Ship Capacity

[susan0623]

Our last cruise was last August on Equinox.  I think we had about 1800 passengers so service was beyond outstanding and there were no crowds or lines anywhere on the whole cruise.  I was just wondering how many passengers or what percentage capacity current Celebrity cruises are seeing as we are sailing again in October?  Thanks!

[jelayne]

It.seems to vary ship to ship and cruise to cruise.

[basenji56]

And staffing is a big problem so even reduced capacity can be a problem if there is not enough staff—but it seems like they are trying for full capacity with reduced staff. 

[canderson]

Have seen everything from about 30% to 95% reported recently.  Everything depends upon ship and itinerary.

[upwarduk]

We were on Silhouette at the beginning of August and the ship was 93% full. The next cruise was supposed to be sailing at 100%. I then read that 68 wait staff left the ship at the end of August ( contracts completed) and were not replaced.

The notices on the tables in MDR didn’t mention Assistant Waiters.

[susan0623]

1 hour ago, upwarduk said:

We were on Silhouette at the beginning of August and the ship was 93% full. The next cruise was supposed to be sailing at 100%. I then read that 68 wait staff left the ship at the end of August ( contracts completed) and were not replaced.

The notices on the tables in MDR didn’t mention Assistant Waiters.

That's disappointing.  Last August on Equinox we were will below capacity but it seemed fully staffed to 100%.  Service was outstanding but we knew that wasn't going to be sustainable.

[susan0623]

1 hour ago, basenji56 said:

And staffing is a big problem so even reduced capacity can be a problem if there is not enough staff—but it seems like they are trying for full capacity with reduced staff. 

If that becomes the norm we may stop sailing Celebrity.  We have Oceania coming up next June, our first cruise with them.

[basenji56]

1 hour ago, susan0623 said:

If that becomes the norm we may stop sailing Celebrity.  We have Oceania coming up next June, our first cruise with them.

You will love Oceania. Much smaller ships. Only negative is the premium price. Best food at sea. 

Edited October 7, 2022 by basenji56

[NutsAboutGolf]

14 minutes ago, basenji56 said:

You will love Oceania. Much smaller ships. Only negative is the premium price. Best food at sea. 

Just a FYI/datapoint…While it’s a different atmosphere, many have said Virgin Voyages beats Oceania in taste and it has a huge selection.  Branson knows good food and hired a team of a chefs who worked at Michelin starred restaurants to develop the recipes.  I’ve personally haven’t been on either cruise line.

[bjahil47]

3 hours ago, susan0623 said:

Our last cruise was last August on Equinox.  I think we had about 1800 passengers so service was beyond outstanding and there were no crowds or lines anywhere on the whole cruise.  I was just wondering how many passengers or what percentage capacity current Celebrity cruises are seeing as we are sailing again in October?  Thanks!

You can get a ball park estimate for your sailing by doing a mock booking and looking at every category.  We are on Equinox next week and I approximate about 78 - 80% booked.  

[basenji56]

1 hour ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

Just a FYI/datapoint…While it’s a different atmosphere, many have said Virgin Voyages beats Oceania in taste and it has a huge selection.  Branson knows good food and hired a team of a chefs who worked at Michelin starred restaurants to develop the recipes.  I’ve personally haven’t been on either cruise line.

I haven’t sailed on VV so can’t say. I have sailed on Oceania and Celebrity and found Oceania food to be superior. 

[Arizona Wildcat]

3 hours ago, susan0623 said:

If that becomes the norm we may stop sailing Celebrity.  We have Oceania coming up next June, our first cruise with them.

Nor sure that will help as every cruiseline is facing the same shortages in staff while passenger count in pretty much full.

On a high demand cruise on Summit recently the ship was pretty much full - was told only a handful of empty cabins reserved for covid issues - and staff about 200 short.  Lots of new staff who worked really hard and service improved each day.  

With the visa issues still huge it is hard to get staff and about half the old experienced staff of pre-COVID have not returned.

Seems it will take some months to get staff in place and trained.  By June of 23 that should be accomplished but am hearing that the staffing and supply issues are much the same everywhere and possibly worse in Europe.  About 6% of the workforce in the US are not working or doing gig work.  Look at your local grocery or?  Help wanted signs everyplace.

[RickT]

We’ve done one cruise (another one next week) as well as a few other trips.  For all businesses it seems that demand has increased but businesses ability to hire to meet the demand has lagged behind.  
Every place we’ve been we’ve seen help wanted signs.

 

Given travel restrictions due to Covid or reduced staffing because we’re able to travel I’ll accept the reduced staffing. 
 

Our cruise in March was less than half capacity.  For our next cruise it appears to be at 95% capacity.  

[Ipeeinthepools]

The last voyage on the Equinox sailed with about 2600 passengers.  The Equinox capacity is listed at 2850 and I assume that is with every bunk full.  I have no idea about the number of crew onboard but thinks seemed to move very well without lines at select dining.  The only place I saw a line was in the ocean view cafe waiting for ice cream at lunch on a sea day.

 

My sense is that there are fewer cabin stewards so your room may get serviced later in the morning or evening.

 

One additional observation is that many of the officers and directors seemed much younger than I remember.  This maybe due to the expansion of the fleet or some of the older people deciding not to return after the pandemic.

 

Overall service levels seemed to have returned to pre pandemic levels on the Equinox 

Edited October 7, 2022 by Ipeeinthepools

[RedIguana]

4 hours ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

One additional observation is that many of the officers and directors seemed much younger than I remember.  This maybe due to the expansion of the fleet or some of the older people deciding not to return after the pandemic.

I just chalk it up to the fact that I seem older than I remember.....

[phoenix_dream]

It really depends on the ship and sailing.  I also recently sailed Summit and it was completely full, with very few cabins reserved for quarantine so they let people quarantine in their cabins (which IMHO all ships should do anyway!).  It was a colder weather cruise so everyone was inside most of the time and the facilities were wall to wall people.  It was no surprise that near the end of the sailing they announced masks inside due to Covid cases  Also sailed Eclipse this summer to Alaska and at the time it was the highest percentage capacity yet as of that time.  Being a bigger ship it didn't feel nearly as crowded as Summit and was not experiencing the staffing shortage/new staff barely trained that Summit struggled with.  They did the best they could but it was a challenge

[susan0623]

8 hours ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

The last voyage on the Equinox sailed with about 2600 passengers.  The Equinox capacity is listed at 2850 and I assume that is with every bunk full.  I have no idea about the number of crew onboard but thinks seemed to move very well without lines at select dining.  The only place I saw a line was in the ocean view cafe waiting for ice cream at lunch on a sea day.

 

My sense is that there are fewer cabin stewards so your room may get serviced later in the morning or evening.

 

One additional observation is that many of the officers and directors seemed much younger than I remember.  This maybe due to the expansion of the fleet or some of the older people deciding not to return after the pandemic.

 

Overall service levels seemed to have returned to pre pandemic levels on the Equinox 

Thanks for posting.  I'm glad to hear this.  Can't wait to get back on Equinox!

[wineoclock]

8 hours ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

The last voyage on the Equinox sailed with about 2600 passengers.  The Equinox capacity is listed at 2850 and I assume that is with every bunk full.  I have no idea about the number of crew onboard but thinks seemed to move very well without lines at select dining.  The only place I saw a line was in the ocean view cafe waiting for ice cream at lunch on a sea day.

 

My sense is that there are fewer cabin stewards so your room may get serviced later in the morning or evening.

 

One additional observation is that many of the officers and directors seemed much younger than I remember.  This maybe due to the expansion of the fleet or some of the older people deciding not to return after the pandemic.

 

Overall service levels seemed to have returned to pre pandemic levels on the Equinox 

I’d say it’s like police & doctors - they all seem so much younger than I remember 😂

[Tudy]

I agree with Ipeeinthepools. We were on that sailing as well. We did have to wait a few times for bar service, but never very long. The staff was phenomenal, for the most part.

 

The ship did seem full. If you are the kind of person who does not like to be near others (for covid reasons, or just generally) you might struggle at the buffet during lunch, in the elevators at peak times, or in the shopping area on the last day.

Edited October 8, 2022 by Tudy
grammer

[Texed]

On 10/6/2022 at 10:05 PM, basenji56 said:

I have sailed on Oceania and Celebrity and found Oceania food to be superior. 

We all have different opinions. I have sailed both also.  😊

Edited October 8, 2022 by Texed

[Steve Q]

We just disembarked the Equinox on October 6. There were 2663 passengers aboard. It honestly felt very crowed. I guess we were spoiled in August 2021, when the Equinox was only at 40% of capacity.

[travelwide]

Current Summit sailing 1977 passengers. Cold weather with everyone inside yet does not feel crowded. 🥂

[phoenix_dream]

21 hours ago, travelwide said:

Current Summit sailing 1977 passengers. Cold weather with everyone inside yet does not feel crowded. 🥂

Wow, you're lucky.  I don't know the exact number of our sailing before yours, but they said the ship was full and the inside areas were almost always very, very crowded.  Given the capacity the numbers had to be similar.  The theater (at least for the early show) was very full.  Rarely could find a seat at or near the Martini bar.  Rendezvous was just about as crowded most of the time.  Casino was very, very busy most nights (less so during the day).  People were lined up by the dozens at dinner time waiting to get into Select dining.  Was not at all unusual to see 10 people in line at Cafe al Bacio (nothing against the staff, they were very efficient).  Blu needing to give out beepers regularly.  Wonder why the difference?  Maybe your cold weather was less cold than ours -we had a good amount of high wind and some rain which made it worse.