Shar

I am interested in why people book cruises on large cruise ships. Is it because you can get a better deal or do you like to spend your time with 3,000 people. I have been on both large (not 3,000 people but large) and small (300 people) and will never take a large cruise ship again...too many people,,,,too much going on to relax, too much waiting in lines.....why the large ships????

abram

Although I prefer ships in the 600-800 passenger range, I think people pick the big ships for the range of activities and amenities that a smaller ship can't offer.

Leona

I had the same question, Shar. We took our first cruise in July on the Zuiderdam, with 1,800 passengers. It was very manageable, we had no problem finding our way around, & had plenty to do. However, we have friends who ONLY cruise on Megaships and say that we "have to try it".

I would hate to be amongst 3,000 passengers, way too many for me plus I'd get lost hourly. In the 50+ age range, who needs to go rock climbing?

losarbolitos

I seriously do not know. We have done about 25 cruises--the largest ship was 1800 people. If I remember, it was fine, but we prefer Crystal sized cruises ( and their ships when we can afford it). We would avoid the monsters at all costs!

jacketwatch

We have done larger ships, the most recent being the Sapphire Princess which is 952 ft/ long and holds 2670 passengers. Embarkation amd diembarkation took around 1 hr. and outside a long line of chocoholics at the chocolate/friut bar one day it didn't seem overbearing at all. If you have a good number of bars/public areas offering varied activities then it works. We are considering the Tatitian Princess next yr. which is much smaller and has capacity for around 800 passengers only so if this works out we shall see the difference. My wife is curious how a smaller ships rides, i.e. do you feel motion more than the big boys? Any thoughts?

mikemo

I have done two on the US flagged and crewed 138 passenger Yorktown Clipper to Panama/Costa Rica and to the US and BVI.
Thouroughly enjoyed both especially the USAA 2 for 1 deals.
M

traveller333

We too have cruised on some of the largest ships afloat but never again now that we've discovered smaller ships. There was a time when we thought that the larger ships had more to offer in the way of entertainment, shops, better casino, bigger pools etc. We also were able to get some good prices.
Now that we've experienced the smaller ships, I don't forsee us ever going back to large ships. I would rather pay more per cruise and go on fewer cruises than go just to go. IMO the entire experience on smaller ships is far superior. I like good food, to be pampered. I hate waiting in lines and feeling nickeled and dimed to death once on board. Smaller lxuury ships accomplish these objectives.

As for the smoothness, never had any seasick problem on large or small.

I think people go on larger ships thinking it will be cheaper in the long run. Depending upon your personal habits (something as simple as a bottle of wine with dinner), this is not always the case and can actually cost more in the long run.

ParrotMom

We were on the Brilliance of the Seas..it was sooo big...by the time you got to one end of supper...and the other end for the theatre you had lost weight.. In all seriousness I don't go on a cruise to play golf or ice skate or climb a rock wall. Most of the bigger ships are nothing but big floating resorts... and again.. I like smaller places.. The ship we are going on in a few weeks holds 1700..

gail

This thread is starting to remind me of McDonald's. No one admits to eating there, but there sure are a lot of McDonald's.

Someone must like these big ships, or they would be out of business (not a regular cruiser - we took one NCL Boston-Bermuda because it was going where we wanted to go)

ted_m

Wait 'till we all fly on a plane with six or seven hundred others and then we will really know how bad it can get.

Ted

shorebrau

We are also first time cruisers on Windstar from 10/15 to 10/29, Athens to Barcelona. We asked our travel agent for a small ship since I didn't think we'd like a mega ship with a lot of kids. I am hoping for a good experience.

yiddishkopf

We choose our ship by the itinerary, not the size of the vessel. We have been on the route around South America Machu Pichu first then Valparaiso to Rio; around Australia and in January, around New Zealand. Our Australia trip was on the Prisendam and that is one of HAL's smaller ships -- I don't even know the size of the Statendam but as I said, we choose by itinerary.

michi

We are first time cruisers on the Ryndam, approx. 1200 passengers, on a 14 day Caribbean trip. Like others we do not need skating, rock climbing and so on.

What is considered a mega ship in the cruise industry?

What is your personal opinion of a big or small ship?

michi

To clarify my question above, I meant to ask: "what passenger size ship do you consider to be a "small ship" a "large ship" and a "mega ship"?

Thanks.

traveller333

Michi, I'm not sure what the industry standards are for determing large or small but based on 2 dozen+ cruises I consider anything with 700 passengers or less small (my preference), 700-1200 middle size, anything with more than 1200 passengers large and over 1800 Mega.

Although the itinerary is important, I think the cruise line, number of passengers and level of service is just as important, if not more so to me. This is especially true when you have more sea days with more time spent on the ship. No doubt the fewer passengers the better, more intimate the experience.

mikemo

T333,
Well put!
M

cindiloowho

Have dne both, and on the whole, prefer smaller ships. However, our choices are often driven by itinery. I dislike waiting in lines, however, if you are prone to sea sickness, large is better. The Ryndam is a good ship--ditto the Amsterdam, but you can keep the Grand Princess, and Star...to many people pushing you about.

faith77

I cruised to Alaska on the Star Princess a few years back (100,000 tons) and this past year took a riverboat thru parts of Russia as part of a larger Russia trip.
Just my 2 cents worth but, even though I loved my Russia trip intinerary, I was surprised at how crowded the riverboat seemed at times. Even 4 or 5 of us walking the decks in the early am was crowded. And, for shows and lectures, one needed to be at the lounge at least 20 minutes early to get a seat.
OTOH I walked the decks of the Star Princess and usually got a seat for the shows without any crowd problem.
Faith

traveller333

I agree that the smaller European riverboats can be a bit crowded at times. It is a nice experience but certainly not up to par with the small (uncrowded) luxury ships with so much space per passenger. One minor inconvenience about the large cruise ships IMO is so much walking to get from point A to point B. It never seemed to fail that I would be at the furthest point from our cabin when I remembered something in the cabin and had to go back. Just a minor inconvenience though compared to waiting in lines with 2,000 passengers.