Are smaller ships more sociable ?

I spoke to a couple of clients over the last week who have made particular comments about the larger ships and the difficulty they have found making good friends.

I was very surprised that the one client said that they would choose to travel on a Thomsons ship any day rather than travel on a Royal Caribbean.

This particular client commented that when they went on Royal Caribbean as much as the facilities and cabins were beautiful they found that the ship lacked that sociable feel that they had experienced on Thomsons ships.

The main thing that was missing in their opinion was that with the smaller ship if you get chatting with people at dinner or by the pool or at a bar the chances are that you easily meet up with them again and friendships can be formed easily without you having to be pushy by arranging to meet up at a particular time and place.

Today I called one of my clients who had returned from one of our Gardeners World cruises and she was telling me exactly the same thing , that she had been on a Royal Caribbean ship and it was less friendly and that she had a wonderful time on the Fred Olsen Balmoral, the gardening cruise helped as she was meeting up with other members of the group, but she has been with them before and just found the whole experience alot more enjoyable, not just the camaraderie but the whole experience just alot more friendly.

In this age there seems to be more larger ships being commissioned than smaller ones, I wonder whether the future will see clients looking for the smaller ship again.

Have you experienced something similar or disagree with the above I would love to hear your comments.