New cruise ships

The new cruise ships slated to set sail in the next few years might not only be bigger, but also more crowded.

That is the new trend forecast by Paul Motter, Cruisemates.com co-founder. "The major lines are still building new ships," he says, "but the long-standing belief that the newest ships are always the best might no longer be true. The 2013-plus models are bigger but also far more crowded than the previous generation."

Motter points to the new ships planned by Norwegian Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean International and Princess Cruises as examples. They "will carry far more passengers per square foot," he calculates.

The passenger space ratio — a measure of the space allotted each passenger — is shrinking. Norwegian's two new builds for 2012 and 2013 will drop by nearly 8 percent compared with the line's current Epic and Gem. The new ships will add about a third more passengers, but only increase the vessel's size by 11 percent.

Royal Caribbean, the holder of the world cup for largest vessels, has slowly contracted the amount of real estate devoted per passenger. Its earlier 138,279-ton Navigator of the Seas offered passengers a comfy passenger space ratio of 44.5; the later and much larger 225,282-ton Oasis of the Seas trimmed that to 41.7. When the line's new ships hit the water, the ratio will shrink to 38.5.

Princess' upcoming 141,000-ton twins will cut passenger elbow room by about 16 percent from the space available to passengers aboard its 115,875-ton Diamond Princess. Only Carnival Cruise Line's forthcoming Magic will both increase in size and, by some 12 percent, the passenger ratio.

For cruisers, there may be a bright spot: The new ships could easily cause a drop in fares, Motter says.

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