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Over 55s Which cruiseline is your favourite


Priya2
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Celebrity is number 1 for dining, ship layout, classic beverage package as a perk, and staff(Infinity-Panama canal and Silhouette-East mediterannean)

Princess 2nd re self serve laundry, sauna and steam, ok dining, and negative re shower curtain.

Third are HAL and RCL(old ship-Majesty, need to do a newer ship)

The Delta Queen had best food from a small Kitchen and very positive staff.

Next April is the Xpedition and we have high hopes!!!

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Celebrity(Infinity and Silhouette) both have covered pools, while princess(Crown) does not. A covered pool is much better outside of the Caribbean and on any longer cruise.

NCL is good for freestyle(no formal nights-easier to pack), and friendly crew.

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We like the bigger ships with more activities. Love DCL and have done 2 sans kids- still great; RCCL comes in next because of activities, service. Celebrity is WAY to quiet for us but had great service; Carnival has been ok and we are booked on another. HATED NCL for a variety of reasons- chaos with freestyle dining, poor service, terrible shows.

 

 

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All your responses are really interesting. I hadn't really considered HAL. I'll have a look.:)

 

I've heard that HAL cruisers tend to much older and not nearly as lively as cruisers on RCCL, Celebrity, and of course, Carnival. DCL has ALL ages and lots of activities for everyone plus new theater releases and Broadway quality shows.

 

 

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We like the bigger ships with more activities. Love DCL and have done 2 sans kids- still great; RCCL comes in next because of activities, service. Celebrity is WAY to quiet for us but had great service; Carnival has been ok and we are booked on another. HATED NCL for a variety of reasons- chaos with freestyle dining, poor service, terrible shows.

 

 

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We loved shows on NCL and live music variety. We thought entertainment was the best. Dawn, Jewel, Gem, Spirit.

 

We liked it on RCCL & Princess, but on latest RCCL Brilliance shows were really weak. 2 female dancers, no decorations...

 

I guess it a luck of draw.

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I've heard that HAL cruisers tend to much older and not nearly as lively as cruisers on RCCL, Celebrity

 

 

It depends on itins and a time. Our latest RCCL cruise to Canada had majority of PAX in their 60-70. Many 90+ birthdays. :)

 

Our Caribbean Cruise on HAL was all about families with kids.

 

 

Same on Celebrity. Caribbeans - families. California Coastal - 60-70.

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  • 3 weeks later...
We are about to take our 16th cruise on RCCL. We love the ships, the new ones Oasis and Allure are amazing. It seems like they would be crowded with that many people but actually feel small. It is worth it to gain some status with a line. We are Diamond with RCCL and they really make it easy for us.

 

PRIYA2 --RCCL = RCI have smaller ships refurbished that are excellent, i.e. Explorer OTS, Grandeur OTS, etc.

 

Herb :confused:

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Apart from a couple of cruises ten years or so ago, all of my cruises have been since I was over 55.

 

I look for cruises by price, as I am a solo traveller and don't have the resources to pay double.

 

My favourite is Cunard, because I like the formality, and the activities were to my taste.

 

I also like RCI very much, and have had three cruises with the line. For the first time I have bought a next cruise voucher as I'm confident that I will go with RCI again. There was only a handful of children on my RCI cruises. There are plenty of activities during the day, which I like to join in with. I also like to spend my time on deck in the solarium, where children are excluded. It's also quieter there, away from the noise and bustle of the main pool.

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  • 2 weeks later...

If you're going to cruise a large ship. Meaning about 2000, don't go when kids on vacation.

We went on Princess the beginning of Jan there were a lot of kids. We couldn't get into the

Main pool. Too many kids splashing, jumping. We've done a lot of Princess and Celebrity. We like

Celebrity better. Next cruise is on Oceania, our first with that line.

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If you're going to cruise a large ship. Meaning about 2000, don't go when kids on vacation.

We went on Princess the beginning of Jan there were a lot of kids. We couldn't get into the

Main pool. Too many kids splashing, jumping. We've done a lot of Princess and Celebrity. We like

Celebrity better. Next cruise is on Oceania, our first with that line.

 

Great choice! After O, it will be very difficult to ever go back to a mass market cruise line. We love O!

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It depends on itins and a time. Our latest RCCL cruise to Canada had majority of PAX in their 60-70. Many 90+ birthdays. :)

 

Our Caribbean Cruise on HAL was all about families with kids.

 

 

Same on Celebrity. Caribbeans - families. California Coastal - 60-70.

 

We did Canada a couple of months ago on RCCL and it looked like a lot of 40, 50, 60 somethings. We have a 14n Disney cruise booked. I'm curious to see the ages on that! On the DisBoards, it seems we have all ages represented but very few kids.

 

 

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Way over 55 and we like almost all cruise ships but I guess i would rate then in this order:

1.Regent Seven Seas ...for the cabin sizes

2. Oceana's R class... for the service and no extra charges on many things.

3. Princess... for the Elite perks and because they allow us to combine all our OBCs. They also give an OBC to veterans.

4. Celebrity...good food and service . Happy hour for Elite with drinks and snacks.

5. Royal Caribbean...For conbining with Celebrity and Azamara to bust our past passenger status. and for their inovations to cruisisng ships.

6. Disney...for families with young children.

7. HAL,,,for traditional type cruising.

 

I could go on but I think you see we really like them all. There is something for everyone.

 

We've done two, and a 3rd booked, on Disney - all w/o kids. They do a GREAT job of keeping adult and kid areas separate. You don't ever have to be around kids if you don't want to be.

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

My husband and I don't cruise much. We've only been on 5 cruises, 3 Carnival, 1 Royal, and the most recent one Celebrity. The ship I liked the least was Celebrity because the ship was old, small, and crowded and because the food in the dining room wasn't good. We enjoyed it, though, and are glad we went on the cruise because we got a free beverage package as a perk and our friends were on the ship.

 

I liked the Carnival ships we were on. The Spirit was beautiful. I was a teacher, so until I retired, I had to travel when ships were most full of children. That's the only thing I didn't like about the first 2 Carnival cruises. The food was very good in the dining rooms and the entertainment was great. My husband and I were much younger then. I don't know if we'd like the same entertainment today as much as then.

 

The Royal ship was very pretty. The promenade was impressive but I liked the way the Carnival ships were laid out better because you could always see the ocean in public areas on Carnival. The promenade was like a beautiful city street and you didn't even know you were on a ship when you were there. That's just a matter of preference. Possibly today I might prefer the promenade over the Carnival design. Now looking over a rail to the ocean at night makes me a little nervous whereas it was romantic years ago.

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We can now understand the people who get annoyed about uncontrolled children on board, We are not anti children (We have 4 children of our own and 9 Grandchildren) and love them all dearly, and have never had a problem with children on board, UNTIL on a Med. cruise last year from Venice to Rome. It all comes back to the parents,if they dont care, either do the children (these were all from about ages 6 to 14) . They were left to wander & run about the ship in packs ,still going at 2AM often, A volume of complaints from many went nowhere ,with the standard answer we cannot control the parents & "their" children. " Very Poor Princess."

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We've done a number of cruises with RCI, Princess and P and O. Princess used to be our favourite, particularly Emerald and Ruby, and still is in terms of ship design, amenities and port intensive itineraries. Last cruise round the Med in September was great for the number of ports visited but it seemed Princess were trying to attract a younger clientele. The large outdoor movie screen on the main sundeck showed rock concerts from 10 am and the noise level was unbelievable. Nothing against Bono or Tina Turner but not my choice for that time of day!

 

Just back from a cruise with RCI and doubt we'll repeat it. The kids were fine - better behaved than some of their parents! But it was all a bit too casual and geared to young people qnd families, not my choice for a relaxing vacation.

 

Cruising generally now attracts a much younger, noisier crowd and guess generates more income for the cruise lines as a result. Must seem strange for some of the 'old school' cruisers, and cruise line staff, particularly some of the wait staff and maitre'd s who've worked in the business for many years. The informality and casual dress etc is a distance from the way it was even a few years back.

 

We're trying Azamara in November and will continue to travel to interesting places, but will avoid big ships, caribbean and med routes that attract the younger crowd and probably plan ahead more, rather than go for the last minute heavily discounted deals that may attract large groups etc:):)

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My two cents:

 

I love kids, but not when they are unruly. I can't control the unruly ones, so I avoid them-- like the plague. I cruise when and where they don't. Some considerations:

 

1) Cruise lines-- I favor the ones that don't cater to kids like Celebrity. Disney?? hahhahahaha.

 

2) Holidays-- I don't cruise when the kids are off from school-- The dates RIGHT AFTER the holiday has the fewest kids and tends to be cheaper

 

3) Length of Cruise-- The longer the cruise, the less likely the kids will sail. I try to stick with 10 days or more.

 

4) Itinerary-- Caribbean is going to attract more kids, Transatlantic, not so much.

 

Joe

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I'm brandy new to Cruisecritic, altho I've cruised 6-7 times in the past. So, we're trying to decide whether to go to the Greek Isles and Turkey with Azamara in Sept (perfect season) or Oceania in May.....neither one have we sailed before. They both offer the itinerary we want, just in different seasons. I was happy to hear you so enthusiastic about Oceania, since it confirms what I read repeatedly about the R ships. Anything else to add?

and Thanks!

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Being Diamond d Plus on RCCL and getting.all the benefits. It would not make make sense to cruise a different cruise line. We learned years ago not to cruise during spring break.

 

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I'm brandy new to Cruisecritic, altho I've cruised 6-7 times in the past. So, we're trying to decide whether to go to the Greek Isles and Turkey with Azamara in Sept (perfect season) or Oceania in May.....neither one have we sailed before. They both offer the itinerary we want, just in different seasons. I was happy to hear you so enthusiastic about Oceania, since it confirms what I read repeatedly about the R ships. Anything else to add?

and Thanks!

 

The May oceania cruise is just about perfect in every way. We have done it twice

With the cruises before and after. Enjoy the great food and service on O.

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I'm a Princess fan, but like RCI, too. I've sailed Carnival, Celebrity, Costa and NCL, too.

 

I tend to take my vacations during the school year, when schools are not out on a break. I've gone at Thanksgiving on the Golden, New Years on Celebrity, been there, done that and won't do it again!

 

Princess seems to fit me best. Princess moves their ships around to different regions and I like that they change it up. I take longer cruises and like their variety.

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I'm brandy new to Cruisecritic, altho I've cruised 6-7 times in the past. So, we're trying to decide whether to go to the Greek Isles and Turkey with Azamara in Sept (perfect season) or Oceania in May.....neither one have we sailed before. They both offer the itinerary we want, just in different seasons. I was happy to hear you so enthusiastic about Oceania, since it confirms what I read repeatedly about the R ships. Anything else to add?

and Thanks!

 

 

 

We did the Oceania Istanbul to Rome last May and loved it! It was on their newest ship, the Riveria, which is gorgeous! The things we love are: there are no children (one cruise did have one child), VERY limited smoking, no photographers, no charge for the specialty restaurants, no lines, no formal nights, dress code is country club casual, quality food and wonderful service! In our opinion, perfect for the 'more mature' crowd.;)

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