Well i know it would be Carnival cruise line. they have safety ratings and there 4 stars. everyone else has 3 or less.

Unless you can see this published somewhere, I'm not sure you will know what cruise line has the best safety record. Thay all will say they do. i'm sure that Carnival Cruise Lines has a great safety record, but I'm sure many of the others do as well. "All cruise ships must meet safety standards set by the International Maritime Organization enforced through the International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS). Ships operating from U.S. ports also are subject to U.S. federal and state regulations as well as periodic safety inspections by the U.S. Coast Guard." (anyone in the cruise industry, cruise services or cruise sales knows this.. but the above info in quotes comes from http://www.iccl.org/faq/cruising.cfm) I'll keep looking to see if I can find an actual page that shows any listing information

I am sorry to disagree. Carnival is one of the WORST, if not THE worst. I have personally taken pictures of them spewing sewage from a little hole in the side of the ship into our water, blocked from public view by the tour buses lined up to pick up pax. They have been repeatedly fined for dumping in our waters. They have the highest 'rape by crew' rates that I've ever heard, and some pax have gone missing completely from the ships. Like Disneyland, they are good at payouts and FAST at covering it up. Problem is they hire mainly third world crew- ppl that do not understand WHY they have to adhere to our laws; pay them next to nothing [go on a cruise- they will TELL you how much you should tip] because they tell THEM that IS their income- I've asked them- they can make $400-600 a week. They send it home to support whole families. It's like when cities change the criteria of "serious crime" to NOT include muggings or rape because they'll HAVE to publish these numbers and lose millions and millions in tourist $$ and convention bookings if everyone knows they'll be victimized there. You're talking Coast Guard training and certifications? OF Course, they are trained, and do reg drills, and have good captains, they HAVE to navigate well- the payout would be astronomical if a ship went down. Insurance payments would be prohibitive to ops then. I have worked shore support for all of them- Princess is most anal w/ rules, Cruise West is Best [moo- my own opinion]. They have small ships (100 pax), all english speaking crew, can get way in close to everything, and the captain can see a few feet in front of him, not just relying on the sonar. Smaller ships don't run over & kill whales,either. Big one do, often. Another thing you don't hear about. Except that time [2 yrs ago?] they skewered a big one a pulled into port [Seattle or Vancouver] with it across the bow... Wondering what the 4 star ratings are based on- someone NOT hitting the dock while pulling in to port? That happened once too- took out a store and huge amount of dock. That's not a big safety concern in my book. Safety to me is PASSENGER safety- like when that couple was on their honeymoon- George and ??- she was drugged, he was murdered and dumped overboard. Dateline I think.