Welcome to Byte Size Cruises! If this is your first time here, we are a small travel agency outside of Philadelphia, PA and we specialize in all things cruising. Happy New Year! If you are interested in cruising or if you're looking to book a cruise vacation in 2024 or 2025, you're in the right place. Our goal is to share the most up to date and relevant information on cruising with you so you can go on your best cruise. If this sounds interesting you we would love to have you subscribe to our blog! To check out our YouTube channel, click here.
In this post we are listing our TOP TEN cruise ships of 2023! This ranking is based on the ships themselves, not the itineraries. We will share what we liked, what we didn't like, and at the end we will announce some giveaways coming up in 2024. Let's get into it!
10. The Caribbean Princess. This was actually our first Princess cruise in a while and the itinerary we took went through the Panama Canal, which was amazing. While this ship is a bit older, the technology has been updated and that landed this ship in our top ten. The layout of the ship is a bit strange and not intuitive; we had a hard time navigating one place to another at first. Overall, on this cruise, we had a wonderful time.
9. NCL Joy. We love the Breakaway and Breakaway Plus class ships, and this is definitely an odd ship. This ship was fit for Asia and retrofitted for the USA, so the shapes and sizes of things are unlike other USA cruise ships. While we had a great time on this ship, it wasn't our best experience of the year. Some highlights were the entertainment on the ship (the Broadway style shows were amazing!) and we had some decent meals at the restaurants.
8. Brilliance by Royal Caribbean. We took this ship to Alaska this past year and had a wonderful time. There is something really unique about the older Royal Caribbean ships that gives them a huge nostalgia factor. Of course, the bigger and newer ships have a lot more exciting and fun things to offer, but we do really enjoy the old school vibes of older ships.
7. MSC Magnifica. This is another ship that is a bit older as well and often does itineraries that are a bit longer. If you are a seasoned cruiser who enjoys a classic cruise experience, this ship is a great ship for you. Because the ship doesn't have all the bells and whistles of a newer ship, make sure you are focusing on the ports of call you are visiting or setting the expectation of a peaceful and calm cruise. Overall, this is a great ship with good food and we had a great time cruising on this ship.
6. Celebrity Summit. On this ship we went to Charleston, Bermuda, and then up to the New England area and our entire team had a wonderful experience. Again, this ship is a bit older so we choose a really interesting itinerary. We thought the entertainment and food on this ship was really good (Sushi on 5 was amazing - one of our favorite restaurants of the year!) One of our favorite things on this ship was the outdoor movie theater. Overall this was a pretty classic cruise experience and ideal for couples without kids, whether you are older or younger.
5. Enchantment of the Seas. We had a great time on this ship. We went to the Chef's Table, which was an amazing meal, we met some amazing people, the staff was incredible and we got a chance to meet the Cruise Director. This is another older ship, however because of the intentionality behind the Cruise Director and his staff, we had such a great time and created some unforgettable memories.
4. MSC Meraviglia. Now we are getting into some larger ships! This ship was really close to being amazing for us. The issue we had is that it started to feel too much like Royal Caribbean and not like MSC. Regardless of this, the shows we saw on this ship were incredible (they were some of our favorite shows of the year) and the food was great (there's a mozzarella bar... can you believe it?!) Lots of fun things to do on this ship and we had a great time.
3. NCL Escape. This ship is exactly the opposite of NCL Joy. There's tons of fun things to see and do on the ship itself and each experience was very well done. The food is great and the specialty dining was incredible. For us, this was a rushed cruise (our itinerary took us into New England and into Canada) and we had a port every day of the cruise. We had wished we had at least one fully day just at sea to really enjoy the ship on its own.
2. Mariner of the Seas by Royal Caribbean. There are several elements on this ship that make it feel like an Oasis class ship, such as the dining options and entertainment, without being on a ship the size of Oasis. These things definitely elevated our experience and overall we really enjoyed the layout of the ship and the different things it had to offer. The Cruise Director on this ship was great as well as his staff. There was plenty for us to do on this ship and alongside the itinerary we were kept busy and entertained throughout the cruise.
1. OUR NUMBER ONE PICK! MSC Sea Scape. We loved this ship. There's different kinds of pools on a few different decks, amazing food, great entertainment, and some really unique options that we didn't see anywhere else. The sports bar on this ship is really unique, cool lounges to hang in, dueling pianos, and more. This ship is really for everyone, whether you're a young couple, a family with kids, or traveling with a whole group of friends.
Those are our TOP TEN cruise ships from 2023! Did you cruise last year? What did you enjoy about the ship you were on? Comment below! We would love to hear from you.