Less Crowded Questions

[WisCruiser2]

2 hours ago, skynight said:

The Coral & Island were identical when built. The Island had the aft public venues removed and replaced with cabins resulting in more passengers with less public space than the Coral. Less passengers with more public space equals a higher passenger to space factor. 

Yep, I know that, which is why I'm wondering how the Coral has a ratio of 38 and the Island's is 35...

[beg3yrs]

3 hours ago, skynight said:

The Coral & Island were identical when built. The Island had the aft public venues removed and replaced with cabins resulting in more passengers with less public space than the Coral. Less passengers with more public space equals a higher passenger to space factor. 

 

23 minutes ago, WisCruiser2 said:

Yep, I know that, which is why I'm wondering how the Coral has a ratio of 38 and the Island's is 35...

@skynight Your quote has it backwards. A smaller number in the numerator and a larger number in the denominator is overall smaller. @WisCruiser2 has a valid question here. Coral should have a lower number (that's better) than the Island after its modifications.

[Wishing on a star]

Those numbers/ratios can be confusing and deceiving.

If you look at the total space used in that ratio, it is showing the additional space on the ship.

This space is CABINS.   The only ratio that would matter is the amount of open public space, dining space, etc.   

 

To the original poster,  yes, space can be limited as this is a ship, and the cruise lines want to maximize number of people onboard that size of ship, to maximize the amount of money they can take in on each sailing.

 

On the SUN Princess, while there is no total wrap-around Promenade. (as in most ALL newer ships.). The Piazza is a huge and very open area. There is a lot of deck space. The pool deck, the Dome, the SeaView Terrace (which is currently Adult-Only)

The WakeView Pool area is very limited.  That little plexiglass see-thru pool is tiny...  (but there are two hot tubs). Isn't this area larger on the The newer Royal Class Ships?

And, if you are interested in the Casino,  I understand that this is not the largest/best on these ships.   I am not a Casino person, but just seem to have noted this when researching and reading comments.

Edited Saturday at 06:36 PM by Wishing on a star

[paddingtonbear]

The higher the number in tha passenger space ratio is better. So I think for the Coral it’s 38 square feet of public space per person  while on the Island it’s 35 square feet. (Or whatever the measurement is but I doubt it’s square metres!) 

[WisCruiser2]

@paddingtonbear, that makes more sense. I think I was interpreting "passenger to space ratio" as number of passengers to a given space! Perhaps it should read "space (sq feet or whatever) per passenger.

[candy4040]

We most always sail in February out of Fort Lauderdale.  Minnesota spring break is generally close to Easter.  This year it's the second week in March.  If you are coming from New York, you should probably consider coming in the day before the cruise.  You can generally get a hotel room close to port for under $200.  It won't be luxurious but for one night you should be fine.  

 

I wouldn't worry about crowds to terribly much.  If it's a warm weather cruise most people will be outside. 

 

There's a Sun Princess cruise i(I think Feb 9) 7 day.  Interior room for 2 people around 1900.  Balcony around $1000 more.  EZ air has prices from NY on Jet Blue for 2 people at 865.  

[mtnesterz]

7 hours ago, WisCruiser2 said:

Am I reading this wrong? By CP, do you mean Coral or Crown (I can never remember)?

Re the Coral and Island, how can Coral have a higher passenger to space ratio when the Island has more passengers in same size ship?

My mistake on ship codes. Sorry 'bout that. CP was the old Sea Princess. Caribbean is CB. Do a search for Princess Fleet Facts and you will get a PDF of the facilities on ships in the fleet including the ship codes. Crown is KP, Coral is CO.

Interior space on a ship is measured in tons, which I'm told is cubic feet and a sum of interior space public and private. So if one person on the Coral has 38 cubic feet of space (1:38ft³) and the Island adds a couple hundred passengers in about the same space, there is less space per passenger, changing to one person having 35 cubic feet (1:35ft³.)

[WisCruiser2]

@mtnesterz, yes, that makes more sense. I was interpreting the "passenger to space ratio" number as the number of passengers to a given unit of space, hence my confusion!

 

Thanks, too, for the abbreviation clarification. I knew that CB is Caribbean (have seen enough posters get corrected) but couldn't remember the one for Coral 😊

[2 cruises a year]

On 9/21/2024 at 2:45 PM, mtnesterz said:

My mistake on ship codes. Sorry 'bout that. CP was the old Sea Princess. Caribbean is CB. Do a search for Princess Fleet Facts and you will get a PDF of the facilities on ships in the fleet including the ship codes. Crown is KP, Coral is CO.

Interior space on a ship is measured in tons, which I'm told is cubic feet and a sum of interior space public and private. So if one person on the Coral has 38 cubic feet of space (1:38ft³) and the Island adds a couple hundred passengers in about the same space, there is less space per passenger, changing to one person having 35 cubic feet (1:35ft³.)

Here is link to Princess Ship Facts:

 

https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/ships/Princess-ship-facts.pdf

 

[newcruiserny]

On 9/21/2024 at 4:32 PM, candy4040 said:

We most always sail in February out of Fort Lauderdale.  Minnesota spring break is generally close to Easter.  This year it's the second week in March.  If you are coming from New York, you should probably consider coming in the day before the cruise.  You can generally get a hotel room close to port for under $200.  It won't be luxurious but for one night you should be fine.  

 

I wouldn't worry about crowds to terribly much.  If it's a warm weather cruise most people will be outside. 

 

There's a Sun Princess cruise i(I think Feb 9) 7 day.  Interior room for 2 people around 1900.  Balcony around $1000 more.  EZ air has prices from NY on Jet Blue for 2 people at 865.  

 

Thank you.  I was eyeballing this cruise as well.  I am deciding between Feb9 or Feb15th, both of which are before presidents day.  I have a free cruise certificate from The Venetian so I am just on the hook for the port tax and fees which is I think is around $150 unless I decide to upgrade which I am leaning towards.  I spoke to the person at Princess and he said its $1000 upgrade for Balcony but he would let me pick the room.  Any suggestions on what room?  When I look at the plans am I looking for cabins with a larger balcony?

 

[newcruiserny]

This may sound silly but I actually have 4 free cruise certificates from various casinos.  I have never cruised before to now going cruise crazy lol.

 

So far I have booked:

Holland America Konnigsdam for Nov 9th California Coast to Mexico

 

Planning:

Sun Princess Feb 2025

Holland America Konnigsdam Alaska TBD 2025

NCL - Undecided 2025

 

[mtnesterz]

12 hours ago, newcruiserny said:

This may sound silly but I actually have 4 free cruise certificates from various casinos.  I have never cruised before to now going cruise crazy lol.

On the flip side of that, we have cruised a lot, but in the last quarter century, I've only been to someplace like Vegas for a business convention. Not big into gambling.

I realize you are new here and just to advise you when answering, you must not mention a travel agent or other booking agency on this board, but vouchers are the payment, not the booking.

With that in mind, how does one go about getting these cruise vouchers at casinos?

Is it like getting airline miles, from accumulated gaming, that you accrue then cash in for a voucher, or did you hit a jackpots and those were the prize? Several here have mentioned cruising on a casino voucher, but no one mentions how they got them.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Usually, the cheapest week to cruise out of the whole year is usually the first week after Thanksgiving and the following week for the Caribbean & Mexico itineraries.  

[newcruiserny]

1 hour ago, mtnesterz said:

On the flip side of that, we have cruised a lot, but in the last quarter century, I've only been to someplace like Vegas for a business convention. Not big into gambling.

I realize you are new here and just to advise you when answering, you must not mention a travel agent or other booking agency on this board, but vouchers are the payment, not the booking.

With that in mind, how does one go about getting these cruise vouchers at casinos?

Is it like getting airline miles, from accumulated gaming, that you accrue then cash in for a voucher, or did you hit a jackpots and those were the prize? Several here have mentioned cruising on a casino voucher, but no one mentions how they got them.

Hi, I just get emailed or mailed a cruise certificate offer from them.  I guess you would just have to play every now and then and they will send you offers.  I'm pretty sure the Cruise Line Casinos do the same thing but probably the land based casinos require less play to get offers. 

[Treasure Hunter]

I hope for future passengers sake the current refurbishment going on the Island includes replacing all the plumbing and HVAC. As charming as an old ship may look,  our June sailing was not as much fun as it could have been. It was a quarter empty with shows, staff and food great but we had no hot water in our cabin 5 out of 10 days and no working toilet for one of them. We decided that our Enchanted sailing next week ( even if more crowded) will be more what we hope for in a cruise. 

[WisCruiser2]

@Treasure Hunter, according to other threads, looks like that was a major part of the drydock.

[Treasure Hunter]

Yes. Princess gave us $600 towards the Enchanted cruise. Which we thought was more than fair.