If you’ve read the Berlitz Handbook to Cruising, which has been around since before Maria Sharapova arrived and Roy Orbison left, you may already know what PSR means. Whether you know or not, maybe a refresher course is in order, as it was for us.
The object is to tell you which ships are the biggest, not in size but in space allocated for each passenger. It’s calculated by taking a ship’s gross tonnage and dividing it by the number of passengers it carries. A score over 30 is good, over 40 very good, over 50 excellent.
To us, it was which ship “felt” most comfortable in terms of personal space.
We assessed three of the ships we’ve been on most recently — the mighty Norwegian Epic, Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas and Celebrity’s Eclipse. Independently, we ranked them in the same order: 1. Eclipse 2. Navigator 3. Epic.
Then we did the math:
1. Navigator, with a PSR of 44.41
2. Eclipse 42.78
3. Epic 38.02
There was a recent article by Paul Motter of Cruisemates, writing in Fox Business, that concluded new ships under construction by NCL, Royal Caribbean and Princess will all have between 8 and 16 per cent less space per passenger (an economic reality).
Furthermore, using that formula, the best cruise ships ever will be those built between 2008 and 2011.
And then there’s the most vital question of all.
Would we even notice? Really?