usatoday.com article on large cruise ships

[loppster]

Just saw this article online. Story on which cruise line has the largest ship and the troubles of having large ships.

 

Also a great plug for cruisecritic.com.

 

Enjoy.

 

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2005-08-19-super-size-cruises_x.htm

[BrendaB1]

Thanks. Very interesting article.

[Chucksta63]

Thanks for the link!!!!!

[cathyoo]

Interesting article, thank you for sharing. One thing I don't understand. Everyone talks about the trouble with lines on the larger ships. Shouldn't the ships be built with that in mind? Wouldn't more buffet station make sense if you are doubling the amount of guests? More stations for embarkation? More entrances into show rooms,etc? Ahh, mine is not to reason why, mine is to cruise or die.

[MERVYN BREMMER]

Thanks for the link. How much larger can the ships get and still be able to hit many of the ports that they go to now. If they keep going you'll be able to board in Miami and walk to Coz ;)

[LHP]

what a hoot. LOL LOL LOL But let's build the first one from New Orleans to Cozumel. That port is closer to me!!

 

I love Cozumel.....see you in October!!

[Conte Biancomano]

The reason many of the bigger ships are crowded are because the cruise lines want to get as many people on them in each sailing. Sure, the cabins may be large, or at least a decent size, but the space ratio isn't always impressive regardless. Congestion is a different matter entirely, especially in smaller ports, and it's one of the things that favours smaller ships over the larger ones. Some points of the article are laughable, however. Little to do indeed! :rolleyes:

[TBR]

Interesting article, thank you for sharing. One thing I don't understand. Everyone talks about the trouble with lines on the larger ships. Shouldn't the ships be built with that in mind? Wouldn't more buffet station make sense if you are doubling the amount of guests? More stations for embarkation? More entrances into show rooms,etc? Ahh, mine is not to reason why, mine is to cruise or die.

 

Cathy

I agree they should make bigger buffet areas,something like a malls food court,restaurants on one side tables and chairs on the other side. One whole deck just for a food court, various food type stations, with a few watering holes thrown in along the way.

[Conte Biancomano]

Cathy

I agree they should make bigger buffet areas,something like a malls food court,restaurants on one side tables and chair on the other side. One whole deck just for a food court, various food type stations, with a few watering holes thrown in along the way.

 

Some of the ships they're building now are already more than similar enough to malls- I wouldn't want the likeness to be magnified, imho, of course. If that's the course the mass market cruise lines and their guests want to take, then I'll probably be far better off trying other products like MSC instead.

[hdawson]

I have done my one and last cruise on a behemouth (Voyager class). Once was enough. Got home and I felt like I had spent the week at Mall of America. I will sail smaller in the future when possible. Maybe Celebrity's Century or Zenith. I don't need rock climbing walls or interior malls. And probably some land vacations to unique places such as Merida, Mx or Prague when the price is right.

[GottaLuvCruising]

I really like the space on the huge ships (also did the Voyager) and all the public areas. But there's just too darned many people. I also find getting on and off the ship in each port-of-call more of a pain on the larger ships.

 

So I think my preference is actually in the 85,000 ton to 100,000 ton ships. They still offer lots of public areas, but a smaller passenger load.

[atlcple2]

We have only cruised Carnival in the past and the last 2 ships were the Pride and the Spirit. They are both beautiful ships and I never felt crowed at all on them, even at the buffet lines. Some stations had longer lines than others, but all in all, not bad. Both ships hold a little over 3,000 people I believe and I was amazed how smoothly dinner and other activities were. On 9/3, DH and I are going on the Caribbean Princess...we wanted to try something new and it is a huge ship. They added 500 on this ship vs. the previous ship by by tiering the balconies on the Caribe and Dolphin (lower decks) leaving the Dolfin balconies totally uncovered and exposed to the sun, Caribe half covered. I'm not sure that I particularly like that and booked a cabin with a balcony on one of the upper decks so that the balcony will be completely covered. This ship holds around 3200 people, so I am expecting more crowded spaces. We have also booked the Glory on 2/18/06 to take the kids. We have decided that we really like the large super-liners and I don't think I would be happy on a really old, small ship. Just too spoiled on the bigger ones!

[hstrybuf]

Thanks for the link! I heard about this article (without a link) and had been looking for it since Host Miriam is quoted. Hi Mir! :)