Forbes Travel Guide will begin rating cruise ship restaurants: Travel Weekly

Andrea Zelinski

Forbes Travel Guide is wading into the cruise industry as one might slowly walk into an infinity pool.

Known for rating hotels, restaurants and spas, the travel guide entered the cruise industry in 2023 by reviewing five ships. The next year it went further and graded a dozen vessels. This year, Forbes Travel Guide is going deeper by rating onboard restaurants.  

The guide will announce six star-rated cruise ship specialty dining establishments on Wednesday, putting them on the same list as brick-and-mortar restaurants around the world. The guide will also list 14 star-rated ships, four of which are new to the guide. 

The decision to grade ships and onboard restaurants tells me that interest in the cruise industry is growing more mainstream.  

“The cruise industry and certainly Forbes Travel Guide were interested in that consistent high level of quality and service and facility, and we could see that a huge investment was being made into phenomenal new product on the ocean,” said Amanda Frasier, president of standards and ratings for the guide.

Frasier said Forbes Travel Guide grew interested in cruise ships as hotel executives accepted jobs with cruise brands. Luxury hotel companies that are building their own ships also encouraged the guide’s expansion into rating ships, she said. 

Cruise lines cannot pay to be evaluated, she said, and she added that all reviews are done anonymously and are judged on a standardized rubric.

Frasier pointed out that cruise operations have unique challenges to provide the same quality of food one might find on land. “Steak cooked to a particular temperature on a ship when the kitchen might be a little bit further away than in a traditional restaurant might be very frightening to a lot of cruise operators,” she said.

The decision to venture into cruise food may be a smart one. Consumer research shows the No. 2 reason people take cruises is to eat, according to Jay Schneider, the chief product innovation officer for Royal Caribbean International told me. (Destinations are the No. 1 driver, he said). 

Cruise lines go to great lengths to feed that need. 

Some offer high-level cuisine with onboard restaurants backed by celebrity chefs. Others craft regionally inspired menus in-house or with the help of guest chefs. Some lines work with a team of chefs to develop menus that stay relevant no matter what region the ships cruise in. 

When this year’s guide comes out, it will also have the largest number of rated cruise ships to date. The guide began rating vessels just two years ago with five Celebrity Cruises ships. It came back last year with a dozen cruise ship ratings from upper-premium and luxury lines. 

But the restaurant ratings intrigue me. Who doesn’t love good food? The rankings can show clients and travel advisors that some of the cruise industry’s dining establishments are worthy of being ranked among the best venues in the world.