How crowded do these new big ships feel?

[sam73]

I havent cruised since 2019. Im looking into cruising soon. Just curious about the mardi gras and celebration. Does it feel crowded with that many people on board? Is it just constant standing in line?  They look amazing, but also huge compared to all the other ships ive cruised on

[2Shoes2Go]

At full capacity, our perspective is, yes, more crowded than other classes of Carnival ships. Coming in close behind, for us, was Elation on spring break. We found the Celebration and Mardi Gras more congested than the Oasis class Royal ships. 

[Hoosierpop]

For me, they don’t feel as crowded as some of the smaller ships. But that also depends on what you are doing. For example, we have been on the celebration 3 times. We love comedy. My wife and I get to the club 10 minutes before a show and have no problems finding a seat. Because they have multiple shows every night. I also think the ships are broken into different areas well so not everyone has to be in the same area. That’s not to say there aren’t lines. I just feel like I wait in line less on the celebration overall.

Edited April 30, 2023 by Hoosierpop

[WhiteOptima]

I actually felt Vista and Horizon were more crowded than Celebration.  On Vista glad we had the Havana area and the option to eat breakfast in Ocean Plaza because the pools and buffet area was packed. On Horizon people would camp on deck 10 couches.  We tried watching a movie and it was social hour up there so we gave up.

We were on Celebration Easter week so full of kids and teens(elevator challenges and teens taking a lot of food and leaving a huge mess on the tables and actually in the elevators).  The second week was better with 1000 less passengers.  

Celebration has many pool options and Deck 8 and Deck 16 have chairs on the side.  Shade areas are harder to come by than sun chairs.  I stayed away from Lido pool as there were a lot of kids.  When we ate at lido we would just go out back and eat by Shag’s.  We never had issues going to Chibang, Cucina or Emerils.  BUT like everyone says seats at Center Stage are hard to find and you have to get early.  Floor seats are not the best as things happen behind you and above you.  

[DanvilleCruiser]

We were on a sold out sailing of the Celebration in December.  The only time it felt crowded was when trying to get seats for the shows at Center Stage in Celebration Central.  As noted by Hoosierpop, there are so many comedy shows that we didn’t have any issue getting into the shows.  

[pjhootch]

I felt as if both Mardi Gras and Celebration felt a bit crowded.  I don't remember spending a lot of time in lines, however.  I just felt like in most areas there were quite a lot of people around me all the time.  The least crowded place was Emeril's.  Trying to eat at the MDR on elegant nights is frustrating for YTD if you forget to ask for a table well before you want to eat.  The app makes it totally manageable, but my brain kept forgetting to send the table request before my body was hungry.  🙂  User error.

 

The center stage area is a pain.  The shows are interesting and worth watching for me.  I don't like the playlist shows too much so can't speak to that.  

 

I agree with the person that said Horizon and Vista felt crowded.  I also have that experience inside on those ships.  I can find peaceful spots outside, but inside I feel a little claustrophobic.  I am sure it comes from not have the large atrium area that opens up.  I have no idea if it really IS crowded, or I just perceive it that way.

[Bandman]

Was on Mardi Gras twice last summer. Typical areas are no more or less crowded to us than other ships: Buffet at embarkation, buffet during late breakfast or on a port day, lido pool, casino in the evenings between 7 and 10pm, Guest Services, Java Blue for morning coffee(bad on every ship) and as others have mentioned, shows at Center Stage(shows were great but the design of the space is just too small for 6,000 passengers to enjoy a show). The elevators are small. We didn’t have to wait longer, but when riding you are much closer to people than I prefer.

 

Notable areas that were/seemed less crowded than usual: Serenity(tons of loungers here), Pizza(the line might look really long but it moves so much faster than other ships because it was actually staffed with enough workers), Same at Guys. There are so many casual spots for dining on the excel class ships. It really is fantastic. 

 

There were plenty of seating areas inside and out away from the crowds to chill.

 

Tip for the buffet - the Mardi Gras has multiple areas with the same offerings. If you walk into the buffet and the first area you encounter seems slammed, walk around to another buffet station. We almost always found one station to be extremely busy and others less so.

 

I understand what some folks are saying when they sing the praises of the smaller ships, but the most crowded cruises we have ever been on were in the 1990’s on Fantasy class ships. Wall to wall down the promenade like after the fireworks at Disney.

[broadwaybaby123]

I've been on ships larger than the Mardi Gras and Celebration (the largest ship I've been on is Oasis Of The Seas, currently ranking as the 4th largest cruise ship in the world at 226,838 tonnes vs the Mardi Gras (14th largest cruise ship at 181,808 tonnes) and Celebration (12th largest at 183,521 tonnes).  I honestly never felt crowded on Oasis.  There were virtually no lines and if there was a line, we didn't have to wait long (with the exception of seeing "CATS").

[TravelBluebird]

On Mardi Gras the lines go quickly and are well managed. If you want to spend your entire cruise on the Lido deck or in the very busy casino it will feel crowded, but isn’t that just like the smaller ships too?  I was always able to find a less-crowded area when I wanted one; some of the bars have nice areas indoors that are often less crowded (Brass Magnolia, Havana), parts of Serenity are not bad.

 

I was on during Spring Break recently and even at the buffet I generally walked right up without a wait.  Less waiting for comedy shows because there are so many of them. Only waiting I did was for the Center Stage shows, but that was by choice because I wanted a good seat so we’d come early, get drinks, and hang out during all the pre-entertainment each night.

 

Getting on and off at ports was easy breezy; quick and minimal lines.

[hard_eight]

I've been on the Magic and Glory during spring break/summer that felt more crowded than our cruise in mid January on the Celebration...there are some choke points in the design that will naturally make it feel more crowded. I was worried about the ship size but, with the additional venues, there was never a time I felt it I was overwhelmed. That said the elevators on embarkation day can be very tight.

[txcruiser1234]

2 hours ago, sam73 said:

Does it feel crowded with that many people on board?

For us it did on Mardi Gras last November.

 

In particular:

1) My biggest pet peeve was the way they have the photographers laid out in the evenings. The way they had to shoot required them to step out deep into the walkways, causing the flow of foot traffic to come to a halt every time they needed to snap a photo. It was kind of like catching every red light when you are trying to get somewhere. And, it was even worse after shows let out.

2) The thermal suites area of the spa seems undersized for the amount of folks it attracts and the acoustics of the area amplified the chatter. I started bringing ear plugs after the first couple of days (assuming I could find an open chair, which was more miss than hit).

3) The casino is pretty large but, wow, it was at capacity from early evening to 2am. By at capacity, I mean every machine and two deep at the tables with people waiting. Lots of energy and action, but a lot of standing around and waiting for something to open up. The servers, when you could flag one down, would generously serve us the DOU even though we were not actively playing, which was nice. You pretty much had to go middle of the night or EARLY morning if you wanted run of the house - but no drinks or table games then.

4) You had to show up early for the comedy shows (we only tried the later adult shows). We showed up 15min early the first time and it was already full. Showed up 30min early the second time - full. We got into one that we showed up 45min early for, but that was our first and last comedy show of the cruise.

5) The elevator capacity seemed inadequate, in general. We use the stairs for two or three decks, but when we needed to go from the public spaces on 16 and 17 up/down to the public spaces on 6, 7 and 8, there was a lot of waiting and squeezing into crowded elevators. One awesome feature though was the spa elevator on 17 that takes you direct to the spa on 5. We used that one more than once in the evening to zip down from our cabin on 17 just to get to the lower decks of the ship (even though you still had to walk through the spa and up to wherever we were going on 6, 7 or 8).

6) Both at Cucina and Chibang, we had a table for two that was literally one inch from the tables on either side. The other tables were larger groups and it was absolutely impossible to have our own conversation. They were real "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" situations. We've had lots of close dining neighbors on other ships, of course, but not quite as tight as these. Food was great though!

 

All in all a great ship and cruise (we're going to give the Jubilee a shot next year, too), but those were the major crowd-type differences from other Carnival ship classes we felt on our Mardi Gras experience.

[Joebucks]

What do we quantify as "crowded?" Internet worries and complaints that more people = more crowded and worse vacation? Sure some venues may not be right for the ship, that happens on every ship. I was recently on the Celebration. I didn't feel anything was more crowded than previous times. In fact, I psyched myself up for comedy and pizza lines to be worse, because that's what we do. They managed to make both experiences BETTER than they have been on other ships. 

 

The internet loves to find misery. 

[coondog99]

We were on a fully booked Mardi Gras before Christmas and the only time it felt crowded was at peak times for the Red Frog Tiki bar, Guy's and Shaq's. The rest of the time it seemed like we weren't on a big ship. Surprisingly enough, there was always lots of deck seating as well. 

[modernscarlett]

Went on Celebration mid-April, and this was our 7th Carnival cruise. I did not feel crowded at all. The pools on deck 8 and 16 in the front of the ship we always found chairs close to the pool. Pizza line was LONG the first night but better after that. Elevators can be a challenge. We learned to walk through the corridors to the aft elevators. But overall they have so many areas spread all over the ship, it's easily manageable!

[Saint Greg]

I mostly only feel crowded when I want to see a show in Grand Central/Celebration Central. You can't just walk up when the show starts like on other ships. Not only is it tough to find a seat. It's tough to find a spot where you can stand and watch the show. It's just not big enough. They need to take out the bar on the second level of it and put more tiered seating seating there.

 

Edited May 5, 2023 by Saint Greg

[sgttami]

The biggest ship I've sailed on was MSC Divina in 2017 and it always felt crowded  It was a beautiful ship but it was people everywhere, day and night.   Mardi Gras and Celebration are bigger so I don't know if I'd ever go on either.

 

I'll never say "NEVER" but I really like the smaller ships best of the lines I've sailed.  Not a fan of water rides, roller coasters and a million dining venues.

 

Got some good offers to sail on the big ships but hesitant to do so because of the passenger capacity!

[IntrepidFromDC]

I've been on Mardi Gras 3 times now, and on a variety of other Carnival ships 20+ times.  To me Mardi Gras never felt crowded except shows in Grand Central.  I did feel like some of the smaller ships were crowded from time to time, but not often.  What I did notice about Mardi Gras was it seemed to usually take longer to get from wherever I was to wherever I wanted to go to, just because the ship is so big.  But I'm a fan for a lot of reasons, including all the extra dining options.

[Lee Cruiser]

In general we didn't feel crowded on Mardi Gras with two exceptions:  Grand Central and elevators.  Elevators were horrible.  The center bank of elevators would be better divided into two smaller ones.  If you are standing in the center waiting for an elevator and one of the ones on either end open, you may as well forget about getting it as people who just walk up get on before those already waiting.  These elevators also have a terrible design.  Not only are they small, but the buttons are on the side of the elevator.

[caribsun]

Let's look at the numbers.  Cruise Ships With the Best/Worst Space to Guest Ratio: 8 Cruise Lines Compared (cruisefever.net)

[EngIceDave]

It's not like a mall on Black Friday, but is like a good mall on a busy day.

 

If you plan well in the Hub App and don't plan to camp in the best sunning spots or care about the round beds, you can survive with minimal frustrations.

 

If you think you can get your way all the time and have what you want at your beck and call, you will be a very unhappy cruiser.

[May1cruiser]

agree with all of the above. the biggest difference is the food options are spread out over many area and different floors. Even Guys is separate. Food lines tends to be the biggest issues on most ships. 

 

I am not a show person, but yes, grand central can overflow. 

 

Whenever a bulk of passengers want to do one thing, it will feel busy. The food being split in genius. 

[TravelBluebird]

I have been very surprised at how un-crowded the Mardi Gras generally feels, and my last trip was Spring Break on a very crowded ship. The only time I felt very crowded was in the middle of the day on embarkation day when everyone is out exploring the ship! I agree that Grand Central can feel crowded. I would take stairs instead of elevators nearly everywhere except up to Lido and above (I have stayed twice on deck 9 where I can easily take stairs to 6, 7, and 8, but not to Lido, Sports deck, etc ).  And thanks to the huge number of food venues (I just did a vlog on the free food venues, and I counted 14 of those, not counting the paid ones!) food lines are small, or if there is a line like at Guy’s, they move quickly.

 

Lido of course feels crowded, but I’ve never been on a Carnival ship where that isn’t the case.

[SRQbeachgirl]

I didn't necessarily think Mardi Gras felt crowded, just that it seemed to take a long time to get anywhere. If I wanted to get a specialty coffee at Bar Della Rosa and some huevos rancheros from Blue Iguana for breakfast, either my coffee or my food would be cold before I could find a place to sit. Of course, part of this feeling might have been that we were staying in an aft-facing balcony, so we literally were as far as we could get from most of the ship. This next time (three weeks from today!) we're staying in a slanted balcony on the front of the hump, so we'll be more central to everything. It will be an interesting comparison.

[tallyho8]

I've been on over 50 cruises. I cruised on the Mardi Gras shortly after the pandemic ended and it was only about 50% full. It felt VERY crowded compared to many ships I have been on that were full. I would never go on it again unless I knew it was sailing almost empty.

[Thenagers]

I just did Mardis Gras the week before Easter. It was full capacity. Didn’t seem too crowded except a few times? On embarkation day the bars were super busy( hard to get noticed) and the buffet area crazy. I also found the center stage area over crowded for Bingo and shows? It was also a long wait the 1st formal night for your time dining. Basically it felt well thought out except for those certain times. I have felt more crowded on some of the older ships.