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Sold out Cruise - crowded feel or line ups?

Acey

By Acey,
in Celebrity Cruises

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Acey

Acey

Posted
Posted

The Millenium cruise I am booked on appears to be almost fully booked. My last Millie cruise was not - so I was wondering at capacity if there are:

- line ups at the ocean grill?

- crowded pool areas?

- hard to get lounger?

 

or if it will still feel uncrowded?

 

Thanks.

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HMK

HMK

Posted
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I will soon know what it will be like to trave on a full ship...I am booked on Century, and just received a call telling me that the ship overbooked and am I willing to change ships. They were will to give me a 7 day on the Freedom of the Seas instead of my 5 day on Century. Unfortunately with my flights already booked I had to decline the change.

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kitty9

kitty9

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What we've noticed about January sailings is that if it appears the bookings are soft, Celebrity will then offer that cruise to agents and X employees at greatly discounted prices. I feel that may be the reason our Jan 7 Constellation cruise sold out overnight. I signed on one day to see what was still available, and there were quite a few empty cabins. Then the next morning, all cabins were listed as sold out. On a couple of our past January cruises, there were large groups of travel agents or other groups somehow associated with Celebrity.

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Lsimon

Lsimon

Posted
Posted
The Millenium cruise I am booked on appears to be almost fully booked. My last Millie cruise was not - so I was wondering at capacity if there are:

- line ups at the ocean grill?

- crowded pool areas?

- hard to get lounger?

 

or if it will still feel uncrowded?

 

Thanks.

 

Most of the cruises I've taken have been sold out or close to it. We've never had problems finding a lounger, although it is a bit busy on pool days. If you need a lounge right next to the pool you might have to hunt around awhile, ask a pool butler to move a lounge, or throw the stuff left by a chair hog off the chair if you notice it's been unattended for an hour or so.

 

Personally I like the busy pool days - lots of activity to watch and fellow cruisers to visit with.

 

Generally the lines in the food areas are only a little long at prime times, or in the case of the dining room if you want to walk in the minute dining starts as opposed to 3 minutes later. If you go to the grill right around noon you might have to wait in a line for 5 minutes or so. We usually eat breakfast and lunch both a little late and don't run into too many lines.

 

Only really long food line I've ever run into was for breakfast on the Millennium about 10:30 or 11:AM on a sea day following 4 very intensive port days on our Mediterranean cruise - there were apparently a lot of people who took that morning to sleep in but they only had one short section open for late breakfast and one omelet station. Everything else was closed and setting up for lunch.

 

Bottom line is if you're a tiny bit flexible you'll be fine.

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Bruin Steve

Bruin Steve

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Posted

Most of the cruises I've been on have been "sold out"...

 

If a cruise ship isn't "sold out" in the short time right before the cruise, the cruise lines will fill up the empty cabins almost any way they can...

...ususally by offering bargain rates to locals...They'll publish "residency rates" and "senior rates" hoping to attract folks who have available time on short notice and don't need transportation and other logistical items to get to the cruise...They even have mailing lists...and agents with mailing lists of people who have indicated they can cruise on short notice...

 

The cruise line is spending the $$$ for the fuel, the crew and the overhead anyway, empty cabins are a drain...A cabin in use, at whatever price, means the crew gets paid its tips, liquor gets sold at the bars, shore excursions get booked and money is gambled at the casino and all of the other ways people spend money on the ship...So never think a cruise will be relatively empty just because they're still showing bookings available close to the cruise date...

 

That said, also note that there are different levels of "sold out" on a ship...When you see passenger capacity numbers, you are usually seeing what is called "full capacity, double occupancy"...This means that if every cabin is booked and occupied by TWO passengers, that's how many passengers will be on board...

 

Of course, this is rarely the case...The actual number can be lower or higher...more likely higher...You can have less than two if people are travelling as "singles", paying a supplement...or you might have 3 or 4 in a cabin...many cabins have third or fourth berths or sleeper sofas...

 

How far over or under "full capacity" you have depends a lot on the cruise line and its demographics, the itinerary and the time of year...We did a Panama cruise on Carnival this past July and I am certain they were running WELL OVER the number...School Vacation time and a cruise line which caters to families on a budget means that all of those third and fourth berths were FILLED...Go on a HAL cruise in October and you might be sold out and well below capcity--with a lot of old retired ladies one to a cabin...

 

The other important thing here...maybe the most important...is the space-per-passenger ratio: Remember that "Full Capacity" on the Millennium and other "X" M-Class ships is 2,032 passengers---on a 91,000 gross ton ship...This means that, even at "full capacity", that ship is FAR ROOMIER than, say, that Carnival ship I was on---110,000 gross tons, full double capacity of 2,974 (and probably closer to 4,000 with all berths filled...)...

 

So, with the Millennium, I would not worry...Filled to capacity, it is still one of the roomiest ships you will ever sail on...

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embellish

embellish

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On "sold-out" cruises I never felt crowded; however, there are "sold-out" v. "SOLD-OUT" cruises. The ship's capacity is approximately based on a sold-out vessel with two passengers per stateroom. Last year's New Year's sailing of the Constellation had approximately 2,500 passengers due to the larger than number of staterooms booked with more than two passengers on that cruise. The larger crowd was noticeable, but never oppressive. The main difference was that there was absolutely NO flexibility in changing one's dining seating (I was fortunate and got late seating, but those wanting to switch were unable to). Other than that, it was barely apparent. That said, I'm sailing on the Constellation again this New Year.

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suzeyQ

suzeyQ

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Posted

I don't think it will seem crowded. Our Galaxy cruise was sold out but the ship is big enough that it didn't seem like there were that many people. That's one thing I like about Celebrity's ships - they're a good size but don't hold insane numbers of people. Our last cruise before the Galaxy was the Explorer of the Seas which is a far bigger ship but they crammed so many on it that it seemed crowded everywhere you went.

 

The lines might be a bit longer and finding a deck chair seems to always be a problem but I wouldn't worry about it.

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