Do cruise ships ever sail near empty?

[MicCanberra]

On 9/2/2019 at 4:23 PM, ilikeanswers said:

I saw a video of a plane passenger who for a number of reasons ended up being the only passenger on a commercial flight and it got me curious if anything like that had happened on a cruise ship. Obviously not in the same extreme (one person on a cruise ship all by themselves imagine that! 🤣) as the flight but perhaps has a ship ever sailed for example at 20% capacity? Or would that be too low already? How low does the number of passengers have to be before they just cancel the sailing? 

Yes, but I would think it is special circumstances. 

Two such occasions would be testing of new ships and ships getting to ports for a special charter.  (i.e CHOGM in PNG)

[leaveitallbehind]

1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

Yes, but I would think it is special circumstances. 

Two such occasions would be testing of new ships and ships getting to ports for a special charter.  (i.e CHOGM in PNG)

 

While you are correct in your comments, they are not likely to be real circumstances that would apply to the OP's question. The testing of new ships, or sea trials, take place prior to ship delivery to the cruise lines, so they are not yet in commercial operation. And the special charters you refer to would also be quite rare as the vast majority of charters occur on regular itineraries of a given ship with no empty transit to a separate port.  Those on the chartered cruise would simply embark after the last regularly scheduled itinerary disembarks with the ship not sailing empty to anywhere. And even if the charger is a unique itinerary, it typically would depart from and return to that same regular itinerary port.

[Nebr.cruiser]

14 hours ago, evandbob said:

 

This isn't a myth????  I've heard this said and refuted on CC many times.

 

edit: I now see that Tapi has already questioned this tale's veracity.

We once sailed from San Juan when I am almost positive it did happen.  We ate in the MDR several times with Puerto Rican passengers who told us that the ship was offered at truly ridiculously low prices--like $149 for a balcony on the 7 day cruise (it may have been a 10 day, since we seldom sail for seven; memory fails.)  It was a December cruise and I think schools were out and apparently kids were free.

 

I'm not sure why multiple people would lie about the prices.  It was a somewhat different atmosphere because of more children on board, and a language barrier, at times, but we enjoyed the cruise.  The Puerto Ricans we ate with at various times were so kind and made every effort to converse in English, since it was obvious that we did not speak Spanish.

 

The only problem we had was a cabin several doors down that had several kids.  Often the kids would be screaming and crying outside the door and no one would let them in!  We're talking like 5 year-olds.  But it happened only once a day or so:)

Edited September 3, 2019 by Nebr.cruiser

[Bevv]

14 hours ago, evandbob said:

 

This isn't a myth????  I've heard this said and refuted on CC many times.

 

edit: I now see that Tapi has already questioned this tale's veracity.

Recently the Vista out of Galveston had propulsion problems and went to dry dock.  The dry dock was completed early and they decided to do a 4 day cruise to get the ship back on schedule. I booked and sailed on that ship. The ship booking was offered to casino premier and other casino past guests as well as being offered at a discounted price online to the general public.  It took 36 hours to sell out the ship.  Several people I talked to onboard got the cruise for $50. per passenger, OBC, drinks on us and casino play. 

[sail7seas]

Why so  much interest in how full the ship is when you sail?  I don't 'get  it'   

 

 

 

There is CLOSE to  no chance they will cancel a cruise after final payment  because of low bookings.  Any revenue is better than -0-

 

They will make offers hat are impossible to refuse before they cancel the sailing only because of low bookings

 

 

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IMO

 

 

[whogo]

9 minutes ago, sail7seas said:

Why so  much interest in how full the ship is when you sail?  I don't 'get  it'   

For me it is is much more pleasant to sail on a ship that does not have every bunk full. I don't need a crowd in the theater, showroom, dining room, lido, elevators, stairways, or promenade deck, especially if lots of those people are children in 3rd and 4th bunks. I sail longer cruisers as they are less likely to have three or four to a cabin. I am skeptical of any figures given out by cruise staff, but a cruise that was 90% full was a delight.

[MicCanberra]

8 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

 

While you are correct in your comments, they are not likely to be real circumstances that would apply to the OP's question. The testing of new ships, or sea trials, take place prior to ship delivery to the cruise lines, so they are not yet in commercial operation. And the special charters you refer to would also be quite rare as the vast majority of charters occur on regular itineraries of a given ship with no empty transit to a separate port.  Those on the chartered cruise would simply embark after the last regularly scheduled itinerary disembarks with the ship not sailing empty to anywhere. And even if the charger is a unique itinerary, it typically would depart from and return to that same regular itinerary port.

We had a ship chartered for a meeting in Papua New guinea, that sailed from Brisbane to Port Moresby empty, was used in port as a hotel for meeting attendees and the press for the week and then sailed back empty. Another example was for the Soccer World cups and Olympics where ships are often used as extra hotels (often sailing to and from empty).

[leaveitallbehind]

1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

We had a ship chartered for a meeting in Papua New guinea, that sailed from Brisbane to Port Moresby empty, was used in port as a hotel for meeting attendees and the press for the week and then sailed back empty. Another example was for the Soccer World cups and Olympics where ships are often used as extra hotels (often sailing to and from empty).

 

Understand but as I indicated this is rare regarding charters.  The examples you cite were not charter cruises but on site hotel contracts. That has been done as well in the US for a Superbowl that was held in Jacksonville FL. 

 

My interpretation of what you meant when you indicated "ships getting to port for a special charter" was for a chartered cruise that then departed from that port.

Edited September 3, 2019 by leaveitallbehind

[brillohead]

I just got off Majesty of the Seas.  Originally it was supposed to be a 5+5 B2B cruise, but due to Hurricane Dorian, it ended up being a 7+3 cruise. 

Because of travel problems due to the hurricane, and also the change from 5 days to just 3 days, LOTS of people cancelled the cruise.  

I may be off by a dozen or so, but IIRC, there were 863 passengers and 749 crew members on board for the 3-day cruise.  It was WEIRD....

The teams for The Quest were comprised of 5-15 people per team.

There were times you'd walk into Boleros (which is HUGE on this ship), and the band would be playing/singing and there was NOBODY in the lounge.  

They did away with traditional early/late dining room seating -- it was all "My Time Dining" for everyone -- just show up whenever you wanted, with as large a party as you wanted, and you were seated immediately.  

For karaoke, the hostess sang as many or more songs as the passengers did, because there weren't enough people signing up to fill all the available timeslots (if you don't usually go to karaoke, there's typically a long list of people still waiting for their chance to sing when the venue closes).  

Literally NEVER a line at ANYTHING other than occasionally at guest services when people had questions about their credits and refunds.  (Royal refunded two days' fare, plus two days of any drink or internet package you had pre-purchased, plus gave a Future Cruise Credit equal to two days' fare.)  Walk up to a bar and there would be two or more bartenders there with nothing to do but make your drink.  Absolutely no line.

You pushed the call button for the elevator, and usually one opened immediately -- if not immediately, definitely within 30 seconds or so.  And you were almost always the only person in the elevator (unless you were traveling with someone).  It was like having your own personal elevator at all times! 

But this was a very rare event created by extenuating circumstances.  Ships are not typically floating around with many empty staterooms.  

[MicCanberra]

Wow, that would have been very strange indeed.

[brillohead]

17 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Wow, that would have been very strange indeed.

I'm afraid the elevator thing has ruined me for future cruises... it was REALLY nice.  And 80% of the time you had an "express" elevator -- you walk in, punch the button, and it goes directly to the desired floor with no stops in-between!

I could go from my stateroom on 2 to the pool deck on 11 and never stop at another deck. 

 

You'd be in the Viking Crown Lounge with friends and someone needed to go to their stateroom and get something / change clothes / poop / whatever, and they would be back in five minutes or less because of the magic elevator thing -- push the button and the door opens immediately.  

[MicCanberra]

I like the sound of magic elevators. Do they work from the bow to the stern as well?.

[brillohead]

42 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

I like the sound of magic elevators. Do they work from the bow to the stern as well?.

If only.... like Willy Wonka!!!!

[MicCanberra]

I've got a golden ticket

[clo]

On 9/2/2019 at 8:50 PM, ilikeanswers said:

Let me know if you do get an answer🤗. 

He said it's about 75% booked.

[ilikeanswers]

35 minutes ago, clo said:

He said it's about 75% booked.

 

Well I am pleasantly surprised😮. It may not be an exact number but that fact you can got a percentage at all is more than I ever got. I guess it was wrong when I was told you can't get any stats on how many people booked a cruise👍. Thank you clo🤗.

[clo]

26 minutes ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

Well I am pleasantly surprised😮. It may not be an exact number but that fact you can got a percentage at all is more than I ever got. I guess it was wrong when I was told you can't get any stats on how many people booked a cruise👍. Thank you clo🤗.

LOL.  I do this thing - when I choose to :) - called "establishing rapport."  No joke.  He's a fun guy, originally from Colombia, I gave him my garbled Spanish.  He kept calling me Mrs. and I insisted on my first name.  Then I settled on him calling me "Mom."  You get the picture. And I was glad to get the info.  With the cruise being in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina in December I wondered if there would be enough demand.  Appears there is.  Have a nice day. Kid.

[Essiesmom]

Unusual circumstances:  Bahamas Celebration Cruise Line (out of West Palm Beach) chartered one of their ships, Grand Classica (formerly Costa neoClassica) to NCL to house construction workers working on Oceania Regatta in Vancouver, BC.  So she organized a nine day cruise from WPB to Puntarenas, CR.  through the Panama Canal.  All passengers and entertainers got off in Puntarenas.  The ship sailed deadhead (empty) to Vancouver.  Report from someone on the voyage says there were 159 guests and 550 crew.  Ship capacity is 1680.  EM

[MicCanberra]

Almost Ghost ship status.

[vjblk]

The only time we have sailed on quite an empty ship was right after 9/11. We were sailing from Vancouver to Hawaii that weekend after.  Since air travel was still impacted lot of passengers couldn't make it.  The ship was probably half full.  And they were giving some great deals if you  wanted to sail back from Hawaii to LA.  

[mayleeman]

I flew on a TWA Lockheed 1011 once from SL to KC. It had 3 of us on board. They intended to cancel it because so few seats had been sold, and had booked other pax onto other planes. Then they realized they needed to leave it on the schedule so it could go to TWA's maintenace facility in KC. 3 of us had not been rebooked, so we each had about 70 seats to ourselves. More crew than passengers! 

Edited September 8, 2019 by mayleeman

[Lottacruises]

On 9/2/2019 at 7:08 AM, Tapi said:

I always question the veracity of statements like this one. Puerto Rico locals always account for a large percentage of cruisers sailing from San Juan without the need for resident discounts for the same reasons that Texas locals account for a large percentage of cruisers from Galveston, etc. I think that a lot of mainlanders who sail out of San Juan for the first time don’t realize (and are shocked ) about this and then assume and wrongly conclude that it must be because “the ship was empty and they had to give the cruise away to the locals”. 

 

 Sailings out of San Juan are tailored to address their passenger composition, with music (bands and DJ’s) and activities geared towards the Latin population, and announcements made in Spanish, which definitely makes for an interesting cruise experience for some unsuspecting cruisers who’ve never sailed from ports outside of the US mainland. 

 

I was born and raised in Puerto Rico, and cruising was and continues being one of the top forms of vacation for people who live there. It’s easy and there’s no need for airfare. Rarely would I see resident specials. There’s no need for them. 

 

Texas residents get a discount when sailing out of Galveston? I figured so many Texans were onboard was because the port is in Texas.

[Cruzaholic41]

The least crowded ship I ever sailed was a Holland America 1 nighter from Seattle to Vancouver. The ship was staging for repositioning after the Alaska season. The ship was only 40% booked. 

[Aplmac]

On 9/2/2019 at 2:49 AM, DarrenM said:

I have no idea, but being the only passenger on a cruise ship

would be incredibly creepy.

 

Being the only passenger on a flight is also incredibly creepy

not to mention the individual's Biggest Carbon Footprint Of All Time

 

If it were me, I would refuse to fly.

[Cruzaholic41]

1 hour ago, Aplmac said:

 

Being the only passenger on a flight is also incredibly creepy

not to mention the individual's Biggest Carbon Footprint Of All Time

 

If it were me, I would refuse to fly.

 

Why?  Most planes have a schedule to keep and flights lined up at other airports. If it has to fly anyways, why wouldn’t you fly on it?