Adult's Only Cruises During Summer?!?!

[dustythreads]

I love your child. He or she is adorable. Trust me, it was so cute when you are your little darling were singing into her toy microphone five feet from where I was trying to read.
Yes, yes. Isn't it so great that your teenage sons are standing on the second story of the pool deck and throwing the basketball off the ledge towards the hoop while I am swimming? They are going to be pro athletes, for sure.
Why on earth would I be offended that your child pushed my lower back on the stairs of a ferry? I am just standing, waiting patiently for the folks in front of me to disembark. Your child should be first and I appreciate him reminding me of that.
No, no. Don't worry, it did not disturb me at all that your drunk daughters were running through the halls banging on cabin doors while screaming. It was 2 a.m. and I have no business sleeping.
Never you mind that the sign says "Adults Only". Of course it's acceptable that your eight year old splashes around.

However, I do think it's time to investigate an "Adults Only" cruise next Summer.

Can someone guide me in the right direction?

[NancyJewel92]

Love your post and can relate to your experiences. Don't know of any adult only cruises in the summer. We avoid the summers to avoid what you've described. We also tend to cruise with a large group; folks generally don't bring their kids.

[CruiseDivaNJ]

Originally Posted by dustythreads

I love your child. He or she is adorable. Trust me, it was so cute when you are your little darling were singing into her toy microphone five feet from where I was trying to read.
Yes, yes. Isn't it so great that your teenage sons are standing on the second story of the pool deck and throwing the basketball off the ledge towards the hoop while I am swimming? They are going to be pro athletes, for sure.
Why on earth would I be offended that your child pushed my lower back on the stairs of a ferry? I am just standing, waiting patiently for the folks in front of me to disembark. Your child should be first and I appreciate him reminding me of that.
No, no. Don't worry, it did not disturb me at all that your drunk daughters were running through the halls banging on cabin doors while screaming. It was 2 a.m. and I have no business sleeping.
Never you mind that the sign says "Adults Only". Of course it's acceptable that your eight year old splashes around.

However, I do think it's time to investigate an "Adults Only" cruise next Summer.

Can someone guide me in the right direction?

Your post definitely made me laugh, but I can relate and understand what you'e not looking for! Its not a relaxing vacation when kids are unruly.

Why not look at itineraries for Crystal cruises or Oceania.. Regent Seven seas, Azamara Club cruises? We were on Celebrity in May, there were very few kids on board.

[dustythreads]

Thanks for your replies. While I am not particularly well off, I think it might be time to try one of the luxury lines. My concern is that I will have worked really hard to save all that money and still be confronted with the same issues I faced on the reasonably priced lines.

Is there a noticeable difference with rare courtesy and rare sense with the behavior of the passengers after making the transition to the more expensive lines?

[manmtnmike]

Originally Posted by dustythreads

I love your child. He or she is adorable. Trust me, it was so cute when you are your little darling were singing into her toy microphone five feet from where I was trying to read.
Yes, yes. Isn't it so great that your teenage sons are standing on the second story of the pool deck and throwing the basketball off the ledge towards the hoop while I am swimming? They are going to be pro athletes, for sure.
Why on earth would I be offended that your child pushed my lower back on the stairs of a ferry? I am just standing, waiting patiently for the folks in front of me to disembark. Your child should be first and I appreciate him reminding me of that.
No, no. Don't worry, it did not disturb me at all that your drunk daughters were running through the halls banging on cabin doors while screaming. It was 2 a.m. and I have no business sleeping.
Never you mind that the sign says "Adults Only". Of course it's acceptable that your eight year old splashes around.

However, I do think it's time to investigate an "Adults Only" cruise next Summer.

Can someone guide me in the right direction?

-------------------------------------
Hey dusty!

In 2009, I tried to host an Adult only, Official Cruise Critic cruise...lots of interest -not many signed up...Reasons: time of year, itin, etc.
...so I changed it for general public.
Turned out that there we only a hand full of "crumb-crunchers" on board.

Seriously, we found that the variables that affect the amount of kids has to do with: whether they're in school , how long of cruise, and avoiding Orlando, (you know, D-world connection.)

So we generally go, 2-3 weeks or so after New Years holiday, and end of August beginning of Sept.

Like you we love kids, but that isn't the debate. It's a cruise vacation!

Soooooo...Any true Adults Only cruises would be a chartered ship , often with Lifestyle or clothing Optional groups like Bare Necessities.

So unless, you are a closet nudist, or a swinger advocate/voyear follow the above advice.

Warning, too long of cruise during these times may have a much older senior citizen contingent than desired..
We did a 12 day in early Feb 2011, and even the CD on board had never seen such an older crowd. Good news tho, late show seating was easy to find


We're doing the awsome Oasis of the Seas AGAIN, Jan 12, 2013, pricing with specials, Crown and Anchor coupon, and paid gratuities, it's about the same as Carnival 7 day.


Good luck!

Mike

[BobmCarolr]

Originally Posted by dustythreads

I love your child. He or she is adorable. Trust me, it was so cute when you are your little darling were singing into her toy microphone five feet from where I was trying to read.
Yes, yes. Isn't it so great that your teenage sons are standing on the second story of the pool deck and throwing the basketball off the ledge towards the hoop while I am swimming? They are going to be pro athletes, for sure.
Why on earth would I be offended that your child pushed my lower back on the stairs of a ferry? I am just standing, waiting patiently for the folks in front of me to disembark. Your child should be first and I appreciate him reminding me of that.
No, no. Don't worry, it did not disturb me at all that your drunk daughters were running through the halls banging on cabin doors while screaming. It was 2 a.m. and I have no business sleeping.
Never you mind that the sign says "Adults Only". Of course it's acceptable that your eight year old splashes around.

However, I do think it's time to investigate an "Adults Only" cruise next Summer.

Can someone guide me in the right direction?

We agree completely.

As one RCL multi-cruiser said while in the hot tub with a tub full of nak*d fellow cruisers: "Damn, I'm never going to be able to go on a 'regular' cruise again!"

(See our signature below for hints)

[Izzybeff]

Totally love your post! DH & I always pick times when there will be the least amount of kids on the cruise. We avoid all other times..

I've found that the third & fourth week of January are great. The kids are back in school and most likely won't be out again till the end of February beginning of March for spring break.

End of April till the first week of May, but anything after that till the middle of September is worthless as all the college kids are off and then all the other kids.

We also won't cruise around Thanksgiving or Christmas either. We would probably do the 1st or 2nd week of December because I think most parents would wait till Christmas break to cruise.

By staying within these times and always doing a 7 day cruise or longer, we've managed to have trips where I've seen less than 10 children on the entire boat.. It's been awesome!!

[bdpnatl]

We have found that time of year and length of cruise affect the number of children onboard. I also think Celebrity has fewer children as they do not offer the same number of activities as other lines such as RCI or NCL.

[mrsfecura]

Couldn't agree more, love your post. We try to avoid break weeks, summer, etc. as most others have said!

[ducklite]

Go on one of the full ship winery charters. Smaller ships, lot's of great people, and no kids!

Some people might think a "wine cruise" will be full of drunks, that's not the case at all in our experience. People didn't drink to excess and in two weeks we saw only a few people who had a bit too much. But there no obnoxious drunken behavior and you wouldn't have known they had overdone it if you weren't actually having a conversation with them. If anything people were pretty reserved about their consumption.

[mrsfecura]

Originally Posted by ducklite

Go on one of the full ship winery charters. Smaller ships, lot's of great people, and no kids!

Some people might think a "wine cruise" will be full of drunks, that's not the case at all in our experience. People didn't drink to excess and in two weeks we saw only a few people who had a bit too much. But there no obnoxious drunken behavior and you wouldn't have known they had overdone it if you weren't actually having a conversation with them. If anything people were pretty reserved about their consumption.

Which lines usually do these? We've looked into Celebrity's wine cruises but they're not full ship charters like you mentioned. My husband and I would love that!

[ducklite]

Originally Posted by mrsfecura

Which lines usually do these? We've looked into Celebrity's wine cruises but they're not full ship charters like you mentioned. My husband and I would love that!

I've done them on Wind Surf, and I've got another booked on the PG to Tahiti. I know that Seabourn has them and one of the river cruise boats in Europe has hosted them as well. Usually they are sponsored by the winery and have a charter company put all the details together.

[scubacap]

Depends on how "adult" you want to get.