Are cruises really full or is the ships only booked to reduced capacity because of social distancing required because …

[evag]

Of Covid?  Was going to book some transatlantic and Med. cruises and was surprised how full they were.  Could be that people feel more comfortable now because of all the vaccines and number of fatal cases has gone down, but have heard that previously numbers were lower not only because people were reluctant to cruise but the ships don’t want to fill them up to full capacity.  Does anyone know for sure if that’s the case or is it because of the sales and people want to get out-hopefully not just conjecture. Took a repositioning cruise from YVR recently, only 1800 out of 3800 booked, nice no lines and can go to a show one minute before it starts and sort of dreading ships being real full again so just wondering. 

[ldubs]

Our recent cruise was about 85% capacity.  Don't know if that was driven by demand or by the cruise line.   

[Essiesmom]

They are as full as they can get them and still hold some cabins back for Covid isolation.  Some ships/lines may be limiting capacity because of shortage of crew. EM

[Joebucks]

lol social distancing

[CruiserBruce]

If they are not full, it's not about social distancing. It's about holding rooms for quarantine,  and if they have been able to hire back enough staff.

[Ferry_Watcher]

As someone who worked the Alaskan cruise season, I can agree with @CruiserBruce and @Essiesmom,  Some staterooms are being held back to serve as quarantine spaces, but the cruise lines really tried to fill the ships as much as possible. 

[Aquahound]

Ah, the memories of sailing Ovation of the Seas back in April with only 12% capacity.  😁

 

But yes, other than some quarantine rooms, cruise lines are trying to fill up. 

[aungrl]

5 hours ago, Aquahound said:

Ah, the memories of sailing Ovation of the Seas back in April with only 12% capacity.  😁

 

But yes, other than some quarantine rooms, cruise lines are trying to fill up. 

Wow, did you post about that?  If so, I completely missed it.  What was it like?  I can't even imagine it.

[Aquahound]

26 minutes ago, aungrl said:

Wow, did you post about that?  If so, I completely missed it.  What was it like?  I can't even imagine it.

 

It was a shakedown cruise and was invitation only.  It was mostly RCI employees, some travel agents, and a handful of Crown & Anchor members.  All guests were on deck 13 in balconies with at least one empty room between each of us.  It was heavenly most of the time.  Other times, like at shows, the lack of people actually took a little away from the fun.

 

Oh, did I mention it was free?! 😁

[Honolulu Blue]

17 hours ago, Aquahound said:

Ah, the memories of sailing Ovation of the Seas back in April with only 12% capacity.  😁

 

12 hours ago, aungrl said:

What was it like?  I can't even imagine it.

 

11 hours ago, Aquahound said:

It was a shakedown cruise and was invitation only.  It was mostly RCI employees, some travel agents, and a handful of Crown & Anchor members.  All guests were on deck 13 in balconies with at least one empty room between each of us.  It was heavenly most of the time.  Other times, like at shows, the lack of people actually took a little away from the fun.

 

Oh, did I mention it was free?! 😁

My trip on the Celebrity Summit in September 2021 was similar in some ways to what @Aquahounddescribed above, but in some ways different.  Ovation OTS is a lot larger than the Summit (which holds 2200 at double occupancy), but we had even fewer passengers - only 320, which was 15% of capacity.  I also thought the experience was mostly great, but sometimes wondered where all the people were.  No lines, no crowds, and sometimes no other passengers in my line of sight - even in the busiest of places.  

 

I had an ocean view on deck 7.  I don't think there were any limits on where I could have booked or stayed.  I got the feeling there were very few people in OVs on this sailing; everyone else seemed to be in balconies or suites.  Also, I booked this with exactly 6 days' notice - purchase on a Tuesday, embark on the next Monday.  This was an ordinary revenue cruise from Miami, where the Summit had just relocated from St. Maarten.  Not free, but inexpensive.

[Ferry_Watcher]

I had forgotten about the early season 'shakedown' cruise.  Seems like lifetime ago.  :  )