Couples Cruises

Potentially looking at a cruise sans kids. Are there any cruiselines that cater toward couples in their 30-40's - don't want a lot of kids or old timers just fun couples around our age to hang out and party with.

I think all lines will be marketing to all age groups. You will find fewer children when schools are in session. There will also be fewer on longer cruises, but these will attract a somewhat older clientele.

The cruises that tend to have less kids are also the ones that tend to have an older clientele. Luxury lines have no kids clubs so they normally don't have any/many kids onboard, but that may be beyond your budget.

The best way to avoid less kid intensive cruises is to not cruise when schools are typically out (spring break, summer, Christmas, etc.)

You can also minimize your contact with kids by staying in the adults only areas of the ships (bars, serenity areas and adult pools)

If you really want an adults only vacation then you may be better off focusing on all inclusive land based resorts such as Sandals.

Look at a river cruise.

Otherwise the previous advice is very good. Travel off peak, when schools are in session. Bonus- these times usually offer the lowest rates. The longer the cruise the less chance of lots of kids.

Our end of October 15 day Carnival HI cruise had maybe 20 kids total. Even less on our 9 day end of January and 10 day beg of March Princess Mexican Riviera cruises. On all three of these the ages skewed higher.

Potentially looking at a cruise sans kids. Are there any cruiselines that cater toward couples in their 30-40's - don't want a lot of kids or old timers just fun couples around our age to hang out and party with.

Have you thought about getting a group of friends or family together and chartering a boat/yacht in the Caribbean. You can do that from any number of islands including St. Thomas and Tortola among others. You can get as big as you want, fully crewed, a chef to cook for you....... Might be good seeing you want a very specific demographic to sail on the ship you are sailing. No kids, no old timers .... fun couples. Bring the party with you. :)

High season will have lots of families with kids.

Low season will skew heavily toward retirees.

I suggest you look toward one of the travel sites that organize "adult-oriented" group cruises on full-ship charters--should that be the type of "fun couple" you wish to (ahem) swing with.

...I suggest you look toward one of the travel sites that organize "adult-oriented" group cruises on full-ship charters--should that be the type of "fun couple" you wish to (ahem) swing with.

Errr... in my opinion, OP said nothing about "swinging". The post was worded in such a way that it just looks like they want as few kids as possible, not a swingers cruise.

I agree with others here, go when school is still in session. I usually travel early January or mid May and find relatively few children, which is a plus for me. I would also recommend a line like NCL, Royal Caribbean, or Carnival. Less expensive than the older-skewing (and low child quotient) lines like Celebrity or Holland America, but with way more fun stuff for 30-somethings like rock walls, ropes courses, water slides, Broadway style shows, ice rinks, and surf simulators. Do the fun stuff while you're young enough to play with it all!

Errr... in my opinion, OP said nothing about "swinging". The post was worded in such a way that it just looks like they want as few kids as possible, not a swingers cruise.

Worded also to include No old-timers but to specifically include couples in 30 - 40 year range. :)

Worded also to include No old-timers but to specifically include couples in 30 - 40 year range.

Precisely. Again, let's review exactly what the OP is asking for:

don't want a lot of kids or old timers

The item of greatest emphasis in a series is always mentioned last: no old timers

fun couples our age to hang out and party with

Yes I know they are not talking about swinging...but there are plenty of code words (fun couples, hang out, party) that one finds in ads on the "backpage"

So a mainstream line during the off-peak season is out of the question. There are certainly young-couple-geared charters that don't have "swapping" on the agenda. Failing that I too believe flying to an AI resort would be their better option.

Potentially looking at a cruise sans kids. Are there any cruiselines that cater toward couples in their 30-40's - don't want a lot of kids or old timers just fun couples around our age to hang out and party with.

Finding a cruise with few under 30 and few over 40's is NOT going to be easy.

A 7 nighter on Carnival might come closest to what you desire since you want to hang out and party.

LuLu

Pretty much every cruise line will have kids....but they are kept busy...if you see them, ignore them! As long as they aren't YOUR kids...you can do that! The "luxury" lines will have fewer kids, but a lot less "party" atmosphere!

Just book an "off" time (when families are busy) and ignore that which you can't change!

If you really want to sail without kids, on a moderate priced line, go to the UK and sail on one of the three P&O ships that are adults only. Also consider Windstar and Star Clippers that will have very few kids, if any. EM

Thanks for the great feedback. A. we are not swingers but just like to either hang out by the pool, listen to music and drink the day away and B. wouldn't like to meet like minded couples to hang out in the evening.

If you take a cruise longer then 7 days, and not during school vacations there are not many children onboard. And if you sail on a higher end line, like Crystal, Windstar, Oceana...hardly any children regardless of the duration or time.

Potentially looking at a cruise sans kids. Are there any cruiselines that cater toward couples in their 30-40's - don't want a lot of kids or old timers just fun couples around our age to hang out and party with.

P&O Have adult only ships and family friendly ships. The "adult only" ships are child free, they do not have an X rated entertainment set up.

Regards John

Possibly looking at end of march or early april before school is out but wondering if we run into the annoying college spring break crowd, especially a cheaper line like Carnival.

The 'scientific' way to research is simply to look at cruises to ports, or on certain ships, and the rates. The cheapest cruise will have the fewest kids, as the demand is lowest. As the time approaches holidays, times when kids are not in school, prices will rise because demand by families is greater. EM

Thanks for the great feedback. A. we are not swingers but just like to either hang out by the pool, listen to music and drink the day away and B. wouldn't like to meet like minded couples to hang out in the evening.

You are likely to find like minded couples on most cruises, however a few things to remember:

Some lines attract more families, so more kids, Carnival and Disney and P&O [in some parts of the world and not in others].

Longer cruises tend to equal older PAX.

Princess and HAL and Cunard attract an older clientele as a general rule.

I'd look at Royal and Celebrity and lean towards Royal. Then I'd avoid school break and the week either side thereof, then finally something more than 7 days [7 and less get more families] and under 14 [more and you attract older who have the time].

Hope that helps a little.

High season will have lots of families with kids.

Low season will skew heavily toward retirees.

I suggest you look toward one of the travel sites that organize "adult-oriented" group cruises on full-ship charters--should that be the type of "fun couple" you wish to (ahem) swing with.

That is just tacky and uncalled for

The 'scientific' way to research is simply to look at cruises to ports, or on certain ships, and the rates. The cheapest cruise will have the fewest kids, as the demand is lowest.

And thus the most expensive would have the most kids, as demand would be the highest.

Musta been lucky to avoid 50+% kids on my last Silversea cruise.

Actually, I'd tend to think that the "cheap" cruises would be the ones with the most number of families trying to get the most bang for the buck.

My "scientific" method would be to research the various kids programs that cruiselines offer. When you find ships that don't mention them, or pro-actively tell you they don't have them, now you have a target to hone in on.

If you take a cruise longer then 7 days, and not during school vacations there are not many children onboard. And if you sail on a higher end line, like Crystal, Windstar, Oceana...hardly any children regardless of the duration or time.

While certainly there would be some 30-40 year olds, those cruises are likely to have older demographic.

As an older solo cruiser, I just want to say that this whole thing about 30-40 yr old couples irritates me.

Most of the cruises we have been on have been family oriented. Having said that our last 2 we went without kids. On NCL Jewel in October (7 night) out of New Orleans we found the demographics on the ship to be close to what you are looking for. There were very few kids and most seemed to be couples in their mid-late 40's-late 50's. On Ruby Princess (5 night) in March out of FLL there again were very few kids but demographics leaned more towards snow birds and groups from retirement villages in FL....mostly in late 50's to 70's. FYI we were in our mid 40's.