A cruise with Disney Cruise Line is a completely different experience from any other cruise.
The cruise itinerary included the classic destinations that ninety percent of week-long round-trip cruises to Alaska do:
A day of scenic cruising in the Inside Passage, a day of cruising near a glacier, and three ports where you disembark for tours: Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan, ending with a sea day.
The Silver Ray ship by the luxury line Silversea is one of the most innovative and impressive luxury cruise ships in the world today. Launched in 2024 as part of Silversea's "Nova" class, it is considered a pioneer in sustainability and luxury design. The article describes the ship and its itinerary.
Ten nights in the Caribbean on the Enchanted Princess ship of Princess Cruises, the line of the mythological Love Boat.
Celebrity Xcel is the newest ship of Celebrity Cruises. It was launched in Florida in November 2025 and is the fifth in the successful Edge Class series, very similar to her sister ships but with a number of interesting and successful changes and innovations.
STAR PRINCESS, the newest ship of Princess Cruises, was launched in November 2025 and has since been doing week-long itineraries in the Caribbean. The article describes the ship and the ports.
After sailing on the newest ships of Celebrity and Princess, I prepared a comparison between these companies regarding service level, food, shows, what is included and what is not, crowding, congestion, and more.
In autumn 2025, I went on a very pampering two-week cruise on Oceania's new and lovely Allura ship, which departed from Lisbon, Portugal and ended in New York. Allura is a mid-sized ship with a maximum of 1,200 passengers and 800 crew members (an excellent ratio of 1.5 passengers per crew member), and 612 passenger cabins. The article describes the ship and port excursions.
The Oceania Vista ship is a small and intimate vessel of 67,000 tons with 1,200 passengers (at maximum occupancy) and 800 crew members from over 50 countries (including 140 cooks and chefs).
The ship was launched in May 2023 and is the first ship in the Allura Class series.
The company is a luxury line known for its gourmet food and is chosen year after year as the cruise line with the best food of all companies.
Sun Princess of Princess Cruises is the company's newest ship, launched in late February 2024 and since then sailing in the Mediterranean mainly between Athens, Barcelona, and Rome. The ship was built in shipyards in Italy. It has 21 decks, 2,157 cabins, including 80 suites, 51 accessible cabins, and 100 interconnecting cabins.
Most cruises to the Caribbean depart from Florida. But in recent years, more and more cruise lines have discovered the potential of other departure ports and started operating cruises from a variety of additional states in the US. The port that has added the most cruises is Galveston Port in southern Texas (45 minutes south of Houston). Today, large, new, and successful ships sail from it. Carnival went a step further and assigned its newest and most successful ship - Carnival Jubilee - to Galveston Port. The ship was even decorated with Texas motifs, like the Lone Star.
Antarctic cruises are exceptional in the very booming cruise industry of recent years. Not many people take them due to the high price, long flights, and fear of cold weather. Antarctic ships are much smaller than large cruise ships with thousands of passengers. Antarctic ships accommodate up to about 250 passengers per ship—a difference of more than an order of magnitude. The experience and enjoyment of such a cruise are significantly greater than an average cruise on large ships.
The Celebrity Ascent ship of Celebrity Cruises was launched in early December 2023. The ship is extremely impressive with statues and unique works of art in every corner, a large variety of restaurants, large and successful pools, and an abundance of additional facilities, and most importantly: impressive and well-invested shows both in the main theater, in the huge space called the "Grand Plaza", in the two-story "Club", and in the highly successful "Eden" complex.
Virgin Voyages has three ships launched in 2020 (right at the start of COVID-19), 2021, and 2023. An additional ship will be launched during 2024. Its main uniqueness: adults-only cruises, ages 18 and over, which attracts many customers, especially young people without children or parents of young children looking for some quiet.
All cruise lines on all their ships strive to entertain passengers, and every evening a "main show" takes place, alongside various music and dance events, trivia, game shows, and more.
However, the differences in the level and quality of the shows and theater halls are immense:
From amazing Broadway productions: full-length musicals with dozens of actors, dancers, and singers lasting two hours, ice-skating shows, shows with lots of stunts and pyrotechnics, abounding in advanced technologies with the use of giant screens, down to a show by a single singer, magician, or clown lasting 40 minutes gross.
Considerations in choosing the right cruise, the shipping line, the agent, which ship to choose, which room to choose, tips for port tours and much more.
A diverse cruise itinerary with ports in both Norway and Iceland, where the length of stay in most ports is long and allows for 9-hour or even longer excursions, with scenic cruising between ports in long and photogenic fjords, at the best time in terms of weather and daylight hours on the Sky Princess ship.
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The "Norwegian Epic" ship was among the first of the company's ships to include an advanced water park alongside exciting sports and entertainment facilities. It sails every summer from late April to early November on the most popular itinerary in the Western Mediterranean: a week-long round-trip itinerary starting in Rome or Barcelona and including, in addition to the departure port, five additional ports in France, Italy, and Spain.
A special and pampering cruise from New Zealand to exotic islands in the Pacific Ocean on the Regatta – a ship of the line that wins the title every year 'Cruise line with the best culinary arts in the world': Oceania Cruises.
A cruise on the "OVATION OF THE
SEAS" ship by Royal Caribbean is an experience abounding in options and activities, and it really doesn't matter what the cruise destinations are. The ship, which is the third in Royal Caribbean's Quantum class, is a floating paradise with innovative facilities not found in any other ship series, impressive design, and endless options for every age and style.
The article describes the ship, attractions, show halls, pools, restaurants, and more.
Cruises crossing the Atlantic Ocean generally take place twice a year: in the spring (mainly from mid-March to early May) from America to Europe and in late autumn from Europe to America, with most cruises taking place in October-November, though a few are also before or after. This article describes a 16-night cruise that "closed" the transatlantic cruise season in early December. The cruise departed from Italy from the port of Civitavecchia (near Rome) and ended in the port of Miami, Florida.
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In August 2020, Carnival will launch its largest ship, the first of its kind: Mardi Gras. The ship is considered the "new generation" of cruise ships.
For more details on the ship click here
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The giant ship: "Symphony of the Seas"
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Cruises from New York to Bermuda and the Caribbean
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Western Caribbean
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♦ Cruise on the "Majestic Princess" ship
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Sigalit Bar, this site owner, is a travel advisor and licensed travel agent. She has written several Hebrew travel books about various destinations around the world.
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