Big Ships/ Small Ships?

[NOSaints1]

Just wondering do you prefer the big ships like Oasis or small ships like Radiance and what do you like about them?

 

When booking do you go for Interior Stateroom/ Balcony or does it depend on the intenerary.

[George C]

I prefer the larger ships any ship with ice show, the larger ships have better entertainment options.

We now always get balcony ( nothing wrong with inside) and love the perks of suites, so if that's in the budget that is what we book

[NOSaints1]

We booked adventure with Aruba, Bonaire,Curaco, Antigua and St Maarten in an promenade room. First time with RC

[Clarea]

...When booking do you go for Interior Stateroom/ Balcony or does it depend on the intenerary.

We always book a stateroom with a window or balcony. What we book is more dependent on price than itinerary.

[WeatherFx]

Prefer the Freedom Class ships, always book an interior. We did an ocean view once, 9N spent total of about 20-30 minutes looking out window. Normally out and about ship or Viking Lounge. Like the darkness of interior for sleeping.

 

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[NOSaints1]

Harmony right now is cheaper for some reason in April 2017 than Oasis/Allure. Do you only sail with RC to gain status or other lines.

[cb at sea]

We prefer Voyager or Freedom class....seems to me to be the best of both worlds.....plenty to do...lots of space to do it....

 

Just so you know...NONE of the ships are what I'd consider "small"!

[TheGinBoy]

I'm torn.

 

I've done Vision-class, and I've done Voyager-class and Freedom-class.

 

I loved them all in their own ways.

 

Splendour being a smaller vessel felt a little more exclusive I suppose. But I think I'd also miss Royal Promenade and all the activities if I did small again.

 

I'd like to try a Radiance-class at some point.

[NOSaints1]

What's your favourite destination to sail to? Restaurant of choice?

[TheGinBoy]

So far I've just West Med, East Med and an upcoming repositioning cruise.

 

I'd love to do the Norwegian Glaciers & Fjords, Iceland, Greenland etc. In a similar vein I'd love to do Alaska, Canada, too. Those are the sorts of cruises the all-glass all-enclosed Radiance-class ships are built for.

[Scrapnana]

I have to have at least an ocean view for the light. Prefer a balcony but since I travel solo, doubling the price is not always doable.

 

Cruising on Liberty in October which will be the largest ship I've been on. Not sure how much I will like the size as I am used to ships about 2/3 that size.

[M&M Hayden]

Radiance class or smaller.....although we do sail the bigger ships because we want to 'check them out', but small is awesome and more intimate. The crew seems to 'try harder'

[mek]

I love the big ships on all lines, but our next two crises are on older/smaller ships - Grandeur and Serenade. Time for a change of pace, I liked the itineraries, and the prices were great for 10 night cruises.

[mattpro]

Prefer the Voyager Class and above, simply because they have a Promenade.

 

With a Promenade you can get a cup of coffee 24/7, while without a Promenade you have to call room service after midnight and before 7a.m. for any thing you want to eat or drink.

 

For a couple the balcony or above would be more desirable. If traveling alone an inside works just fine.

[jules815]

Freedom is probably my favorite, but we've been on Voyager and then one Radiance class ship. Haven't been on Oasis class yet, thought they might be too big, but we've booked Harmony. I've really gotten used to the layout of Voyager and Freedom class. The Royal Promenade makes it very easy to navigate.

 

We've always had a balcony, and until recently, our daughters across the hall or nearby in an interior. They love the total darkness and napping in the afternoon.

[OCruisers]

We booked Oasis as a Floating Resort which it was but in a nice way.

Just didn't have the real "cruse feel" of other ships that aren't so big. :rolleyes:

 

LuLu

[mpoole3]

The ships don't really have a factor for me, I follow the price. It's the only way I can cruise so often.

[rcrdale]

We have always booked balconies. Originally because I smoked and at the time, you could smoke on your balcony. After I quit smoking, we still book balconies because we love sitting on our balcony. I have had family members cruise with us and they have had inside rooms. They are just too small for me. I sort of laugh when people tell me they book inside cabins because they are never in the room anyhow. Maybe they would spend more time in their cabin if they had a balcony room. I certainly don't spend all my time in my room, but I am not a sit along the pool person, so I enjoy just sitting on my own balcony listening to music or reading a book.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

I sailed on the Radiance a couple of weeks ago (previous cruising primarily Disney Dream-class) and I loved it. I'll be sailing on sister Brilliance next summer.

 

While I have not cruised them, the big ships have no appeal to me as I don't cruise for the entertainment as a primary thing. If I like it it's a bonus. But... I live in NYC so I can see an actual Broadway show any time. I outgrew ice shows when I was a kid. I don't surf or want to learn. I have the real Central Park a short subway ride away. I want to feel like I'm on a ship when I'm cruising - not an Embassy Suites on a barge, which visually is what the big behemoths remind me of.

[Virtopia]

I'm a Voyager class fan. I've been on the Explorer twice and will be going on the Adventure next. Second would be Freedom class and then probably Oasis class. I enjoyed my Allure cruise, but if I didn't have a balcony cabin, I wouldn't have felt like I was on the water.

 

I do a lot of solo cruises, so I always start with an inside cabin. However, for my last and upcoming cruise, I was fortunate enough to get a solo balcony cabin well within my price range.

[Gingee]

Not sure what small is in relationship to a ship. As you can see below, we have done various ships. Our biggest will be the Allure.

 

Our first cruise we had a window. After that we moved into balconies. The prices weren't that much more and it makes the room look bigger and you can go outside and look around.

[Saab4444]

Not sure what small is in relationship to a ship. As you can see below, we have done various ships. Our biggest will be the Allure.

 

Our first cruise we had a window. After that we moved into balconies. The prices weren't that much more and it makes the room look bigger and you can go outside and look around.

 

Everyone talks about the small cruise ships like Radiance and Vision class but a real small cruise ship is still about one tenth of their size.

 

When Rhapsody came on the market with 78.000 gross tons she was the biggest ship in the world. If you cruise today with really small ships e.g. from Hapag-Lloyd or Silversea you have 8.000 or 15.000 gross tons.

 

Midsize ships like e.g. Maasdam, Artania, Oriana or Crystal Serenity are in the range of 40.000 - 70.000 gross tons. Comparing to them all Radiance and Visison class ships are stil huge and offer a lot of options for dining and entertainment.

 

If you are looking for a real cruise experience and great destinations Radiance and Vision class size will always remain perfect. lf you look for a fun park vacation not that close to ocean and if the ships is your destination Oasis and Quantum class are the best.

[GUT2407]

I actually consider all the Royal ships to be big.

[NOSaints1]

I guess when I say small I meant smaller than the Oasis, so I guess you would say medium size

[BekkaW]

I guess when I say small I meant smaller than the Oasis, so I guess you would say medium size

 

Oasis class are the biggest cruise ships in the world, all other ships are smaller than them