Are new ships just TOO BIG!?

I am getting increasing concern from my clients in regards to new cruise ships being built by their favourite cruise lines.

A number of recent announcements seem to confirm that ships are only continuing to get bigger, taking more and more people and limiting the ports that these ships can get in to. You won’t find ships like Symphony of the Seas calling in to Olbia, Santorini, Mykonos, Taormina, they are just too big and the ports would simply not cope. This is why you see many smaller ships becoming increasingly popular as passengers who cruise often come to realise that the usual destinations only provide limited, short and cost effective excursion options.

Now there is another side to this, larger ships offer more to do for families and young adults which most cruise lines are heavily trying to appeal to, ziplines, ropes courses, waterparks, the list is endless as we know.

It’s a really tricky dilemma that the cruise lines face because building a smaller ship is no where near as cost effective as a larger ship, they use lots of fuel but less passengers mean less revenue, especially in on board sales. Do they keep those select clients happy by building a smaller ship with bigger ticket prices to cover additional costs, or do they build bigger ships with smaller ticket prices that make the most money in on board revenue? Unfortunately I don’t think we will get a definitive answer anytime soon, it’s just a case of waiting to see what happens!

So what do you think? Smaller, new ships? Or keep them big?

Happy Cruising!

Ed x