Strophic

I told myself I wouldn't go right to the buffet after boarding our cruise...and then I did. It was right there, and we were hungry! I really like buffet food, so it worked for us.

To stay on topic, OP wants a cruise next September or October.

Actually, he wanted cruises THIS September or October. This thread is a year old and the OP's question has long been answered.

But I think your line of logic regarding what constitutes an obsession is pretty laughable.

Yes, you can move out at 18, you are just not going to live the same lifestyle you did under your parents.

I don't have time to respond to the whole post right now so I will just respond to this bit for now. It was absolutely not possible under any circumstances for me to move out when I was 18. Same lifestyle or not. I'm 24 now and the only reason I can afford to live on my own now is because I can split the rent on a 1 bedroom apartment with my boyfriend, and I am making well above minimum wage. The majority of 18 year olds cannot support themselves. Working 80 hours a week maybe, but that's such an unrealistic expectation.

You can make money without going to college, but it's pounded into kids' heads from grade school that college is the key to their future and if they don't go they'll be screwing up for life. As for starting your own business...do you have any idea what the success ratio of new businesses is? Especially restaurants? Two out of three new restaurants fail in the first five years. Just because it worked out for your family doesn't mean it's sound advice for everyone. To say nothing of the fact that you need money to make money—if you're starting with nothing you can't just buy a restaurant without going into enormous debt to make it happen.

But maybe you're right. Maybe instead of things working differently than they did decades ago, tens of millions of young people are just lazy, entitled idiots who could have been guaranteed success if they had just listen to some quick advice from their mom.

Part of the issues that the current generation is facing, is this idea of instant gratification and not working/saving for what you want. DH and I see it in our extended families a lot and these are the kids that in their 20's and 30's (college educated and good jobs) are still asking mom and dad for money or help with a downpayment on a house etc. If mom and dad were no longer there where would they go???? Hard lesson to learn at that age when you have been given everything along the way....IDK

Swing and a miss. If anything, the current generation has had to work a lot harder to get the things that age 50+ people took for granted. You can't pay for college with a summer job like you used to. Everything is more expensive, and good jobs are increasingly demanding of more skills and experience. There are unpaid internships that require 2 years experience from applicants. I saw a job listing that required 7+ years of experience with a programming language that has only existed for 5 years. The days of walking into a business in a nice suit with your resume and getting a job are gone. The days of moving out as soon as you turn 18 are gone, because it's just not possible under most circumstances to afford it.

If there's one thing I can't stand it's older people calling millennials spoiled/entitled who have absolutely no idea what it's like to get a job and an education for a young person these days.

Except for the part where you specifically quoted my post to respond do, didn't address anything I actually said, and only made responses to comments that are over a year old. You completely dodged all of my questions and just spouted irrelevant comments.

Cuizer2, if you are only going to respond to the made-up conversation happening inside your head instead of the one that's actually happening on this thread then I don't know what to tell you.

The cost of the wedding isn't a factor, even if it was free I'd want to wait until I was in my late 20's. We'll probably pay for the wedding mostly ourselves with perhaps a little help from my bf's parents...I actually like weddings a lot and wouldn't want to do it on the super cheap, but I'm sure I can strike a good balance of being responsibly frugal and still getting the party I want.

Ooh, 10% off in the spa...that could be a several hundred dollar value! :P

Celebrating a four year dating anniversary ?

Maybe the cruise will be one celebrating your engagement ! ��❤️

It will some day! We just don't want to get married too young, we started dating in college. Three more years :)

So the consensus I am getting here is that yes, there is some level of difference in the experience if you go ahead and check the "anniversary" box, but it's such an insignificant difference that it's not worth putting this much thought into.

But you're responding to completely different claims than the ones that were actually made.

I asked "what is wrong with people who would want an adults-only cruise?" and you. replied instead to the imaginary question "what is wrong with people who go on a kids cruise and then complain about kids?" Which...no one asked that, so I'm not sure what you're talking about here.

Anyway.

Second, it doesn't matter how many children are on the cruise, as long as they are not near you. Many ships offer adult only areas where young children are not allowed. Whether or not that is enforced is a different matter.

That might be your opinion, but I disagree. For one thing, if there are a bunch of kids on a cruise, them "not being near you" isn't a situation that's going to happen unless you sequester yourself to the casino and 18+ pool deck for your whole vacation. So that's an unrealistic prospect from the get-go.

You might like having kids around. That's fine! Other people don't. You say you prefer kids over drunk adults. Other people would rather deal with drunk adults than kids. And you seem to think that anyone who has a different opinion than you is objectively wrong and needs to be pitied. I just think it's not out of the question that a mainstream/budget cruise line like RCL/Carnival/NCL could have the occasional adults-only sailing and still have the majority of their sailings allow kids. It doesn't have to be black and white, it would just be nice to have the option. And it wouldn't have any effect on you, so why aren't you okay with other people wanting that?

@idraconis, As long as it's something you're paying for, they'll probably set up anniversary/birthday/etc. decorations for absolutely anyone :P

@mjkacmom, Youi're on the right track with your younger kids. It's pretty much a fact that the stricter you are with teens (especially if it's unwarranted strictness based on suspicion rather than their actual behaviors) the more they will act out. Of course, you don't want to go too far to the opposite extreme either and be completely laissez-faire, but kids only rebel if they feel like it's a real rebellion.

Growing up, my parents would show an appropriate amount of concern for my well-being, but they wouldn't (for example) forbid me from going to parties just because there would be alcohol there. Consequently, I didn't drink because there weren't any "teen rebellion points" to earn by doing so. Even among my friends who did drink underage—those with less strict parents drank less frequently, drank fewer drinks in one sitting, and stopped drinking at earlier stages of intoxication.

Meanwhile, the friends and relatives with extremely strict parents had the deck stacked against them from the start. The cousin who wasn't ever allowed to date or interact with boys got involved with a 30 year old as soon as she turned 18 because she hadn't had any relationship experience up to that point and didn't know the difference between healthy and unhealthy attraction.

Both last year and this year's cruises I signed up for had a box to check during the reservation process if it was your anniversary, so I assumed there was some perk involved—I didn't expect anything big, but I felt it was at least worth asking about.

I have no "strong feelings" about sailing with, or without, SOME children -either way- but I would have concerns about sailing with a group of people who cannot tolerate ANY children

Why?

Seriously, why?

There are plenty of adults-only resorts and land-based vacations, so why is that okay but wanting an adults-only cruise isn't?

Personally, I don't need a cruise that's 0% kids as long as there aren't a ton of them. But if a cruise advertised itself as adults-only, I'd think that was pretty awesome and I'd certainly be interested. Given the option, I'd rather have a no-kids vacation. I don't see what's so awful about that—it's not like I am asking for children to be wiped off the face of the earth.

Man, people sure take others not wanting to be around lots of kids—something that has absolutely no effect on them—personally. I didn't realize that preferring the company of adults was something to be pitied. I grew up in a home used as a literal daycare—I feel a lot worse about that! I had more than one lifetime's fair share of kids packed into the first 20 years of my life and I'm pretty content to seek out adult-oriented experiences from now on. Maybe what's really self-absorbed is thinking that everyone on earth has to be as interested in your offspring as you are.

Shot in the dark. My boyfriend and I started dating September 24, 2014. If we go on a cruise in late September 2018 for our 4-year anniversary, would the cruise company consider it an anniversary cruise? Is it only marriage anniversaries that count? Do you even need to verify, or will they just take your word for it?

24 y/o here. I didn't have a job until college, when I worked part-time as a research assistant—I never had a job in high school. After I graduated college I started working, got a full-time job shortly after, and moved out shortly after that. I pay for 100% of my own expenses and don't take any money from my parents, and actually have more savings than both of my parents combined.

Sorry that doesn't fit your "basement dwelling millennial" fantasy, but I'm pretty proud of myself for managing to be completely financially independent in spite of it being much more difficult than it was for my parents' generation. The days of paying for college with a part-time summer job are long gone.

I took a cruise when I was 13 and pretty much only used the cabin to sleep. At that age I wasn't really interested in taking naps on vacation. I don't think it's necessary at all to impose mandatory rest on teens before dinner, they have plenty of energy.

The lowest I've seen reported here was $18 / day, before gratuitiy was added.

 

Also, don't forget that non-alcoholic cocktails are also included. Something like a virgin pina colada would be around $5.

Are non-alcoholic cocktails not included on the regular soda package? I got the equivalent package on Carnival last year and I was able to get Shirley Temples.

Here are a few words you can use instead of saying "I'm so OCD!"

- Fastidious

- Meticulous

- Finicky

- Persnickety

- Conscientious

I think it's pretty rich that people are getting so angry at others for leaving trays in the hallway when that's exactly what the cruise line tells you to do with them. If some old biddy knocked on my door because I put my tray in the hall, I'd laugh in her face.

I would personally take the interior room. I think a balcony would add value to my cruise, but it definitely wouldn't add $1,000 worth of value. If I think of all the things I could buy with $1,000, balconies fall pretty far down the hierarchy. But everyone is different; bf and I are just a couple years out of college, so we're frugal vacationers who don't have a lot of wiggle room for extra bells and whistles. But if you can afford it without taking a serious financial hit and you really think that the balcony would make a big difference in your experience, go for it! It's your vacation, have it your way.

Talk about an overreaction. What do you expect people to do when they ask—on this very forum—"What do I do with my room service dishes?" and multiple people say "Put them in the hall."

It's not much of a stretch to think that a cruise newbie sees a large number of trays left by the door and just assumes that that's what you are supposed to do. It doesn't have to be a deep-seated personality flaw, so why don't you take it down a notch?

You are taking a small annoyance that has nothing to do with you as a personal attack. People aren't leaving their trays in the hall at you. And knocking on doors, really? Who has time on their vacation to be such a busybody? I don't know about you, but I'm too busy relaxing and enjoying time spent with my loved ones for that kind of nonsense.