How can I 'de-crowd-ify' my experience?

[newbe dave]

The best thing is to go where the crowd isn't. Generally on the big ships (breakaway class), the front elevators are busier than the rear ones. If you know there is a show in the theater or something with a crowd in the lobby, plan on the front elevators being full when those crowds leave. Same with the pool and, usually, port embarkation. Don't wait for an elevator in the front on a port day when you know the forward gangway is in use. Just walk to the back elevators. 

 

For the buffet, sit in the farthest section from the entrance, if possible. Especially for breakfast. People seem to just wander into the buffet and choose the first seat they find. Go the extra steps and sit at the far end.  I love the waterfront in the morning. I can have most of the area to myself. Maltings is usually less used early in a cruise. Then people find it and start crowding it up. So enjoy it the first half of your cruise. 

 

And a lot of very good suggestions on previous posts.  There are ways to enjoy the cruise crowds and also have some time to yourself. 

[kaymoz]

Thank you, everyone, for all the good recommendations.  The cruise we are considering is only three weeks away now, so I'm told that not only is The Haven booked but the Vibe as well.  Evidently those options are snatched up about as soon as they come available!
Some of you mentioned ships being over 100% booked -- how does that happen?  Can a ship legitimately book more passengers than it has (lifeboat?) capacity for?  How can I tell what % booked a NCL ship is?

[laudergayle]

14 minutes ago, kaymoz said:

Thank you, everyone, for all the good recommendations.  The cruise we are considering is only three weeks away now, so I'm told that not only is The Haven booked but the Vibe as well.  Evidently those options are snatched up about as soon as they come available!
Some of you mentioned ships being over 100% booked -- how does that happen?  Can a ship legitimately book more passengers than it has (lifeboat?) capacity for?  How can I tell what % booked a NCL ship is?

Yes your sailing will be crowded…but hey, you don’t have to cook or clean for 10 days.  I would recommend buying Priority Access and get to the port at 9:30 sp you are one of the first groups to board. I think the order is Haven, special assistance, Diamond/Sapphire, Platinum and then Priority. Most of those boarding before you will have already made their dining reservations. For you, I’d make a mad dash to get dining reservations—especially MDR as those lines get long if you don’t have a reservation. Then to box office to choose entertainment.  

[cruiseny4life]

48 minutes ago, kaymoz said:

Some of you mentioned ships being over 100% booked -- how does that happen?  Can a ship legitimately book more passengers than it has (lifeboat?) capacity for?  How can I tell what % booked a NCL ship is?

Ships posted occupancy is with two people in a stateroom. The below snippet is from ncl.com. I highlighted the "double occupancy" part. 

When families/friends start to add more than two people per room, then the occupancy goes up. For example, when we were in 13902, the total occupancy is four people, but the count for the room (as seen in the 3,963 number) would halve the occupancy for my room.

 

There was a really great comment somewhere that I'll have to find which explained the whole lifeboat thing. Don't worry, they have plenty of spaces in the lifeboats for everyone onboard, over 100%, or not. 🙂 

 

Here's the post by @chengkp75 that really explains lifeboats.

 

Edited February 16, 2023 by cruiseny4life

[MSP_CRUISER]

On 2/13/2023 at 1:58 PM, cruiseny4life said:

My husband and I would not consider sailing NCL unless we could get a Haven room

 Why not just sail on a premium line then. Similar money and much smaller ships, better service, better food...ect.

[cruiseny4life]

23 minutes ago, MSP_CRUISER said:

 Why not just sail on a premium line then. Similar money and much smaller ships, better service, better food...ect.

I won't go into a lot of detail as it'll bore many who have heard it before. Dress code. We are firmly, very firmly in the camp of t-shirt, shorts, and flippie floppies for the extent of our vacation...unless we're going hiking on an island. We do bring trail runners for that.

 

Trust me, I have spent a ton of time looking at the voyages RSSC, SilverSea, Oceania, Windstar (not exactly luxury) and Seabourn offer. Everything looks really great. Except the dress code and we really are that inflexible about it. 

 

After our March Joy cruise, we're going back to land-based vacations, at least for the time being. We'll be back on the water at some point though! 

[MSP_CRUISER]

4 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

I won't go into a lot of detail as it'll bore many who have heard it before. Dress code. We are firmly, very firmly in the camp of t-shirt, shorts, and flippie floppies for the extent of our vacation...unless we're going hiking on an island. We do bring trail runners for that.

 

Trust me, I have spent a ton of time looking at the voyages RSSC, SilverSea, Oceania, Windstar (not exactly luxury) and Seabourn offer. Everything looks really great. Except the dress code and we really are that inflexible about it. 

 

After our March Joy cruise, we're going back to land-based vacations, at least for the time being. We'll be back on the water at some point though! 

I totally get that. While I could deal with the dressy culture for a less crowed experience, I also would MUCH rather wear shorts and a T all week long.

[DaisyGoldberg]

Honestly, stay away from the -away ships if you don't like crowds. I won't sail on them outside of the Haven, and I'll sail in a balcony on a smaller ship perfectly happily. The crowds are crushing, and they converge on built-in bottlenecks in ship design. The center of the ship where the atrium is is total cacophony because all games are held in the atrium, so that if you want to eat at O'Sheehans you're listening to people scream out trivia answers or cheer their team in whatever event is ongoing. There's no mid-level exit from the theatre, so if you walk down front you're walking up every step to get back out, and everybody else is walking up those steps too, leading out to the same elevator bank. 

 

To us it's worth it for the ports and Haven restaurant, but we pass on all but the biggest shows and simply enjoy the Haven, which is great. 

 

On a Jewel class ship I'm perfectly happy to get a balcony and move freely about the ship. It's hard if they don't have the itinerary you want, but maybe a different line would. I suspect you'd be deeply unhappy and stressed. 

[Denversail]

We have the getaway booked over Thanksgiving week. We will be in the haven but I’m still concerned. We are trading 2 balconies on Symphony for an aft facing one bedroom haven balcony. It is just 3 of us and the price is pretty much the same. We have never sailed ncl and want to try. All the negative reviews and crowding comments is definitely giving me pause. I still haven’t cancelled the Symphony yet. Not sure if I’m making the right choice. 

[cruiseny4life]

15 hours ago, Denversail said:

We have the getaway booked over Thanksgiving week. We will be in the haven but I’m still concerned. We are trading 2 balconies on Symphony for an aft facing one bedroom haven balcony. It is just 3 of us and the price is pretty much the same. We have never sailed ncl and want to try. All the negative reviews and crowding comments is definitely giving me pause. I still haven’t cancelled the Symphony yet. Not sure if I’m making the right choice. 

The aft-facing suites are superb. Just know that one in your party will be sleeping on a sleeper sofa which pretty much negates the totality of the living area. You'll still have a nice area to eat-in your room, and of course the balcony will blow you away. Plenty of space for three, four, or five folks to be out there at one time. 

 

@DaisyGoldberg really said what I feel about Getaway being crowded. I dislike crowds, though I can certainly tolerate them. I enjoy sailing on Getaway and will probably enjoy my sailing in March which is looking like it will be somewhat crowded (on Joy, not Getaway). 

 

Now though, you've mentioned you're sailing on Symphony of the Seas. That's a ginormous ship with far more passengers than Getaway. At least on Getaway you can access the Waterfront, on deck 8, to take a breather, find a chair or sofa, and enjoy the ocean. My understanding of RCL ships is that they face inward. Personally, I'd take NCL and the Haven. You'll have plenty of separation from the Haven complex, but be able to use every single one of the perks. Now that, I'd take any day! 

[cementhands]

On 2/13/2023 at 1:00 PM, kaymoz said:

Even tho we are retired and prefer smaller ships, we're contemplating a cruise on on NCL Getaway due to the departure port, timing and itinerary. 

We've only sailed with NCL once (Pride of America, around Hawaii, fantastic itinerary) and the breakfast buffet was the worst in terms of crowd impact.  Turns out the passenger capacity of the Getaway is almost twice that of the Pride of America!  Yikes!!!
 

Are there ways to arrange our experience so we are somewhat buffered from the crowd situations?  For example, are there upgrades that provide access to areas that are limited so maybe a little more peaceful?  [I checked and found that on the sailing we want, the Haven and Spa Suites are already sold out.] 

Any other strategies that have worked for you?

O Sheehan pub for breakfast is excellent and un crowded!
Stay away from the buffet overflowing with overflowing folks! Upper decks above pool un crowded. Avoid the shows in smaller venues. In theaters sit upstairs near exit. Loved the Getaway in January 2023 amazing cruise., But came home with covid19! 

[kaymoz]

3 hours ago, cementhands said:

 But came home with covid19! 

Crowd-avoidance strategies aren't just a personal experience issue but potentially a health & wellness consideration!

 

 

Edited February 17, 2023 by kaymoz
clarity

[eileeshb]

Some good suggestions have already been made but here’s my take:

during the day the Waterfront area on deck 8 tends be fairly quiet and I think there’s a coffee station there in the mornings. I’m not a coffee drinker so can’t verify this.

for morning breakfast, you can pay for room service, go to O’Sheehans or one of the MDRs but the service in the MDRs tends to be sloooowww. 
when margaritaville was on getaway on deck 16 they had a complimentary morning buffet egg station up there which was never as busy as the main buffet. I don’t know if that service has continued since the conversion to American Diner. 
There are specific competitions/entertainments that will draw larger crowds to the Atrium or Pool deck, if you want to see something going on in the Atrium but avoid the crush go upstairs to O’Sheehans bar side for a view down into the atrium.  Avoid the pool deck and the overlooking sun deck during the mr sexy legs and the equivalent female version. Spice H2O should be quieter as it’s adults only during the day but the smoking area is often right by the bar there. On warm weather itineraries the night time parties are in Spice H2O.

You should still be able to buy passes for the Thermal Suite which has a hydrotherapy pool, heated loungers as well as sauna, steam, salt and snow rooms. 

[TenForward]

Husband and I often walk the 'inside' hall along the cabins to get where we're going and avoid the central hall where all the crowds are.  Note that the fish in the carpet always swim forward.  

[BirdTravels]

On 2/16/2023 at 2:08 PM, kaymoz said:

Some of you mentioned ships being over 100% booked -- how does that happen?  Can a ship legitimately book more passengers than it has (lifeboat?) capacity for?  How can I tell what % booked a NCL ship is?

The Titanic's approach was "women and children first". 

 

That being said, there are seats for all passengers and crew in life boats and life rafts.

 

The Getaway has a double occupancy capacity of just under 4000 passengers. She has beds for over 4800 passengers. It's the sofa beds and the ceiling pullmans that get you to over 4800 passengers,,, if filled. And yes, there will be a seat for all of those passengers in a life boat. 

 

Mrs and Mr Bird travel alone... but every stateroom we have been in lately could hold 3 to 6 passengers,,, so we help keep the total passengers on board below 4800. We were on the Breakaway (Getaway's sister ship) in August. While we only had two of us in a 6-passenger Haven suite, the room next door had a full-capacity 6 persons (mom, dad, 4 teen/adult siblings). Both rooms count as 2 passengers against the "double occupancy capacity" number. 

 

You can see how many rooms are available for sale. But you can't tell how many of the sold rooms are booked with 1 or 2 people versus the max beds in that room. Pre-pandemic, most ships on popular routes were booked well over 100% double occupancy. 

Edited February 18, 2023 by BirdTravels

[Erekosse]

11 hours ago, eileeshb said:

Some good suggestions have already been made but here’s my take:

during the day the Waterfront area on deck 8 tends be fairly quiet and I think there’s a coffee station there in the mornings. I’m not a coffee drinker so can’t verify this.

for morning breakfast, 

Coffee stations and small selection of croissants and pastries were out on the Waterfront in the mornings on the Escape back in December.

[Markanddonna]

Most people who use the buffets on cruise ships tend to sit in the front. You will often see better and more seating at the rear.

 

I was on the Getaway once, and while it is lovely, they seemed to have doubled the number of passengers while adding only one deck dedicated to public spaces. The pool deck was very compact.

[justhappy]

13 hours ago, eileeshb said:

Some good suggestions have already been made but here’s my take:

during the day the Waterfront area on deck 8 tends be fairly quiet and I think there’s a coffee station there in the mornings. I’m not a coffee drinker so can’t verify this.

for morning breakfast, you can pay for room service, go to O’Sheehans or one of the MDRs but the service in the MDRs tends to be sloooowww. 
when margaritaville was on getaway on deck 16 they had a complimentary morning buffet egg station up there which was never as busy as the main buffet. I don’t know if that service has continued since the conversion to American Diner. 
There are specific competitions/entertainments that will draw larger crowds to the Atrium or Pool deck, if you want to see something going on in the Atrium but avoid the crush go upstairs to O’Sheehans bar side for a view down into the atrium.  Avoid the pool deck and the overlooking sun deck during the mr sexy legs and the equivalent female version. Spice H2O should be quieter as it’s adults only during the day but the smoking area is often right by the bar there. On warm weather itineraries the night time parties are in Spice H2O.

You should still be able to buy passes for the Thermal Suite which has a hydrotherapy pool, heated loungers as well as sauna, steam, salt and snow rooms. 

I haven’t been on the Getaway lately but on the Escape last month they did have the small breakfast buffet at American Diner. It was listed in the Daily under restaurant hours of service. If the weather is warm and not too windy it’s a nice al fresco experience.

[Smitheroo]

The only places on the Joy for us last week that were too crowded were the Buffet and hot tubs.  I think the Buffet would be better earlier   Not sure about the hot tubs.  No one was in the pool or using the waterslides. It was a little cool and windy

[Ellis1138]

On 2/18/2023 at 9:01 AM, justhappy said:

 but on the Escape last month they did have the small breakfast buffet at American Diner. It was listed in the Daily under restaurant hours of service. 

Do you recall if it had someone making eggs/omelets to order or was it just the pre-made eggs and things in the metal bins?

[justhappy]

1 hour ago, Ellis1138 said:

Do you recall if it had someone making eggs/omelets to order or was it just the pre-made eggs and things in the metal bins?

I don’t remember any made to order items but that doesn’t mean they didn’t have it.