The Best Cruise Ships in the World: The Gold List 2023
Consider the Gold List the answer to the question our editors get asked more than any other: What are your favorite places to stay? Our 29th annual collection, passionately selected by our international team, reveals which seaside resort we return to every August and the cruise ship that gets everything right. Now all you have to do is pick the experience that’s right for you—and get traveling.
See the full Gold List here.
Courtesy Windstar CruisesWindstar Cruises – Star Breeze
On a cloudless night in the Caribbean, my husband and I left our nicely done-up contemporary suite on the 312-passenger Star Breeze, heading to the open deck to gaze at the stars. He started humming “My Girl.” Twirling ensued. We had lots of room for our private dance, as this all-suite yacht recently underwent an unusual redo, cut in half with an 84-foot midsection added. The result: more deck space, additional suites, a new yoga studio, and other perks. We sipped cocktails while soaking in the new glass-fronted pool, then stuffed ourselves on chicken confit with chorizo and mussels, and Spanish wine, at a tapas restaurant headed by chef Anthony Sasso, who has Michelin-star creds. He’s a welcome addition to Windstar Cruises’ impressive culinary lineup—as the official cruise line of The James Beard Foundation. This unfussy, friendly yacht delivers fine accouterments—so spontaneous romantic interludes are icing on the excellent cake. Seven-night sails from $1999 per person. —Fran Golden
Regent Seven Seas CruisesRegent Seven Seas Cruises – Seven Seas Splendor
All eyes are glued to the instructor, who is passionately demonstrating how to fry tomato fritters to maximum crispness. You follow along and flip your own in the ship’s sleek Culinary Arts Kitchen; your reward is a perfectly browned flavor bomb. This is just one little moment, among hundreds, that add up to an unforgettable journey aboard this ultra-luxe all-suite, all-balcony 750-passenger ship, on which even the smallest accommodations feel roomy. Considered touches are everywhere, like the handpicked rose petals used in the facial treatments at the spa. There’s always something happening at the Constellation Theater—musical revues or cabaret numbers—but the best show in Splendor’s house is late-night stargazing at the stern end. Seven-night sails from $4,999 per person. —Janice Wald Henderson
Courtesy PonantPonant – Le Commandant Charcot
Leave it to Ponant to up the ante with the unveiling of Le Commandant Charcot. The French cruise brand’s first Polar Explorer, she is kitted out with some superlative technology that promises minimal impact on the environment alongside a suite of exclusive offerings, from a promenade deck that has benches heated by recycled energy to a fine dining restaurant created in partnership with Alain Ducasse. The ship herself is a joy to experience: The public spaces are layered with custom-made furnishings—some with book-filled shelves and black-and-white photographs of the polar regions—and the staterooms are polished bolt-holes with tactile natural materials, curvilinear walls and ceilings, and concealed lighting that creates a warm ambiance. Spend your days hiking snow-dusted landscapes dotted with snoring sea lions and a cacophony of emperor penguins; hang out by the heated indoor pool with a fresh juice from the detox bar; or simply while away your day in the light-filled Observatory Deck while vast bright blue icebergs float silently past the panoramic windows. Eleven-night cruises from $19,450 per person. —Lauren Ho
Courtesy SeabournSeabourn – Seabourn Odyssey
Take it from me: After a week of white-glove service, spacious marble bathtubs, and on-demand in-suite caviar and Champagne, it will be hard to leave this 11-deck liner behind. But even though it has all the trappings of extreme luxury, the ship doesn’t take itself too seriously. Just head to the marina on deck 2, where kayaks, inner tubes, and banana boats beckon when the ship anchors for a breezy afternoon between select Caribbean ports. In Roseau, Dominica, be sure to follow my lead and sign up for the Seven Waterfalls Canyoning afternoon. Back on board, The Grill by Thomas Keller reaches the height of glamour with its tableside Caesar salad. But my personal favorite spot is the hidden hot tub at the bow. The views across the cerulean blues won’t disappoint. Seven-day sailings from $3,500 per person. —Madison Flager
Jorge PrigannSilversea Cruises – Silver Origin
Squalls on San Cristóbal, the easternmost island in the Galápagos, meant my fellow guests and I couldn’t reach the Silver Origin until dusk, after a full day of travel that had begun in Quito. By then, the crisp white lines of the ship’s eight decks had transformed into a mere frame for the windows’ reflected drama of the cloud-flecked sunset over calm Pacific waters. It looked like a sanctuary, and that’s what it proved to be, unfailingly, throughout our weeklong voyage.
Returning from an adventure among the blue-footed boobies and sea lions, we would be greeted with a smile from Juan Altamirano, my ship’s hotel director, and a drink that always seemed to be what we needed right then: a perfect hot chocolate or a fragrant canelazo, a traditional drink from the Ecuadoran Highlands made with cinnamon and cloves. Once aboard, we found an avowedly unostentatious style of luxury: A comfortably expensive atmosphere of low-slung seating and a palette of beige and taupe and cream, with lots of brassy accents; generous deck space for leisurely alfresco lunches; 51 cozy suites, each of which comes with a balcony and a butler; a hardworking little gym and a spa with a terrific masseuse; a stargazing platform that is also a prime vantage point for those epic Galápagos sunsets, not to mention the occasional dolphin sighting or distant lava flow.
What the Silver Origin never does is divert guests’ attention from the true star of the show: The Galápagos themselves. Perhaps its greatest asset is its deeply knowledgeable, deeply passionate expedition guides, who take you onto these strange and wonderful islands via the Zodiacs—always using a sailor’s grip!—to share their expertise about the archipelago’s creatures, landscape, ecology, and history. Back on board, after the day’s adventures are done, they dress up before delivering surprisingly engaging lectures about the islands, accompanied by cocktails and addictive bar snacks. Then it’s off to dinner, perhaps a soak in the hot tub on an upper deck, a group sing-along with the piano player, and bed, before another island experience the next day. Throughout it all, the ship grounds its guests, never seeking to be an end in itself but rather a lens through which to view and understand one of the most extraordinary places on Earth. Seven-day sailings from $11,500 per person. —Jesse Ashlock
Viking CruisesViking – Viking Octantis
There are few travel experiences that rival sitting in a Norwegian badestamp (hot tub) as Antarctic air pricks your skin, glaciers looming just 100 feet away. On the Viking Octantis, though, that’s the offer—Nordic design and sensibilities, aboard a brand-new expedition ship built to chart waters like the Drake Passage. There may be plenty of ways to visit the seventh continent these days, but Viking’s new ship (which has a twin: the Viking Polaris) and Antarctic Explorer itinerary make even the most well-traveled feel like students again. Journeying from the southernmost tip of Argentina and down the Antarctic Peninsula, lean over the bow with a pair of binoculars and expect a naturalist to appear beside you, identifying gentoo penguins porpoising in the ship’s wake; in the Living Room each evening, the sound of live piano in the air, lusekofte-sweater-donning marine biologists confer with guests at the bar. Here, luxury means rubbing shoulders with a smart set of travelers as you reach for salmon-topped smørrebrød at Mamsen’s between continent landings, or browse the ship-spanning library, curated by London bookstore Heywood Hill and Cambridge University’s Scott Polar Research Institute for a great read—or pad from the badestamp to the sauna, in pure disbelief at where you are. Eight-night sails from $5,995 per person. —Megan Spurrell
Courtesy Lindblad ExpeditionsLindblad Expeditions – National Geographic Endurance
It’s not an easy journey to Antarctica, but this 126-passenger ship makes it exceedingly comfortable for its guests. Named after Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton’s historic vessel, National Geographic Endurance is designed for rugged polar expeditions in icy and rough seas. But inside, it’s all luxury hotel. Airy Scandinavian design permeates the sophisticated ship, with copious windows and outdoor space in public areas and plush cabins—most include balconies with hammocks. (Temperatures can be surprisingly mild, so the outdoor decks are the best places to see soaring seabirds, breaching whales, and towering icebergs.) Amenities are robust for a small ship, from a spa to a science hub to the world’s first permanent polar art exhibition, dedicated to climate change. Off the ship, days are spent hiking across dramatic landscapes or zipping between icebergs in Zodiacs. On the ship, they’re filled with fine dining (C. Greens, named for Shackleton’s expedition cook, is a knockout), engaging lectures from naturalists and historians, and a few brief moments to enjoy the infinity-edge hot tubs on the top deck. 14-day sailing to Antarctica from $15,380 per person. —Stefanie Waldek
Courtesy Oceania CruisesOceania Cruises – Riviera
Maybe it’s the solo time with the artist in residence that inspires your inner Édouard Manet. (Consider yourself lucky if it’s Graham Denison, a charismatic Brit.) Or the glorious Culinary Discovery Tours where you escape sweltering Ephesus’s crowds and watch local cooks prepare signature Turkish cuisine before you dine, in the garden of a village restaurant, on a lunch that revives palate and soul. Certainly it’s Riviera’s dazzling cuisine; chefs at seven complimentary restaurants wow daily, brandishing lobster like it’s hamburger meat. The optional upgrades are also worth every penny—the Dom Pérignon six-course pairing extravaganza, for example, proves priceless; who knew seared Wagyu beef sashimi with sautéed arugula, blood orange-soya jus, and caviar perlita hums with a 2004 rosé? Riviera red-carpet delivers countless exceptional touches, like the concert-hall-worthy classical string quartet that plays during afternoon tea. The December 2022 dry dock unveiled more glam, modern public venues, and cool new accommodations with roomier baths—all the better for reveling in Bulgari toiletries. Surely you think deck-party line dancing is silly, but dang, everyone’s unselfconscious joy is so contagious, you will join in. Seven-night sails from $1,499 per person. —Janice Wald Henderson