Passengers: 3,080

Itineraries: Seven-, eight-, and nine-night cruises departing from New York City for Bermuda, Jamaica, Antigua, Aruba, St. Kitts, and other warm-water ports

Costa Cruises (courtesy Costa Concordia) [enlarge photo]

Cool Features: International Café, a 24-hour restaurant where the menu changes its theme every few hours: French, Spanish, and so on

Something Special: The cruise line's popular Movies Under the Stars program, showing first-run features every night on a 300-square-foot LED screen on the pool deck

Splurge: Ultimate Balcony Dinner, a candlelit, five-course meal, including champagne and a choice of lobster, beef tenderloin, or surf and turf as entrées, served on your cabin balcony ($100 per couple)

NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE: PRIDE OF HAWAI'I

Launch date: April

Passengers: 2,376

Itineraries: Weeklong Hawaiian cruises from Honolulu, stopping at Maui, the Big Island, and Kauai Cool Features: Freestyle Dining, with a choice of 10 restaurants, and a recently introduced system of plasma screens throughout the ship that list how long the wait is at each restaurant

Something Special: The ship is unusual in that it's registered in the U.S. and therefore doesn't have to touch international waters between port stops. As a result, passengers spend less time out at sea and have more opportunities to explore the islands

Splurge: A traditional Hawaiian lomi lomi massage, which was once reserved only for island royalty, at the Mandara Spa ($99 for 50 minutes)