Older, classic ships

[lucky1ns]

I am looking for an older, more classic style ship. No roller coasters, golf courses or race tracks on top. Do they even exist anymore? I used to work on the Emerald Seas as a purser. She was a classic.

[Heidi13]

With the demise of CMV and other cruise lines shedding tonnage to survive the pandemic, most, if not all of the real classic ships are gone.

 

It will be hard to find anything earlier than a 80/90 build and they certainly weren't classics.

 

Check out Fred Olsen, Marella and some of the new Indian cruise lines.

[shipgeeks]

A few of the Royal Caribbean ships, such as Enchantment of the Seas, are what I would call semi-classic.  No water slides, indoor promenades, etc., but some balconies.  Enchantment will be moving to the West Coast in 2023, so will be in your area.

[norboy76]

I can't think of any really old ships left, most were scrapped because of SOLAS. not many old ships left now still cruising I don't think. One person mentioned Marella, but most of their ships were built in the mid 1990's such as:

Marella Discovery (Splendour Of The Seas) 1996

Marella Discovery 2 (Legend Of The Seas) 1995

Marella Explorer (Celebrity Galaxy) 1996

Marella Explorer 2 (Celebrity Century) 1995

Marella Voyage (Celebrity Mercury) 1997

 

10 of their older ships are gone an scrapped, the above is their fleet now

[George C]

On 4/14/2022 at 4:12 PM, lucky1ns said:

I am looking for an older, more classic style ship. No roller coasters, golf courses or race tracks on top. Do they even exist anymore? I used to work on the Emerald Seas as a purser. She was a classic.

Celebrity and Holland America sound like that would fit what you want . Recently cruised celebrity summit that would be perfect or any of her sister ships.

[lucky1ns]

Thanks everyone, this is very helpful.

[lucky1ns]

• •  64
• January 14, 2010
• North Bay Area, Ca.

• Author

• #1  

Posted just now

Thanks everyone, this is very helpful.

[PennsyCruiser55]

What ever happened to...cruise ships that aren't ridiculously huge?  I fell in love with cruising after graduating college, with my first trip on the NCL Gem (still a great ship).  Since then, I've been on numerous ships with NCL, Carnival, Celebrity, and Royal Caribbean.  I have NO INTEREST in going on ships with 4000+ passengers.  I'm so disappointed that the major cruise lines keep building larger and larger ships - with less and less personal attention.  How can someone even enjoy a cruise when all it consists of is waiting in lines? These larger ships are clogging ports and over-saturating tourist destinations.  My family keeps finding the smaller ships to travel on, but I'm worried that these will eventually all go away because of age.  Does anyone feel the same way?  I wish the cruise lines would just stop building larger ships just so they can claim they have the biggest vessel at sea.  It seems like a lame competition while the loyal cruisers suffer.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

Sadly the shipping lines are concentrating on large ships built for family entertainment…hence the look of a carnival gone to sea.  You will need to change gears, as they say, to find smaller ships and there are a wide selection if you look hard enough.  You will also find that your tastes in cruising will change as you age.  You might try a more upscale experience with smaller ships like Seaborne and Azamara.  Fred Olsen, Celeste or even MSC also offer smaller ships that are not upscale.

Edited July 27 by CGTNORMANDIE

[Airbear232]

My DW and I started cruising 15 years ago and loved the experiences of being on board - the dining and the entertainment.  I can’t say that we haven’t enjoyed some of the amenities of the large ships because we’ve enjoyed venues such as Central Park, 270 and especially Broadway shows.  That being said, as often is the case, it seems the pendulum moved too far in the direction of flash and vow.  Much as we’ve enjoyed the things mentioned above, we don’t cruise to be on the next “Great Wolf of the Seas.”  I hope that there will always be smaller ships that have a more traditional feel and that are able to reach many different ports.  

[Donald]

On 7/25/2024 at 5:51 PM, PennsyCruiser55 said:

What ever happened to...cruise ships that aren't ridiculously huge?  I fell in love with cruising after graduating college, with my first trip on the NCL Gem (still a great ship).  Since then, I've been on numerous ships with NCL, Carnival, Celebrity, and Royal Caribbean.  I have NO INTEREST in going on ships with 4000+ passengers.  I'm so disappointed that the major cruise lines keep building larger and larger ships - with less and less personal attention.  How can someone even enjoy a cruise when all it consists of is waiting in lines? These larger ships are clogging ports and over-saturating tourist destinations.  My family keeps finding the smaller ships to travel on, but I'm worried that these will eventually all go away because of age.  Does anyone feel the same way?  I wish the cruise lines would just stop building larger ships just so they can claim they have the biggest vessel at sea.  It seems like a lame competition while the loyal cruisers suffer.

The people who own cruise lines are Capitalists, with hungry shareholders.

They are NOT building larger ships to claim that they have the biggest ones at sea.

They ARE building larger ships to make more money for themselves and their shareholders.

Cruise Lines do not get to choose their customers.

Customers choose cruise lines.

So long as the cruising public chooses the largest ships - that make far more profit than smaller ships - the ships will continue to grow in size (and profitability).

Note: The average Loyal Cruiser spends far less money onboard than average first-time cruisers.

If you just built a $2 BILLION Mega-ship, with a high interest bank loan, will you try to attract loyal low-spenders or first-time big-spenders?

[Donald]

On 5/8/2022 at 4:59 PM, LandlockedCruiser01 said:

Carnival still has Elation and Paradise.  They have a classic look: lifeboats at the top, smooth balcony-free hulls, and no crazy bells and whistles.  Unfortunately, Carnival has gone extremely woke: QR codes for everything, no paper menus or schedules, lax dress codes, and social distancing everywhere.  So those two ships are "classic" in looks, but not in the atmosphere.

 

All in all, we're SOL when it comes to "classic" ships at this point.

There are still many small classic look ships out there. Many are nearly new,

Operating a small ship is far more expensive - per passenger - than operating a big ship.

This means that pax who want that small ship experience need only pay for it

Too many of today's cruisers are far too frugal to put their money where their mouth is.