Originally Posted by philadam
As far as HAL and Princess, these are still not luxury. They are mainstream and Zuiderdam is definitely not small and intimate. If you want smaller and intimate then sticking to the lines mentioned in the first post would be the way to go, I feel.
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The point is that those are the 2 highest rated vessels in the Caribbean in the summer months when the poster for some reason wishes to visit the Caribbean. The 5*+ ships are almost exclusively in Europe for the summer months.
Even the luxury ships can become "mainstream" if booked at a discount out of season as the lines often base their product offering based on the average per diam per passenger on board upgrading on full fare sailings and downgrading on heavily discounted sailings. Holiday cruises and World cruises usually being those with the highest level of luxury. The old adage "you get what you pay for" still holds somewhat true in this instance.