Is Luxury Worth the Extra $7,000? We Ranked Every 2025 Cruise!
Source: Our analysis of the creator's lived experience, based on what they said in this video.
Creator's Key Takeaways
This ship is in that Goldilock zone. It's big enough to have a wide range of facilities, but not so huge, such as the 6,000 mega ship size, which can get manic.
We did have to go on it two times to come to a conclusion. First time round, we really weren't sure. We felt it had lost a lot of that art deco feel. But the second time four months later, we really came to warm to it.
We absolutely love that trip, and I would wholeheartedly recommend it.
It was one of our highlight cruises for the year. They do know how to pamper you.
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Scale: 0–5 strips in half-step increments. 0 = “meh”, 5 = “bacon bliss”. Aggregated from creator-review sentiment, weighted by channel expertise.
About our Bacon Score methodologyYouTube Video Description↓
$700 vs. $8,000: A Review of EVERY Cruise We Took in 2025! We spent the last 12 months testing the best (and worst) of the cruise industry. In our annual review, we’re grade every ship from luxury to value resort ships! In this Episode: We Review the competitors to Royal Caribbean Icon of the Seas, to MSC World America to Carnival and NCL. Cruiselines rates: The New Star Princess, Crystal Symphony & Serenity, Holland America Rotterdam, Cunard Queen Anne, THE 2025 RANKINGS: In this video : 0:00 Introduction to Best Ships of the Year 2025 01:54 Ship 1 - The Best All-rounder 12:49 Ship 2 - The Best Christmas Cruise 22:42 Visiting Christmas Markets on a Cruise 24:42 Ship 3 - The Exotic Cruise 38:09 Ship 4 - The $8,000 Splurge! 46:44 Ship 5 - The Premium New Comer! 57:24 Ship 6 - The $700 Mega Ship! 1:06:49 Ship 7 - The New Luxury Option! Here are the direct links for the Ritzy in-depth reviews for all the ships mentioned in this video: Holland America Rotterdam: https://youtu.be/tVK3FveThHc Cunard Queen Anne: https://youtu.be/U2jso8Vh-Po Paradise Grand Vietnam: https://youtu.be/m6rdlrdMoQY Elephant Resort: https://youtu.be/5cbfqm3IDuQ Crystal Cruises & Crystal Symphony: https://youtu.be/2G1uxSI6xlk Star Princess: https://youtu.be/VIPVKuB-P3w SHIPS FEATURED IN THIS VIDEO: To help you find our specific ship reviews, this video includes footage and rankings for: Crystal Cruises (Crystal Serenity/Symphony) MSC Cruises (MSC World America) Oceania Cruises (Oceania Allura) Princess Cruises (Star Princess) Holland America Rotterdam Cunard Queen Anne Paradise Grand (Boutique small-ship in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam) Disclosure: Our cruise on Crystal Symphony was hosted by Crystal Cruises. While we were invited on this trip, Crystal Cruises had no prior viewing, approval, editorial control, or input in this video. All opinions, commentary, and decisions presented here are entirely our own. At Ritzy Travel Guide we remain committed to proving fair and balanced reviews. We thank Six Star Cruises for arranging the sailing. ABOUT THE RITZY TRAVEL GUIDE We provide honest, in-depth reviews of the world's most unique travel experiences. Subscribe for more cruise comparisons and luxury travel tips! Hi, welcome to Ritzy Travel Guide, my name is Bill, we are here bringing you our latest travel reviews from around the globe! We'll be travelling right around the world on cruise ships, all inclusive resorts, tropical destinations... and the deals of the day. ------------------------------------------------- Contact us, and FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Email : bill@ritzytravelguide.com https://www.instagram.com/ritzytravelguide/