Small cruise ships

[clo]

11 hours ago, donaldsc said:

 

Lots of links to Galapagos cruises on Google.

 

DON

Yes there are.  And that's why I was asking for a specific recommendation.  Are you one of the curmudgeons I hear about on the site?

[ldubs]

59 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Ships that were built as true ocean liners handle the conditions at sea better than most cruise ships, notwithstanding size. This is because they are designed to cut through the waves rather than "riding" them. There are few ocean liners left, though. The Queen Mary is one example that comes to mind.

 

 

I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around how a 1,000' long 100K ton ship will ride the waves.  But, I think I know what you are getting at.  

[fishywood]

The SS Dolphin IV in 1989, the first cruise I paid for out of my own meager post-college wages rather than with my family. A 13,000 ton ship built in 1956. It seems every online source gives a different total passenger capacity in her final form; the most reliable (based on sales materials when she moved to Port Canaveral from Miami in the 90s) was 558 lower berth pax, 692 if all berths sold.

 

I remember at the first night's show the CD called up all singles to the dance floor and had us all introduce ourselves to each other. For the rest of the cruise it seemed like half the people I passed in the hallway called out my name. Honestly I didn't know whether to be amused or creeped out by it--I know today it would be the latter. I guess I take more comfort in the anonymity of larger ships these days.

 

I must say that Dolphin Cruise Line had a lot of fans in Florida in the 1980 and early 90s. Despite very mixed (at best) reviews I thought both the food and the helpful crew were at least as good as what you get from the opening-price-point cruise lines today. 

 

[navybankerteacher]

12 hours ago, crystalspin said:

Marco Polo while sailing for Orient Lines (passenger capacity 650-760). Cape Town to Buenos Aires.

It was awful. First cruise very nearly my last.

 

This doesn't count our Russian "river" cruises or Yangtze cruise .

Marco Polo was sort of bare bones - but had a great cruise on her from Istanbul to Athens in 1996 - we were the only ship in port at Kusudasi (for Ephesus), Kanakalle (for Troy),  Santorini, Mykonos, Heraklion, and Rhodes.  Then the old Renaissance ships - about 600 - for both Renaissance and as converted to Azamara.  

 

Smallest - perhaps not “cruise ships” - were 20 passenger windjammers off New England coast —- and three of us on a 48’ schooner up and down both sides of Chesapeake Bay.

[George C]

15 hours ago, Cruzaholic41 said:

 

It was a Galapagos cruise. 

That is the only thing in my bucket list

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

In 1994 our first three cruises ever,  only weeks apart were all on the Royal Caribbeans Nordic Empress, now named Empress of the seas. That ship got us hooked on cursing for sure. Passenger count is 692.

[Sancho_proudfoot]

The old TSS Topaz  (now scrapped, and no more) about 1100 px was my first cruise on the open seas.

 

We did a Nile cruise on Magic 2. Capacity is about 100 px, but we went Egypt was having all sorts of problems - SARS epidemic, terrorist attacks and so on. The ship had maybe 40 Brits and a party of maybe 25 Germans, relocated from another ship.

[donaldsc]

2 hours ago, clo said:

Yes there are.  And that's why I was asking for a specific recommendation.  Are you one of the curmudgeons I hear about on the site?

 

You need to define your needs.  There are basically 3 classes of ships that to the Galapagos - ships that hold about 12 - 16 passengers; ships that hold about 50 passengers; and ships that hold about 100 passengers.  Within each class, there are different levels of amenities except for the 100 passenger class that are all fairly similar.  I spent many hours on the WEB before I decided on the Isabela.  Until you define your ship needs and the islands you want to visit, it is a waste of our time to try to give you suggestions.

 

By the way, I guess that I am a curmudgeon.

 

DON

[new_cruiser]

I wouldn't count anything over 500 as a small cruise ship.

 

My smallest have been on Windstar Wind Star and Star Clippers Star Clipper - both around 140 capacity double occupancy, but the Star Clipper cruise had around 70 passengers (shoulder season and they had a no solo supplement special so many cabins with a single occupant). I did a trans-Pacific crossing on Windstar Star Legend; 210 capacity but for the crossing we had around 70 passengers and more crew than passengers.

 

I love the small ports that these ships can visit. In some cases, they aren't even really ports. One of my Wind Star cruises was Panama Canal and Costa Rica where most of the ports were wet landings - zodiac into a beach where you get off into ankle deep water. Star Clipper was out of Phuket with most of the stops being beaches on small islands in national parks.

[clo]

3 minutes ago, donaldsc said:

 

You need to define your needs.  There are basically 3 classes of ships that to the Galapagos - ships that hold about 12 - 16 passengers; ships that hold about 50 passengers; and ships that hold about 100 passengers.  Within each class, there are different levels of amenities except for the 100 passenger class that are all fairly similar.  I spent many hours on the WEB before I decided on the Isabela.  Until you define your ship needs and the islands you want to visit, it is a waste of our time to try to give you suggestions.

 

By the way, I guess that I am a curmudgeon.

 

DON

Watch my lips.  That's why I asked a specific person a specific recommendation.  Since I wasn't asking you then I couldn't be wasting your time.  Are we clear about that?  And rest assured I won't ever ask you a question.  You've proven unreliable.  Goodbye.

[Aquahound]

26 minutes ago, twodaywonder said:

In 1994 our first three cruises ever,  only weeks apart were all on the Royal Caribbeans Nordic Empress, now named Empress of the seas. That ship got us hooked on cursing for sure. Passenger count is 692.

 

Are you sure you're thinking of the right ship? Empress capacity is way more than 692......more like 1800.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

5 minutes ago, Aquahound said:

 

Are you sure you're thinking of the right ship? Empress capacity is way more than 692......more like 1800.

So sorry. That was how long it is. 

[navybankerteacher]

1 hour ago, twodaywonder said:

In 1994 our first three cruises ever,  only weeks apart were all on the Royal Caribbeans Nordic Empress, now named Empress of the seas. That ship got us hooked on cursing for sure. Passenger count is 692.

Wow!  Must have been a bad overall experience to get you “...hooked on CURSING for sure.”

[Heidi13]

19 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

What is the smallest (number of passengers) cruise ship you ever sailed on .

We were on a Cunard cruise from NY to Bermuda,7 nights ,806 passengers.

It was a wonderful experience.

SS Uganda was about 300 passengers, although we also had 900 school kids below decks. Spent 3 months in the Meddy.

[Heidi13]

5 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

Size of the ship isn't always a reliable indicator of how she handles on the water.

 

Small ships like ferries usually never get that far from shore and depending on the geography, they can encounter waves, currents, and what-have-you that lead to more motion on board because they operate in shallow rather than deep water. When you are out at sea, there are different forces at play (I'm not a scientist so this is simplistic), but these may not feel that different on larger versus smaller ships. Also, wind can play a role with the large superstructures of some modern cruise ships with shallow bottoms -- in that case, bigger is not better.

 

Larger cruise ships are more likely to have stabilizers, which help minimize motion while at sea. (They also can slow ships down because they cannot make top speed when stabilizers are employed, or so I've been told.)

 

Ships that were built as true ocean liners handle the conditions at sea better than most cruise ships, notwithstanding size. This is because they are designed to cut through the waves rather than "riding" them. There are few ocean liners left, though. The Queen Mary is one example that comes to mind.

 

With the exception of harbour or river ferries, most Ro/Pax operate in similar conditions to most of the cruise ships. The primary difference to the handling differences between ferries and cruise ships is due to the stability characteristics.

 

Ferries tend to be very stiff, especially catamarans, which results from a high GM. This restricts the ship from leaning over too far, but also causes it to snap back. With large 40 ton lorries on vehicle decks, even if chained down you don't want the ship leaning over to high angles of heel. It also provides flexibility during loading discharging.

 

Cruise ships tend to have much smaller GM's, so are more tender. While they may roll more, it is a much more gentle roll, which is reduced by stabalisers. The stabalisers on my last ship reduced max speed by 0.25 kts, so it was minimal. In addition, they also require additional fuel.

[jocap]

Louis Cruise (Celestyal now) Perla had around 1,000 pax; Fred Olsen's Balmoral can take 1,400, so we've not been on any really tiny ship.

Although the mini cruise I was on in the '60s, MacBrayne's ferry  Columba had only  28 of us sleeping on board each night, but had a few hundred coming and going at each ferry port in the Hebrides. 

[FlightMedic555]

Celebrity Xpedition in the Galapagos, 100

Blue Lagoon Cruise Fiji, 50 passengers

Delfin III on the Amazon, 44 but only 20 on the boat

 

we keep returning to the 330 passenger Paul Gauguin in Tahiti 

[lenquixote66]

2 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

SS Uganda was about 300 passengers, although we also had 900 school kids below decks. Spent 3 months in the Meddy.

I never heard of this ship.I googled it,very interesting.

[Tom47]

Alaska Cruise West(now defunct), 1995  Spirit of 98, 95 pax.  This ship was used by Kevin Costner in Wyatt Earp movie.

Celebrity Xpedition, 2015, 95 pax, Galapagos

First was 25th anniversary, 2nd 45th.  Next yr, 50th, RCI Adventure of the Seas with grand kids.

 

[George C]

I miss renaissance cruise lines, went under in 2001 , ships had about 700 passengers, oceanic and other lines bought the ships . Did Europe just before they went under .

[clo]

Just now, George C said:

I miss renaissance cruise lines, went under in 2001 , ships had about 700 passengers, oceanic and other lines bought the ships . Did Europe just before they went under .

Any known reason for their demise?  Did small ships contribute to it?  

[Tom47]

4 minutes ago, George C said:

I miss renaissance cruise lines, went under in 2001 , ships had about 700 passengers, oceanic and other lines bought the ships . Did Europe just before they went under .

Are these the R class ships now used by Azamara and Oceania?

Edited July 16, 2019 by Tom47

[George C]

Just now, clo said:

Any known reason for their demise?  Did small ships contribute to it?  

They mainly cruised Europe with American passengers and 9/11 did them in I believe, also they were non smoking and adults only so that limited there passengers, it was perfect for us , they had about 8 ships and a couple were brand new. 

[George C]

1 minute ago, Tom47 said:

Are these the R class shi 90s now used by Azamara and Oceania?

I believe so, I think princess also had bought a couple, same person designed sovereign of the seas , designed these but they were half the size of sovereign. 

[davekathy]

23 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

What is the smallest (number of passengers) cruise ship you ever sailed on .

We were on a Cunard cruise from NY to Bermuda,7 nights ,806 passengers.

It was a wonderful experience.

1991 American Hawaii Cruises. SS Constitution. 20,221 GTR. 1,073 passengers.