A sample reading
This is what CruiseLens gives you at the end: one real reading, produced by the live engine from one traveller’s 23 answers each time the site is built. Yours will be different, because your answers decide it.
The traveller
Two of us, aged 55 to 64. The list that excites them most: Amalfi, Santorini, St Barths. What matters most to them: the food, where it goes and being looked after.
All 23 answers
- You have a free week and can book any hotel in the world. Which do you choose? A grand historic hotel in a capital city — marble, doormen, a proper bar
- It's dinner. What are you wearing? Smartly dressed, but not formal
- Who's travelling? Two of us
- Which list excites you most? Amalfi, Santorini, St Barths
- How should CruiseLens use price when two trips both feel right? Prefer the stronger overall fit, but reward a better price when the difference is small
- And your age? 55 to 64
- Ideally, the other guests are… I genuinely don't notice
- A table of eight strangers, or a table of your own? Mostly my own, occasionally curious
- Your ideal evening ends… Around midnight, after a drink
- The best meal you've had in the last year was… A tasting menu that took four hours
- How many places to eat do you actually want? Three or four, so there's a choice
- Which appeals more? A hundred-and-fifty-room hotel with a couple of restaurants
- Your room. Choose one. Generous, with a proper sitting area
- On a warm day you are… On a terrace, in the shade
- The service you like best is… Polished but relaxed
- Would you like someone to unpack for you? Nice if it's offered
- Touring — arranged, or your own? One good arranged option per stop
- How physical do you want it? A proper walk, but nothing technical
- Would you go to a lecture on holiday? If the subject were right
- After dinner you'd rather… Live music in a small bar
- Money to spend while you're away: Mostly included; a few extras is fine
- Should it feel like a cruise at all? Don't mind either way
- Finally: choose the three that matter most to you. The food, Where it goes, Being looked after
You’re a Gastronome.
You want ambitious food.
Closest match 
Seabourn Encore class
Their line is level. Where the ship’s line meets it, they get what they asked for; above is more than they asked, below is less. Closest of all: evenings are lively without being loud.
More than they asked for: Sociability, Fellow guests, Design, Remoteness, Evening shows. Less than they asked for: Formality, Culinary ambition, Included touring. Everything else is where they asked for it.
View as table
| Characteristic | Seabourn Encore class |
|---|---|
| Formality | below what they asked |
| Sociability | above what they asked |
| Fellow guests | above what they asked |
| Buzz | as they asked |
| Privacy | not scored |
| Solo travel | not scored |
| Design | above what they asked |
| Scale | as they asked |
| Outdoor living | as they asked |
| Yacht feel | as they asked |
| Suite space | as they asked |
| Culinary ambition | below what they asked |
| Choice of restaurants | as they asked |
| Local food | not scored |
| Service style | as they asked |
| In-suite service | as they asked |
| Remoteness the compromise | well above what they asked |
| Included touring | below what they asked |
| Activity | as they asked |
| Enrichment | as they asked |
| Pool and sun | as they asked |
| Evening shows | above what they asked |
| Late nights | as they asked |
| All-inclusive | as they asked |
| Being sold to | as they asked |
| Children | as they asked |
| Unlike a cruise | as they asked |
| Value for fare | as they asked |
- Choice of restaurants — there’s a choice of several restaurants.
- Service style — service is polished but relaxed.
- Suite space — suites are a comfortable size.
- The compromise — remoteness: you were looking for a ship where it sails well-known routes; on this one, it mixes classic ports with less-visited ones.
Show the evidence
Scope: Seabourn Ovation (representative; Encore sister). Under each figure, where it was published and the date we checked it.
The other four
Named in the full reading.
How to read it
The band, then the percentage. Seabourn Encore class reads 93%: Exceptional fit. The percentage is rescaled against fixed anchors set from this fleet, so the band is the honest number. Only the 28 characteristics the answers speak to count; how well a ship is run is used only to separate ships within three points of each other.
The chart. The traveller’s line is level; the ship’s line rises where it gives more than they asked for and falls where it gives less. The marked point is the compromise: the one place it departs furthest from what they asked.
The others and the ruled out. Positions two to five show their band, not their name, because the order between close ships is rarely meaningful; the full reading names them. Ships the answers rule out are counted, with the reason, never quietly dropped. How it works, in full.
Your own reading. Twenty-three questions, about four minutes. Then, if you like, the full reading: all five ships named, with our view of each, and two or three sailings to match. Marc replies personally within 24 hours.
Find my ship → Ask MarcExpeditioner Travel is paid commission by the cruise line on bookings, by every line here; no line pays for placement or for a score. How we’re paid.