When picking a cruise line or a specific ship for their cruises, some like to look at photos and reviews while others prefer to consult cruise ship statistics. This can give them a numerical interpretation of what the ship will be like, who will be on it and what kind of value they can get for their money.
Online Resources for Cruise Ship Statistics
Enough people are interested in this information that it has inspired several websites, each with different statistical information displayed.
Fox World Travel
This site, which is run by an online travel agency, has statistics listed by cruise line. Each table contains columns regarding a ship's top speed, tonnage, beam, length, year it was built and country where it is registered. The number of passengers and crew each ship can hold is also included. Cruise lines featured here are Windstar, Princess, Royal Caribbean, Disney, Holland America, Crystal, Norwegian, Carnival and Celebrity.
Choosing Cruising
Instead of using charts, this site has a database format. The user can search for cruise ship statistics regarding both river ships and ocean ships. Statistics include tonnage, rating, year built, total cabins, amenities by number length and number of decks.
America Discount Cruises
This discount travel site has statistics for 25 different cruise lines, from Amadeus Waterways to Windstar Cruises. Ship statistics include year built and year refurbished (if applicable), registry country, tonnage, capacity, top speed, length, beam and facilities information. Diagrams of deck plans are also available for each ship.
Fodors
This maker of travel guides has statistics on its website, though it does take some searching around to find them. They are not all together, like on other sites. Instead, the user has to navigate to the cruise line, then click on an individual ship, and then hit "ship stats" on the left hand side of the screen. Statistics include when the ship came into service, crew size, number of cabins, number of passengers, tonnage, length and width.
Print Sources for Statistics
People who would rather look at statistics on paper may be pleased to know that they can get the information in magazine or book form. A few helpful resources are:
Using Statistics to Choose a Ship
Just looking at a list of numbers may seem like an arbitrary way to pick a cruise ship, but people can glean a lot of important information from statistics. For example:
- The age of the ship hints at the interior style, as newer or remodeled ships are more likely to have modern updates.
- The size of the ship and the capacity can give an idea of how crowded the cruise might be.
- The number of crew in relation to the number of passengers can help estimate the quality of customer service.
- The top speed can help determine how long it will take for the ship to reach ports of call, although passengers should take into account that most ships do not sail at top speeds for the entire trip.
It's not a good idea to rely solely on statistics, images and reviews, but instead use all threeto get a good picture of what a particular cruise has in store. For more detailed information on specific cruises, consider contacting the cruise line directly or visit a travel agency, especially one that specializes in cruise travel.
