With hundreds to thousands of guests onboard, even the most massive cruise ships can feel crowded from time to time.
Certain venues and activities tend to be especially popular, creating potential hallway bottlenecks, scarce seating and long lines. Travelers who have braved the buffet at 9 in the morning have likely had to dodge busy foot traffic while browsing selections.
“Breakfast is kind of busy the whole time, because people get up at different times,” said Alisa Myatt, a travel vlogger who runs the YouTube channel EECC Travels with her husband, Jason.
However, with a little extra planning – and flexibility – travelers can enjoy many of those spaces when they’re more empty. Here’s what to know.
The buffet
Buffets can get busy right when a cruise begins. “Definitely, everybody seems to go to the buffet on embarkation day,” Myatt said. “As soon as they board the ship, it’s like, get on board, go get something to eat, and the buffet is always packed and it’s hard to find a seat.”
While not all eateries open for lunch while passengers are boarding, she said guests can typically eat in the main dining room instead. Depending on the ship, some specialty dining options may be open, too.
On other days, “peak eating time” such as noon for lunch or 6:30 p.m. or 7 p.m. for dinner tend to be busiest. “If you can wait, if you’re a late eater, like 1:30, 2 o’clock, it’s definitely going to still be open, but not as busy,” Myatt said. In the evening, heading to the buffet as soon as it begins dinner service – often around 5 p.m. – can also help passengers beat the rush.
The pool deck
Myatt said loungers right by the pool tend to go “very, very fast,” with some guests getting up early in the morning to snag a spot. As an alternative, she recommended finding a space on a sun deck farther away.
“There’s often open upper decks that have plenty of lounge chairs,” she said. “You might not be able to see the pool, but it’s a lot easier to get a lounge chair up there if you’re not wanting to get in the pool.
Cruise line ship-within-a-ship concepts such as MSC Cruises’ MSC Yacht Club also offer private deck space. Some ships have adults-only pools, as well, which may be less crowded.
That said, Myatt has noticed that cruise lines are making more effort to monitor loungers by the pool. “So if they see a chair has been empty for a while and there’s just a towel on it or something, they’ll come and remove it,” she said. Passengers may find it’s worth checking back periodically to see if a spot has opened up.
Port days also tend to be quieter throughout the ship, and can be an ideal time to hang by the pool for guests who don’t mind staying on board. I did that during sailing aboard Royal Caribbean International’s Explorer of the Seas last year when it stopped in Costa Maya, Mexico. I’d been to the port before so I decided to stay on board that time, and had my pick of loungers for most of the day.
Rides and activities
Port also days give guests a chance to enjoy popular attractions – from rock climbing walls to drop slides – with shorter wait times. In general, throughout a voyage, Myatt suggested arriving right when the attractions open (operating times should be listed in the cruise line’s daily program or app).
Norwegian Cruise Line’s The Drop free-fall slide on Norwegian Viva was at the top of my to-do list during my November 2023 cruise, so I headed that way one day as soon as it opened and was the first rider there.
Myatt noted that ships with fewer attractions may see longer lines than those with a wide range of amenities. She recently sailed on Royal Caribbean’s Star of the Seas with its Category 6 water park and “didn’t see massive lines even on sea days … because there are six (water) slides, which is great, because it spreads people out.”
Shows
Myatt said both early and late shows tend to be equally busy on cruise ships (though late-night programming, such as after-hours comedy, may be less crowded). Passengers should generally be able to snag seats, though.
“If you don’t care where you sit, definitely get there, I’d say, 10 minutes before the show starts, and you’re going to get a seat,” she said. “It might not be the best seat, but you’ll get a seat 10 to 15 minutes (before). But if you’re wanting a specific seat, (get there) 45 minutes before the doors open.”
When I arrived for the Broadway-style “Disney Hercules” show on Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Destiny ship about 20 minutes in advance in November, there was a line reaching nearly halfway through the ship. By arriving early, though, I got a seat with time to spare.
That window could stretch even longer depending on the demand, though.
Embarkation and disembarkation
For a less harried boarding process, Myatt recommended trying to score an early or late embarkation time. Cruise lines usually alert guests by email or their app that they can check in and choose from several arrival windows.
Most passengers tend to board between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., she said, so look for availability outside those hours. I arrived at Florida’s Port Canaveral around 2 p.m. for a cruise in August and found the terminal mostly empty. I made it through security and onto the ship within roughly 10 minutes.
The same goes for getting off the ship. “If you don’t want to wait in line, get up early,” she said. “Get up, get ready and get off that ship, or you take the opposite approach: you sleep in.”
Guests typically have to be out of their staterooms by about 8 a.m., but waiting until a bit later allows them to have breakfast and disembark after many other guests have already done so.
Getting on and off the ship can lead to crowds at other times, too. Myatt noted that tender ports – where guests board a smaller boat to ride to and from shore – can lead to a lot of congestion.
“So if there’s a tender involved, I do recommend booking an excursion, because they will prioritize you off the ship because they don’t want you to miss your excursion that you book through the cruise line,” she said. “So they will have a meeting point, usually in the theater or something like that, and they will walk the people who have excursions off first.”
Booking an excursion that meets later in the day, once many other guests have taken off on their adventures, can also be more relaxed.
The spa
The spa is often in high demand on sea days, so booking appointments on port days will generally yield greater availability. “As far as the thermal suite goes, they do limit the number of people that can buy that pass for the week,” Myatt said. “So typically, at no point is it overly crowded.”
Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The most popular spots on every cruise and when to avoid them
Reporting by Nathan Diller, USA TODAY / USA TODAY
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