Will Cruise Ships have Low Passenger Counts?

[peachcreamsicle]

So I recently read that the Celebrity Summit had very low passenger numbers for a recent sailing. I’ll be on the Summit for a June 2nd sailing and I’m trying to figure out what to expect in terms of occupancy. Are cruise lines limiting the number of passengers to reduce the risk of Covid transmission? Or are travelers reluctant to book cruises? Is there any way to determine how full the ship will be for my sailing? TIA for any info! 

[Woody14]

if you do a dummy booking on the celebrity website it can give you a rough idea of the number of cabins available.   No guarantee this will be 100% accurate as the may be holding some back but most cruise lines seem to not be holding back any longer (or if they are it is a small amount) and taking as many as are willing to book.     There have been reports of lots of the spring break cruises were at capacity for many lines.

[Ferry_Watcher]

2021 Alaska sailings are expected to have robust turnout- not quite at 2019 levels, but this is suppose to be the year of "revenge travel".

[jelayne]

The ships aren’t limiting capacity to any noticeable extent.  Passenger counts have been all over the place.  We got off the Apex last week and ship was at 77% capacity.  

[cruisestitch]

11 hours ago, peachcreamsicle said:

So I recently read that the Celebrity Summit had very low passenger numbers for a recent sailing. I’ll be on the Summit for a June 2nd sailing and I’m trying to figure out what to expect in terms of occupancy. Are cruise lines limiting the number of passengers to reduce the risk of Covid transmission?
 

yes somewhat 

 

Or are travelers reluctant to book cruises?

 

yes

 

Is there any way to determine how full the ship will be for my sailing?

 

no, at least no reliable way

 

 

 

[Alakegirl]

10 hours ago, jelayne said:

The ships aren’t limiting capacity to any noticeable extent.  Passenger counts have been all over the place.  We got off the Apex last week and ship was at 77% capacity.  

Well they are in the extent that they are blocking some rooms to use for oncoming crew and to use for isolation rooms, sometimes whole hallways are blocked off and unavailable for passenger bookings

[leaveitallbehind]

When the cruising restart began, part of the protocols agreed to with the CDC were limits on booking capacity that, based on success moving forward with the restart with managing on board covid outbreaks, would be gradually increased over time.  Those initial ship based capacities were something less than 50%.  The increases were scaled over time to add, as I was told, approximately 5-10% per month as approved by the CDC. 

 

Based on the successful restart relative to covid, in January, the CDC lifted its no sail order protocols regarding capacity, and the cruise lines were free to increase bookings to 100% based on market.  So based on late add bookings for near term and new bookings for longer term cruises. the actual on board levels will continue to increase.  To what levels and how quickly will be, IMO, a function of the market based on supply and demand as in the past, with a number of covid and non-covid factors influencing that.  There will still be some staterooms set aside for quarantine purposes, but IMO, those numbers would be limited.

 

So the short answer is it would be hard to predict what the actual on board passenger count will be for your June 2 cruise, but there are no longer any restrictions on bookings imposed by the CDC that would influence that.

Edited May 2, 2022 by leaveitallbehind

[RichYak]

12 hours ago, peachcreamsicle said:

So I recently read that the Celebrity Summit had very low passenger numbers for a recent sailing. I’ll be on the Summit for a June 2nd sailing and I’m trying to figure out what to expect in terms of occupancy. Are cruise lines limiting the number of passengers to reduce the risk of Covid transmission? Or are travelers reluctant to book cruises? Is there any way to determine how full the ship will be for my sailing? TIA for any info! 

I suspect your sailing will be nearly full.

[Denny01]

Our Solstice July 1 Alaska cruise has 85% SRs not available for booking and that’s after the Final Payment date. 
 

den

[jelayne]

1 hour ago, Alakegirl said:

Well they are in the extent that they are blocking some rooms to use for oncoming crew and to use for isolation rooms, sometimes whole hallways are blocked off and unavailable for passenger bookings

I didn’t say they were not limiting capacity.  I said not limiting to a noticeable extent. 
Some  new crew coming on in the Caribbean have been quarantined on the Infinity.  Also where possible crew who tested positive were moved to the Infinity.  On our recent cruise there were 2 corridors shut off.  Those 2 have about 60-64 cabins less than 5% of the total passenger cabins.  

[Honolulu Blue]

13 hours ago, peachcreamsicle said:

So I recently read that the Celebrity Summit had very low passenger numbers for a recent sailing. I’ll be on the Summit for a June 2nd sailing and I’m trying to figure out what to expect in terms of occupancy. Are cruise lines limiting the number of passengers to reduce the risk of Covid transmission? Or are travelers reluctant to book cruises? Is there any way to determine how full the ship will be for my sailing? TIA for any info! 

 

I think your questions have been answered by others as well as I could.  I just wanted to put in my data on the occupancy rates I've had.  This is based on full double occupancy by ship and doesn't take into account any cabins taken out of service for quarantines/isolation/other purposes:

• September 2021 - Celebrity Summit - 15%
• November 2021 - Regal Princess - 27%
• February 2022 - Celebrity Summit (charter) - 80% (estimate)
• March 2022 - Mariner of the Seas (charter) - 80% (estimate)
• April 2022 - Majestic Princess - 72%
• June 2022 - Carnival Panorama - I'm expecting 90%+; it could be full

[TeeRick]

I believe the issue now is dealing with the USA testing re-entry requirement (1 day test needed).  This does not affect Alaska cruises obviously.  But the summer cruises in Europe are a different story.  The odds of getting exposed on the ship and testing positive are low but they are real.  Even if asymptomatic.  So there is a finite probability that you might be stuck waiting for a negative COVID test for days until you could return to the USA after your cruise.  So this is driving some cancellations and perhaps lower capacity.  Hoping that the USA changes (eliminates) this by our Aug-Sept cruise out of the UK!

[Purplsmurf]

11 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

I believe the issue now is dealing with the USA testing re-entry requirement (1 day test needed).  This does not affect Alaska cruises obviously.  But the summer cruises in Europe are a different story.  The odds of getting exposed on the ship and testing positive are low but they are real.  Even if asymptomatic.  So there is a finite probability that you might be stuck waiting for a negative COVID test for days until you could return to the USA after your cruise.  So this is driving some cancellations and perhaps lower capacity.  Hoping that the USA changes (eliminates) this by our Aug-Sept cruise out of the UK!

It does affect Alaska if coming back to the US from Vancouver 

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, TeeRick said:

I believe the issue now is dealing with the USA testing re-entry requirement (1 day test needed).  This does not affect Alaska cruises obviously.  But the summer cruises in Europe are a different story.  The odds of getting exposed on the ship and testing positive are low but they are real.  Even if asymptomatic.  So there is a finite probability that you might be stuck waiting for a negative COVID test for days until you could return to the USA after your cruise.  So this is driving some cancellations and perhaps lower capacity.  Hoping that the USA changes (eliminates) this by our Aug-Sept cruise out of the UK!

 

I can tell you for sure that the last Silhouette cruise was packed about 2,800 pax.    80% British and 20% US.    No one wearing masks or social distancing.   Red Zone filled up by mid cruise.   They refused to announce how many had tested positive.  I tested postie last day on B2B testing and got tossed off.   During our cruise we lost 2 butlers, 2 stateroom attendants, and  a Sommelier  to covid in 11 days.

 

Lucky we had planned on staying in the U.K until Mid-May but didn't expect to having to find a place to stay for a week or so.    Found a great AirBnB.    Officially in the UK there is no quarantine requirement, masking or testing.    We are self isolation until 5 days after infection and 2 negative tests.   For a Certificate o Recovery if you continue to test positive you need a Positive Test Results and 10 day period after testing positive plus no symptoms. 

 

For return to U.S.  we need either a Certificate of Recovery or a Negative Test 24 hours prior to departure.   We can actually get the certificate of recovery online. on the 11th day.

[TeeRick]

5 minutes ago, Purplsmurf said:

It does affect Alaska if coming back to the US from Vancouver 

Yes you are quite correct if flying from Vancouver into the USA.

[TeeRick]

4 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I can tell you for sure that the last Silhouette cruise was packed about 2,800 pax.    80% British and 20% US.    No one wearing masks or social distancing.   Red Zone filled up by mid cruise.   They refused to announce how many had tested positive.  I tested postie last day on B2B testing and got tossed off.   During our cruise we lost 2 butlers, 2 stateroom attendants, and  a Sommelier  to covid in 11 days.

 

Lucky we had planned on staying in the U.K until Mid-May but didn't expect to having to find a place to stay for a week or so.    Found a great AirBnB.    Officially in the UK there is no quarantine requirement, masking or testing.    We are self isolation until 5 days after infection and 2 negative tests.   For a Certificate o Recovery if you continue to test positive you need a Positive Test Results and 10 day period after testing positive plus no symptoms. 

 

For return to U.S.  we need either a Certificate of Recovery or a Negative Test 24 hours prior to departure.   We can actually get the certificate of recovery online. on the 11th day.

Yes this story is a worry.  We are on a 12 night cruise to Iceland and back from Southampton.  The length of the cruise increases our odds of testing positive before we board our flight home.  We need a UK backup plan if this were to happen.  

[RichYak]

18 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Yes this story is a worry.  We are on a 12 night cruise to Iceland and back from Southampton.  The length of the cruise increases our odds of testing positive before we board our flight home.  We need a UK backup plan if this were to happen.  

And an Iceland backup plan.

[TeeRick]

4 minutes ago, RichYak said:

And an Iceland backup plan.

Yes in case we get booted off in Iceland.  Good point.

[Provence55always]

No Iceland backup plan……you can stay on board to isolated back to Southhampton.

[RichYak]

7 minutes ago, Provence55always said:

No Iceland backup plan……you can stay on board to isolated back to Southhampton.

Edited May 2, 2022 by RichYak
I was wrong.

[Provence55always]

Yes they can…… checked with Celebrity yesterday.

[RichYak]

8 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Yes in case we get booted off in Iceland.  Good point.

EDIT: Sorry I botched this up completely.

Edited May 2, 2022 by RichYak
Bad info

[RichYak]

4 minutes ago, Provence55always said:

Yes they can…… checked with Celebrity yesterday.

EDIT: You are correct

Edited May 2, 2022 by RichYak
I was wrong.

[RichYak]

5 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Yes in case we get booted off in Iceland.  Good point.

 

4 minutes ago, Provence55always said:

No Iceland backup plan……you can stay on board to isolated back to Southhampton.

If this is a R/T from Southampton, then I am wrong. I'm assuming it is 2 one-ways B2B.

[cruiseny4life]

My cruise during spring break (4/17 - 4/24) to Bermuda was over 100% double occupancy due to the number of children on board. This wasn't a Celebrity cruise, but there are ships that have been at 100% so it could happen to you, especially if you're cruising when kids are available to go with their parents/grandparents.

Have a great time - we sure did even with the ship crowded (Haven traveler here, thankfully)!