The Avid Cruiser is lovingly operated by Ralph Grizzle and his small team of dedicated avid cruisers. A journalism graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (North Carolina) and an award-winning travel writer, Ralph has been writing to help inform and inspire travelers for nearly three decades.

The past two decades of his career have been committed to cruise travel. Ralph served as editor of several cruise publications before launching himself full-time in 2004 into his site, Avid Cruiser.

He has made a lifestyle of cruising and typically spends half the year on ships, the other half in cruise destinations — or with his two children in Asheville, North Carolina (they often travel with him, which is why Ralph also has a site dedicated to families, Family Cruise Advisor).

When not at sea, Ralph lives in Helsingborg, Sweden and enjoys time cruising the rivers of Europe, which of course prompted another popular website, River Cruise Advisor.

Read more about Ralph Grizzle, arguably the most avid of cruisers, and be sure to subscribe to Ralph's twice-weekly email newsletter.

 Tweet me your comments & questions at @avidcruiser.

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Through surveys, I know that 70 percent of you come to avidcruiser.com looking for cruise reviews. You’re trying to make decisions about ships and cruise lines that you’re considering. The Avid Cruiser's Cruise Line Profiles are designed to help you make informed vacation decisions, featuring reviews of such Luxury Cruise players as Crystal Cruises, Cunard Line (grill class), Hapag Lloyd, Paul Gauguin, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Silversea Cruises, SeaDream Yacht Club and Seabourn. The Avid Cruiser also reviews the so-called upper-premium ships operated by Azamara Club Cruises and Oceania Cruises, as well as the mid-sized vessels that make up the fleets of Celebrity Cruises and Holland America Line (often erroneously called, Holland American). You'll also find cruise reviews of such popular large-ship cruise lines as Carnival Cruise Lines, Costa Cruises, Disney Cruise Line,  NCL, MSC Cruises, Princess Cruises and Royal Caribbean International. Under our Cruise Reviews, you'll also find reviews of Niche Cruises, Sailing Ships and more. Undecided? See My Favorite Cruises.