Solo cruising on HAL

[cruisemom42]

14 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

Well there you have it. All three of those ships have terrible space ratios :(. The Vista and Breeze are two of the most 'crowded' in the entire industry. 

 

The lower the number the more crowded the ship will feel.

 

Carnival Vista 1: 33.75

Carnival Breeze 1:34.76

Regal Princess 1:39.66

 

In comparison:

Konningsdam 1: 37.55 (actually worse than Regal Princess)

Quantam of the seas 1: 40.35

Allure of the Seas 1:41.60

 

And for giggles: Volendam: 1: 42:51 🙂 

Westerdam 1: 43:00

 

As you can see, sometimes the mega ships have very good space ratios comparatively. 

 

Side note: I've seen space ratio calculated a few different ways, but this site is pretty accurate based on my experience.

https://www2.cruisewatch.com/top-10/ships-space-ratio/

 

 

Thanks for the link. Looks like the ex-Renaissance ships used by Oceania and Azamara are mostly around 1:44.

 

I’m a bit surprised at how well the Queen Mary 2 ranks. It’s a ship that’s been on my radar and now maybe has moved up more….

[RD64]

Regarding space ratios - truly an arbitrary measurement. Consider all of the indoor spaces that are included in this measurement - perhaps 20 different dining venues, atriums which span two three or four decks, extensive children’s areas, go karts and bowling areas, casinos, massive shopping areas including your Starbucks, plus ships that have their own first class areas like MSC, NCL, and Celebrity.

 

Also I am not sure, but I am assuming that the poster who posted all the ratios was posting figures based on double occupancy. Add in all of those third and fourth berths, and the space ratio diminishes dramatically.

 

That being said - for those of you old enough to remember- my five favourite cruises were on the Norway of NCL. At the time she was the largest ship in the world and probably had a space ratio of 35. That being said, nothing could match the food, service, ambiance, and especially the entertainment. At that time the Jean Ann Ryan company did the production shows for NCL, and they were of Broadway caliber. They make anything today look totally high school musical.

 

One other thing -those of you that prefer RCL -I am a teacher - so while on my holidays - obviously during school vacation time - I prefer to not have to travel with 100s or 1000s of children, and will gladly pay whatever premium to avoid this situation. 

[sambamama]

There are a couple problems with mega ships. One, since they are so big, they are more likely to have to tender. And if they have to tender, tendering for a port is always worse than not tendering. And I am just guessing here, but I think it could be more time consuming tendering with a big ship. This is a guess as I haven't been on anything larger than 3000, and that was quite some time ago, and I didn't have to tender. Second, I would rather be in port with 2000 people than 5000 people. Third, I always had more trouble getting a lounger at the pool on the bigger ships. Fourth, I don't understand the size ratio concept being discussed. I've been on RCCL, NCL, Celebrity, Princess and HAL. HAL always had the biggest cabins. On RCCL, the biggest ship, I always felt surrounded by people. The ship was designed such that you had to go through the smoke filled casino to get to the MDR- no other way to get there. This was back before there was a smoking ban. It was awful! I didn't even want to eat after fighting my way through the smoke filled throng.

I do see where Celebrity, NCL, RCCL and Princess have lowered their single supplements - in some cases substantially. If HAL doesn't want to do that, it could think about starting its roommate match up again. With more solo travelers, and the typical HAL cruiser, HAL could be in trouble if they don't start catering a bit more to solos. I had a 70 minute discussion with a HAL executive about 3 weeks ago, and this very topic came up. 

Also, I've done considerable land travel over the last year and a half. I had no issue finding a table for one for dinner. However, I wasn't at the fanciest restaurants in the world. I didn't run into supplements at hotels, either, and sometimes I was at very nice hotels. I did pay a single supplement for a land tour in Egypt, but it wasn't a huge amount. Everyone figures out what they want in travel, and what they will pay. It would be boring if we were all the same. I think all cruises are in a post COVID boom right now, but with inflation running pretty high, I think the cruise boom will slow down. There are some huge land travel bargains to be had right now. I know by personal experience how cheap Egypt, Morocco, and Thailand are, and by research how cheap Turkey and India are. I am sure there are others I don't know about. 

[kazu]

11 hours ago, RD64 said:

That being said - for those of you old enough to remember- my five favourite cruises were on the Norway of NCL. At the time she was the largest ship in the world and probably had a space ratio of 35. That being said, nothing could match the food, service, ambiance, and especially the entertainment. At that time the Jean Ann Ryan company did the production shows for NCL, and they were of Broadway caliber. They make anything today look totally high school musical.

 

 

Have to say I loved that ship.  She was a classic and I so agree on the entertainment, service and food. 👍.  

 

Very good points on the indoor spaces used up for other things.

[SeaCapt]

On 8/27/2023 at 8:37 PM, BermudaBound2014 said:

Side note: I've seen space ratio calculated a few different ways, but this site is pretty accurate based on my experience.

https://www2.cruisewatch.com/top-10/ships-space-ratio/

 

 

This is a terribly misleading statistic.

 

According to the site, they simply use the ships tonnage and passenger capacity. Ships tonnage includes pretty much everything that is not machinery space, including crew cabins, crew bar and dining, kitchens, etc. All of that non-public space varies dramatically by ship, but as a passenger you would never know that.

 

Tonnage only counts ENCLOSED spaces. So the promenade deck is not included. The aft lido pool area, which is open space, is not included. The sports deck open areas are not included. The exhaust funnel, being enclosed, IS included. The balcony of every cabin, as they are not enclosed, are not included.

 

Further confusing the issue is the type of engines and propulsion systems of the ship, as these also vary substantially (i.e. 4 engines connected to 2 drive shafts, or one big generator powering electric azipods), and require much different space configurations.

 

Unfortunately, I am not aware of anyone publishing the volume of passenger space on each ship. And that would be tough anyway, as you could have larger cabins with smaller "public" space, or tiny cabins with huge lounges, etc.

Edited August 29, 2023 by SeaCapt

[BermudaBound2014]

2 hours ago, SeaCapt said:

This is a terribly misleading statistic.

 

There are other sites that calculate differently, but they all come out about the same. I've been on 35 cruises across multiple lines. All different sizes ranging from 20K g/t to 240K g/t. I've found space ratios to be a very good gauge on how 'full' a ship will feel. YMMV

[SeaCapt]

48 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

I've found space ratios to be a very good gauge on how 'full' a ship will feel. YMMV

I had never considered looking at that, but am glad its worked. I've also been on dozens of cruises on maybe 10 different lines, and as you might guess from my screen name, have a bit of professional experience as well.

 

For my holidays, I try to book dates and destinations when they are not at their most popular, as my personal measure of crowded is how full of passengers the ship is. Even a ship with the worst space ratio, when only half full, will feel pretty spacious. And the best ship at capacity will feel crowded...

[BermudaBound2014]

2 minutes ago, SeaCapt said:

I had never considered looking at that, but am glad its worked. I've also been on dozens of cruises on maybe 10 different lines, and as you might guess from my screen name, have a bit of professional experience as well.

 

For my holidays, I try to book dates and destinations when they are not at their most popular, as my personal measure of crowded is how full of passengers the ship is. Even a ship with the worst space ratio, when only half full, will feel pretty spacious. And the best ship at capacity will feel crowded...

 

Before I retired I didn't have the luxury of booking dates/destinations when they weren't at their absolute highest capacity. Think Christmas break times. Perhaps that's why this scale has worked well for me? Now that I'm retired I can book using your strategy :). 

[cruising sister]

I am new to solo cruising since my DH died. I am not put off by mega ships and have quite enjoyed those sailings. I have to agree with an earlier post that they seemed less crowded than smaller ships except when going to shows. I will sail on any line that will have the itinerary I want with the right price ( I would have to think twice about Carnival.  We did not enjoy those as much).  If I learned anything this last year it is that I can’t take it with me and life is shorter than we may think. I enjoy the longer cruises which HAL has many great choices. We have to feel comfortable with what we spend and that is a very personal choice.