HEBREWMAN saidthe mathematical permutations give me a headache. i'd be so intimidated in the crowd it's not even funny.
Well, that scene in the OP pic would intimidate me, too. All the pleasure of being in a packed subway or elevator.
On the last cruise we took, that I described above, that monster ship was so huge (165,000 tons) that you wondered where the thousands of passengers were at times. Nothing was really ever crowded.
Even at scheduled meal times the ship's ability to smoothly accommodate & feed thousands of people without delays was very impressive. I wish we had that crew when I was in the US Army! LOL!
And a thing I was dreading, the boarding process and then disembarking that many people at once through US customs, went amazingly fast & efficient. Actually quicker than any commercial airline flights I've taken in recent years. I also think Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale is optimized to handle those numbers, they've really got it down to a science, from what I could judge.
So while I wouldn't be a fan of the mob scenes on Atlantis or RSVP cruises pictured in the OP, it isn't all like that. Certainly not all the time, nor must you take part. You can always find quiet places on the ship.
And what we did at a port call was go ashore, quickly blitzed what we had wanted to see, took some pics & videos, bought our souvenirs. Then we came back onboard early, and had the whole nearly-empty ship almost to ourselves.
Because we actually liked the ship, happy to return, a floating palace. We were there to relax and do little more than the lazy resort experience, not some hard-core "commando" touristing at ports of call. To each his own.
