Will Cruise Ships have Low Passenger Counts?

[K Cross]

Currently on the Summit doning the repositioning from the Miami to New Jersey (with stops in Aruba and San Juan). The Summit can hold 2650. There are 352 passengers on board. This is one cruise where no one has to worry about social distancing. At peak hours there might be 30 people in the buffet (of which only 25% is even open). You can get a seat at the Martini Bar anytime you want. A few nights we the the ONLY two people in the Cellar Masters bar at 7:00pm! The crew outnumber passengers by almost 3 to 1 and one of them is ALWAYS immediately available asking what they can get for you or how they can help you. If you go to the show (only one per night) the waiter actually follows you to your seat to ask for your drink order. 

 

We are back on the Summit in September so I have been asking about future cruise dates and capacity. I was told the next 3-4 cruises have about 1700-1800 passengers. Since people are still cancelling last minute I would not expect more than that number for your June cruise. 

[TeeRick]

20 hours ago, RichYak said:

 

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

Yes it is a RT to/from Southampton.  

[RichYak]

2 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Yes it is a RT to/from Southampton.  

Yeah my bad. I had just been looking at the Summit one ways to/from Iceland and had that stuck in my head.

[TeeRick]

5 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Yeah my bad. I had just been looking at the Summit one ways to/from Iceland and had that stuck in my head.

No problem.  But got me to thinking what would happen if one of us got really ill from COVID on the cruise and had to get off in Iceland for medical necessity.  Probably not likely as we will be boosted a second time before the cruise so that should keep the illness pretty mild if we are exposed.  

[RichYak]

1 minute ago, TeeRick said:

No problem.  But got me to thinking what would happen if one of us got really ill from COVID on the cruise and had to get off in Iceland for medical necessity.  Probably not likely as we will be boosted a second time before the cruise so that should keep the illness pretty mild if we are exposed.  

If you're boosted at all, the odds are heavily in your favor. The second booster is a personal choice when age and/or compromised health conditions are a factor. That said, there's no harm in at least having a plan.

[TeeRick]

1 minute ago, RichYak said:

If you're boosted at all, the odds are heavily in your favor. The second booster is a personal choice when age and/or compromised health conditions are a factor. That said, there's no harm in at least having a plan.

Two key risks.  1) getting caught up in the contact tracing business on a 12 night cruise.  And 2) not being able to fly back to the US from the UK at the end if we test positive within 1 day of our flight.

 

We are hoping risk 2 goes away soon but who knows?

 

Our final payment is May 31 so trying to figure out what to do.  We have FCC's already applied to this cruise which was a L&S initially from a cancelled one.  We had to use them by April 30th which we did.  But if we do not make final payment this month and cancel the cruise, I think we would lose our FCC's unless we sailed another by Nov 1.

 

Thinking it might be less risk for the time being to cruise only US ports RT.

[JOHN474]

On 4/9 Reflection Carribean cruise,  ship was 50% occupied. On 4/18 Reflection repositioning cruise, ship was only 30% occupied. I was on both. 4/9 had no announced Covid infections. 4/18 cruise had about 25 announced covid infections. 1060 passengers, Captain announced last day 3% infected.

[Virginia100]

RC just announced it expects its summer cruises to be at full capacity. I would expect Celebrity to be the same. All I can say with the very transmissible Covid variants now out there, good luck to all! People I know here who never got Covid have now gone positive, no hospital but do feel lousy like a good flu. RC is making a mistake to lift limited passengers this soon. I shifted my Greek Island cruise from this August to September 2023. Got a much better price anyway from being on the Beyond with balcony to the Reflection at  Aqua level. 

[eltigre]

I often hear people say "do a dummy booking" to see what is available in cabin types, or what the capacity is. When I do a dummy booking what do I have to do to find that number? Look at every class of cabin on every deck?

[Michidoeme]

On Beyond now ca 1300 pax

[CruisingWalter]

On 5/1/2022 at 9:02 PM, 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! 

 

The only limits at this time are to hold some cabins for quarantine, but as far as we can tell, the days of limiting passenger capacity are gone. We sailed Carnival Mardi Gras last month with 5500-5900 and that ship is about 5550 double occupancy. I've heard the same about RCCL and NCL. If the ships are sailing under capacity its because folks aren't booking that particular cruise. That could change at any time of course, but for now, it appears the capacity limits are off. 

[Banjo]

When we sailed last March on the Caribbean Constellation cruise we had 850 passengers. Capacity is around 2100. I have to admit, it was kind of nice.

 

On that cruise I booked 2 cruises at the Future Cruise Desk. An October, 2022 Edge Trans-Atlantic. They had one Aqua Class cabin available and pickings in the Veranda Class were slim. We selected a Veranda Class cabin. Also booked a Edge October, 2023 Suez Canal cruise Rome-Dubai. Again, pickings were slim. The Celebrity agent said this was a very popular cruise with its itinerary. Because of cost on this one I selected again Veranda Class.  

 

I did ask the Celebrity agent about capacities saying "this is great for me but is it good for the industry"? She noted that Tampa has been very slow because Celebrity is new out of Tampa and the capacities have been picking up. Celebrity Caribbean cruise leaving from Ft Lauderdale/Miami have been much better. I did talk with other passengers that did this Constellation cruise several times in November/December/January/February and they also confirmed the numbers have picked up saying back in November it was around 300.  

 

I am glad it's picking up. I hate to see this industry die. I enjoy cruising.

[Ferry_Watcher]

Quantum OTS expected just over 4,000 on 5/9/22 

[Honolulu Blue]

3 hours ago, WheresWalter said:

If the ships are sailing under capacity its because folks aren't booking that particular cruise.

Another possibility is that passengers are voluntarily cancelling at the last minute or being denied boarding.  That's always happened in small quantities per ship, but I'm sure it's happening a lot more now for reasons I hardly need to mention.

[Holly g]

On 5/2/2022 at 12:05 PM, 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.

Just read your post. So sorry about your Covid situation and being kicked off the cruise half way through!  What a bummer but more importantly hope you are feeling ok and by now have tested negatively. Not so great to now have the added expense of accommodations in England but hope you can enjoy your extra days there. Thanks for posting. It was an eye opener!

[killsport]

9 hours ago, eltigre said:

I often hear people say "do a dummy booking" to see what is available in cabin types, or what the capacity is. When I do a dummy booking what do I have to do to find that number? Look at every class of cabin on every deck?

I can get an approximate (yes, I know there is variation between categories) level of vacancy by going to the Celebrity site and doing a mock booking and selecting the Veranda type, then Veranda stateroom. I then click See DeckPlan and do the list view. Then I count the available cabins (in my case about 225 empty). On the Equinox there are approximately 200 "regular" balcony cabins per deck on decks 6-9. That means 225/800 = 28% vacant cabins.  If I wanted to be more accurate I could calculate for other classes / types, but that gets me a "good enough" number.

[ConnMom]

I think the June 2 Summit cruise to Bermuda sold out a couple days ago.  I don't know if they have blocked rooms for isolation, but with mandatory testing of all passengers prior to reaching Bermuda on day 7,  I anticipate that they may need a significant number.

[Jim_Iain]

On 5/2/2022 at 3:37 PM, TeeRick said:

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

Having tested postie on the B2B testing March 29 and getting booted off in Southampton I have quite a bit of experience on the Old Policy but for all European Sailings after May 1 they are no longer doing B2B testing and if you test positive there are a whole set of differences --  some for cruises between May 1 and May 17 and then another change for cruises from May 17 to November 2022

 

 

This link answers all the questions about both before and after the change  (on page 9)

Health at Sea FAQ

https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/CEL_Healthy_at_Sea_FAQs

 

I've not yet read what is or isn't covered for our Greenland cruises but we should consider what insurance coverage we may need.

 

[Jim_Iain]

On 5/10/2022 at 2:32 PM, Holly g said:

Just read your post. So sorry about your Covid situation and being kicked off the cruise half way through!  What a bummer but more importantly hope you are feeling ok and by now have tested negatively. Not so great to now have the added expense of accommodations in England but hope you can enjoy your extra days there. Thanks for posting. It was an eye opener!

 

We are somewhat lucky as some of our expense will be reimbursed by Celebrity but at this point I have no Idea how much.   We will also be getting a refund for a day in quarantine plus a full refund of our cancelled cruise so will help cover our costs.    We do have travel insurance but also unsure what will be covered and what won't.  

 

In our case we had already planned on spending a week in Scotland  and self quarantined for the 10 day period before staying with iain's Family.   I figure I'll start filing the claims when I get home and have access to a scanner.

[Ferry_Watcher]

May 10 Seattle

Carnival Spirit had just over 1,200 passengers (capacity 2,100)

Carnival Splendor just around 2,200 passengers (capacity 3,000)

[catspaw1]

6 hours ago, ConnMom said:

I think the June 2 Summit cruise to Bermuda sold out a couple days ago.  I don't know if they have blocked rooms for isolation, but with mandatory testing of all passengers prior to reaching Bermuda on day 7,  I anticipate that they may need a significant number.

Did you receive anything official on covid testing on day 7? We have not

[ConnMom]

Catspaw1, no, I have not received any information  from Celebrity regarding testing onboard before arriving in Bermuda, but the Bermuda government website states that such testing is necessary, up to 2 days before arriving.  Thus I conclude that the testing would probably take place on days 5 or 6 to be in compliance, but I do not know what Celebrity is planning to do.  

[RichYak]

10 minutes ago, ConnMom said:

Catspaw1, no, I have not received any information  from Celebrity regarding testing onboard before arriving in Bermuda, but the Bermuda government website states that such testing is necessary, up to 2 days before arriving.  Thus I conclude that the testing would probably take place on days 5 or 6 to be in compliance, but I do not know what Celebrity is planning to do.  

Strong chance that Celebrity will alter the itinerary to avoid the need to test passengers on board. 

[TeeRick]

16 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Having tested postie on the B2B testing March 29 and getting booted off in Southampton I have quite a bit of experience on the Old Policy but for all European Sailings after May 1 they are no longer doing B2B testing and if you test positive there are a whole set of differences --  some for cruises between May 1 and May 17 and then another change for cruises from May 17 to November 2022

 

 

This link answers all the questions about both before and after the change  (on page 9)

Health at Sea FAQ

https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/CEL_Healthy_at_Sea_FAQs

 

I've not yet read what is or isn't covered for our Greenland cruises but we should consider what insurance coverage we may need.

 

Thank you for this link!

[5waldos]

We are sailing to Alaska in late July. In The Before Times, Alaska cruises were usually fully booked- many nearly a year in advance. Now, just over 2 months before the cruise, there are still many cabins available for our trip. It seems unlikely to me at this point that there will be a sudden surge of bookings so I suspect that the ship will have a lower passenger count than in previous years, although I have no idea how many fewer.