Haven't been on any of these ships, now I don't intend to

I read that too - some I agree with, others, not sure I agree. We've been on the "mega" Oasis class and were very impressed with how people are managed on the ship. We were apprehensive for the reasons stated, but those concerns never materialized. Space is well engineered and planned. Never felt crowded - pleasantly surprised.

I have actually refined that time frame Yankee. When researching the ship, I go only as far back as the last dry dock. That could be 2-3 months or a few years. As for Itineraries/Ports. I only go back 2 years at most.

Exactly BUBBA...same ship, probably mostly the same crew (at least the ones they came in contact with), and lookit the results. Which explains why you gotta "learn" to cruise. About a year ago we had a thread about just how old a review or opine has to be re a ship or cruise line before it becomes worthless. I seem to remember the general feeling was 5 years, It seemed reasonable, but its just an arbitrary number. Mebbe that should be amended to 6 months!!!!

I have not been on mega ship yet and truthfully have no plans to book one. Largest ship I have sailed is the Regal Princess and I did enjoy it.

What I find really interesting is I have had two sets of friends sail on the NCL’s Bliss within the last two months. One sailed her to Alaska and the other to Mexico. Two completely different experiences. Folks that sailed the Alaska cruise enjoyed and said the ship was great. Folks who sailed the Mexico, said the ship was beautiful but the most unorganized crew and really did not enjoy the cruise at all. So go figure.

Read it, and didn't mean much to me generally speaking...I used to be a fan of smaller to midsize ships too...course the "midsize ships" only became mid sized when the megas started arriving...now, given the choice, I'll take the biggies every time..Way more to do and eat and drink...and we're way past the kiddie ride stage. Size shouldn't impact how your cabin steward is, or your wait staff (yeh the dining rooms are bigger but theres more choices)..same goes for entertainment...and it just means you have to exercise care in your cabin location, which you should do anyway... make your reservations at home...for everything that's reservable. This one coming up is #22,,,Been on BREAKAWAY 2x,...Next two are on GETAWAY...Then we're going to give CARNY a try after a few years away, on VISTA, in one of those Havana Suites....if we didn't like the biggies, we wouldn't be doing this...mebbe theres a knack to it...but so far, for us, the bigger the better...

Absolutely agree. And I'll drink to that too.

I'll take this with a grain of salt (preferably on a Margarita), I have been on the same ship within a short period of time and had a totally different experience on it. If you try, you can find fault with any cruise, ship, cruise line etc. As much as I like the examples given in the negative reviews, some of them sounded nit-picky. I don't know if I'll ever be on any of these particular ships, but this article wouldn't stop me from sailing on them.

Interesting article. Thanks Kennicott. Seems that the larger ships may appeal more to the masses and younger crowd looking for entertainment all of the time but the smaller to mid size seem to have more appeal to those that just enjoy the cruise itself.

I guess the industry is so large that one can find fault with various ships within each of the cruiselines's fleet. I stick with what I like. Not a fan of the mega ships or the older, yet still functioning ships either. Thanks for sharing a good read though.