Cruise lines are launching more than a dozen new ships this year, many of which are stuffed with waterslides, restaurants, bars, spas, shows, clubs, and enough cabin categories to make your head swim. So we narrowed the field to these top five early faves and figured out who’d be happiest on each. All you have to do is decide when to go.
If you’re sailing with younger kids
Royal Caribbean’s enormous new Symphony of the Seas has space for 6,680 guests and is packed with things to keep you busy on long sea days: multilevel water parks, surfing simulators, a zip line, laser tag, rock-climbing walls, multiple kid-friendly stage productions. And—oh, yeah—it visits in-demand spots like Barcelona, Mallorca, and Naples.
When your teens are gracing you with their presence
The tall ship Flying Clipper will have five masts and endless stretches of square rigging—and be the largest sailing vessel in the world—upon its scheduled debut this winter (destinations still TBD). Kids might even be convinced to put down their devices to help haul halyards and climb the rigging of this Star Clippers replica of the early 20th-century French navy ship France II, or they’ll go the 21st-century route, hitting the three pools, learning to scuba dive, or paddling smaller boats launched from the Clipper’s marina platform.
For wildlife lovers willing to go to the ends of the earth
Ponant’s 184-passenger Le Lapérouse will chase whales and seals in the Arctic this summer, and you won’t even have to hop in a Zodiac to see ’em. It has two massive below-the-waterline, Jules Verne–esque portholes and “hydrophones” that pipe in sounds from undersea creatures swimming past.
If your idea of vacation is staying up all night
Chamber music concerts at the ship’s Lincoln Center Stage venue, late-night sing-alongs at the Billboard Onboard piano bar, guitar riffs at the B. B. King’s Blues Club: Holland America Line’s M.S. Nieuw Statendam has more shows than many Las Vegas casinos, giving you plenty of options after days spent in Caribbean ports like George Town, Ochos Rios, and San Juan.
And if you want to do absolutely nothing at all
Celebrity Cruises’ first new ship in six years, the Celebrity Edge, will have plenty of staterooms with balconies, a handful of duplex suites with private plunge pools, lots of public outdoor deck space for lounging, an adults-only solarium, and a massive spa. So while it carries as many as 2,908 passengers, this ship’s all about creating a personal zen zone for you.