HAL Ships Passenger Size Compared on Graphic Plot

[CNSJ]

Found this graphic on a Travel Trends Report from the "Points Guy" Website showing the seven biggest cruise lines.

It shows where HAL ships plot against the other "big" cruise lines.  I find this interesting.  It may just be my observation, but HAL ships may seem a bit less crowded at times as there are few triple and quad booked staterooms and quite a few solo travelers.   I can't imagine 5,500 passengers and then a crew of 2,000 more!

 

 

 

 

[CruiserBruce]

Its not so much about number of pax, but space per pax. There is a formula out there somewhere that calculates this. Someone else will provide it, but I think it compares cubic feet per passenger, or something like that.

[robotpony]

Space per PAX is important, but also staff:PAX ratios, which relates to service levels.

 

I put a spreadsheet together last year to compare prices, space, service, and ratings between the major cruise lines for bookings 1 year in advance for veranda (or ocean view) style rooms, with similar bookings (mostly Alaska itineraries, but a few Caribbean as those lines had nothing comparable). Numbers were pulled from two reference sites where possible, and bookings were not logged in (so no extra discounts applied).

 

You can see that space differs by a factor of two between all lines (~30 square feet to ~60 per person), and staffing similarly (.3 staff per person to .7). Prices, on the other hand, have a much wider range (up to 10x different, $120pp CAD to $1500pp CAD).

 

You can see all of the major lines cluster around the middle of the pack, and pricing ($200-$240 per person per night, without discounts). Most of these lines offer 50-75% discounts on these prices for early and late bookings, or other special discounts. Prices include drink packages where available. Ships were picked based on rough size and comparable features, but as you can see there is a wide variance in ship type (so the findings will be skewed where ships are less comparable). 

 

My conclusion was that the major lines are following a similar formula, and the upper/lower contenders had more unique businesses. We have our next few cruises booked, but based on what I learned here we will be branching out over the next few years once we reach 4 star on HAL. RC and Virgin top our list, but the other bolded lines are also interesting, so we'll see how each line does over the next few years.

 

Comparing review scores was less fruitful, but roughly follows space and staffing ratios. I found the quality of reviews on the major sites to be inconsistent and arbitrary, so will drop that from future versions of the sheet.

[RedneckBob]

26 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Its not so much about number of pax, but space per pax. There is a formula out there somewhere that calculates this. Someone else will provide it, but I think it compares cubic feet per passenger, or something like that.

Good point. HAL’s Koningsdam v Celebrity Equinox. Equinox is larger by 22% in terms of tonnage but only 8% more passengers than Koningsdam.

[Sunset Viewers]

22 minutes ago, robotpony said:

Space per PAX is important, but also staff:PAX ratios, which relates to service levels.

 

I put a spreadsheet together last year to compare prices, space, service, and ratings between the major cruise lines for bookings 1 year in advance for veranda (or ocean view) style rooms, with similar bookings (mostly Alaska itineraries, but a few Caribbean as those lines had nothing comparable). Numbers were pulled from two reference sites where possible, and bookings were not logged in (so no extra discounts applied)....

Any chance you could attach the spreadsheet file you created?

[JeffElizabeth]

Fascinating.  I knew you paid a premium for Viking, but I didn't think it was that high. 

[robotpony]

2 hours ago, JeffElizabeth said:

Fascinating.  I knew you paid a premium for Viking, but I didn't think it was that high. 

 

It seemed high to me too, so it's possible that my sample data was wrong or dissimilar to the other examples. I was going to check with my TA to see if they had access to better rates.

[robotpony]

4 hours ago, Sunset Viewers said:

Any chance you could attach the spreadsheet file you created?

 

I'll clean it up a bit and make a public version this week (it's a bit of a mess outside of those columns). 

[CNSJ]

The passenger space ratios show up differently on other web page articles:

 

https://cruisefever.net/most-crowded-cruise-ships-by-passenger-space-ratio/

 

This link shows HAL ships like Noordam at 43 per passenger.  Remember that the Vistas have two decks of Signature Suites reducing the number of passengers.  

 

Volume to Passengers is also deceiving.  Grand nine story atriums look nice but have little deck square feet to use.  Also, the amount of top deck space for pools and sun bathing is a function of length vs. beam.  A ship with 20 decks still only has one top deck. 

 

My experience is that the Vistas and Signature Class seem roomy and less crowded than the Royal Caribbean ships by a long way.  

[BermudaBound2014]

1 hour ago, CNSJ said:

My experience is that the Vistas and Signature Class seem roomy and less crowded than the Royal Caribbean ships by a long way.  

 

Have you been on an Oasis class?

 

At 230,000 g/t and 6,600 passengers the Oasis class feels VERY roomy compared to, say, the Away class which is roughly 150,000g/t and 4,000 passengers. The neighborhood concept of the Oasis class really serves to move passengers. That and multiple shows going on simultaneously, some at the front of the ship in the Theatre and some at the back of the ship in the aqua park, and some in the middle with the ice skating rink really help to spread the crowds during the evening. Oasis class is still my quickest embarkation and debarkation ever. It's an engineering accomplishment. IMO; everyone should experience an Oasis class at least once before they write off 'big ships' entirely. 

[PACD_JG]

11 hours ago, CNSJ said:

Volume to Passengers is also deceiving.

Deceiving indeed.  The link says NCL Prima has some of the best ratios in the business, but you go to the NCL board and almost everybody says there's not enough space (I've been entertaining a cruise on the Viva).