Never cruised a huge ship. Booked on the Sky. Husband not happy.

[fluffybunny22]

We've always avoided mega ships. We are doing the Baltics on the Sky in June. My husband must have followed Princess on Instagram because he was watching a video last night and realized that it was of the Sky and asked what ship we are on. He grumbled for a while because he thought we had agreed to avoid big ships. Our favorite ship is the Celebrity Summit. It probably didn't help that he had been flipping through an Oceania brochure before watching the video. I told him the trend is toward bigger ships so we have to at least try one. Can someone make me feel better and reassure him that it won't be a bad experience just because there are 4k passengers on the ship. I've asked him to keep an open mind and if he hates it we don't have to do a big ship again.

[JF - retired RRT]

By all means convince him to keep an open mind.

I personally have a closed mind. When all the ships are huge and there are no "small" ships to cruise on, I'm going to stop cruising.

[jwattle]

3 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

By all means convince him to keep an open mind.

I personally have a closed mind. When all the ships are huge and there are no "small" ships to cruise on, I'm going to stop cruising.

Well that was helpful 🙄

[jwattle]

8 minutes ago, fluffybunny22 said:

We've always avoided mega ships. We are doing the Baltics on the Sky in June. My husband must have followed Princess on Instagram because he was watching a video last night and realized that it was of the Sky and asked what ship we are on. He grumbled for a while because he thought we had agreed to avoid big ships. Our favorite ship is the Celebrity Summit. It probably didn't help that he had been flipping through an Oceania brochure before watching the video. I told him the trend is toward bigger ships so we have to at least try one. Can someone make me feel better and reassure him that it won't be a bad experience just because there are 4k passengers on the ship. I've asked him to keep an open mind and if he hates it we don't have to do a big ship again.

Let him know that despite the size, there are still lots of nooks and little places to "discover" and hang out. These ships are still designed to let you relax and enjoy if that is what you desire; they aren't just the mega ship amusement parks at sea. You will have a great time! 😊

[riffatsea]

We also have no intention of trying these new mega mega ships!!

We'll change cruise lines to ones with smaller ships if we have to.

I think the only time I'd try the sky is if we could book one of the really expensive sky suites!!!

[ian441672]

To be honest at first we didnt think we would like the bigger ships, but we have now done many 3000-3500 people and it is no bother whatsoever.  Many a time my wife and I have remarked to each other (whether walking down to dinner, from a show to our room, off to breakfast etc), that where is everybody?! I am not exaggerating to say sometimes we feel the ship has lost half its passengers!

 

Of course it is busy and you see most people by the pool (at sea days), at dinner or in a show, but that aside I feel you might be pleasantly surprised at how unaffected you become by the apparent number of people on board. It can be exciting having a bit of hustle and bustle and watching the people go by, but with a large amount of people comes  large ship and enough places for people to go off to (and disappear!), so I wouldn't worry too much. We still wonder where everybody is!! Hope that helps 🙂

[suzyed]

19 minutes ago, ian441672 said:

To be honest at first we didnt think we would like the bigger ships, but we have now done many 3000-3500 people and it is no bother whatsoever.  Many a time my wife and I have remarked to each other (whether walking down to dinner, from a show to our room, off to breakfast etc), that where is everybody?! I am not exaggerating to say sometimes we feel the ship has lost half its passengers!

 

Of course it is busy and you see most people by the pool (at sea days), at dinner or in a show, but that aside I feel you might be pleasantly surprised at how unaffected you become by the apparent number of people on board. It can be exciting having a bit of hustle and bustle and watching the people go by, but with a large amount of people comes  large ship and enough places for people to go off to (and disappear!), so I wouldn't worry too much. We still wonder where everybody is!! Hope that helps 🙂

I agree!  When we first sailed on the QM2, we were surprised how uncrowded it seemed with 4000 passengers!  We have sailed on the MSC Seaside which is a mega ship and again it didn't seem crowded!
As a matter of fact we sailed on one of the small ships (approx 3000 passengers) and much of it were sea days with cooler weather so everyone was inside rather than at the pools or on deck, etc.  During trivia games there was literally no  where to sit.  People were actually taking the cushions off the couches outside Explorers Lounge to sit on and others were sitting on the couches without cushions! Pretty crazy!

Edited August 28, 2019 by suzyed

[ggprincess2004]

We avoided the Princess megaships as long as possible, but in October of last year sailed the Royal. We were so pkeasantly surprised....we booked a quick little week long on the Regal for December 2018 and loved it. No more hesitation. Each class has their own feel and plusses. Ask him to keep on open mind...there is a lot to enjoy on board. With such a port intensive cruise, i think you might especially appreciate the incredible buffet area, meaning that after goung flat out on shore all day, not sitting through a lengthy meal in a mdr can be the perfect thing, and the quality and selection in the buffet area on these ships is outstanding. We really did change our minds about the Royal class of ships. We also truly enjoyed the Baltic. Bon voyage.

[Colo Cruiser]

IMO........

I think when it gets to the point of having to convince someone to cruise a certain ship then it would be time to let the chips fall where they may. Since he is not new to cruising and has cruised on good sized  ship in the past I doubt he will be happy on the Sky if you have to coerce him to go. I can only imagine the stress in the months leading up to the cruise if he is really that against it. 🤔

[Husky61]

I would not even consider advising you what to tell your spouse.  No one here knows either of you, so giving you marital advice is a no-no as far as I am concerned.

[fluffybunny22]

29 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

IMO........

I think when it gets to the point of having to convince someone to cruise a certain ship then it would be time to let the chips fall where they may. Since he is not new to cruising and has cruised on good sized  ship in the past I doubt he will be happy on the Sky if you have to coerce him to go. I can only imagine the stress in the months leading up to the cruise if he is really that against it. 🤔

He actually is the one who picked this cruise. I think because there were no pictures of the Sky for him to see he didn't realize how big it was. I know he's looked at the deck plan but just didn't realize the size until he saw pictures and looked into how many people it holds. He has the exact cabin  he wanted and a drink package and I'm willing to do the drink runs so he can hang out on the balcony.

[voljeep]

tender ports, if any , could be a problem because of the # of passengers waiting to disembark for excursions ...

but he polly already knows that ...

[tobyt]

I actually think the ships built as mega passenger ships are designed and handle the crowds pretty well. There will be times when it is crowded but less than you would think. The problem ones in my opinion are those where during a refurbish public spaces are replaced by cabins picking up several hundred more passengers. Since the other public spaces were not built to handle the additional folks plus now public space has been removed...they in my humble view are worse than a ship designed and built for a larger capacity.

[Fuzzyape]

I don't think DW and I have done any Mega ships, we've done big ones, and most recently a small ship.  We like them both.  There may be more amenities on the larger ship (which I'm sure you're aware of).  We generally look at the itinerary, the ship is a second thought.  Yes I know that isn't the case for everyone.

 

I wish you luck and hope you and your spouse enjoy your cruise.

 

Counting down the days. 

[c-boy]

well fluffy, my advice is free, if you use my advice, it's twenty five dollars, if you use my advice and it works, it's two hundred and fifty dollars  😉

[LoriPhil]

I don’t consider Princess’ large ships in the same category as Royal Caribbeans’ behemoth double-wides.  We were  nervous about our cruise on the Royal Princess some years back and were pleasantly surprised at its functionality, and loved the big buffet.  Have booked the Sky for November 2020 and while they have added cabins, are still confident we’ll find quiet places for vegging and look forward to exploring a new ship.  We spent a fair amount of time on our balcony for our Baltic cruise a few years ago as well  - it’s a great place to relax and enjoy a Sip&Sail beverage.  😎

Edited August 28, 2019 by LoriPhil

[Crzn-Life]

2 hours ago, suzyed said:

I agree!  When we first sailed on the QM2, we were surprised how uncrowded it seemed with 4000 passengers!  We have sailed on the MSC Seaside which is a mega ship and again it didn't seem crowded!
As a matter of fact we sailed on one of the small ships (approx 3000 passengers) and much of it were sea days with cooler weather so everyone was inside rather than at the pools or on deck, etc.  During trivia games there was literally no  where to sit.  People were actually taking the cushions off the couches outside Explorers Lounge to sit on and others were sitting on the couches without cushions! Pretty crazy!

I think the reason that you didn’t feel crowded is the max capacity on the QM2 is:

2,695 passengers (after 2016 refit); 2,620 passengers (original design). 

 

No way does the QM2 hold 4000 passengers. That’s the approximate total for passengers and crew. 

 

 

[phred119s]

We are also sailing on one of the Baltic cruises on Sky in June. We did want to go on Sky, but trying to work out schedules has us landing on the Baltic cruise this coming year.  Having sailed on one of Royal Caribbean's large ships, I can say that we did not feel crowded on there so I don't expect we would on Sky either!  

[AZ Stan (FKA Stan in Chicago)]

2 hours ago, fluffybunny22 said:

He actually is the one who picked this cruise. I think because there were no pictures of the Sky for him to see he didn't realize how big it was. I know he's looked at the deck plan but just didn't realize the size until he saw pictures and looked into how many people it holds. He has the exact cabin  he wanted and a drink package and I'm willing to do the drink runs so he can hang out on the balcony.

No need to do a "drink run".  Order your drink on your smart phone, the Medallion will know where you are, and it will be delivered to you.  Yes, it really works.

Stan

[kennicott]

We always said we prefer smaller vessels, long duration cruises with lots of sea days and the more exploration type itineraries. But then we decided to try the larger ships. Over four cruises we spent about three months on two of the Royal Class ships Princess has. Then we went back to the smaller ships. I thought our cruises on the big ships were minimally okay as there were a lot of on board venues to choose from. Wife doesn't want to cruise on the larger ships anymore though and I'm inclined to go along with her. One of our favorite ships is the Pacific Princess, their smallest vessel, which we have been on for about three months total sailing. We were booked in a full suite with my wife's sister on the Pacific Princess for a 35 day South Pacific and Panama Canal a year from this November but they recently canceled that cruise. I believe Stein Kruse is getting set to sell that ship. We have about 350 days total on Princess but most likely won't be sailing with them anymore. We really like the Regent size ships and service which we have over 150 days on but now they have escalated their fees way beyond our means.    

[partybarbie]

I didn't know if I would like the Royal Princess, but I absolutely love her.  There's so much to do, and the food was excellent. I will be back on her next month and am so looking forward to it.  I'm so happy that we finally got a newer, bigger ship on the West Coast. 

[nini]

I understand where your DH is coming from; however, we were on the Coral Princess

for a PC full transit and then on the Regal for an East Coast cruise. 

WE LOVE THE REGAL!!! Personally, we felt the Coral was crowded and the Regal was 

so nice and open. The Regal is now our favorite ship. We did not care for the design of the Coral.

But many do. 

As has been mentioned above, the larger Princess ships are not what Royal Caribbean offers.

We do not want a SeaWorld, wall climbing or ice skating rink  on our ship. Now, THOSE are

mega ships!

[CruisinFinsUp]

4 hours ago, fluffybunny22 said:

We've always avoided mega ships. We are doing the Baltics on the Sky in June. My husband must have followed Princess on Instagram because he was watching a video last night and realized that it was of the Sky and asked what ship we are on. He grumbled for a while because he thought we had agreed to avoid big ships. Our favorite ship is the Celebrity Summit. It probably didn't help that he had been flipping through an Oceania brochure before watching the video. I told him the trend is toward bigger ships so we have to at least try one. Can someone make me feel better and reassure him that it won't be a bad experience just because there are 4k passengers on the ship. I've asked him to keep an open mind and if he hates it we don't have to do a big ship again.

 

 

We've travelled on Grand Class and Royal Class.  We like both for different reasons. 

 

One thing that makes a difference to the crowds is how many people are actually on board - you are travelling in June - most K-12 kids are still in school.

So I think that more cabins will have couples rather than families.  In July/ Aug when younger kids are off, more families will travel and the cabins will be full with 3 and 4 in each - thus maxing out the number of passengers on board.   

Hopefully that happens and you don't feel like the ship is full!  

[Paula_MacFan]

3 hours ago, fluffybunny22 said:

 He has the exact cabin  he wanted and a drink package and I'm willing to do the drink runs so he can hang out on the balcony.

 

1 hour ago, AZ Stan (FKA Stan in Chicago) said:

No need to do a "drink run".  Order your drink on your smart phone, the Medallion will know where you are, and it will be delivered to you.  Yes, it really works.

Stan

Really -- they will deliver a drink to your cabin/balcony?  

[Petoonya]

I am an Oceania and Windstar only person. The max passengers on a ship we will cruise is 650. The last big ship we did was several years back on Celebrity Silhouette Mediterranean. It was a nightmare. The sheer numbers of passengers gave us claustrophobia and the interior felt like a massive Nordstrom. Why cruise when you are so far from the water? When I cruise I want to be as one with the water as possible.

 

I'm terribly sorry but I'd rather not cruise if it was on a big ship even it was free. Too much congestion, not enough of a real cruising feeling. I'd switch.