Why are cruise ship pools so small?

[luv2cruise81]

I was wondering if anyone had a theory why cruise ship pools are as small as they are. Does it have to do with the heavy weight of the water? It seems that even the largest cruise ship pools are small by land based comparison.

[Rancher Dave]

I was wondering if anyone had a theory why cruise ship pools are as small as they are. Does it have to do with the heavy weight of the water? It seems that even the largest cruise ship pools are small by land based comparison.

 

 

It is both space concerns as well as the weight of the water and how it affects the stability of the ship. Not that the pool makes the ship unstable, but in rough seas, the sloshing of the water makes a mess and does move large amounts of weight several feet one way or the other...hence the fast pool dump button up on the bridge.

 

Smaller pools also keep people lounging and buying more booze...that makes the line more money than a big pool...:D

[CRUSINGFAMILY]

ships pools are small because in rough seas the water can get tossed around and hurt people, I can remember being on one ship in a storm and my sisters and me being in the pool. It would almost empty itself at one end and the water could come crashing back at you and almost throw you out of the pool until they finnally emptied the pool

 

that was fun

 

Brian J

[amybeth4]

And of course, the bigger the pools, the less deck chairs you can squeeze around them!

[Desert Cruizers]

The nice part about their pools is the wading area I call it. I always end up sitting in that area rather then going into the pool and have experienced some motion at times where the water goes back and forth, its fun.

[poisonangel514]

What I want to know is why are they so deep?

[rummenroman]

What I want to know is why are they so deep?

 

They aren't all that deep. I would assume they are as deep as they are to allow adults to get wet more then up to their waist. IMO the pools would be worthless if they only went to my waist!

[Aquahound]

The pools are small due to Free Surface Effect. The more room water has to slosh back and forth, the more unstable the ship becomes. The fact that the pools are typically on the highest deck only furthers the need for them to be small.

 

FYI - The larger tanks down below, like the fuel or fresh water tanks, are baffled. You can't baffle pools unless you want a lot of injured feet and legs.

[rollie]

Paul, very interesting, I didn't know that about the below deck tanks. It now makes sense.

 

Rollie

[BroncosFan2010]

If the pools were any larger, they would have to empty them or close the pool deck completely in rough seas. The pools slosh so much as it is, and to make them any larger/shallower, it would affect the stability of the ship as well as make it impossible to stay dry!

[cb at sea]

The pools are not deep...they're just for getting wet. Not for swimming!

They should be called "dip pools", rather than "swimming pools"!

[carhirer]

The pools are no longer small. They only look small because the ships are so big!;)

[It'sRC4ME]

The pools are not deep...they're just for getting wet. Not for swimming!

They should be called "dip pools", rather than "swimming pools"!

 

Not sure how tall you are, but I am 5'1" and the pools are deep to me! I usually can't keep my nose out of the water if I stand on the bottom!!

[reallyitsmema]

If the pools were any larger, they would have to empty them or close the pool deck completely in rough seas. The pools slosh so much as it is, and to make them any larger/shallower, it would affect the stability of the ship as well as make it impossible to stay dry!

They already do empty them and close the pool deck if the seas are very rough.

[g_rock]

because the ocean is so big! duh!:D

[BecciBoo]

ships pools are small because in rough seas the water can get tossed around and hurt people, I can remember being on one ship in a storm and my sisters and me being in the pool. It would almost empty itself at one end and the water could come crashing back at you and almost throw you out of the pool until they finnally emptied the pool

 

that was fun

 

Brian J

 

This can be quite fun though...we hurried a storm out of Galveston in '06 on Splendour and my DH actually got in the pool while it was doing this...it was a riot, and I didn't have the energy to run back to our room for the video camera. The water was 72 degrees in January by Todds dive watch and he said it was great to be thrown around the pool and he could almost get set on the deck when it sloshed up and over the rails at one and then the other end sorta like a dish pan being sloshed about. Nobody was out there in the solarium but us and finally a crew member came by and was shocked that he was in the pool and ordered him out. The next day all pools were drained/netted and didn't refil until the return home from Cozumel. So wished I had made the effort to film it. I wouldn't go in...brrrr so I wrapped myself in my robe and sat and watched from a lounge.:D

 

Not sure how tall you are, but I am 5'1" and the pools are deep to me! I usually can't keep my nose out of the water if I stand on the bottom!!

 

Me too, I can barely touch the bottom and have to constantly push off with toes to stay up. I'm 5'4"

[BecciBoo]

The pools are not deep...they're just for getting wet. Not for swimming!

They should be called "dip pools", rather than "swimming pools"!

 

 

I agree with It'sRC4ME. I'm 5'4" and I can barely touch the bottom in most of them. Majesty's pool seemed a little shallower but Liberty and Voyager pool in solarium are at least 5' deep. Here's underwater pic of the side of the solarium pool on Liberty:

[K1200S]

This past March on Jewel I was standing at the entrance to the solarium pool with my back to the wall. With the wave action the water level went from my knees to my upper chest. Shortly thereafter they closed and emptied the pool. The seas on this day were not particularly rough but enough. Too much weight high up in even mild rough seas can cause a problem.

[cruiseREF]

Some related info:

Since the Aquatheater pool on 'Oasis of the Seas' has to be quite big and deep in order to accommodate the high divers, the water can easily become very unstable during rougher seas.

Royal Caribbean has built in a "divider" in this pool which they can deploy if needed. This will acts as a baffle allowing a smoother water surface for the show. The show will have to slightly adjust to this divider though.

 

:)

[audome78]

This past March on Jewel I was standing at the entrance to the solarium pool with my back to the wall. With the wave action the water level went from my knees to my upper chest. Shortly thereafter they closed and emptied the pool. The seas on this day were not particularly rough but enough. Too much weight high up in even mild rough seas can cause a problem.

 

something like this from our Mariner cruise in 2008:

 

[MrPete]

I found the pools on the ExOS to be a decent size.

 

If you want to see small, you should see the Carnival pools.

[BecciBoo]

something like this from our Mariner cruise in 2008:

 

 

 

Exactly so!:D

[vickiw0318]

If you want to see small, you should see the Carnival pools.

 

No kidding. When we were on the Elation years ago, the aft pool where we hung out was more like a water tank.

[BruceMuzz]

If you want a ship to be stable in rough seas, it must have a very low center of gravity.

A low center of gravity requires most of the ships weight to be located as low as possible in the ship.

That's why the lower decks are built with steel and the upper decks are built with aluminum.

 

But swimming pools are a problem. Water weighs about one ton per cubic meter. Even a small swimming pool contains 80 to 120 cubic meters of water. A larger ship can have 4 or 5 pools like this on the upper decks. 400 to 500 tons of water moving on top of the ship in heavy seas can be quite unstable and dangerous. Larger pools would just make it worse - and even more dangerous.

 

Fresh water costs money. Whether you bunker it ashore or produce it onboard, you have to pay for it; anywhere between $2 and $4 per ton. Doesn't seem like very much - until you multiply that by 400 or 500, and then do it again every few days when the pools have to be dumped and re-filled. Larger pools just cost more money to fill and re-fill.

 

Salt water in pools doesn't cost much, but the chemicals required to treat that water cost a lot. Larger pools require more chemicals and that means higher costs.

 

Next time you cruise, take a few minutes to count how many fellow cruisers take a shower before they enter the pool. It should be easy. The number will be near zero. The amount of fecal material and urine that goes into a ship's swimming pool is shocking. The amount of chemistry that we are forced to put into that water to kill all the bugs is even more shocking. These pools are often just open sewers.

Larger pools only encourage more people to go in - and stay longer. This is not a healthy option.

 

All of that polluted and chemically treated pool water is dumped into the ocean every few days. Not exactly an eco-friendly procedure. Enlarging the pools just increases the amount of pollution we dump into the seas.

[klingoncruiser]

The real reason they are small is that babies in diapers are small and don't need all that much water......;) :D