it back into service under Silversea Cruises instead.

Crystal isn’t the only line to have gone under in recent years either. Pullmantur Cruises, once a popular Spanish-based line, filed for bankruptcy, and Cruise & Maritime Voyages, known as CMV and at the time the UK’s second-largest cruise brand, also stopped trading. Neither was a luxury line, but both are a decent reminder that checking who owns and runs a cruise brand these days takes five minutes and saves a headache later.

More from the luxury cruise blog

This page is the starting point, not the whole story. We keep adding detail on individual luxury lines, from how Regent Seven Seas Cruises structures its inclusions to how Crystal Cruises has rebuilt itself under new ownership, so check back if you’re planning a trip rather than just having a browse.

Common Questions

What is the difference between a luxury cruise and a regular cruise?

Luxury ships are smaller, carrying roughly 200 to 700 guests against 3,000 or more on contemporary ships. You get suites as standard, a higher staff-to-guest ratio, and a fare that already includes gratuities, drinks and often shore excursions too.

Which luxury cruise line is considered the most all-inclusive?

Regent Seven Seas Cruises, generally. It bundles unlimited shore excursions, specialty dining, all spirits and wines, gratuities and transfers into the fare, with business-class airfare thrown in on many sailings.

Can you sail on a luxury cruise line from Southampton?

Yes. Seabourn Cruise Line and Regent Seven Seas Cruises both sail from Southampton alongside premium lines such as Cunard and P&O Cruises, though many luxury itineraries beyond Europe run as fly-cruises instead.

What happened to Crystal Cruises?

The original Crystal Cruises stopped operating after its parent company, Genting Hong Kong, collapsed. It was later bought by A&K Travel Group and relaunched, though the new company is legally separate from the old one.

Do old Crystal Cruises bookings or loyalty points still count?

Not automatically. Credits, deposits and loyalty status from before the collapse don’t carry over to the relaunched line, so contact A&K Travel Group directly to check before you book.

Are boutique cruise lines the same as luxury cruise lines?

They overlap a great deal. Boutique lines such as SeaDream, Ponant, Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons, Emerald and Orient Express sit within the luxury category, generally on smaller yacht-style ships with a stronger focus on suites and spa facilities.

What’s usually included in a luxury cruise fare?

Most luxury fares cover the cabin, port fees and taxes, most meals, gratuities and drinks. The more inclusive lines go further and add Wi-Fi, flights, all specialty dining and shore excursions, though exactly what’s covered varies by line.

Are luxury cruises a good option for couples?

Yes, particularly the smaller ships like Windstar’s sailing yachts or Seabourn Cruise Line, both built around an intimate, private-yacht style atmosphere with fewer passengers and more personal service than you’d get on a large contemporary ship.

Why Trust About2Cruise

About2Cruise researches cruise lines using operator information, published fleet details and industry data, rather than dressing it up as one long sales pitch, and this page doesn’t claim that any cruise line, ship or itinerary here has been personally sailed or tested. You can read more about how we approach cruise line research on our About page.