Question about seating at shows on Summit

[Yungs]

Hi all, just wondered if anyone could answer this question - We sailed on the Summit in November last year and never had any trouble finding seats for the shows, even the big production shows. In contrast, on the Sapphire Princess earlier in the year (Aust/NZ, Jan 08) you had to be there about 15 mins prior to the start of the show, in order to get seats.

 

I think the Sapphire was full-ish, but I don't think Summit was empty either. Why the difference in seating availability? I suppose being off-season in Europe you'd expect the ship to sail maybe slightly less than full, but the difference in the seating availability was immense.

 

Do they just have a better setup? If so, it would make quite a difference in the decision-making when contemplating our next cruise. It was sooooo nice not to fret and worry about rushing down to the theatre, and of course there's that whole "saving seats" thing as well - you just didn't see it because you didn't need to save seats.

[Andy]

Hi all, just wondered if anyone could answer this question - We sailed on the Summit in November last year and never had any trouble finding seats for the shows, even the big production shows. In contrast, on the Sapphire Princess earlier in the year (Aust/NZ, Jan 08) you had to be there about 15 mins prior to the start of the show, in order to get seats.

 

I think the Sapphire was full-ish, but I don't think Summit was empty either. Why the difference in seating availability? I suppose being off-season in Europe you'd expect the ship to sail maybe slightly less than full, but the difference in the seating availability was immense.

 

Do they just have a better setup? If so, it would make quite a difference in the decision-making when contemplating our next cruise. It was sooooo nice not to fret and worry about rushing down to the theatre, and of course there's that whole "saving seats" thing as well - you just didn't see it because you didn't need to save seats.

 

Hi Yungs !

 

We experienced the same thing on Caribbean Princess in 2008. It was apparant that the theater could not handle the seating demand. Many passengers stood in the rear, or left. We had to get there 30 minutes before the show started, and we found it to be slightly annoying. It seems that Princess' Theaters (especially on their newer ships) are not quite big enough to handle the demand, especially when they are sailing full. Their passenger/seating ratio seems to be less generous than Celebrity.

 

I'm sure the same thing can happen on Celebrity's ships, but from my past observations, it does not happen often as often. I hope this helps. Enjoy your Cruise !

[junglejane]

We were on the Summit last June and were amazed (and pleased) that we could basically waltz into the theatre at showtime and get a decent seat. It was a very port intensive Mediterranean cruise, so I thought maybe that had something to do with it. But the theatres on the Grand-class Princess ships are notorious for being too small to accomodate the demand. I believe the Princess Theatres on those ships usually have about 700-800 seats, on ships with 2600-3100 pax.

 

On the other hand, those Princess ships usually have several other venues with evening entertainment as an alternative to the production shows, such as Club Fusion, the Explorer's Lounge and Skywalker's nightclub. By contrast, we found fewer choices for nightlife on the Summit -- in addition to the theatre show, for example, there might be a DJ in the disco and a pianist in Michael's Club. We were actually fine with that because we would watch the theatre show and then turn in for the night to be ready for the next day's shore excursion. It was nice not to have to stress out over getting a seat for the show.

 

--Junglejane

[spearmint]

We have never had a problem getting a theatre seat on any of the Celebrity ships that we have been on...Century, Millennium, Summit, Constellation.

[Char]

You also have to take into consideration the fact that Celebrity has traditional dining times while Princess has the option of anytime dining.

 

It's pretty predictable how many will be in the theater on Celebrity for the first and second shows. With Princess there is no way to predict since folks will be eating at different times.

[Spender Nui]

As Host Andy mentioned the Princess ships do not have adequate capacity for the number of passengers. Celebrity Summit has much more availability.

[Yungs]

Thanks all, I think it's pretty clear to us now which line we will lean towards in the future. It's so pleasing and relaxing to be able to waltz into the show anytime, after all we're supposed to be on holiday! And don't get me started about that thallasotherapy pool, I'm still having withdrawal symptoms......