Oceania, Viking and Regent Win New Luxury Cruise Award Categories
Phil Hoffmann received the inaugural Jenny Piper Memorial Industry Icon award, honouring the former Travel Daily and Cruise Weekly Business Publishing Group managing director.
Signature Luxury Travel & Style expanded its 2026 Luxury Cruise Awards to 16 categories, introducing awards for cuisine, spa and wellness, and super suites at a ceremony in Sydney. Oceania Cruises, Viking Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises won the three new categories, respectively.
Now in its eighth edition, the Virtuoso-supported competition recognises ocean, river and expedition operators alongside specific onboard products. Winners were selected by a panel of travel advisers, cruise enthusiasts and trade specialists. Alongside Virtuoso, sponsors of the awards included Visit Monaco, EPC Champagne and Distillery Botanica.
Explora Journeys placed second in all three new categories. Crystal took third place for cuisine, while The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection finished third for both spa and wellness and super suites.
Ocean, river and expedition results
Explora Journeys won the large-ocean-ship category, which covers vessels carrying 751 passengers or more, ahead of Oceania Cruises and Celebrity Cruises. Regent Seven Seas Cruises led the small-ship category for vessels carrying 251–750 passengers, with Crystal second and Silversea third.
In the boutique category, covering ships carrying 25–250 passengers, Silversea took first place, followed by Ponant Explorations and Aqua Expeditions. Ponant also won the tall-ship award, ahead of Sea Cloud Cruises and Windstar Cruises.
The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection topped the yacht category. Orient Express Sailing Yachts, which entered service in May 2026 with its first vessel, the 110-guest Orient Express Corinthian, was runner-up, and Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours placed third.
Celebrity Cruises won two categories: multigenerational ocean cruising and ship-in-a-ship, the latter for The Retreat. Royal Caribbean International and Norwegian Cruise Line followed in the multigenerational rankings, while MSC Yacht Club and Norwegian’s The Haven placed second and third among ship-in-a-ship products.
Uniworld Boutique River Cruises led the river category, ahead of Tauck and AmaWaterways. Tauck also finished second in the luxury-operator category, where Abercrombie & Kent won and Captain’s Choice took third.
Seabourn won the luxury-expedition category, followed by Silversea and Ponant Explorations. Quark Expeditions topped the expedition category, with Aurora Expeditions second and HX Expeditions third.
Explora Journeys, Hurtigruten and Ponant Explorations received sustainability recognition; the results did not rank the three recipients.
Phil Hoffmann receives inaugural memorial award
A separate accolade, the Jenny Piper Memorial Industry Icon award, was presented for the first time to Phil Hoffmann of Phil Hoffmann Travel. It honours the former managing director of Travel Daily and Cruise Weekly’s Business Publishing Group, who died four months before the ceremony.
Bruce Piper, editor-at-large of Travel Daily and Cruise Weekly, presented the award. Accepting through a recorded video, Hoffmann described Jenny Piper as the “industry’s voice for cruising” and credited her energy and enthusiasm with helping the sector develop.
Hoffmann recalled attending Cruise360 the previous week with more than 900 participants, contrasting that attendance with an audience he estimated at about 20 at the first event 25 or 26 years earlier. He also served on this year’s awards judging panel.
Luxury demand and upcoming ships
Christian Barker, editorial director of Signature Media, cited a record 37.2 million ocean-cruise passengers worldwide in the preceding year, an increase of 7.5%. He said the luxury fleet had more than tripled since 2010 and cited CLIA’s forecast of 1.7 million luxury-cruise travellers annually by 2029.
Barker also pointed to the arrival of hotel brands in cruising, naming Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons, Orient Express and Aman, and the increasingly close resemblance between shipboard accommodation and hotel suites.
Sophie Treasure, Virtuoso’s director of global partnerships for Australia and New Zealand, Greater China, and North and Southeast Asia, reported a 22% year-on-year increase in global cruise sales through the network’s member agencies.
“It’s a powerful reflection of the strength of the cruise sector and the growing demand for luxury travel worldwide,” Treasure said.
Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ Seven Seas Prestige led the most-anticipated-new-ship category, ahead of Orient Express Olympian and Aman at Sea’s Amangati. Olympian is scheduled for delivery in spring 2027 as Orient Express Sailing Yachts’ second vessel and is expected to add Northern European routes, including Scandinavia, Brittany and the Thames.
