how full will the ship be?

[warrenz1963]

Is there a way to know beforehand how full the ship will be when cruising?

 

[Marc D]

No. The number of staterooms booked, which can be guessed by looking at available staterooms a few days before the cruise, is of limited impact. Unlike other cruise lines, where most staterooms accommodate only 2 guests, most staterooms on DCL can fit between 3 and 5 guests, and those extra guests are responsible for the difference between a normal cruise and a very busy one.

 

[BrokeMack]

I always ask at guest services to get a gauge to compare to how crowded the ship "feels", but that's once she's sailed.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

I ask CM's. We just sailed the Wish a couple of weeks ago. It was 80% full.

 

[n2mm]

We always ask the head dining room server. Since the sailing returned back in august 2021, most of us who returned right way always Ask. My first cruise back in fall 2021 we were at 900 guests and my last cruise April/May 2023 we were at 3600 guest. Wow.

 

[DSLRuser]

It was this crowded on the wish 6-10-23...and it was awesome

 

[minniebeth]

DSLRuser, wow! Thank you for posting your pictures! We were on your cruise and decided not to go up on deck since we did it not too long ago~ I had a little fomo, but after seeing these I'm so glad we skipped it!

 

[CarolynFH]

@DSLRuser was that the sail-away party? Just booked our first DCL cruise in 25 years and trying to catch up on things, even though they're on a different ship (we'll be on the Magic).

 

[Cheburashka]

Is there a way to know beforehand how full the ship will be when cruising?

Looking at the cruise online and seeing how much availability there still is can be helpful. If it's almost sold out, that tells you something. If there is still a lot of availability shortly before the cruise, that tells you something. Not everything, as you can't know how many people per stateroom, but it does tell you something. Assume that school vacation cruises (summer, major holidays) will be more crowded, because more families cruise then, so the average number of passengers per stateroom is usually higher for those sailings.

 

[auntlynne]

No to the basic question for any individual sailing.

You can have an idea based on season. School breaks = families traveling with kids. Lots of kids. Off-season has more couples or people with pre-school/ younger kids. Panama Canal cruises are often less crowded, though possibly sold out.

Short cruises, weekends, and new ships, Summer and Holidays are more full.

(Unlike a trip to WDW, a crowded ship does not mean you spend most of your time in a line!)

 

[ggfred32]

Sometimes, they will tell you the percent staterooms sold if you call in and ask....but not always. We usually just ask our servers at the first dinner.

 

[pjacobi]

The exact passenger count is a confidential business detail which could be used against DCL by a competitor. That's why DCL does not reveal the data in advance.

-Paul

 

[minniebeth]

@DSLRuser was that the sail-away party? Just booked our first DCL cruise in 25 years and trying to catch up on things, even though they're on a different ship (we'll be on the Magic).

I believe those pictures are taken during the late deck party on Pirate Night for the show and fireworks~

 

[minniebeth]

(Unlike a trip to WDW, a crowded ship does not mean you spend most of your time in a line!)

Hm, not sure about that We just sailed a 3 night Wish cruise and there was literally a line for every single thing we did~ bathrooms, coffee, bars, lunch on deck, Marceline's breakfast and lunch, even to get into dinner. Shows, characters, slides, pools, spa. Getting off the ship, getting on the ship. Etc. Etc. For a short cruise that goes by way too fast as it is, we waited on line a LOT. You'll get that on most full cruises, but the lines were LONG and we waited LONG as well. So there are exceptions to that.

 

[DSLRuser]

@DSLRuser was that the sail-away party? Just booked our first DCL cruise in 25 years and trying to catch up on things, even though they're on a different ship (we'll be on the Magic).

Pirate night.