Cruise Awards 2026: The Winners So Far
This year’s cruise line and ship winners from the major programs, with dates and sources.
Get Quotes on Award-Winning Cruise LinesHere are the cruise awards 2026 results published so far, with the source and date for each. Where a result comes from a cruise line’s own announcement rather than the award organizer, we say so.
Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards 2026
Announced July 7, 2026, from a survey of more than 207,000 readers. The No. 1 cruise line in each category:
| Category | No. 1 in 2026 |
|---|---|
| Mega-ship ocean cruise line | Virgin Voyages (its fourth straight year, per Virgin Voyages) |
| Large-ship ocean cruise line | Disney Cruise Line |
| Midsize-ship ocean cruise line | Crystal |
| Small-ship ocean cruise line | Viking |
| Intimate-ship ocean cruise line | Quasar Expeditions |
| River cruise line | Oberoi (its Nile river cruises) |
Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards 2026
Results published in October 2026, from nearly 800,000 votes across the awards. In the cruise categories reported so far, Princess Cruises was No. 1 among megaships (over 4,000 passengers) and Virgin Voyages No. 1 among large ships, just ahead of Disney Cruise Line and Holland America Line.
World Cruise Awards 2026
The World Cruise Awards held their sixth edition with a gala in Jamaica on October 12, 2026. As reported by Euronews, Norwegian Cruise Line was named the world’s best cruise line, Australis the best expedition cruise line and Pandaw the best river cruise line. Ship honors went to Disney Wish (families), Sun Princess (foodies) and Celebrity Apex (romance).
USA TODAY 10Best and U.S. News 2026
USA TODAY 10Best Readers’ Choice 2026
Viking announced on January 14, 2026 that readers ranked it No. 1 for Best Ocean Cruise Line, Best River Cruise Line and Best Alaska Cruise. Margaritaville at Sea reported second place for Best Ocean Cruise Line.
U.S. News & World Report Best Cruise Lines 2026
Released in November 2025; Viking announced that it topped the rankings.
Cruiseline.com Member Choice 2026
Members of the review site named Utopia of the Seas the best overall cruise ship, per Cruiseline.com’s announcement.
Still to Come
Cruise Critic’s Best in Cruise Awards and Travel Weekly’s Readers Choice Awards have been announced in December in recent years. Until then, the latest editions are on our 2025 awards page.
Cruise Awards 2026: FAQ
Have the Cruise Critic 2026 awards been announced?
Not as of late October 2026. Recent editions were announced in early December; we will add the 2026 results once Cruise Critic publishes them.
Which line won the most cruise awards in 2026?
No single line swept everything. Virgin Voyages won in both Travel + Leisure (mega-ship) and Condé Nast Traveler (large ships), and Viking topped Travel + Leisure’s small-ship list and USA TODAY 10Best’s ocean category.
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