Why these travelers picked Disney Dream as the best cruise ship for 2016

By Mary Forgione

Feb. 11, 2016 7:45 AM PT

Disney cruise ships made a splashy showing in the 2016 Cruise Critic Cruisers’ Choice Awards that were announced Tuesday.

The Disney Dream was selected best large cruise ship of 2016. It also won for best cabins, best entertainment, best for families and other categories in the crowd-sourced awards.

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In all, Disney cruise ships came away with 11 first-place awards for its ships in various size categories.

Holland America’s Maasdam came in first for midsize ships, and Celebrity Xpedition came in first for small ships.

The rating is based on comments and ratings -- 1 out of 5, 5 being best -- only from passengers who weighed in on Cruise Critic’s website during 2015. (It’s free to sign up and post your comments.)

In my opinion, the real value of the rankings comes with browsing the comments to learn more about each person’s cruise experience.

For example, one comment titled “Mickeys Merry Cruise Only Merry For Some” points out the pros (“the trip is ... a child’s dream”) and cons (lots of lines at character visits, among other things) of a seasonal cruise to the Bahamas on the Disney Dream.

Other Disney Dream comments for 2015 cover what it’s like to go with a multi-generational group, family with small children, etc. -- all good information you may be able to use in prepping for your next sailing.

But back to the awards. Here are the 10 best large cruise ships for 2016:

1. Disney Dream

2. Disney Fantasy

3. Celebrity Reflection

4. Eurodam

9. Celebrity Silhouette

10. Celebrity Equinox

See the rankings for all ships at Cruise Critic Cruisers’ Choice Awards.