We are considering our Carribean Cruise for 2010 and would appreciate input on the following cruise lines, in terms of ships, service, food, prices, cabins etc.

Crystal, Oceania, Regent, Seabourn, Seadream and Silversea

Any and all input much appreciated.

These lines are out of my budget. You might cruise over
to www.cruisecritic.com as each line is listed & under message boards you will find queries from cruisers. Be forewarned that everyone has a favorite line. Hope this helps.

Of those, we have only been on Oceania, but we love it. The small size of the ship, the wonderful staff, the open seating dining, the excellent food, the lack of formal nights, the port intensive itineraries, the Tourist Office reps on board at each port--all those make it a good fit for us.

The Crystal ships are a lot larger than those of the other lines. These are all good cruise lines but offer different kinds of experiences. What they have in common is that they are all upscale. But they are also very different. You're obviously going to find more shipboard amenities on a Crystal ship, but I think you need to tell us a bit more about what you want to get from the cruise. If you want to know more about each line and its ships, you can read our overviews on this site.

Thanks for the comments so far. We're not into dressing up beyond "smart casual" for dinner, as we live in a suit at work. Holidays are for chilling, not for levering yourself into a tux. The girls are not into competing with others for who has the most expensive gown. You get to a certain time of life when all that doesn't matter a whole lot!

We understand that it may be difficult to find a line that doesn't do this, but as long as there is a dining alternative, that would suit. After that, it's down to nice well equipped cabins, good food and decent ports of call in the Caribbean.

Oceania would fit the bill if you don't want any formal nights.

Of the luxury lines, Crystal, Silversea, and Seabourn have the most dress-up nights; Regent has formal nights on some itineraries (though I hear now not on all), and Oceania and Seadream ships have no formal nights at all.