Once proudly egalitarian, cruise ships are quietly introducing tiered experiences through suites, VIP areas, and ship-within-a-ship concepts. Are modern cruises returning to a class system?
As anybody who’s seen the movie Titanic can attest, shipping used to be strictly compartmentalized by class. Cruising has always been more egalitarian, giving passengers the run of the ship, from the expansive lido to everybody showing off their vacation fashions in the same dining room.
Even Cunard’s venerable Queen Elizabeth 2 and her replacement Queen Mary 2, both of which were built as ocean liners that doubled as cruise ships, class distinctions largely disappeared apart from separate restaurants based on cabin category. For the rest of the cruise industry, the unspoken contract was that everybody on board could expect to have the same experience, whether they booked the lowest-cost inside cabin or the biggest suite.
Over time, cruise lines began to layer in additional perks and amenities for passengers booking suites, and this later gave way to entire ship-within-a-ship products that have seemingly compromised the egalitarian legacy of cruising.
The elevated products, including MSC Cruises Yacht Club, The Haven by Norwegian, Celebrity’s The Retreat, and The Sanctuary Collection from Princess Cruises, have stratified the onboard experience for many cruises, but it’s worth noting they’ve done it in ways that aren’t obvious. While each of these products offers dedicated public spaces to passengers booking those categories, the sections of the ship that are given over to those spaces are still relatively small.
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On Holland America Line, there’s the Club Orange add-on surcharge to most stateroom categories, which gives passengers priority access lines at guest services and for shore excursions, a handful of elevated stateroom amenities, and priority seating with expanded menus or a separate dining venue, depending on the ship. MSC Yacht Club is similar in allowing its priority services to passengers across all stateroom categories—not just those who book suites.
Other cruise lines focus on in-suite amenities, with limited dedicated public spaces. Cunard touts the Grills Experience for their suite passengers, with their own single-seating restaurant, lounge, and sundeck, but otherwise, all the other spaces on the ships are all-access. On Virgin Voyages, there’s just one venue for Suites and Rockstar Quarters guests: Richard’s Rooftop, a dedicated top-floor sun deck with a private bar, loungers, daybeds, and hot tubs.
Perhaps wishing to defend the perception that cruise lines remain largely egalitarian for the majority of passengers onboard, they’ve shied away from the concrete class distinctions of the past. You won’t find a mention of “First Class” (although Celebrity offers “Concierge Class”, a stateroom category with elevated amenities that isn’t part of the suite-level The Retreat). Many also have their own concierge or guest services departments, or provide butlers to handle many guest needs and inquiries, to limit the need for separate priority lines or signs elsewhere in the ship.
Not all cruise lines have adopted the model, offering elevated amenities and offering exclusive onboard lounges, but otherwise giving over the majority of space on their ships to all categories. Oceania Cruises offers small, discreetly located lounges for Concierge Level and suites passengers, otherwise the ship is for everybody. Viking’s ocean ships are similarly without such divisions, and Disney, Carnival, and Royal Caribbean have also largely eschewed separate ship-within-a-ship type products.
Luxury cruise lines, including Crystal, Silversea, Regent Seven Seas, Windstar, and Seabourn, also don’t need to add separate VIP areas on their ships. Not only are they smaller, lacking space for walling of areas of the ships, but their brand is built on whole-ship, all-inclusive luxury, so it would simply be redundant. These luxury lines layer in additional amenities for their own top-tier suites, such as additional butler services or specialty dining access, but they’re otherwise the standard bearers of the traditional egalitarian cruise model.
Even with cruise lines that have gone to ship-within-a-ship models, they’re still offering a quality experience to all passengers onboard, regardless of whether or not they’ve booked the upper-tier accommodations. The days of crashing parties in steerage have sailed off into the sunset.
