It will be no surprise that the Seaborne Pride, for example, one of the worlds most exclusive and expensive ships offers a very generous ratio of 50. More surprising to me was the generosity of the two Disney ships at 48. The QE2 also offers a very reasonable 47.
The giants Carnival Density and Grand Princess who's selling points are there size and spaciousness, are not really any more spacious than many other ships, at 38 and 42 respectively. The Norway manages 38.

Most of the budget cruise ships such as Carousel, Seawing, Bolero, Azur and Sundream etc are high 'density' ships. In other words they are small in size, maybe 16-23,000 tons, but carry up to 1250 passengers. Their space ratios are generally around the 22 mark - less than half the space of the leaders. This is of course how they offer half the fares, or better! Perhaps most surprising is the Norwegian Dream and Wind, although they appear to be a pretty big ships, they only offers around 26.

Finally, please remember that statistics can only prove so much. The design of the public spaces, the corridors and staircases will aid passenger flow. Verandas will also ease the pressure on deck space.

(All figures are rounded to the nearest whole number)

I've sailed on ships where the space-ratio was in the 30's and won't sail on anything under 40 now. In addition to more space in public areas, cabin space usually is larger(not always). Just as important to space ratio is passenger-crew ratio. Anything over 2.5 to 1 causes services many times to be poor or services to lack. It may cost more for these benefits, but IMHO it's well worth it ;-) After all, my vacation time is too short to waste. I am amazed how hard most of the food service and hotel staff work and I don't know how they handle so many people;God bless them all!

regards.

This probably means that even spaces that cannot be used, as tall atriums do make the ratio look bigger. Yes, layout is probablly equally important.

The best crew to passenger ratios are normally around 1.5 to 1 (Seaborne Pride and QE2) the worst are the budget ships (Airtours etc) with ratio's of about 3 to 1. The Mercury is in the middle with 2 to 1. They must have a well trained staff

Regards,

I sailed the Veendam in 1998. The numbers for double occupancy is 1266 and crew is 602, giving a 2 to 1 passenger/crew ratio. The passenger space ratio is 43.44. I enjoyed the ship because space and service were wonderful, as well as the cuisine and the ship itself ;-).

regards,

In other words if you want a first class service and plenty of space, look for a space ration of around 40, or better, and look for a 'crew to passenger' ratio of 2 to 1, or better. However, you will have to pay for the privelage

(P.S. I'm not suggesting for one minute that it is not possible to have a great cruise on a ship with low ratio's - because it is!)

Although the Captain has a responsibility for the whole ship, I'm pretty sure that there is a member of senior staff responsible for the 'Hotel Services'. However, company policy and training must play a big part. I know that Celebrity rotate there senior staff from ship to ship to ensure similar standards are maintained.

Yes, the Mercury is very well organised.

Johan, depending which figures you use, Flamemco has a 'space' ratio of 20-23 and a 'crew' ratio of 2.0 to 2.4.

These figures are not very impressive, but are typical of the budget cruise ships. Hopefully you the fare was good value? Celebrity and HAL etc., in many cases offer twice the space, and more crew, but you do have to pay for this.

Celebrity does what many other quality lines do; when a "new" ship is scheduled for delivery, roughly 85% of that crew comes from the fleets other ships in their line. This allows for fairly smooth and efficient running of the newest ship, but also it's an incentive for promontion for loyal and high quality staff. As far as captains, Celebrity seems to use one particular Greek capain( sorry, I've forgotten his name) to "break in" and evaluate each new ship. I have several Celebrity videos that show him on all their ships when new, including their first ship, the Meridian. I sailed the Mercury on it's third voyage and agree with you that all their ships seem to operate quite well. I have seen the captain and senior officers many times throughout the ship evaluating all aspects. That's why they remain my favorite line ))