Choosing a Ship/Crowding

[ladytiger96]

We are looking at a few ships, and are concerned about crowded pools, long lines for food, etc. I have seen the stats for passenger load per ship, but do not know how to translate that into available space. I don't know how many pools per ship, etc. How do I find that out?

 

Ships we are considering:

 

Carnival Magic

RCCL Mariner of the Seas

RCCL Voyager of the Seas

NCL Star

 

Thanks,

LT

[dfgf]

We are looking at a few ships, and are concerned about crowded pools, long lines for food, etc. I have seen the stats for passenger load per ship, but do not know how to translate that into available space. I don't know how many pools per ship, etc. How do I find that out?

 

Ships we are considering:

 

Carnival Magic

RCCL Mariner of the Seas

RCCL Voyager of the Seas

NCL Star

 

Thanks,

LT

 

It's really hard to say. You can look at gross tonage, but that only includes interior areas. So if a ship has a lot of outdoor spaces (Oasis and Allure come to mind), that's plenty of space to spread out that doesn't get included in the calculations. In fact of all the ships that I've been on Oasis felt the most empty - even though there were 6,200 passengers on it with me!

 

Something to mention - Mariner and Voyager both have a Solarium which is an adults-only (16-and-up) pool area.

[wichitakansascruiser12]

The celebrity solstuce (misspelled) I know.Anyway we took a cruise last year on that ship and it had an area for adults only and what an amazing ship and time it was with glass blowing and great shows.

[trish1c]

Except at embarkation, disembarkation, at the pool & at the start of dinner with traditional dining, even with all of those people on a full ship most cruise lines don't feel as crowded as you would think. Unfortunately, the only time the pool isn't a zoo is at 7:00 a.m. or while the ship is in port. :( Forget the pool on sea days if you don't like crowds. There isn't an inch of space to be had.

[skrufy]

Have taken 7 cruises and never felt really croweded. Sure there are lines but I never had to wait any long periods of time for it to move.

[paul929207]

Some of the worst crowds can be when everyone is trying to get off the ship when it is cleared by local authorities. Just relax and wait about 10 or 15 minutes until the mob clears.

[leaveitallbehind]

Our experience has been limited to RCI, but speaking from that experience, none of our cruises have been crowded. These ships are planned to be proportionate in overall size and space by the passenger load so that the 5,000 passenger ships have the same feel as the 2,500 passenger ships in that regard. In fact, the larger ships can feel less crowded because the additional variety of venues offered. Lunches in the Windjammer can get crowded, but there are alternative offerings to that or just stagger you timing. As far as pools are concerned, the Oasis-class ships, for instance, offer 4 seperately themed pools targeted at different passenger demographics as well as a large adult only Solarium pool. In our experience, Oasis was actually the least crowded (pool and otherwise) ship we've been on because of its size and diversity of venues. You can go on the RCI wesbite to the "Ships" tab and each class and ship within will be shown with detailed deck plans.

 

My recommendation would be to pick a cruise line and ship based on your particular interests and travelling party, budget, itinerary, port of calls and on-shore activities, etc., and not concentrate on passenger count, etc. Although clearly biased, I have found in terms of all of the above, combined with service level and ship innovation, RCI has filled the bill with us. But with few exceptions, I think they are all good, or in this competitive industry and current economy, they wouldn't be around.

[pappagene]

Of the ships you listed, we just went on the Star. Always found seats around the pool when we went. We didn't like the fact that they had tables & chairs on the pool deck. All the lounges were on the upper decks. Dinner, we never had to wait more than 10 minutes for a table. They gave us a pager and a free drink for waiting. Longest lines were debarkation, stood in line forever. The line snaked from one end of the ship to the other. We didn't like the layout of the Star as much as other ships we have sailed on, just saying.

 

We really liked the Freedom. She was a large ship, but well layed out. Never felt crowded on her. I would sail on her again in a heartbeat.

 

Gene

[cb at sea]

RCI has some of the largest PUBLIC spaces...but smaller cabins.

 

Carnival has larger cabins, but less public space.

 

The only time you should notice "crowding" is when the shows let out (everyone leaving at the same time), or a prime meal times in the buffet. You can get around that by using the dining room for breakfast...much nicer than the buffet, and shorts/flip-flops are fine during the day! Other than that, the ships are designed to accomodate the max. # of passengers. Not everyplace will have crowds at all!

[mikehn]

I think it really depends on when you are going, rather than what ship. I mean if you plan to go during the major holidays, it will be crowded no matter what ship you pick.

[ladytiger96]

Thanks everyone!

 

Due to several overall reasons, we have decided to sail on The Magic in December. Thanks for all the feedback!

 

LT

[wrigley80]

Thanks everyone!

 

Due to several overall reasons, we have decided to sail on The Magic in December. Thanks for all the feedback!

 

LT

 

That is a great choice. Carnival Magic has a huge Serenity area

[wichitakansascruiser12]

Paul

What is the 30,000 plus club?

[pappagene]

Paul

What is the 30,000 plus club?

 

I can answer this, if you look on the right side of the post header it will show how many post they have submitted to CC. Paul has gone over 30,000 post. Some have gone higher than that.

 

Gene