Cruise lines by crew pay tier
Pay tier is intra-cruise, not across deep-sea cargo. A "very-high" pay tier at Silversea or Seabourn means top-of-cruise for the equivalent department; it does not necessarily mean better than a senior officer on an LNG carrier (which would be off the chart entirely). Pay is one factor; contract length, port frequency, ship size, and onboard culture all matter.
| # | Name | Pay tier | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Silversea Cruises | very-high | 12 ships · Royal Caribbean Group |
| 2 | Regent Seven Seas Cruises | very-high | 6 ships · Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings |
| 3 | Seabourn Cruise Line | very-high | 6 ships · Carnival Corporation |
| 4 | Crystal Cruises | very-high | 2 ships · Abercrombie & Kent / A&K Travel Group |
| 5 | Celebrity Cruises | high | 16 ships · Royal Caribbean Group |
| 6 | Cunard Line | high | 4 ships · Carnival Corporation |
| 7 | Viking Cruises | high | 12 ships · Viking Holdings |
| 8 | Disney Cruise Line | high | 6 ships · The Walt Disney Company |
| 9 | Oceania Cruises | high | 8 ships · Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings |
| 10 | Windstar Cruises | high | 6 ships · Xanterra Travel Collection |
| 11 | Ponant | high | 13 ships · Artémis Group (Pinault family) |
| 12 | Royal Caribbean International | mid-high | 26 ships · Royal Caribbean Group |
| 13 | Norwegian Cruise Line | mid-high | 19 ships · Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings |
| 14 | Princess Cruises | mid-high | 16 ships · Carnival Corporation |
| 15 | P&O Cruises | mid-high | 7 ships · Carnival Corporation |
| 16 | Hurtigruten | mid-high | 14 ships · Hurtigruten Group |
| 17 | TUI Cruises (Mein Schiff) | mid-high | 7 ships · TUI Group + Royal Caribbean Group (JV) |
| 18 | Saga Cruises | mid-high | 2 ships · Saga plc |
| 19 | Carnival Cruise Line | mid | 27 ships · Carnival Corporation |
| 20 | MSC Cruises | mid | 22 ships · MSC Group |
| 21 | Holland America Line | mid | 11 ships · Carnival Corporation |
| 22 | Costa Cruises | mid | 9 ships · Carnival Corporation |
| 23 | AIDA Cruises | mid | 12 ships · Carnival Corporation |
| 24 | Marella Cruises | mid | 5 ships · TUI Group |
| 25 | Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines | mid | 4 ships · Fred. Olsen & Co. |
Data sourced from the seafarerindex datasets — see /sources for methodology. Rankings update each time the underlying data is refreshed.