Cruise Stars 2026
About
Cruise Stars recognises success and innovation and shines a spotlight on the brightest and best talent in the cruise industry. The categories are designed to showcase individual achievements and include awards such as Cruise Line Marketing Star and Travel Agent Sales Star, as well as special awards for the industry’s Rising Stars and New to Cruise Star Champion.
We are now open for 2026 entries!
Entry is completely free, and all shortlisted finalists will receive a complimentary invitation to attend the awards ceremony.
Judges
More judges to be announced soon
Sponsors
Crystal Cruises
Crystal has been the watchword for exceptional cruises for three decades. In 2022, world-leading travel company A&K Travel Group acquired the Crystal brand and we refurbished and relaunched our flagships, Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony. Now we have set a new standard at sea.
Hurtigruten
Hurtigruten is one of the world’s great journeys. Since 1893, we have sailed the length of the Norwegian coast – connecting communities, carrying generations of locals, and welcoming travellers who want to experience Norway as it truly is.
Our journeys are shaped by a simple philosophy: Norway, your way. Whether you travel for a few days or a few weeks, there is a voyage to match your pace and curiosity. From the southern fjords to the far north and Svalbard, our routes follow the natural rhythms of the coast. Many guests choose to combine their voyage with scenic rail journeys and land tours, creating a deeper, richer experience of Norway and the Nordics.
Marella cruises
Marella’ means ‘shining sea’ in Celtic and beautifully captures who we are and what we do. We sail to 100+ ports around the world, so – whether it’s tropical islands or culture-crammed coastal towns – there’s something new over every horizon. We’ve got two decades of sailing under our belt, and we combine TUI’s vast experience in holidays with our warm, friendly cruising expertise.
Riviera Travel
Riviera Travel is an established, traditional and award-winning cruise line, experts in what they do and guaranteed to deliver a fantastic cruise experience. What makes this cruise line so special is its programme of escorted tours and shore excursions, offering experiences such as tours of wineries not open to the public and special concerts in grand European buildings.
Virgin voyages
Our voyages are more than occasions to burn annual leave or drink on a beach. They’re truly unforgettable getaways that give you stories worth writing home about — whether the stories are big, like celebrating 40 years of marriage together on sundrenched Caribbean shores, or small stories, like discovering a new favourite dessert on the Italian coast.
With kid-free, superyacht-inspired lady ships that feature our signature red hammocks on most balconies, and a focus on offering nothing less than exceptional service, our unique (and kid-free) vision has been defying expectations since we first hit the water. Now that we’ve taken home Condé Nast Traveler’s #1 Large Cruise Ship and Travel + Leisure’s #1 Best Mega Ship in 2024, we’re more thrilled than ever to exemplify the modern luxury and romance of sailing.
Leave pre-set dining times and lacklustre buffets to other cruise lines. At Virgin Voyages, made-to-order food from 20+ unique eateries guarantees a remarkable culinary experience with distinct, delicious flavours. Dine on hanger steak and lemon cheesecake at The Wake and mezze-style bites al fresco at The Dock, or get your crew together for a Korean BBQ free-for-all at Gunbae. No stuffiness, just brilliant service and endless options — with ocean views from every restaurant on board.
Our elevated and epic itineraries are curated with adults in mind and create a place where the only youthful energy comes from your inner-child running free. All the while, you can expect boutique glamour; our ships combine the luxury of a yacht with the diverse options of a larger ship, with spaces that inspire personal and experiential connection while keeping the sea front and centre. And while a lot of travel companies like to trick you with (extra) low prices in their headlines, every voyage gives you over £750 of value, which includes access to all the premium dining at our 20+ eateries with menus curated by Michelin star chefs, group fitness classes, WiFi, gratuities, award-winning entertainment, and a soda and drinks package.
Sun-drenched days, twilit late stays, and starry overnights in captivating locales like Ibiza, Mykonos, Cartagena, and more introduce you to the real people and real experiences that make each port city so special. We’ve got routes ranging from 2 to 16 nights, visiting 100+ destinations across the globe. Take a voyage so indescribable, you can’t stop trying to describe it.
CRUISE LINE EMPLOYEE CATEGORIES
Cruise Line Management Star
This award recognises an outstanding individual who manages a team or department within a cruise line, celebrating their exceptional leadership, support, and relationship-building. Whether through training programs, incentives, personalised support, or innovative communication strategies, this award honours someone who has consistently gone above and beyond to ensure their team/department have the knowledge, confidence, and tools to succeed.
Cruise Line Marketing Star
This award recognises the outstanding achievement of an individual in the marketing team within a cruise line, celebrating innovative campaigns, strategies, and initiatives that have significantly elevated brand awareness, customer engagement, and business growth.
Cruise Line PR Star
This award recognises the exceptional public relations efforts by an individual within a cruise line, celebrating innovative and impactful PR campaigns that have enhanced brand reputation, generated positive media coverage, and fostered strong relationships with key stakeholders.
Cruise Line Sales Star
This award recognises an exceptional individual within a cruise line who has consistently demonstrated excellence in sales for their business. This individual will be celebrated for their outstanding ability to drive revenue, yields, build strong customer relationships, and effectively promote cruise products.
Rising Star of the Year (Cruise Line Employee)
This award recognises an emerging leader or standout team member within a cruise line who has demonstrated exceptional potential, innovation, and performance in their role. The individual will have made a significant impact on the company through their fresh ideas, dedication, and ability to drive positive change in the industry. Whether in operations, marketing, sales, customer service, or any other area, this award celebrates the individual who has shown the most promise in shaping the future of the cruise line, embodying leadership, passion, and a commitment to excellence.
Star of the Year
This award recognises an individual working for a cruise line who has made an extraordinary impact over the past year. This award looks to celebrate the exemplary cruise line employee who’s personified the brand’s values and delivered success for the company, whether it’s through increased sales, employee training or executing that winning marketing message.
BDM / Trade Star of the Year
Awarded to a Business Development Manager or Trade extraordinaire who excels in building meaningful relationships across the travel trade. This category recognises individuals who consistently engage, support and inspire travel agents, ensuring their cruise line remains front of mind and contributing to increased awareness and sales throughout the UK market. Entrants need to demonstrate how they successfully engaged with travel agents in order to increase revenue, yields and customer numbers while building the line’s trade relationships.
Cruise Stars celebrates the people setting the standard across the cruise industry. Whether you're delivering exceptional marketing campaigns and PR, driving innovation, achieving outstanding sales success or making a real impact in the sector, this is your opportunity to shine. Entering Cruise Stars is more than just recognition, it's a chance to showcase your achievements, inspire others and be recognised among the industry's very best.
Entering is completely FREE, and we encourage you to enter as many categories as you feel are relevant. Every achievement deserves recognition, so don't miss the opportunity to showcase your successes and maximise your chances of becoming a Cruise Stars finalist.
Entries close on 30 September 2026.
Winners will be announced at a spectacular awards ceremony on Friday 11 December 2026 at the Cruise Stars Awards.
All shortlisted finalists will receive a complimentary invitation to attend the awards ceremony.
Whether you're a Cruise Line or a Travel Agent, there are categories tailored to you.
Explore the full list below, review the entry criteria, and submit your entry today.
TRAVEL AGENT CATEGORIES
Travel Agent Marketing Star
This award recognises the outstanding achievement of an individual in the marketing team within a travel agent, celebrating innovative campaigns, strategies, and initiatives that have significantly elevated brand awareness, customer engagement, and business growth.
Travel Agent Management Star
This award recognises an outstanding individual who manages a team or department within a travel agent, celebrating their exceptional leadership, support, and relationship-building. Whether through training programs, incentives, personalised support, or innovative communication strategies, this award honors someone who has consistently gone above and beyond to ensure their team/department have the knowledge, confidence, and tools to succeed, ultimately driving sales and enhancing the customer experience.
Rising Star of the Year (Travel Agent)
The Rising Star award recognises a travel agent who has shown exceptional promise and made a significant impact early in their careers or new to the travel and cruise industry. This individual has quickly established themselves as a standout performer, demonstrating a strong work ethic, passion for the industry, business growth, and a commitment to providing outstanding customer service.
Travel Agent Sales Star
This award recognises an outstanding travel agent who has achieved exceptional sales performance on a national or regional level. Entrants need to demonstrate how they have grown their personal cruise sales, and how they have achieved this from new business generation, outstanding customer service and understanding of cruise products and their customer base.
Homeworking Star of the Year
This award is open to homeworking travel agents who work independently or as part of a consortia. Entrants need to demonstrate how they have grown their personal cruise sales and how they have achieved this from new business generation, outstanding customer service and understanding of cruise products and their customer base.
Travel Agent Star of the Year
This award recognises an individual working for a travel agent who has made an extraordinary impact over the past year. This award looks to celebrate the exemplary travel agent who’s personified the brand’s values and delivered success for the company, whether it’s through increased sales, employee training or executing that winning marketing message.
River Cruise Agent Specialist Star of the Year *NEW to 2026
Awarded to a travel agent who has established themselves as a leading advocate for river cruising. This category recognises outstanding product knowledge, customer engagement, and a commitment to showcasing the unique benefits of river cruise holidays, helping to inspire travellers and grow the river cruise market. Judges will be looking at how you have achieved this through driving sales, attending ship visits, and other relevant activities.
Luxury Agent Specialist Star of the Year *NEW to 2026
Awarded to a travel agent who has established themselves as a trusted expert in luxury cruising. This category recognises outstanding product knowledge, customer engagement, and a commitment to showcasing the very best luxury cruise experiences, inspiring travellers and contributing to the growth of the premium cruise sector. Judges will be looking at how you have achieved this through driving sales, attending ship visits, and other relevant activities.
Expedition Agent Specialist Star of the Year *NEW to 2026
Awarded to a travel agent who has established themselves as a leading specialist in expedition cruising. This category recognises outstanding product knowledge, customer engagement, and a passion for showcasing unique and immersive cruise experiences, helping to grow awareness and sales within the expedition cruise market. Judges will be looking at how you have achieved this through driving sales, attending ship visits, and other relevant activities.
Retail Star of the Year *NEW to 2026
Awarded to a travel agent who has excelled in selling cruise holidays through a retail travel agency. This category recognises individuals who combine product knowledge, customer engagement, and a passion for cruising to inspire customers, generate strong sales results, and contribute to the continued growth of the cruise industry.
Crystallised Moments Star *NEW for 2026
Some moments define who we are. Whether it's showing exceptional kindness to a customer, supporting a colleague through a challenging time, championing a charitable cause, or making a meaningful difference when it mattered most, these are the moments that inspire us all.
The Crystallised Moments Star celebrates a travel agent whose actions have had a lasting impact on others. It's not about sales or commercial success, it's about recognising those who embody the values of compassion, generosity and dedication, creating moments that will be remembered long after the journey has ended. Sponsored by Crystal.
COMBINED CATEGORIES - FOR CRUISE LINE AND TRAVEL AGENTS
Above and Beyond Star
This award is for an individual working for a travel agency or cruise line who has used their skills and knowledge to go ‘above and beyond’ to help grow the cruise industry. This could be in the form of taking on additional tasks, mentoring others, spreading awareness, and using their initiative to develop new ideas and concepts. This is open to both cruise lines and travel agents.
Trainer Star of the Year
This award is for an individual working for a travel agency or cruise line who runs training to help grow the industry. Entrants need to demonstrate how their training activity has benefitted their organisation and supported the career developments of others.
Event Host of the Year *NEW to 2026
Recognising an outstanding individual working for a travel agency or cruise line who has demonstrated excellence in planning, hosting and delivering exceptional events for the cruise and travel industry. This award celebrates creativity, professionalism, audience engagement, and the ability to create memorable experiences that bring together travel agents, cruise partners and industry stakeholders.
Mentoring Star of the Year
This award is open to individuals working for a travel agency or cruise line who’ve consistently helped grow and mentor their colleagues over the last year. Entrants need to demonstrate the influential role they played in an individual’s or individuals’ development, explaining how they helped them reach their targets and what challenges they helped them overcome along the way.
New to Cruise Star Champion
Awarded to an individual working for a travel agency or cruise line who has excelled in introducing cruise holidays to new audiences. This category recognises those who have successfully encouraged customers to make the switch from land-based holidays to cruising, driving growth and creating new opportunities for the wider cruise industry.
Write an Award-Winning Entry
Thinking about entering Cruise Stars this year?
Whether you're a first-time entrant or looking to take your submission to the next level, this webinar is packed with expert advice to help you create an award-winning entry.
Watch our Webinar below as we take you behind the scenes of the judging process and share practical tips to help your entry stand out from the competition.
What we cover:
Top tips for writing a standout entry – including the key dos and don'ts that can make all the difference.
Making the most of your supporting attachments – learn why they're so important and how to use them effectively to strengthen your submission.
Inside the judges' room – hear directly from one of our Cruise Stars judges about what they're looking for, common mistakes they see, and what makes an entry truly exceptional.
A winner's perspective – hear from a previous Cruise Stars winner about what winning meant to them, how it impacted their business and confidence, and their advice for this year's entrants.
Whether you're aiming for your first Cruise Stars award or hoping to add another trophy to your collection, this video will give you the knowledge and confidence to submit your strongest entry yet.
