Greek Island Glow - October 01 to 08 2023. How busy can I expect the ship to be?

[julianiquet]

I am sailing in about 2 weeks and Its my very first cruise. How busy do you thing the ship will be? Have they been sailing at full capacity lately? Is there a way to know?

 

Thanks 🙂

[cantgetin]

There are a few ways to know, but in my experience it really doesn't matter.  How to find out--call Sailor Services shoreside and ask.  Sometimes they will give correct info and sometimes they will not.  For instance, a rep once told me a specific percentage.....months later the ship was not that full, and the percentage was their sales target.

When you check in, you can see the tablet that each check in person has.  It will show a number such as 333/1819.  This means you are the 333rd person to check in out of 1819 booked.  Once on board, any sailor services rep or customer facing crew member will know and tell you.  

THe other thing you can do is find out how many unassigned cabins there are as of today by either asking your TA or going to the website of a TA who posts availability.  HOWEVER, this shows only assigned cabins and doesn't account for people who booked "lock it in" rates and have not yet been given assignments.  Still, it can give you a rough idea.

My underlying question would be "what difference does it make?"  My first VV sailing had 1400 sailors.  My next one had 1800+ sailors.  I couldn't tell any difference in terms of restaurant availability, service level, show seating, or anything else.  I'm guessing that the shorter the cruise, the more it might matter as on longer cruises some shows are repeated, you can make up to 3  dinner reservations per restaurant, etc. 

[1025cruise]

I always assume the ship is sailing full.