Our Favourite Luxury Cruise Lines

Looking for a way to see the world while living the high life at the same time? Hop aboard a luxury cruise! With smaller passenger numbers, spacious suites, elegantly designed public areas, gourmet dining options and white-glove service, this style of cruising is unlike anything else.

And the best part is that you can enjoy it all around the world. To help you narrow down your choices, we’ve rounded up the top luxury cruise lines. Keep on reading to discover which one is right for you.

• Regent Seven Seas Cruises
• Silversea Cruises
• Uniworld Boutique River Cruises
• Viking Cruises 
• Windstar Cruises
• Oceania Cruises
• Seabourn Cruise Line
• Riverside Luxury Cruises

One of the biggest benefits of cruising is that you get to visit multiple destinations in a single trip — but Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ ships are so impeccably designed, that it’ll be difficult to disembark at your ports of call.

This cruise line’s accommodation options are nearly all balcony suites, meaning you’ll never miss the ocean views floating by outside. Not to mention, each features a separate seating area, a spacious closet, incredibly comfortable Elite Slumber™ beds and other modern amenities. Or, you can take your onboard experience to the next level by staying in one of the exclusive Regent Suites. Only available on the Seven Seas Grandeur, Seven Seas Splendour and Seven Seas Explorer, these 4,400-square-foot rooms are complete with rare works of art and an in-suite spa area. Cue Fergie’s “Glamorous”.

And that’s not even counting Regent’s stunning pool decks, restaurants, libraries or card rooms! Each is more exquisite than the last. Whether sailing around the Mediterranean, cruising through Alaska or crossing the Atlantic, you can trust that you’ll get there in style.

You’re truly spoiled for choice when you sail with Silversea Cruises. With a fleet of 12 mid-sized vessels (including four expedition ships), this luxury cruise line takes travellers to 900 destinations across all seven continents and all seven seas. From the Kiel Canal in Northern Europe and the Chilean fjords in South America to the warm waters of the South Pacific, your options are endless.

Silversea is also renowned for its comprehensive cruise packages. It launched in 1994 as the world’s first all-inclusive ultra-luxury cruise line and continues to delight cruisers with its Door-to-Door and Port-to-Port fares. Both include premium food and beverages, around-the-clock butler service and shore excursions.

Speaking of shore excursions! Silversea’s are second-to-none when it comes to immersing travellers in a destination’s unique culture, food and natural beauty. Imagine learning about basket weaving, pot making and bone throwing at the traditional village of Dumazulu in South Africa; sipping your way through a volcanic wine region in the Canary Islands; and kayaking alongside beluga whales off the coast of Manitoba in Hudson Bay.

Owned by the same company behind The Red Carnation Hotel Collection, sailing with Uniworld Boutique River Cruises is akin to staying at a luxury resort — and an all-inclusive one at that! It has some of the best fare inclusions in the world of luxury cruising: you’ll get to enjoy excursions, premium wines and spirits, gratuities, Wi-Fi, bicycles and Nordic walking sticks (for onshore use) and more amazing amenities for one set price.

Another reason to plan a voyage with Uniworld? Each ship’s theme, colour palette, furnishings and artwork are inspired by the rivers they cruise upon. The S.S. Sphinx, which sails down the Nile, features Egyptian cottons, marble and hand-carved blond wood. But you’ll get to appreciate an entirely different style while floating on the Seine River; the S.S. Joie de Vivre, for instance, celebrates decades of Parisian design trends.

The food on board will be inspired by your destination, too! Uniworld’s fine dining options include regional fare made with locally sourced ingredients. Think osso buco (braised veal) in Italy and gajar shorba (curried carrot soup) in India.

While it’s unlikely that you’ll find children sailing with any of the luxury cruise lines on this list, Viking Cruises is the only one that explicitly states that its ships are adults-only And that’s why we love it. Well, that and the fact that it specializes in providing passengers with enriching onboard and onshore experiences.

Instead of the flashy casinos, pulsating nightclubs and thrilling roller coasters that you see on most ocean vessels, Viking’s small ships feature curated libraries, sophisticated theatre rooms, peaceful pool decks and serene spa areas. Embracing Scandinavian design principals, each space invites you to relax and discover something new — whether you’re attending guest lectures, cooking classes or classical musical performances.

In fact, Viking has a long list of cultural partners (The British Museum, TED, The Metropolitan Opera, Ballet Sun Valley, among others) that help enhance each journey. In other words, this is an ideal choice if your idea of luxury travel involves learning new things, gaining insight into local life and indulging in moments of quiet contemplation. 

It’s hard to argue with Windstar Cruises’ slogan. With a fleet of all-suite yachts and sailing ships — the latter of which are resplendent with masts and computer-controlled sails — this luxury cruise line is “180° from ordinary”.

The ships themselves are enough to impress, but what most sets Windstar apart is its commitment to providing cruisers with unique and authentic travel experiences. It goes out of its way to find smaller, less-visited ports; not every cruise line will stop at Bequia in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Karatsu in Japan or Sanary-sur-Mer in France, but Windstar does.

As such, travellers can also expect to take part in a diverse range of shore excursions and activities. Windstar’s Tahitian Treasures & Magnificent Marquesas itinerary, for example, gives you the option of visiting a local black pearl farm on the island of Rangiroa. Meanwhile, those who book the Marvels of Latin America Cruise Tour have the option of hiking through the protected Cerro Blanco Forest.

Getting that intimate with a destination and then winding down in a thoughtfully designed suite on a luxury cruise ship? Sounds like a dream vacation to us!

Compared to today’s megaships, Oceania Cruises’ vessels are quite small — but with a capacity for up to 1,250 guests, they’re larger than all the other luxury cruise ships mentioned on this list. That means it’s a great option for people who want a high-end experience without the exorbitant price tag.

Even so, Oceania can take you to the most diverse and exotic cities (600, to be exact) across Europe, Asia, North America, Australia and more. From 4-, 6- and 7-night cruises to immersive 14- and 21-night journeys, there’s no shortage of itineraries to choose from.

Feel like splurging anyway? Book one of Oceania’s amazing World Cruises, which invite you to spend more than 120 days at sea ticking countless destinations off your bucket list. The Kaleidoscope of Your World itinerary takes you from Miami to the Caribbean, down the coast to Central and South America, across the Atlantic to South Africa and beyond. Seriously… there are too many ports to describe here.

Seabourn Cruise Line is a fantastic choice for those who have a taste for the finer things in life… literally. In addition to a wide range of onboard restaurants that serve everything from lavish buffets to multi-course menus, complimentary caviar service is available on each of its ships. We’ll say that again: Complimentary. Caviar. Service.

If you prefer a spoonful with your scrambled eggs or want to toast the evening with caviar and champagne, it can be delivered to your suite at any time of day. Some of the cruise line’s Caribbean and Asia itineraries even include a Caviar in the Surf® event — an extravagant beach barbecue that sees staff serving chilled caviar and bottles of bubbly from a surfboard bar in the middle of postcard-worthy turquoise waters.

Of course, the fine dining options aren’t the only reason to cruise with Seabourn. Each and every one of its ships boasts a yacht-like atmosphere. Whether sailing to Antarctica aboard the Seabourn Pursuit or cruising around the Greek Isles on the Seabourn Encore, travellers will enjoy personalized service, premium amenities and world-class entertainment.

If a 5-star resort and a yacht had a baby, it would probably look something like Riverside Luxury Cruises. Finished with the finest materials — marble, velvet, leather and silk — its small ships provide cruisers with a magnificent floating home away from home. Not only that, but the service you get on board is unmatched. With a maximum ship capacity of 162 guests, Riverside has one of the highest crew to guest ratios. Plus, butler service is provided to every single passenger. No wonder it’s been called one of the best luxury cruise lines!

So, which destinations does it sail to? Riverside offers scenic luxury cruises on some of Europe’s most iconic rivers, including the Danube, Main, Mosel, Rhine, Rhône and Saône. This means you’ll get to explore cities such as Vienna, Bratislava, Avignon, Amsterdam, Brussels, Düsseldorf and more. At each port, you’ll also have the option of participating in a variety of shore excursions; organized into four main themes (Architecture and Design, Art and Cuisine, History and Nature), there’s something for all travellers to enjoy.

Elegant design, beautiful port destinations, enriching shore excursions — Riverside ticks all of these boxes and more.

Ready to dip your toes into the world of luxury cruising? Check out our current deals or chat with one of our Cruise Experts today! We can help get you on board the world's best luxury cruise lines.