Readers favored mid-sized ships with adult-focused atmospheres in our annual “World’s Best Awards” survey for 2025.

Ships in our midsize category, with 300 to 799 cabins, focused on comfort, personalized service, and creative itineraries around the world. On board, you’ll find the kind of crew whose goal is to make you feel extra special, including butler service on the fanciest ships. Feel like a glass of Champagne at the pool? Some lines in this category include such luxuries in the cruise fare. On these midsize ships you’ll also find top-notch lectures and other intellectual pursuits, and some of the finest cuisine at sea.

How Voting Works

Every year for our World's Best Awards survey, T+L asks readers to weigh in on travel experiences around the globe—to share their opinions on the top hotels, resorts, cities, islands, cruise ships, spas, airlines, and more. Nearly 180,000 T+L readers completed the 2025 survey. A total of more than 657,000 votes were cast across over 8,700 properties (hotels, cities, cruise lines, etc.).

For the cruise category, respondents were asked to rate individual ships; the results were combined to generate scores for cruise lines in different categories based on number of cabins.

Ships were specifically rated on the criteria below:

Cabins/facilities
Food
Service
Itineraries/destinations
Excursions/activities
Value

For each characteristic, respondents could choose a rating of excellent, above average, average, below average, or poor. The final scores are averages of these responses.

What Readers Loved

T+L readers showered a lot of love in this category with four midsize cruise lines scoring in the 90s in our World’s Best Awards for 2025. Launched in 2023, Explora Journeys, with a luxury resort approach to cruising, retains its No. 2 spot. Viking (No. 3), with a fleet of 11 nearly identical ships (plus a 12th launching this summer) and a no-kids policy, drew fans for its impressively consistent product and, as one reader put it, “thinking person’s” approach to activities. Our readers’ No. 4 pick was luxury line Regent Seven Seas Cruises, with luxury brand Seabourn (No. 5), also getting raves. But the big news here is that fan-favorite, two-ship line Crystal Cruises is back big time and in the No. 1 spot.

The Winner

Crystal Cruises

Rescued by the renowned luxury travel company Abercrombie & Kent and relaunched in 2023, Crystal takes the No. 1 spot with a highly impressive score. Both the Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity received sparkling refurbishments before heading back to sea. T+L readers noticed, and they praised the ships for overall ambience, educational classes, lectures, cuisine, and entertainment. But what drew the most compliments was the crew, with the new owners hiring back many of the original staff. “The employees are like family, and they treat you as their own, making sure to know your name and welcome you with open arms,” raved one fan.

"The employees are like family, and they treat you as their own, making sure to know your name and welcome you with open arms."