Stern's Guide to the Cruise Vacation 2002 (Stern's Guide to the Cruise Vacation, 12th Ed)

Rating:
Summary: A lot of information - but absolutely confusing
Review: The book offers a vast amount of more or less useful information. On the pages with the ship reviews there are all medical facilities and personnel mentioned, but only by abbreviations. Unfortunately, the key for the more than 20 terms (like: N-3 = 3 Nurses) is to be found far away from the ship reviews. (It took me about 15 minutes to find it in more than 700 pages!).
In the extensive listings on cabin grades or alternative dining areas (in fact, most interesting information) another flood of abbreviations comes along. The fact that each line in the listing is labeled with A., B., and so on, as well as having abbreviations like A (for Asian food), CG (for Continental Gourmet), E (for elegant) and many others makes the reading extremely difficult.
The ship reviews concentrate on facts (from brochures) and give little information on the 'real' quality. Then there is a star rating; black stars mean that it is a luxury cruise ship, stars which are crossed out are for premium ships, hatched stand for standard and white stars for economy products. So it is possible that a ship has a 5-star economy rating - what can be confused with a premium product, according to ratings published in other guides. And to add to the confusion, there are ships with black AND crossed out stars, meaning that they are positioned between premium and luxury standards (Windstar for instance).
A good idea is to show daily programs and menues from various cruise lines and there are several photographs, showing the interiors - unfortunately, in b/w and of very poor quality (no contrast on cheap paper).
The book cannot be recommened for first-time cruisers who need a help to make their decision. For a marketing expert in the cruise industry - like myself - it might provide some interesting additional information.