Dyncymraeg

On youtube I have seen the view expressed an advantage of cruising is that you can visit locations which are not accessible by other means of transport. Do you feel this is an important advantage of cruising and have you been somewhere you could only access by cruise ship.

1 hour ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

It may not be a matter of tendering versus not tendering only -- although that does happen (Split, Croatia comes readily to mind) -- but also a case of smaller ships being able to dock at or conveniently near a particular port while larger ships have to dock a substantial distance away. 

 

A few examples:

• Seville -- small ships can go up the river and dock IN Seville; larger ones have to dock in Cadiz, which is about a 2-hour drive to Seville.
• Bangkok -- small ships can dock right in Bangkok, whereas larger ones dock in Laem Chabang, about a 2 hour ride away from Bangkok.
• Ho Chi Minh City -- similar situation to the two mentioned above.
• St. Petersburg -- while not as far as the first three examples, the smaller ships can dock in the city center, medium-sized slightly further away and larger ones several miles outside of the city.
• Shanghai -- Smaller ships can dock at the Bund in Shanghai proper; larger ships dock about 12 miles away.
• Bermuda -- Smaller ships can dock in Hamilton or St. George, not just the Royal Dockyards.

 

 

When I was in Helsinki and Oslo I saw cruise ships docked in ports right next to these cities which would give passengers direct access to these cities. If large cruise ships stop a fair distance from a destination , do cruise ships make provision eg do they provide transport, stop longer than ships which can dock closer to a destination.

It has been said that an advantage of smaller ships is that they can go directly to ports whilst larger ships have to tender boats to get  passengers to a port. Have you been on a ship that was so big it couldn't dock and tender was necessary to get passengers to a destination. Does tendering result in taking longer to get to a stop and reduces the amount of time available at a stop.

45 minutes ago, evandbob said:

We just got off the Symphony of the Seas, presently the largest behemoth sailing. Biggest surprise was the lack of lines, or much smaller lines at embarkation, getting off and on the ship in ports and debarkation.  Sometimes the lack of lines reminded me of what I experience as a high priority pax on other lines' smaller ships.  Even the buffet lines were short, although more tables were needed.

 

There are so many attractions and activities on board the ship during sea days that other areas were not crowded.  I did see some pushing and elbowing for position when the ship held a $10 sale event, reminded me of how folk behave on Black Fridays.

 

We had one aquatic show on the ship cancelled due to water in the pool vigorously sloshing around making unsafe conditions for the divers - however, the ship itself seemed stable and I could not feel any motion, side to side or otherwise.

 

I was amazed at this, since I read many reports here on CC about passenger overload on this class of ship.

 

Depending on itinerary, we will continue to sail ships that have a 2,000 to 6,000 pax load.

Some people may assume that a ship with a large number of passengers will have issues with overcrowding and it is interesting to read this is not always the case. Has anyone been on a ship you felt  was overcrowded.

57 minutes ago, pacruise804 said:

 

Our cruises have been to Canada, Bermuda, and Bahamas/Caribbean - so ship preference might be different on your itinerary.  We have sailed ~2,000 pax and ~4,000 pax and prefer the smaller lines (and are looking forward to trying our first 900 pax cruise this fall).

 

Smaller ships should let you reach more ports, and are generally easier to navigate.  We cruise to be on the water (and feel we are on the water), have adequate included food and entertainment (but don't need gourmet meals or Broadway shows), and explore a new to us area.

 

Larger ships often have more activities, but I don't know how much rock wall climbing you would do on your itinerary 😉 

I imagine a crucial advantage for small ships is they can visit more places. Fred Olsen use this as a selling point. Cruise ships have been getting bigger and bigger in recent  years but the bigger a ship is, the less places it can stop at. 

1 hour ago, clo said:

What do you consider big or small? In the last two years we've sailed with 100, 400 and 1200 - all considered small (and very small). What's the cruise line also?

The cruise line is Fred Olsen.

I have not cruised before and I was thinking of taking a cruise from the UK to Norway and the ship is described as a small ship. I would  like to ask people who have cruised do you prefer large or small ships and what in your view are the advantages and disadvantages of large and small ships.