Would You Book This ‘Bad Balcony,’ Take 2?

Seeing a Cruise Critic editor’s “bad balcony” put reader Sandee in a sharing mood. She recently cruised in one of Celebrity Silhouette’s 130 AquaClass cabins (1549), which means she had access to the Persian Garden, a DIY spa compound featuring rooms that mimic a bug-free rainforest and sand- and camel-free dessert, and Blu, an exclusive [...]

And Now a Word From Our Forums: Meet Host Randy

Our community leaders — or hosts, as we call them — are the more active users of our cruise community and are often passionate about the area for which they volunteer their time. Our hosts contribute to various discussions and keep discussions running smoothly. Our volunteers are drawn from a wide circle of daily life. [...]

Cruise Critic Reader Captures ‘Ring of Fire’ Eclipse

It’s not exactly cruise-related, but it’s still cosmically cool. Cruise Critic member shootr, whose hobbies clearly transcend at-sea travel, snapped this shot of the “ring of fire” eclipse from near Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport. Queue the Johnny Cash tune and check out more of his pics here. Peruse thousands of ship and port images in [...]

Wanted: A Pair of Queens (or Three if You Got ‘Em)

As part of Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee celebration next month, Cunard will be amassing its own royal trio — Queen Elizabeth, Queen Victoria and Queen Mary 2. Coming at the tail end of a holiday weekend in Britain, the June 5 event promises to attract thousands to Southampton for a street festival, fireworks and a [...]

Will 4-to-an-Inside Cabin Cruisers Get Room Envy?

We’re big fans of group cruising. Pick the right ship and you can easily accommodate wildly disparate tastes for seven nights. But some of reviewer of the week live2vayk ‘s choices had us a little worried. She was sailing on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas as part of a four-family, 16-passenger crew — only [...]

Cruise From Home in 10 Easy Steps

Unless you live on a cruise ship, you likely spend more time wishing you were at sea than actually being there. To combat this landlubbin’ malaise, we’ve come up with a surefire recipe for replicating the cruise ship experience in your own home.

Thread du Jour: Crazy Dining Room Tablemates

If you’ve ever been proposed to by a 10-year-old, offered the Book of Psalms after ordering wine with your meal or watched someone hand-inspect every single roll in the basket before selecting one, welcome to the club. You’ve broken bread at sea with a crazy tablemate. Stretching 550 posts, readers have been sharing their most [...]

Time to Upgrade From Celebrity or Holland America?

There comes a time in many cruisers’ lives when they think, well, hmm, is a luxury ship really worth the splurge? “The service on Silversea Cruises’ Silver Wind was almost impeccable without being intrusive or overbearing, certainly the best we’ve had in all of our cruises,” writes RandyK47, one of five reviewers of the week, [...]