Your favorite cruise ship might be overrated. Here’s what the scores say.

A famous ship can be a good ship and still be the wrong ship for you. The mistake is treating a big name—or one overall number—as a guarantee that everything aboard will suit your holiday.

Same average, opposite strengths

Icon of the Seas scores 4.2 out of 5 across six Cruise Frog categories. Cabins and entertainment score 5; dining scores 3. Service, pools and decks, and value each score 4.

Oceania Vista also averages 4.2. But dining, cabins, and pools and decks score 5, while entertainment and value score 3. Service scores 4.

The headline score is identical. The holiday those scores describe is not.

Pick the weakness you can live with

If food matters more than entertainment, Vista's category profile is the stronger match. If entertainment is the priority, Icon reverses that comparison. Neither result supports calling one the universal winner.

Celebrity Ascent offers a third profile: 4.0 overall, with cabins at 5, dining and entertainment at 4, and value at 3.

The verdict

“Overrated” is an opinion about expectations. These scores cannot prove public opinion wrong. They can expose a mismatch between what you expect and what the editorial profile rewards. Before defending your favorite ship, name the category it actually wins.

A useful way to read the tie

Start by writing down the three things you want from a cruise. If the first is food, the second is open deck space and the third is a good cabin, Vista's profile speaks to that order. If entertainment comes first, Icon's score of 5 deserves more weight in your own decision than it gets in an equal-weight average.

That does not mean changing the site's score. It means using the breakdown to make a choice. An overall average gives each scored category the same share. Your holiday does not have to do that.

A family traveling together may also have more than one set of needs. One person wants shows; another wants a quiet meal. A single winner cannot settle that argument. Look at the deck plan and daily program as well as the ratings, then agree on the tradeoff before booking.

What would change the verdict?

A different itinerary, cabin or fare can change the choice even when the editorial scores stay the same. A ship's dining score also does not tell you whether the restaurant you want costs extra or has space on your sailing. Confirm those details with the line.

The weakest use of a rating is to quote it as proof that everyone who liked a different ship was wrong. The strongest use is to ask a precise question: does this ship do the things I want it to do?

Icon and Vista make that question easy to see. Both earn the same rounded overall. Neither earns identical marks in every category. That is the story behind the number, and it is more useful than a brand argument.

How to read these scores

These are a snapshot of the site's editorial ratings checked on October 12, 2026, not verified passenger-review averages or a new onboard inspection. Overall scores average the rated categories and are rounded to one decimal place. They do not establish current prices, measured queue times or the experience on every departure. Check the linked profiles for the current scores.

Related reading

See how Lounge Frog ratings work, then compare the linked profiles and the Cruise Frog ship directory.

Photo: Corey Seeman / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. License: CC BY-SA 4.0. Image cropped for display; the adapted photo retains its source license.