Chris Hemsworth.

Any reason for there not to be?

A Nimitz-class aircraft carrier is half the length of a Galaxy-class starship and only about 44 meters less than a Constitution-class starship, but it has a crew complement of over 5,500 people -- well over 5,000 more crew than is found aboard a Constitution and around 2,000 more than a Galaxy-class starship's maximum passenger and guest complement.

 

I assume that the Kirk lady was an exception. Wasn't the Kelvin either a scout or a spook ship?

 

They built bigger ships in those days (and continued to build them big in STXI's alternate reality). The Kelvin's saucer is twice the diameter of the one on the Enterprise in The Original Series.

 

It's also quite possible they were in the process of transporting a bunch of colony folks to somewhere, when the Narada appeared.

 

I read somewhere that the George Kirk role is what got him the Thor gig in the first place...so that's as much recognition as one can get for appearing in the first 10 minutes of a film, isn't it? Chris did a great job as Jimmy's heroic dad, and he was much prettier in ST (which has nothing to do with his acting abilities, or the importance of the role in the film, I know. Colour me superficial). I don't like them too bulky, but then again I'm more of a Tom Hiddleston person, anyway.