Small ships vs Mega Liners?

[zebra]

Oh how I wish there were more smaller ships and that more new smaller ships were being built. I guess this is a pipe dream - mega liners, more people per sailing is the way to go these days, it seems.

[sailingrose]

I've done all size ships. Not very fond of the Voyager class or the Grand class ships. I still prefer mid-size ships like Sun class and Vision class. Unless I win a free cruise you'll never see me on the Freedom of the Seas or anything like it.

[zebra]

Yes I agree the Sun class and Vision class is a great size.

[JoeyandDavid]

Thats why I want to go back on the Century....

[CruiseLady]

Once again I'm going to be the "oddball" of the family, for me and my family we love the "Mega-Ships", so much for us to choose from and if I just want to kick back and relax with a book I can either stay on my balconey or there are plenty of "hidey-hole" places on the ship I can find to relax in. But I also understand the loss of "intimacy" that alot of my fellow cruisers feel by sailing on a smaller vessel, it's so sad to say that the future of smaller cruise ships maybe in danger of disappering due to mass-marketing of the cruising industry, it all boils down to what the customer wants, they get, and since now alot of families are now starting to cruise with 4 to 5 kid's, Nanna & Pappa, Aunts & Uncles, cruise ships are now becoming Mega-Resorts on the sea. JMHO.

[Joanandjoe]

Our best cruises were on fairly small ships: 308 PAX Wind Surf and 490 PAX Seven Seas Navigator. Ships in the 1200 to 1300 range, the largest on which we've sailed, seem huge to us. Our next cruise will be on the 1,918 PAX Noordam, which we've seen (and it looked gigantic!). We'll see how we feel about that ship when we sail on it. Right now we wouldn't even consider a 3,000 plus PAX megaliner.

The amenities on the small ships are fine for us. We feel no need for rock climbing walls, skating rinks, 20 bars, 10 restaurants, an outdoor movie theater, etc.

[Lisa63]

My favorite ship was the 20,000 GRT / 800 pax SS SeaBreeze. In the course of the week, we got to know many pax and crew and it just had such a homey feel. Yet, I also enjoyed the 116,000 GRT Diamond Princess as it never felt crowded. Still, my preference is for the small to mid-sized ships, which I consider to be around 30K-50K GRT. I agree that 3,000 pax is too many -- I can't imagine what tendering would be like on such a high-capacity ship. I wait in enough lines at home.

[popsec]

I loved the Zenith, mainly because you kept running into people you'd met. The mega liners just seem to impersonal to me......

[JohnG]

I'd have to agree the small to mid-sized are my favorites. The smallest was Royal Clipper, with 284 passengers. Our next is on Oceania Nautica, 684 passengers.

We have enjoyed larger ships, having done two of the Grand class on Princess, and recently the Freedom of the Seas 2 day cruise to nowhere. They use space so well that they don't seem any more crowded than smaller ships....but you don't get to know many people. Most of our 27 or so have been on mid-sized ships. However, frankly, we choose based on when we can go and where we want to go, then the ship is third choice.

There are plenty of ships with smaller size: Seabourn, Oceania, Regent, Silversea, and Crystal. However, all are luxury lines, priced well above the likes of the mass market (RCCL, Carnival, NCL) and the premium lines (Princess, HAL, Celebrity). The smaller ships have to charge more because they have fewer passengers to cover the cost of operations. And the cost of new-builds is so high, they aren't buying more. With the big ships there is economy of scale and the huge number of passengers helps them pay off the huge investment. The huge ships are so popular they have been charging higher prices than the rest of the ships in their respective lines, especially RCCL.

[KeithnRita]

Our favorite cruises have been on ships in the 1,200 to 1,400 passenger range. Our next one will be 3,100--so we are willing to try them all. The one after will be back to midsize.