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We took a cruise from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso last year and purposefuly chose a large ship to reduce motion (and, thus, seasickness) as we were going to be in some seas famed for roughness. We are considering a cruise in September going from Whittier to Vancouver, or vice versa. How important is the size of the ship on such a cruise (i.e., how rough do the seas get)? Right now looking at a couple of different Princess ships, both over 100,000 tons, and a Holland America ship about 65,000 tons.
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11 responses; most recent on Nov 23, 09 at 11:14 AM
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Cruised from Whittier to Vancouver last Sept. We were on a small ship, the Pacific Princess. To give you an idea, it was under 700 passengers. You won't be really out in the open sea at all. There was one day only that I could feel the ship moving and it didn't bother me at all. There were a few people that seemed a bit queasy, but they had to be terrible sensative I think.
I just got off the Holland America cruise from Boston to Montreal. The Maasdam is only 55,000 tons. I thought I was a large ship guy. I was actually afraid I was not going to like the cruise. But ... let me tell you WOW!
Holland America is a "luxury line" and that means that they offer more space per passenger than other lines. So you never feel crowded or cramped. And there is almost everything you can find on a 135,000 ton ship on this small 55,000 ton ship.
Now Holland America does it right, but other ships like some of Royal Caribbean's smaller ships, still cram tons of people on one ship and it is bad, real bad.
As for motion, really it all depends on where your going. Alaska, you going to have some movement. Caribbean, maybe if the weather is bad. In Canada, it felt like we were sailing on glass the entire trip. You would never know your moving unless you looked out the window.
The only time I have felt motion sickness was on the Grand class ships. I prefer smaller ships.
It really doesn't matter what size your ship is if you have rough seas you will feel movement. Have been to Alaska on Diamond Princess and Rccl(can't think of name but smaller) and both were great. Did transatlantic on VOS and 15 days were smooth as glass. Coral Princess and Serenade of Seas were awesome for Panama Canal. The only time I felt queasy was on Pride of Aloha in Hawaii, even waitress got sick. I don't believe that ship was equipped with stabilizers. So I have cruised on Carnival, RCCL, Princess,NCL and line or size makes no difference. Everyone says that lower decks are better, but DH likes higher and also middle of ship is better. You will feel rough seas if you have 12'-15' swells. You can feel without getting sick, just depends on you.
We were fortunate enough to get upgraded to the Deluxe Veranda Suite on an Alaska Cruise on HAL's Zaandam. Wow! I could tell that all the stops had been pulled out for us, and it was the first time I really felt what first class travel is all about. The room was twice the size of the standard veranda rooms, and it was great having the room to get together with friends we met onboard as well as the poeple we were traveling with.
However, I really got the feeling that everyone on board that ship had an elegant experience, no matter what room they booked.
We just got some of the extra "perks" like the lounge on our deck and the consierge in the lounge to answer questions and book table reservations and land excursions. It was like having the front desk a few steps from our room.
I'd have to say that we spent more time in our room than we would have if the room were smaller. Would it have been worth the extra $1000 per person? Maybe not, but it was fun while it lasted. I would spend the extra dollars on shore excursion, I believe, rather than book that room.
I haven't felt the difference between smaller and larger ships.All the cruise ships have good stabalizers. If you're prone to motion sickeness get a cabin that is mid ship and lower deck and you should be fine regardless of the ship size.