Is bigger better?

[tnsail]

Why is it that cruise lines gone to such massive ships? With passengers on board reaching 5000, isn't it a bit overwhemling? The rush of passengers off loading/re-boarding at each port alone is getting to be like a cattle drive. Is it economics driving this? 500 million per ship and climbing looks to be reason enough to slow the drive towards these mobile cities.... What are your opinions?

[paul929207]

I much prefer the smaller ships. We have been on the Tahitian and Pacific Princess as well as the old Island Princess. They all carry less than 700 passengers. Our next cruise is on the new Royal, which also holds about 700. We find that you get to know peolple better on the small ships.

 

Paul

[cruzeluver]

Absolutely not.

 

If I had to choose between two ships and everything else was equal, I would choose the smaller of the two.

 

The level of service will be better, lines will be fewer and shorter, and I will feel less like one cow among the heard! :p

[caviargal]

No, they are not better at all, IME.

 

The reason is simple...money and economies of scale.

[Tanker4]

Absolutely not.

 

If I had to choose between two ships and everything else was equal, I would choose the smaller of the two.

 

The level of service will be better, lines will be fewer and shorter, and I will feel less like one cow among the heard! :p

Agree 100% Couldn't have said it better myself..........

 

Tanker4

[chasetf]

Why is it that cruise lines gone to such massive ships? With passengers on board reaching 5000, isn't it a bit overwhemling? The rush of passengers off loading/re-boarding at each port alone is getting to be like a cattle drive. Is it economics driving this? 500 million per ship and climbing looks to be reason enough to slow the drive towards these mobile cities.... What are your opinions?

Lines are able to operate the larger ships more economically than small ships. The main area of savings are the deck crew and engineering crew... same number of people on the bridge and in the engine compartment.

 

The newer, bigger ships are more efficient. They are specifically more fuel efficient. They are also built for the "cattle drives" Those of us who sailed ships built in prior decades know just something like baggage handling, ship replenishing have taken leaps and bounds in how fast and efficient they can handle things.

[momofmeg]

No, they are not better at all, IME.

 

The reason is simple...money and economies of scale.

 

You hit it on the nail! and I must say with the massive kitchens and the mass produced food-that the food quality goes WAY down on the monster ships. The smaller ships are much better as far as I am concerned-even if we don't have all the extra entertainment choices-but since most just want to veg by the pool-I see no great lost-in not having those avenues of entertainment.

[sexyaznboy]

I am not an experienced cruiser, but it seems that smaller ships would provide a higher service to customer ratio, and hence better service. That being said, I think it's based on the cruiseline as well as how new the ship is.

 

Great catchy heading by the way LOL

[tnsail]

Lines are able to operate the larger ships more economically than small ships. The main area of savings are the deck crew and engineering crew... same number of people on the bridge and in the engine compartment.

 

The newer, bigger ships are more efficient. They are specifically more fuel efficient. They are also built for the "cattle drives" Those of us who sailed ships built in prior decades know just something like baggage handling, ship replenishing have taken leaps and bounds in how fast and efficient they can handle things.

 

chasetf, you make several good points. I can't dispute any of them but don't you miss the atmosphere of the smaller ships? I know that there are still smaller ships to be taken today (premium price). I'm just wondering when is big just too big. Most of the ports of call will not be able to handle ships of the 200,000 ton range. (Draft and exisiting port facilities remaining the same) One would think that you would be very limited in iteinaries, soon these ports of call would realise that and the prices of port services would begin the climb. Then it would be a wash on savings for the average passenger. Cheap cruise, high price ports of call....JMO

[isujim]

Not Better...........but more profitable:)

[misty57]

I think the hype of the new mega cruise ships will continue to attract the new to cruising and those with young families. Having cruised on mid size ships and now the largest, I heard many repeat cruisers say that yes the large ship is beautiful, but they all prefer the smaller ships. As a RCCL customer, I think the voyager class has all the best of the large ships and yet is not so huge that you are trampled by other passengers.

[GORDONCHICK]

If you look at the lay outs of the mega ships versus the smaller ones, the public areas aren't any larger usually. Just more cabins/people, and that equals larger and more crowds. Some lines do a better job is spreading things out, but there's only so much you can do with the space they are given.

[Jill SC]

In my cruise experience so far, the smallest was the Royal Princess at 1200 and the biggest the Grand Princess at 2600, the level of service is better on the smaller ships. However, since my budget currently determines my cruising, if the larger ships can offer a lower price, I will have to put up with the congestion and just enjoy being on a cruise. If there is a choice, I will take the smaller ship. Of course, the more passenger capacity and the more competition there is, the better for us all.

[chasetf]

chasetf, you make several good points. I can't dispute any of them but don't you miss the atmosphere of the smaller ships? I know that there are still smaller ships to be taken today (premium price). I'm just wondering when is big just too big. Most of the ports of call will not be able to handle ships of the 200,000 ton range. (Draft and exisiting port facilities remaining the same) One would think that you would be very limited in iteinaries, soon these ports of call would realise that and the prices of port services would begin the climb. Then it would be a wash on savings for the average passenger. Cheap cruise, high price ports of call....JMO

Sure ... I agree. We have sailed the smaller ships (preferred them when we started cruising). Some itineraries like Tahiti need a small ship to get into the places they need to. Certainly the larger the ship, the more limiting it is to where it can sail. We see some resurgence like the new Royal Princess, that is being targeted to those more out of the way ports.

[ancldaca]

Well, my first cruise was on a small ship -very small ship... 104 pax. Not fair to compare the level of service I received on one of the baby Ren ships to anything. But the difference was notable compared to the Monarch and the Sun Princess (my last cruise some 8 years ago) which today isn't even close to being among the largest ships. In December, I'll be on the Crown. I shudder at the thought, but promise to go with an open mind.

 

There's probably a good reason why Princess bought some of the larger Renaissance ships up which pale in size to the rest of the fleet.

 

I would bet that many more people would like to cruise such smaller ships IF the pricing is reasonable. By reasonable I mean that the prices are likely to be higher than, say, a Crown, but not unreasonably so.

[vowsatsea]

I prefer a nice mid-sized ship. My perfect sized ship would be the Grand Princess. Not too many people (in my opinion), but not really small, either..

[kitty9]

I have to disagree with Grand Princess being a mid size ship. The Grand is a huge ship, and while not as huge as something like Freedom of the Seas, she's really not considered mid-sized. The older Celebrity ships and Crystal's ships that carry less then 1800 passengers are true mid-sized ships. Give me the personalized service and much better food that the smaller ships can offer. I don't need ice rinks, climbing walls and golf courses to make a cruise fantastic.

[caviargal]

I have to disagree with Grand Princess being a mid size ship. The Grand is a huge ship, and while not as huge as something like Freedom of the Seas, she's really not considered mid-sized. The older Celebrity ships and Crystal's ships that carry less then 1800 passengers are true mid-sized ships. Give me the personalized service and much better food that the smaller ships can offer. I don't need ice rinks, climbing walls and golf courses to make a cruise fantastic.

 

Darcie, you beat me to it...I agree completely:).

 

I prefer the smaller ships myself but anything much over 1800 holds zero appeal.

[surfklutz]

I have to totally agree with the majority here - smaller is better. I have not seen that the large ship have worked things out to a science. I believe there is too much waiting, too many lines, too many crowds. And all the ships built these days are are from the inside out - they are more mall feeling than ship feeling.

 

Give me a small, small ship anytime. I love them at about 100 passengers!

[rajr27]

The cruise lines especially RCCL are concentrating on BIG....I have cruised many times and prefer 100,000 tons or under. The service tends to be better in the dining rooms. As far as getting on and off the ship at its ports of call if the ship is docked it goes smooth, if it is a tender it can be longer. So in the long run "no" it is not always better.

[cruiseapril]

We like the mid-sized and smaller ships best. Even the mid-sized ships sometimes have long waiting lines.

 

Hope the cruise lines will continue to build new mid-sized and smaller ships- not just the big ones.

[momofmeg]

We like the mid-sized and smaller ships best. Even the mid-sized ships sometimes have long waiting lines.

 

Hope the cruise lines will continue to build new mid-sized and smaller ships- not just the big ones.

 

I know both Celebrity and Princess recently bought and refurbished a couple of smaller ships that had balconies that were not in suites. I hope to get to cruise those ships with both lines in the future.

[mr green]

Last fall, Star Princess, only 2,600 passengers, tried to off load thirty five 'bus loads in fifteen minutes. They found out that it takes seventy five minutes, we were late getting back, and sailing was delayed for an hour. Imagin the chaos on BIG ships.

 

john

[melissasneu]

When talking about ships (as well as other things) it's not the size that matters, it's what you can do with it. Some lines, and even within some lines, some crews do things better.

 

Melissa