Mega Ships

[mobiandy]

“There’s a global trend that Qantas is following which is to have much higher frequency, smaller aircraft flying point-to-point, so bypassing the large hubs. You’ll be able to fly city pairs [non-stop] that you’ve never thought of and that’s really good for the flying public.”

 

Interesting article from the SMH about Alliance Airlines contracting work to Qantas with smaller aircraft. Fifteen years ago airlines were lining up to get their brand new A380s to pack the passengers in. Even before COVID the airlines were starting to retire them in favour of smaller aircraft. Most of them are now parked in the desert and not all will ever take to the air again.

If you can't fill a mega plane (or ship) the profit derived from size soon disappear. I wonder if we will see a trend in the 'middle cost` cruise lines like Princess starting to look at smaller ships in the future?

[By The Bay]

25 minutes ago, mobiandy said:

 I wonder if we will see a trend in the 'middle cost` cruise lines like Princess starting to look at smaller ships in the future?

One can only hope.

[OzKiwiJJ]

That would suit me. Ships carrying 2000 to 3000 max passengers are a good size. I really don't like the Princess Royal Class ships. 

[MMDown Under]

24 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

That would suit me. Ships carrying 2000 to 3000 max passengers are a good size. I really don't like the Princess Royal Class ships. 

The biggest cruise ship Ive Been on had 3000 passengers and I vowed to never cruise on a ship so big again.  That was pre pandemic!

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

30 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

The biggest cruise ship Ive Been on had 3000 passengers and I vowed to never cruise on a ship so big again.  That was pre pandemic!

 

We've been on a few that were around 2600 passengers and they were OK. The Royal Class ships are 3500 passengers.

 

A lot depends on the layout of the ship. Ruby Princess was horrible as it's one of the Princess Grand Class ships where they added an extra deck of cabins but, of course, didn't alter any of the public areas to cope with the increased passenger load. In fact they effectively reduced the capacity of the Wheelhouse Bar by turning part of it into a restaurant.

 

I really loved the Princess Sun Class ships. They carried around 2000 passengers and had generous public areas without too many shops. Plus that wonderful promenade deck. Princess should go back to building a modern version of that class of ship.

 

The other issue with megaships is the impact they have on ports. A port with a capacity of docking five 2000 pax cruise ships would have 10,000 people in port each day which is bad enough. Increase the capacity to 3500 pax and now there are 17,500 people in port. When we stopped at Marseilles a few years ago I estimated, based on the capacity of the ships in port that day, that there were around 18,000 people swarming around the town. It was quite unpleasant.

[getting older slowly]

It would be nice..... but we will have to wait a few years... to see what happen..

 

( haven''t heard of ever shortening a cruise ship  or talking a deck off   ) 

 

I will dream..... max size 2500......  so many pluses ...  even if it cost more

[MMDown Under]

20 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

The biggest cruise ship Ive Been on had 3000 passengers and I vowed to never cruise on a ship so big again.  That was pre pandemic!

 

Just discoverer my signature has gone including my cruises. Just lost my cruising history!  When did that happen?

[Russell21]

24 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

Just discoverer my signature has gone including my cruises. Just lost my cruising history!  When did that happen?

Looks OK to me.

[MMDown Under]

20 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

We've been on a few that were around 2600 passengers and they were OK. The Royal Class ships are 3500 passengers.

 

A lot depends on the layout of the ship. Ruby Princess was horrible as it's one of the Princess Grand Class ships where they added an extra deck of cabins but, of course, didn't alter any of the public areas to cope with the increased passenger load. In fact they effectively reduced the capacity of the Wheelhouse Bar by turning part of it into a restaurant.

 

I really loved the Princess Sun Class ships. They carried around 2000 passengers and had generous public areas without too many shops. Plus that wonderful promenade deck. Princess should go back to building a modern version of that class of ship.

 

The other issue with megaships is the impact they have on ports. A port with a capacity of docking five 2000 pax cruise ships would have 10,000 people in port each day which is bad enough. Increase the capacity to 3500 pax and now there are 17,500 people in port. When we stopped at Marseilles a few years ago I estimated, based on the capacity of the ships in port that day, that there were around 18,000 people swarming around the town. It was quite unpleasant.

I agree the mega ships spoil the small places which they cruise to, such as Alaska.  The ports get overwhelmed by too many visitors at once.  I cruised around Alaska by Alaskan ferry staying three nights at each place so saw what Alaskan ports looked like when cruise ships left port.

[ilikeanswers]

11 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

I cruised around Alaska by Alaskan ferry staying three nights at each place so saw what Alaskan ports looked like when cruise ships left port.

 

That is one of my bucket list trips 🤗 I always had hoped to do the AMH but last year I read they were planning on shutting it down 😔. 

[ilikeanswers]

From what I read cruise ships will go opposite direction to planes and actually increase mega ships while reducing smaller ships. Apparently mega ships are more cost effective to run even at half capacity🤔. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

3 minutes ago, ilikeanswers said:

From what I read cruise ships will go opposite direction to planes and actually increase mega ships while reducing smaller ships. Apparently mega ships are more cost effective to run even at half capacity🤔. 

That might be true but there might be a backlash against them, both from cruisers and from ports. Even at half capacity some of them could be carrying too many passengers.

[Thecat123]

We started off with about 1300 passengers then onto a 3200 passengers of which we learnt about queues especially trying to board from a port or waiting for a tender standing in the sun/rain even though the ship did fairly well moving people

After that we dropped down to several different shipping lines with the 1500 to 2500 range

We then went on a 450 passenger ship which was all inclusive. Cabin basic size, 250 sq m with a large balcony,  larger than anything we have had before What a difference no queues anywhere Not having to give your cabin number when you wanted a drink,not having to buy a drink package no up charges for specialty restaurants etc etc  

After this cruise we went on another shipping line in a concierge level cabin with a lot smaller cabin than our basic one, with about 650 passengers where we had to pay extra for lots of things

After this back to the smaller all inclusive cruise lines

At the end of the day I think the extra cost at the beginning is well worth the extra for what we get. Really nice to just grab a drink. I dont drink alcohol, without having to give out your room number, no queues anywhere etc etc

Okay I have heard all the stories about not spending any time in my cabin, why should I pay for someone else drinks etc but these all inclusive 450 passengers passenger ships suit us

Edited June 22, 2021 by Thecat123

[ilikeanswers]

5 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

That might be true but there might be a backlash against them, both from cruisers and from ports. Even at half capacity some of them could be carrying too many passengers.

 

I guess it depends if the hater percentage outweighs the lovers😆. These ships do seem to fill up pretty easily and if one port reject them there seems to be always another willing to fill that void.

[Ondine]

I think one consideration in our part of the world is the number of ports that we regularly visit that need tender transfers.  Super large ships are not suited to these ports.

Edited June 23, 2021 by Ondine
spelling

[getting older slowly]

3 hours ago, Ondine said:

I think one consideration in our part of the world is the number of ports that we regularly visit that need tender transfers.  Super large ships are not suited to these ports.

good point.... and the infrastructure to support mega ships....

 

But if one goes to 1000 pax max... the price to climb according... which could push a lot of people out of the cruise holiday....

 

Also the long lead time to build a new ship,  couple with the fact. that most of main stream line have off loaded/scraped old smaller ships...

their thoughts must be that in a year  everything will be back to the way it was in 2019...

 

Question what if cruising does not reach a similar level... ??  could we see a big the down sizing of fleets .... and cruising goes back to up market status....

 

It will be interesting to see where it all sits in 2 years.... or will the world be a changed place...

 

time for a second G&T....    Don

[OzKiwiJJ]

I doubt cruising will go back to what it was within a year. It might get back to prepandemic normal in 4-5 years but it will be a cautious journey. First we need to learn to live with Covid-29 in all its variants.