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My first ship gym on Carnival Cruise Line Conquest was a pleasant surprise - excellent equipment similar to my gym at home, wonderful view, almost no wait during the peak morning workout hours. The Celebration would be even better as a new ship, right?
Wrong. Sadly they de-emphasized it in their design. The equipment is comparable. But the workout area is about the same size. The number of passengers is 80% more. So a fair number of passengers are having to wait for equipment and complaining about it in cruise forums. Also, you still see the ocean. But the panoramic view from the top rear of the Conquest is gone.
If you regularly like to work out like me, this is important. Itâs bad enough I gain 5 pounds each sailing because of all the great food onboard. But it would surely be 10 if I couldnât hit the weights and treadmill most days. I wouldnât pay $500 more for a cruise with a great gym, but it would help me make a decision if the cruise lines, ships, and itineraries Iâm considering were otherwise comparable.
I checked to see if there is any website that compares cruise gyms and fitness areas. There isnât. So my trusty AI and I will add that to our development list.
We did a test case for the two ships above, scoring the gym with subjective ratings and objective counts for space and equipment. We hope our readers will contribute their ratings and experiences after weâre set up.
Weâd love your feedback. Does a good gym matter to you? Do we have the right fields below?
Comparison fields include Number of Passengers on the ship, ratings overall , equipment condition, and equipment availability, location in the ship, gym hours, gym and fitness space and number of Treadmills, Ellipticals, Bikes, Rowers, Climbers, Weight machines, Dumbbells, Dumbbell maximum weight, Benches, Smith machines, and Barbell / squat racks.