Originally Posted by cruisemates

While it is true that most ships sail (on average) at 103% capacity, that is based upon berth capacity, which means the number equal to the two persons (or fares) per cabin minimum.

BUT - most cabins sleep an extra person, sometime two. So, if you take a ship like Disney Dream which has a "berth capacity" of 2500, but can carry 4000 people total, it is at 100% capacity when it has just 2500 bookings (and not necessarily at 2 per cabin).

But that is a ship that regularly carries a third and/or fourth person in every booked cabin. Dream regularly carries about 3800 people per cruise. So, it is sailing at a reported 150% capacity, but in reality it is 95% full.

So "capacity" at 103% hardly means the ship is "full" at all. Depending on how many kids are onboard as 3rds & 4ths, the ship could be over 100% capacity and still have a hundred empty cabins.

Most cruise corps. (Carnival Corp, Royal Caribbean Intl.) report average capacity of 103% in the quarterly reports to Wall St. - but that can still mean several empty staterooms per ship per cruise. Or not. Some ships carry very few children (Celebrity, Holland America, luxury lines). But I'm just saying, don't be thinking every sails full+ cruise after cruise just because the cruise lines report 103% capacity in a quarterly report, the method they use to calculate those figures do not bear that out.