Bigger cruise ship cheaper?

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TINKERTOY ..... the 1 & only

NO! ... Cruises on all of the major cruise lines like Carnival, Princess, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian are not priced based on the size of the ship. However, if you do a cruise on a small ship for a day, like to the Bahamas and back, that cruise will be less because it will not provide you a cabin for the night. On the major cruise lines that I have mentioned above cruises generally cost about $100. to 125.00 per day per person AND all cruises are priced based on double occupancy (2 people per cabin).

Since cruises can be 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 12, or 14 days or more the price will depend mostly on how many days your cruise is. Then the cruise lines give the best price for early bookings that are a year or more in advance. Cruise lines also list specials on their web sites and the specials can many times save you a couple hundred per person over the price for the exact same cruise on a different date.

All cruise cabins are sold based on double occupancy and the prices listed will be per person and based on at least two people going on the cruise. (If you have a 3rd and/or 4th person in your cabin their fare is generally about 50 per cent of the first two persons.) The price you pay will depend also on the type cabin/accommodations that you choose.

There are 4 basic types of cabins on ships;
- inside (no window),................................... least expensive
- outside (a window or porthole),
- balcony/veranda, and
- suites and penthouses.......................... most expensive.

The "FROM" prices you see will always be for an inside cabin. There are also some subcategories within each category with cabins on a higher deck, and/or a better location on ship (like midship), and/or that are slightly larger costing more.

Those are the basics of selecting a cruise.

I have been on Princess, Celebrity, Norwegian, and Royal Caribbean ships and can vouch that they are good cruise lines. However, there are some differences.

- Princess, Celebrity and Holland America have great ships are more classy and reserved. They are just a little more upscale and luxurious than the other cruise lines. Passengers tend to be middle aged and up and have cruised multiple times. Holland America has mostly senior citizens cruising on its ships.

-Norwegian cruise line is good, they cater to families and have mostly passengers in the range of age 35-40 and up. Its the line that you want to go on if you want to be informal for pretty much your whole cruise. They have formal nights like other cruise lines but they do not stress dressing up; the call it "dress up if you want to" night.

Carnival is the budget cruise line that generally has the lowest prices. They cater to young people, first time cruiser and families. The best of their ships are their newer ships so do pay attention to when the ship was launched is you find a really cheap cruise.

Royal Caribbean is also a cruise line that caters to young cruiser and families. It has the advantage of having the most on-board activities. Things like ice skating, roller blading, mini-golf course, a full sized basketball/tennis court, the rock climbing wall, and on the new Freedom Class ships the surfing simulator, the Flowrider. The RC ships that you should look for cruises on are the RC's Freedom Class and Voyager Class ships. You can look at the features of these ships on these two web links:

Freedom Class:
http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruis...

Voyager Class:
http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruis...

shhhhhhhhhhhimhiding

The bigger ships tend to be the newer ships, with all the bells and whistles, so they don't tend be cheaper. Sounds like you need to research where and when you want to go and then look into the different ships (pricing of the ships also depends on what perks its has, such as ice rinks, etc). Ive cruised on many Carnival ships and each one has different things to offer. Also going in the summer you run the risk of hurricane season, unless you go on the west coast or med.
cruisecritic.com is a board all about cruising and can get all your questions answered

Mookie

No...The new bigger ships are more expensive (they have to pay for them I guess) Royal Carribeans Freedom of the seas is huge but it has expensive cruises compared to some of the smaller ships (which are not small by the way just less huge) with roal carribean and carnival.

johnrklinger

As a general rule, the older smaller ships tend to do the shorter cruises while the newer ships tend to take the longer cruises.

luludoodie

UK reply

We started on Sun Princess (about 1,500 people) Vancouver to Alaska. Loved it!

Did quite a few more ranging from 400 - 3000 people. The range of "things to do" is amazing. HOWEVER they are all the same and after a while it began to pall! When something goes wrong (even a tiny problem) it immediately mushrooms into a huge problem due to the sheer number of guests! The shallowness of it also starts to bite! The frustration of missing things becase the ship was too big!

Now we only travel on "small" ships. Typically from 12 to 150 people. no frills, no shows, virtually no shopping, but fabulous places to see such as:-
Whaling station in South Georgia.
Penguins in Antarctica.
50ft above (thankfully on a ridge!!!!) a polar bear eating a seal in Spitzbergan, also Walrus!
All the incredible creatures on the Galapagos islands!
Giant tortoise in Aldabra (Indian Ocean)
2 hours in a pod of whales as we were leaving Antarctica.

Try a big, bigger or biggest ship - but try expedition small ship trips as well. They are not much different in per person price but the memories and experiences will remain with you for ever!

Zdiddy

my favorite cruise for the money is on the princess cruise's golden princess. When it was made at the end of the nineties, it was the biggest ship on earth. Service was great. I got to know my servers. The entertainment was wonderful. I have had 2 cruises on the golden princess. one to the carribean and on to the mexican riveara. they were both excellent. Go to princesscruises website. my favorite cruise was on the celebrity cruise's galaxy. A little spendy. ten day to panama. It was wonderful. The food, entertainment, and service were over the top. best cruise. Yes, the bigger the ship, the cheaper. They also have more things to do.

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