Hows the population onboard from those that have cruised recently

[k_y30]

I'm thinking of taking my first solo cruise, I always book havana to keep away from the hordes but I'm afraid of getting lonely and want to take a shorter cruise. You guys that have cruised recently, hows the ship? Stuffed with passengers as usual or ghosttowns?

[Elaine5715]

Ships are full now. 

[BelowDeck4us]

We cruised a few weeks ago on the Panorama.  It was mid-winter break for many schools, so there were a lot of kids.  In general the ship had busy areas, but didn't feel crowded.   With your time dining, there were nights we were seated immediately, while other nights it took 5-15 minutes to get a table (use their app).  Clearly some bars were more popular than others.  With the popular ones, you'd have a short wait, but others seemingly were never busy.  The popular shows sold out, so depending on the venue, you had to plan ahead to arrive early.  Buffet was one of those areas that was busy, but we never had trouble finding a table and the food lines themselves were very short, except for the deli.    We didn't hear about many cancellations.   Overall I'd do our cruise again in a heartbeat.  It wasn't overly crowded, but it was far from a ghost town.  

[glentally]

18 hours ago, k_y30 said:

I'm thinking of taking my first solo cruise, I always book havana to keep away from the hordes but I'm afraid of getting lonely and want to take a shorter cruise. You guys that have cruised recently, hows the ship? Stuffed with passengers as usual or ghosttowns?

What is Havana? I am booked on my second solo May 10th on the Fascination.  

[acthorson]

1 hour ago, glentally said:

What is Havana? I am booked on my second solo May 10th on the Fascination.  

It's a section on the Vista class ships that has an exclusive pool area that can only be used by guests staying in those types of rooms.  It's amazing. 

[lsailing]

Just cruised on the Fascination this past week and it definitely wasn't a ghost town. It was crowded at times but since it's a smaller boat there weren't too many people at all times. The cancellations actually helped us as we got a cheap upgrade to an aft balcony. But all the rooms around us seemed to be booked. I don't think there were many cancellations.

[scpirate]

On 3/7/2020 at 6:29 PM, BelowDeck4us said:

We cruised a few weeks ago on the Panorama.  It was mid-winter break for many schools, so there were a lot of kids.  In general the ship had busy areas, but didn't feel crowded.   With your time dining, there were nights we were seated immediately, while other nights it took 5-15 minutes to get a table (use their app).  Clearly some bars were more popular than others.  With the popular ones, you'd have a short wait, but others seemingly were never busy.  The popular shows sold out, so depending on the venue, you had to plan ahead to arrive early.  Buffet was one of those areas that was busy, but we never had trouble finding a table and the food lines themselves were very short, except for the deli.    We didn't hear about many cancellations.   Overall I'd do our cruise again in a heartbeat.  It wasn't overly crowded, but it was far from a ghost town.  

If the deli line is long it means the buffet is crap.we experienced that on the Elation.

[MeganGC1983]

We got off the Magic Sunday. There were the regular pizza lines at night, deli was busy 12-2ish. Guy’s moved pretty well. Normal amount of chogs. Only day we noticed it crazy was when we were denied porting in Grand Turk. No activities meant made hysteria for food and drinks. We laid low on our balcony until the FunSquad started events back up.  

[keywest1]

2 minutes ago, MeganGC1983 said:

We got off the Magic Sunday. There were the regular pizza lines at night, deli was busy 12-2ish. Guy’s moved pretty well. Normal amount of chogs. Only day we noticed it crazy was when we were denied porting in Grand Turk. No activities meant made hysteria for food and drinks. We laid low on our balcony until the FunSquad started events back up.  

On the cruise with you :)   I agree with all your comments.  Did you notice that they were putting stickers on the Lido loungers?  Not sure they were actually going back and removing belongings, though.

 

[MeganGC1983]

3 hours ago, keywest1 said:

On the cruise with you 🙂   I agree with all your comments.  Did you notice that they were putting stickers on the Lido loungers?  Not sure they were actually going back and removing belongings, though.

 

I did see stickers, but it was still a mess. We aren’t sunbathers, so it doesn’t really bother us. I could see how it would upset people though. 

[Joe817]

9 minutes ago, MeganGC1983 said:

I did see stickers, but it was still a mess. We aren’t sunbathers, so it doesn’t really bother us. I could see how it would upset people though. 

What stickers are you referring to? This is new to me....I think. Unless I had another 'senior moment'. LOL.

[E@syPe@zy]

Got off of the Vista on Sat. and the ship was the opposite of a ghost town.  And there was really very little talk of the Corona Virus.  I believe more passengers were using the anti-bacterial, as I came across a few that were empty.  I used the hand washing machine on several occasions, but never had a line at them.  We were able to port at all destinations and the cruise went without a hitch.  It was a great cruise.

[MotownGirl]

Thank you for that; that is great news.

[Joe817]

4 minutes ago, E@syPe@zy said:

Got off of the Vista on Sat. and the ship was the opposite of a ghost town.  And there was really very little talk of the Corona Virus.  I believe more passengers were using the anti-bacterial, as I came across a few that were empty.  I used the hand washing machine on several occasions, but never had a line at them.  We were able to port at all destinations and the cruise went without a hitch.  It was a great cruise.

What was you itinerary E.P. ? 

[E@syPe@zy]

Just now, Joe817 said:

What was you itinerary E.P. ? 

Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel. This was a round trip Galveston cruise. (7 day).

There were a lot of ships in port in Cozumel.  I believe the taxi driver told me there were 8 ships.  That would have been Thursday, 3/6/20.  But it was still manageable. We have been so many times, we head in other directions from the cruise crowd.

The only problem I had were the vicious sand flies in Roatan.  They had a good lunch on me!!

[MeganGC1983]

51 minutes ago, Joe817 said:

What stickers are you referring to? This is new to me....I think. Unless I had another 'senior moment'. LOL.

The “Empty chair without person” sticker. lol I don’t know the exact wording, but it’s saying that the chair being saved with a towel hasn’t been visited in 30 minutes and is subject to item removal in 10ish minutes. 

[RenoNanaOz]

4 hours ago, MeganGC1983 said:

We got off the Magic Sunday. There were the regular pizza lines at night, deli was busy 12-2ish. Guy’s moved pretty well. Normal amount of chogs. Only day we noticed it crazy was when we were denied porting in Grand Turk. No activities meant made hysteria for food and drinks. We laid low on our balcony until the FunSquad started events back up.  

You sound like us, go with the flow. 

[Joe817]

1 hour ago, MeganGC1983 said:

The “Empty chair without person” sticker. lol I don’t know the exact wording, but it’s saying that the chair being saved with a towel hasn’t been visited in 30 minutes and is subject to item removal in 10ish minutes. 

Thanks! 

[woodey]

i am on board the inspiration right now and sailing solo...have meet some wonderful people and am having a great time ,,,i would guess we are sailing at 90% there are a lot of young family's on board which gives it a good mixture of people. now you dont have any excuses ... get out here!

[Newfun4me]

16 hours ago, E@syPe@zy said:

Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel. This was a round trip Galveston cruise. (7 day).

There were a lot of ships in port in Cozumel.  I believe the taxi driver told me there were 8 ships.  That would have been Thursday, 3/6/20.  But it was still manageable. We have been so many times, we head in other directions from the cruise crowd.

The only problem I had were the vicious sand flies in Roatan.  They had a good lunch on me!!

We are heading to Cozumel on the Vista in April.  We've been numerous times, as well, although usually from a land-based vacation in Playa.  What do ya'll do there??  We aren't really planning anything in advance, so I'd love to hear any advice you have.  Thanks!

[rin1]

15 hours ago, MeganGC1983 said:

The “Empty chair without person” sticker. lol I don’t know the exact wording, but it’s saying that the chair being saved with a towel hasn’t been visited in 30 minutes and is subject to item removal in 10ish minutes. 

I'm so glad that they've actually started doing this. The "single flip flop left on a chair at dawn for a never visited chair" thing has always driven me nuts. I just want to be out there at some point for 30 minutes during the day.
 

People on current cruises didn't have a lot of notice if they wanted to cancel. I'm thinking that the emptier ships will start this weekend.

[MeganGC1983]

1 hour ago, rin1 said:

I'm so glad that they've actually started doing this. The "single flip flop left on a chair at dawn for a never visited chair" thing has always driven me nuts. I just want to be out there at some point for 30 minutes during the day.
 

People on current cruises didn't have a lot of notice if they wanted to cancel. I'm thinking that the emptier ships will start this weekend.

I agree. We did not even get that option last week. 

[Radiioman46]

2 hours ago, Newfun4me said:

We are heading to Cozumel on the Vista in April.  We've been numerous times, as well, although usually from a land-based vacation in Playa.  What do ya'll do there??  We aren't really planning anything in advance, so I'd love to hear any advice you have.  Thanks!

We always hop in a Taxi and go to Paradise Beach. If you like beaches, this is a good one. WIFI time and relaxation!

[Newfun4me]

35 minutes ago, Radiioman46 said:

We always hop in a Taxi and go to Paradise Beach. If you like beaches, this is a good one. WIFI time and relaxation!

Thanks!

[E@syPe@zy]

8 hours ago, Newfun4me said:

We are heading to Cozumel on the Vista in April.  We've been numerous times, as well, although usually from a land-based vacation in Playa.  What do ya'll do there??  We aren't really planning anything in advance, so I'd love to hear any advice you have.  Thanks!

Newfun4me...we have done several land based vacations on Cozumel.  Sometimes we will rent a car.  We always rent from Isadora Isis.  It's owned by Maguerite (sp?).  She is a very honest business gal.  If we  do that then we will head to the East side of the Island and maybe go to Punta Sur or just have drive around and enjoy the beautiful wild coast line.  But we will also stop at one of the many beach clubs and have something to eat and drink.  We will also take our snorkel gear and stop at Playa Corona on the west side, not far from the cruise port and spend the afternoon there snorkeling, eating and maybe a few beers.  We also do this when we don't rent a car, since the taxi is so reasonable.  

We almost always make a stop at the Mega Mart and pick up hot sauces, vanilla, and anything else that looks interesting.  And if I need to re-supply my antibiotics, I can get them here also.  They have a pharmacy.  

The Mega Mart is like a Walmart.  I bought the same vanilla that all of the tourist shops have for $16 for a little over $1.00 usd.