Will I be Disappointed going Smaller and Older?

[Mikewa]

Just finished my 4th cruise, the first being in 2002 (in order, RCCL, Disney, NCL, RCCL).  Each successive cruise, we were on a newer and larger ship, the last being Ovation of the Seas.  Loved Ovation - clean, large, relatively new. 

 

Considering a cruise next year and trying to figure out which one.  Many seem wonderful, and I'm sure the ships are magnificent, but I'm worried going from a new, large ship, to something smaller and older (again, talking relative here,).  Just wondering, will I be disappointed going from Ovation (and RCCL) to something else?

 

Thanks!

 

[OCSC Mike]

You need to narrow it down a bit. What ship(s) are you considering There’s older/smaller & then there’s MUCH older/smaller.

Edited September 16, 2022 by OCSC Mike

[Sunshine3601]

We love Radiance class ships.   We have sailed several sailings on Quantum and Oasis class but out of all my future bookings the one I'm really looking forward to is on Serenade.  

More relaxed, more of an intimate cruise, IMO.

[GJustice]

If you cruise and a satisfied with a nice room, attended a couple of times a day, good food 3-5 times a day, relaxation on a balcony or pool deck, then YES, you'll be fine with RC's smaller ships.

 

If, on the other hand, your require a large variety of entertainment/play options, want to have multiple restaurant choices, and enjoy mobs of people everywhere, you'll probably NOT be happy on RC's smaller ships.

[Jingerwoppy]

My wife never complains....😁

[lenquixote66]

We have been on large ships and small.

In 2015 we were on the Grandeur for the first time.We were told that we were likely to see the same people more than once.There were 3 couples traveling together.We saw them 6 times during the first two days.One of them said to me that there had to be a reason that we were seeing each other so often.We introduced ourselves and they invited us to join them for lunch the following day.

[AlohaLivin]

We love the smaller ships - there is a coziness to them that’s a little hard to describe and needs to be experienced. If you like making lifelong cruise friends, getting to know the staff better, and you don’t need big waterslides then you might really enjoy the the smaller ships as we do.

[brillohead]

42 minutes ago, GJustice said:

If you cruise and a satisfied with a nice room, attended a couple of times a day, good food 3-5 times a day, relaxation on a balcony or pool deck, then YES, you'll be fine with RC's smaller ships.

 

If, on the other hand, your require a large variety of entertainment/play options, want to have multiple restaurant choices, and enjoy mobs of people everywhere, you'll probably NOT be happy on RC's smaller ships.

This sums it up well.

If you enjoy just "being on a cruise"... having someone else make your bed, cook your food, do your dishes, while you watch the waves go by, you could easily be happy on a smaller/older ship.  (How did you like your first Royal cruise?  That would have been on a ship without all the fancy bells and whistles.)

But if you want Broadway style shows, Cirque du Soleil style shows, surfing simulators, waterslides, zip lines, skydiving simulators, Ice Capades style shows, etc., you'll want to stay with one of the "newer" ships (or amplified older ships -- for example, every Voyager class on up has the skating show, and most [all?] now have the FlowRider, and most also have water slides).  

My personal preference is "Voyager class and above" -- I prefer ships with a Royal Promenade versus the Centrum, and I like the ice skating show and other Studio B events.

Decide what makes YOU happy on a cruise, and then choose the ship that will fit the bill.  If you're happy with a room and food and water, you don't need a brand new supersized ship to have those things.  

[njkruzer]

Love the Radiance class ships and Quantum class. Have sailed all classes. Not thrilled with Oasis. 

[reallyitsmema]

1 hour ago, Mikewa said:

Just finished my 4th cruise, the first being in 2002 (in order, RCCL, Disney, NCL, RCCL).  Each successive cruise, we were on a newer and larger ship, the last being Ovation of the Seas.  Loved Ovation - clean, large, relatively new. 

 

Considering a cruise next year and trying to figure out which one.  Many seem wonderful, and I'm sure the ships are magnificent, but I'm worried going from a new, large ship, to something smaller and older (again, talking relative here,).  Just wondering, will I be disappointed going from Ovation (and RCCL) to something else?

 

Thanks!

 

 

We prefer the newer, larger ships over the other ships.  We have sailed all classes except Vision class but would pick Oasis class or Quantum class over any other class if the itinerary was the same.  We like the newer cabin furnishings and design over the older, tired cabins.  The larger ships have more entertainment options and dining venues.  We don't use the water slides and a lot of the other new features of the newer ships but they are fun to watch at times.

 

We have never been disappointed with our sailings on smaller ships, they are just different.  We will sail smaller ships if they are doing an itinerary that we want to do.  You will only be disappointed if you set your expectations too high.

[Coralc]

Since we have never been on the newer, larger ships, we are fine with the older and smaller ones. I think they are easier to get around on. 

[Starry Eyes]

Oh, different people will have different reaction when moving from newer, larger ships to older, smaller ones.  It largely depends on the cruiser, as others have discussed.  For me it can also depend upon the itinerary.  For example, if it is a port intensive itinerary where I’ll be doing a lot of long shore excursions (some European cruises fall in this category for me), any Royal Caribbean ship be fine.  Other times we are cruising mostly for the on board experience, so we will carefully pick a specific ship.

[CanadaRob]

If you enjoy cruising you can’t go wrong, I like the outdoor WJ on Quantum class(excluding Q ultra- Spectrum and Odyssey) and like the same outdoor area on Radiance class, my better half is similar to others, she likes ships with promenade and above

[cruiselvr04]

We have sailed on all the classes of ships. The big ships have more food choices and entertainment.  The smaller ships are much easier to get around on, often go to better ports of call and have a more intimate feel to them.  DH likes Quantum class the best, I like Radiance class.  We mix it up and do them all.  Sometimes we cruise for the ports and sometimes we just want a floating resort.  You won’t know until you try it.

[shellunderwater]

1 hour ago, Jingerwoppy said:

My wife never complains....😁

Maybe not to you...but the rest of us......🤣

[neverbeenhere]

OP: you will be disappointed. 
 

not me, but you will.

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Like yourselves we have been going up in class of ships. Recently we dropped in class to brilliance specifically for the port stops and a surprise birthday. Whilst the port stops were soo much better then the large ship ports stops (easten Mediterranean) we were disappointed with the ship. She was clean and tiday and good crew just old and lack of things to do for our preference. The lowest size ship, we will do from now on would be the independence, which i think is freedom class. We like a large open promenade rather then a small atrium. Again as most have said depends on port stops, time on the ship and what you enjoy doing. 

[RobInMN]

Similar to some previous posts.

Sometimes you cruise for the ship, and sometimes you cruise for the itinerary.

 

Our favorite class would have to be the Oasis class. We have no issues with the Voyager class, and about a year ago did our first Freedom class, which for all intents and purposes is basically the same as the Voyager class. Recently did Odyssey (Quantum Plus), and while I liked it, my wife wasn't impressed. She much preferred the Oasis class.

Many many years ago, we did a 3 night quickie on Majesty and I don't think we would want to be on a Sovereign class for an extended period of time. A few years after that we did a multi-family 7 night on Disney's Magic. After about 4/5 days I was kind of bored of the ship itself.

Having said all that, our most recent cruise was a 24 night total B2B on Jewel. Arctic Circle followed by Iceland & Ireland. Anything larger than a Radiance class is simply not going to do some of these ports. Our biggest concern going into it was that we would become bored of the ship after not too long. That never happened. If we had more vacation time, we would have been more than happy to have stayed on for the next 12 night cruise (British Isles). We never felt bored of the ship at all. Some of that could have been the CD staff, they were excellent. The CD herself was great. And even in such remote places, they were constantly shuttling headliners off & on at almost every port.

 

For us, if we are talking about a large part of the Caribbean where you're hitting a lot of the same ports over & over or the Western Mediterranean loop where Oasis class is an option, Oasis would be our first choice hands down. Maybe at some point, we'll feel like we want to visit some of the smaller Caribbean ports, in which case we will need to consider a Radiance class ship, or Quantum class again if that's an option. We want to do a Panama Canal cruise. That will be a Radiance class. For a while, I think Radiance was the largest ship that would do Alaska, then it was Voyager class (which is what we did it on), now they've got 2 Quantum classes up there, but I think there's still certain ports/itineraries that are still limited to Radiance class, so if we did that again, we might want to look at that instead. Not sure we'd ever consider the Vision class, but others seem to love Grandeur.

 

As for condition, there was this thread recently. Seems hit or miss. I thought Jewel was in great shape and only showing minor/expected wear. Any reference in this thread to Jewel had similar reports. Other ships did not have as great of reports, with some people reporting some disappointing reviews.

 

[cruiseguy1016]

15 cruises under my belt, all with RCI. I have never cruised on anything larger than Freedom Class and at this point, have no desire to. We like the Voyager class and Freedom class ships because of the Royal Promenade but we also love the Centrum on the Radiance Class ships. We cruise to get away and relax. We don't need Broadway shows to entertain us while on a cruise. The smaller ships have a different feel to them. Less busy, more relaxed maybe?

[ssb]

For us it’s the itinerary and who you are with and not where you are at (ship) 

[Rogueperson]

I would say it depends on what you want in a cruise.  If you're the type of person who wants the bells and whistles of new technology to enjoy yourself, then you would be disappointed in anything smaller than Voyager class.  However, if you're the type of person who wants a better connection with fellow passengers, wants to feel like you're on a cruise and not in a hotel resort, then the smaller ships are a better bet.

My favorite class of ship is the Voyager.  It is just the right size to get a lot of the big ship amenities in and still feel like you're on a cruise.  Above that, its too big.  It stops feeling like a cruise ship, and starts to feel like a hotel resort.  Crowds become more of an issue.  There are almost 3 times the number of people on an Oasis class vs. the vision class.  That's a lot of people considering the Vision class holds less than 2000 people at 100% capacity.

The thing I like best about the smaller ships is that its a more intimate cruise experience.  The crew gets to know you.  You get to see familiar faces with your fellow passengers as you're very likely to see them again.  Many of the luxury lines run small ships that are usually older and smaller than even the Vision class (some as much as 1/2 her size).

 

  Its much harder when there are more crew and more passengers on the bigger ships.  There's a finite number of "cool toys" on the ship and you're competing with the entire passenger base to get a shot on it and it won't be open all the time.  Examples like the Ifly on Quantum classes and Flowriders.  Lines can get ridiculous because of the small number of people it can accommodate.  With 6000+ Passengers and 2000+ crew, you may not see another passenger or crew again.  Also, the one thing that keeps me from going on the Oasis class more often is their ports are very standard.  Due to the size of the ship, only the biggest ports can accommodate those ships and tendering an Oasis size ship sounds like a nightmare.  So Oasis class cruises tend to go to the same places more often than not.

[cooncat_mom]

@Rogueperson Well said! My daughter and I like fairly quiet sailings with walks through the Promenade and sitting and watching the sea. We’re not into “food experiences” and long leisurely dinners are not our thing plus we don’t really drink. (Can you say “Boring”? 😆). We sailed the Oasis last September when cruising opened up again and really liked it. However…we sailed at half capacity and I don’t think we’d enjoy it as much at full capacity. (I sailed Norwegian’s Getaway at full capacity this past April with my husband and it wasn’t really enjoyable - except for the shows.)  Knowing this, my daughter and don’t hesitate to sail smaller ships.  Being realistic, we know that service is not going to be what it was pre-Covid no matter what the ship.  Let’s face it, everyone is short-staffed..including the hospital I work at!  Our next sailing will be in a few days on Voyager. As long as the room is clean and the food edible, we’re fine. The important thing is knowing what you’re looking for in a cruise and booking to accommodate that.

[George C]

I really prefer voyager class or larger because of the entertainment including the ice show. I would take smaller like brilliance for Europe.

[Mum2Mercury]

13 hours ago, GJustice said:

If you cruise and a satisfied with a nice room, attended a couple of times a day, good food 3-5 times a day, relaxation on a balcony or pool deck, then YES, you'll be fine with RC's smaller ships.

 

If, on the other hand, your require a large variety of entertainment/play options, want to have multiple restaurant choices, and enjoy mobs of people everywhere, you'll probably NOT be happy on RC's smaller ships.

I don't claim to be an expert on the different ships, but I suspect you've summed it up well.  

[reeb4]

We are sailing on Navigator in several weeks and it will be the largest ship we have sailed. I am intrigued. But we love smaller ships. We sailed Alaska a few years ago on Radiance and she was a beautiful ship. Not too big, not as small as Song of Norway or Song of America, our first two RCCL sailings - classic ships!