It is if you trust the readers of Conde Nast Traveler. The travel magazine's closely-watched annual readers poll of best ships, in this month's issue, puts the one-year-old Celebrity vessel at the tops among vessels carrying 2,500 passengers or more.
The 2,850-passenger Celebrity Solstice scored an 88.9 (out of 100) in the poll, putting it first among mega-ships in 2010. Disney Cruise Line's Disney Wonder scored 88.2 to place second. The next highest rated mega-ships were Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas (87.9), the Disney Magic (87.7) and Princess Cruises' Ruby Princess (83.6).
Conde Nast also ranked "small" ships carrying fewer than 500 passengers and "large" ships carrying from 500 to 2,500 passengers.
In the small ship category, the winner for 2010 is Sea Cloud Cruises' historic Sea Cloud II, originally built in 1931 for Marjorie Merriweather Post. It scored an almost perfect 98.0.
Runners-up in the small ship category were the Sea Cloud (93.6), Uniworld's River Duchess (91.5), The Yachts of Seabourn's Seabourn Spirit (91.5) and Seabourn's Seabourn Legend (90.8).
In the large ship category, the winner for 2010 is the Crystal Serenity with a score of 93.0.
Runners-up in the large ship category are Crystal Cruises' Crystal Symphony (92.4), Regent's Seven Seas Voyager (90.9), Cunard Line's Queen Victoria (90.1) and Regent's Seven Seas Mariner (90.0).
