Can Someone Explain Capacity to Me?

[beastiemom]

Okay, on the new Oasis, there are 2700 cabins, and capacity for 5400. Now, for example in our family there will be five in a D4 cabin. So does that mean that there will be at least one less cabin sold-because then capacity would exceed 5400?

We will be on a spring break cruise with friends. They will have four in their cabin. With the large number of families sailing at this time, does that mean only about 2/3 of the cabins will be sold? And how are these numbers connected to suites where the minimum numbers might be 5 or 6?

One of the reasons I am asking is that on the pier upgrade question, people say that they have never been asked to be upgraded because the ship has been full. However, if that is true, could there still be some available cabins, even if the ship is "full". Part of my concern is that at spring break, if capacity is 5400-does that really mean 9,000?

[cb at sea]

If capacity is 5400, that's ALL the passengers they will allow....at some point, they won't allow 4 or 5 in a cabin....they'd rather sell you 2 cabins at full price anyway, than allow a bunch in one room at a discounted rate.

So, late bookers may find that there is no way to put 3 in one cabin, even if there are beds for 3.....

Capacity has to do with the lifeboats...there must be a seat for everyone, so even if some cabins go unsold...oh well!

[steponboard]

Capacity is not double the number of cabins. your number is based on double occupancy but the ship accommodates many more. Oasis accommodates about 10,000 when the crew is added in along with triple and quad occupancy. Oasis can have 6000 passengers.

[beastiemom]

Originally Posted by steponboard

Capacity is not double the number of cabins. your number is based on double occupancy but the ship accommodates many more. Oasis accommodates about 10,000 when the crew is added in along with triple and quad occupancy. Oasis can have 6000 passengers.

Okay, so when the say 5,400, which is what I have always read, it is not really 5,400 passengers? It is actually 6,000? But even if it were 6,000, then not every single cabin will be filled if they allow 4 or 5 people in a cabin, correct?

Moreover, there are 18 lifeboats which hold 370 people. That is a total of 6660. There are also 2165 staff members. If capacity is 6,000, then there is only room for 1/3 of the staff. Wow, for the staff's sake, hope there isn't a problem!

[vickiw0318]

The capacity shown on the website is 5400 (two times the number of cabins). Some of the cabins, but not all, can carry more passengers. Now, there is another type of capacity - how many people can safely fit in the lifeboats. So, take 5400 + the crew and subtract it from the lifeboat capacity number (which I do not know). That's a very rough estimate of the number of people that can be booked into cabins holding more than two people.

They will never not book a cabin. They'll just limit the number of "extras" that can be booked into a multi-person cabin.

P.S. I am pretty sure that they are "blow-up" lifeboats in addition to the ones along side of the ship.

[PattyG12]

I asked about that while on the Freedom. The crew has their own lifeboats. They aren't in the same equation as the passenger lifeboat capacity.

[AWOL]

The number of folks (passengers and crew) who can board the ship depends on the lifeboat and life raft capacity.

[PeterPan]

As I understand it, the number listed as "capacity" is based on double occupancy. There are, in fact, rooms that can be booked by 3 or more people. If you have all rooms sold at double occupancy, plus some number of rooms that have 3 or more, then the ship can actually sail at over 100% capacity (i.e., 103% capacity).

There is adequate lifeboat space for this "over 100%" including the crew. There are other lifeboats available for the crew that are deployed over the side as inflatables.

[jg2256]

I was reading the news about the Oasis this morning and thought the comment below was relevant. It appears that there is the double the room capacity and then the total passenger capacity (which obviously includes those rooms than can include more than two people).

"Interestingly, Oasis of the Seas' new owners were surprised this week to learn of the existence of four more cabins onboard than had been planned! So now the ship has an updated capacity of 6,360 passengers (5,408 double capacity). There is room for 2,100 crew."

[madforcruising]

Originally Posted by beastiemom

Okay, on the new Oasis, there are 2700 cabins, and capacity for 5400. Now, for example in our family there will be five in a D4 cabin. So does that mean that there will be at least one less cabin sold-because then capacity would exceed 5400?

We will be on a spring break cruise with friends. They will have four in their cabin. With the large number of families sailing at this time, does that mean only about 2/3 of the cabins will be sold? And how are these numbers connected to suites where the minimum numbers might be 5 or 6?

One of the reasons I am asking is that on the pier upgrade question, people say that they have never been asked to be upgraded because the ship has been full. However, if that is true, could there still be some available cabins, even if the ship is "full". Part of my concern is that at spring break, if capacity is 5400-does that really mean 9,000?

There´s two figures for capacity of a cruise ship.

1. Passenger capacity based on double occupancy of cabins. That´s your 2700 cabins / 5400 passenger capacity numbers.

2. Max. Passenger capacity, this number is the maximum passengers the ship can hold, based on the ships classification and mainly based on the number of places in life boats, life rafts etc.
This number is higher of course than double occupancy.

[RetireeWannabee]

the could also be plenty of single cruisers.

[cruiseco]

Check out the cruise line's annual financial reports. I haven't read one lately but Carnival used to commonly report the number of sailed passengers for any one quarter/year as "105% of capacity" or "107% of capacity".

[vickiw0318]

I was going to add something about single cruisers. If the ship was booked to a higher capacity based on a number that included known single bookings, then it could be possible that a single would not be able to add a traveling companion at a later date.