Recent Ship Capacities

[Murph269]

I apologize if this has been brought up recently, but I have a cruise coming up in a couple of weeks and was wondering what the capacity has been like on recent sailings. I’ve seen posts about capacity being at around 40-50% back in December/January, but wasn’t sure if that was still accurate for April heading into May. Thanks in advance for any info.

[DaisyGoldberg]

There seems to have been a bump up on school vacation week in April, but our cruise the next week was 1000 people lower than vacation week (800 children to 50 children on board in back to back weeks). The week following us seems to have continued the trend of 60% or so.

 

If you have a chance to go it's really remarkable to cruise and never have a crowded elevator or dining room or show. The uncrowded shows and public areas are a little sad, but the rest feels great!

 

I would say 95% of the time we were in the elevator bank alone, and got on the elevator alone and straight to our destination floor.

[Murph269]

Thank you for the reply! Selfishly, I’m happy that it still seems to be at reduced capacity. For the long term health of the cruise industry, hopefully this is short-lived. It can go back to full capacity the sailing after mine, haha.

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, Murph269 said:

I apologize if this has been brought up recently, but I have a cruise coming up in a couple of weeks and was wondering what the capacity has been like on recent sailings. I’ve seen posts about capacity being at around 40-50% back in December/January, but wasn’t sure if that was still accurate for April heading into May. Thanks in advance for any info.

It is still mostly supply and demand. There is still low demand for cruising. It bumped up over spring break, but not many ships are “selling out”. 

[complawyer]

we were on the jade from athens on april 8th. our concierge told me the capacity was around 3000 passengers, but the ship sailed with

slightly over 1,000

 

everything (and i mean everything) was almost empty no problems getting into the specialty restaurants, mdr, and the casino was like a morgue

[Redsky5292]

We are sailing the Breakaway in July and our PCC told us that they are capped at 60% so we shall see.

[gvgseg]

I will be on Encore 7/31/22 to Alaska. The NCL rep told me that they are not actively "capping" per se but that they are coming in around 70% right now just based on natural demand. My outside travel agent told me that bookings are definitely starting to pick up for this summer and to expect around 80%.

[DJA1017]

On the Jade right now.  Sailing with 1200 passengers only.   Very few kids.  

[JGmf]

5 day Joy to Bermuda at end of April - 2/3 capacity

[ziggyuk]

April 8th Jade sailed with 1200 which is 50%.

[Mlake09]

The Gem in April was over capacity- with 1,000 kids- because it was spring break! My understanding from Captains Q and A is that there are no longer capacity limits, but they also aren’t having the high demand all the time either. We cruised in October with very few

people, and again for New Years with a much higher number of pax. 

[cruiserbear55]

April 8-15. Pearl. Boston -Bermuda. 1100 Pax. 45% capacity.

[julig22]

5 hours ago, Redsky5292 said:

We are sailing the Breakaway in July and our PCC told us that they are capped at 60% so we shall see.

I'd take that with a HUGE grain of salt.  On the Jewel last week the captain told up capacity was based on demand - NCL has no reason at this point to arbitrarily cap the capacity.

[lixogab]

I booked 3 days Bahamas cruise sailing next weekend on Sky and now it shows up as sold out. Will see if it’s really fully booked or they still have some kind of capacity control.

Back in March on Epic I saw an entire deck  closed down.

 

[Sea saw 56]

We were on the Dawn April 17-28, a 11 day repositioning cruise.  Her normal capacity is 2340, there were between 1100-1200 on board. It was wonderful!

[coastcat]

According to a report on CC, the April 23rd NCL Bliss cruise (first of the Alaska season) had about 2400 passengers. I’m on the April 30th cruise, and a crew member said there were about 1800 pax this week. 

[cfelbab]

Just got off a long Panama cruise on the Encore today. They said that they had about 50% of the capacity. It was so NICE! Crowded enough for the boat to feel lively but never a problem getting a seat at any of the shows, pool deck chairs or the speciality restaurants. I am sure we are all going to look back at this period of cruising now as the "best of the best". If you are comfortable with the (IMHO very minor) risk of COVID, you may be rewarded with the cruise of a lifetime. Everybody is excited to be back on the water, the crews are happy to see you, there is plenty of space so you don't feel like cattle on the bigger ships. It's the perfect time to go. We had issues getting the COVID test done ahead of time and the check-in process at the dock was horrible but once on the boat, life was amazing.

 

Perhaps the capacity for this cruise was lower given its longer duration and higher cost but it sounded from the crew we talked to that most of the recent sailings have been lighter in load. I am sure it will not be too long before we will be back to full boats again so maybe jump on it now if want an exceptional experience!

 

[VineyardsGal]

I was on the Epic the last two weeks of March.  First week round trip San Juan there were over 1600 onboard.  The second week San Juan-NY there were 1200 on board... not crowed at all.  The only crowd I ever saw was at Waves pool bar.  Wouldn't wanna be at Waves if it were full capacity!

[cruisingbooboo]

Price drops on the Joy in Aug makes me think there are a lot of empty cabins!

[mking8288]

Getaway - I've mentioned in earlier in the Semi Live post - out of NYC (March 27) 1,800 was the official #'s given for passengers onboard.  Per asst dining manager, next week, April 3 expecting 2,700 guests, April 10 with 3,000 (Easter/Spring break approaching) and April 17th - 4,000. 

 

Joy last week on its short 5 nights to Bermuda (per niece onboard - 3,000 guests) while others mentioned 2,200 or 2,300 were told as the official #'s when asked.  

[Uff da]

My PCC also told me they were capping at 60%, however, that may have changed or it may vary per ship based on staffing. Look at the Pride. There is no way they are sailing at capacity with the staffing issues. It may be easier to staff the ships that can hire foreign staff. 

[Mike A]

I was just on the phone with my TA and an NCL rep. The NCL rep stated that they are limiting to 60% unless under certain circumstances such as the Escape cancellations and transfer to other ships. I am on 5/29 Joy and she said we are close to 60%. We will see in about 25 days.