Cruise Demographics

I would love to do a cruise soon however my wife is not as keen because she is worried that we would be on a cruise that is full of retired people.

Nothing against people who are retired, but I can understand her concern and wanting travel will people in the 40-50 age bracket.

Can someone give me some advise how to overcome this ... are there specific age range cruises or are there cruise whereby we can be confident that there would be plenty of people our age?

Thanks

Where do you want to go to?

Usually though, the longer the cruise, the older the demographic :D

Stick to 7-14 night cruises, with people who work and can't go for super-extended trips and you'll be just fine with your age demographic.

As Debsta said the shorter ones usually attract a younger crowd. But most cruises I have been on have people my age which is the age you are talking about. You will find that at night the older crowd go to their cabins and they usually hang out at different places during the day too.

Cruise with P & O Australia and the crowd will be younger and families.

Cruise with Princess, Holland America, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean for cruises up to 14 nights and the age profile will tend to be 40 - 60's largely, with more family groups of teenagers at school holiday times.

So as others have said go for a 7 - 10 - 14 night itinerary and you will be fine.

The image one gets of geriatrics snoozing poolside on most cruises is far from the norm for cruises out of Australia .

I've never been on one of these "geriatric" cruises, and I've sailed with HAL twice :p.

I'm 40 and my husband is 43, and we have never lacked for good company - regardless of age - on all the cruises we have been on. Forget using age as a determinant of attitude. There are plenty of vibrant people of all ages enjoying an active social life at sea. However, if age is important, you are guaranteed a much younger, family demographic on any school holiday sailing on mainstream cruiselines.

Happy cuising:)

I've never been on one of these "geriatric" cruises, and I've sailed with HAL twice :p.

 

I'm 40 and my husband is 43, and we have never lacked for good company - regardless of age - on all the cruises we have been on. Forget using age as a determinant of attitude. There are plenty of vibrant people of all ages enjoying an active social life at sea. However, if age is important, you are guaranteed a much younger, family demographic on any school holiday sailing on mainstream cruiselines.

 

Happy cuising:)

We also found that with HAL, and we are in our 40's, yes there was older people, and yes there was younger passengers.

Our children even had other children on our cruise, not that there was a lot. Which was good in some respects.

It is what you make of your cruise.

The great thing about HAL is that there is a lot of Americans and Canadians who are very interesting to talk with.

It may also be the case that if there is any air travel to the embarkation port then there may be fewer older people.

I reckon that the thinking that only older people travel is more of an American thing - as I understand that the Americans generally do not get a lot of time off during their working life so they tend not to travel as much whislt they are working - so a lot of their trips tend to occur after retirement. However, there is a lot more choice of lines there as well so there tends to be a line for a group of people - Disney and some RCI for families, HAL for apparently older people, etc....Here in Australia, we are now getting more lines coming in but not as many as in the US so I think there will be a good range of ages in terms of people travelling on the ships here as there cannot be that same type of "segregation" - if that is the right word?? :)

That being said, age is all in the mind I say - I have seen young people act like old people and vice versa.....I hit the big 40 a couple of weeks ago and I don't feel/look/behave like a 40 year old - I feel 21 (an experienced 21 year old though - LOL!!) :D

Hi Fozwald :)...I remember my 1st cruise and I thought the same thing, it seems on every cruise I have been on there is always a group in your age group..by the end of the cruise your all best of mates and those thoughts forgotten. In saying that some of the best laughs and times can often come from the older generation.

In Australia as SunnyinDubai said, our demographic (I am 45) travel more and have more holiday time. Anyhow find a cruise you both like, book and enjoy, you both wont regret it. And as others have said its what you make of it..:D

I agree look at the length of cruise...even though I am in the "blue nomad" group...mature on the outside..still a kid at heart..at sea we all seem to get on, age becomes irrelevent! Must be the sea air.

The only cruise I have been on which even came close to the "geriatric" stereotype was the 6 week around asia...made me feel like a teenager but did not affect our enjoyment one bit. Another tip if you want to avoid the walking frames...look for an itinerary with lots of tender ports!!! No offence... I fully intend to cruise until I can no longer stay vertical cruising is for everybody any age.

I'm 40 and my husband is 43, and we have never lacked for good company - regardless of age - on all the cruises we have been on. Forget using age as a determinant of attitude. There are plenty of vibrant people of all ages enjoying an active social life at sea.

What a marvellous comment - and so true.:):)

Age has nothing to do with attitude - that comes from within. ;)

Cruise with P & O Australia and the crowd will be younger and families.

 

Cruise with Princess, Holland America, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean for cruises up to 14 nights and the age profile will tend to be 40 - 60's largely, with more family groups of teenagers at school holiday times.

 

So as others have said go for a 7 - 10 - 14 night itinerary and you will be fine.

 

The image one gets of geriatrics snoozing poolside on most cruises is far from the norm for cruises out of Australia .

The longer Princess cruises I have been on of 15-21 days, all had the Zimmer frames in abundance. However there were some lovely people in all age groups who loved our group of outgoing 40 to 50 year olds.

Also there tended to be a number of people reading their books in the library with their eyes closed. (I could tell by the snoring :p :rolleyes: )

I have so far only done a 12 day cruise on the Dawn Princess from Sydney to Pacific islands, but there was not any group that was dominating in age. It was a real mixture, except that there were not many children (end October cruise).

I would love to do a cruise soon however my wife is not as keen because she is worried that we would be on a cruise that is full of retired people.

 

Nothing against people who are retired, but I can understand her concern and wanting travel will people in the 40-50 age bracket.

 

Can someone give me some advise how to overcome this ... are there specific age range cruises or are there cruise whereby we can be confident that there would be plenty of people our age?

 

Thanks

Go in the school holiday time.

I have, twice. (no choice as I am a teacher)

On the princess line(12 days sth pacific island cruise) there was a real mix of people, on the Pacific Dawn (7 day far nth Qld cruise) there was definitely a much younger feel though, with a lot of teens and young families with toddlers. The price, comparatively speaking, was probably dearer per day on the shorter cruise but overall a little cheaper in total, so maybe that is part of the reason why the family crowd was bigger.

I did hear that the princess cruise after ours went to NZ and had a much older age group.

My bet is whoever said the more tender ports, the less likely the elderly are to go, was right too.

What a marvellous comment - and so true.:):)

 

Age has nothing to do with attitude - that comes from within. ;)

CORRECT!!!! Spot on!!:)

What a marvellous comment - and so true.:):)

 

Age has nothing to do with attitude - that comes from within. ;)

You are so true!!

CORRECT!!!! Spot on!!:)

I agree. As you get older, you realise life is pretty short, actually.

I'm in my 50s, my husband is in his 60s, but we don't feel 'old'.

I guess to young people we may look it, though.

My son is in his early 20s and he and a mate went on a cruise last year, on the Dawn Princess. They had a beaut time, but to be realistic about things, they mainly hung out with some others who were in their 20s and 30s. They only found about 16 of them.

I suppose people do like to feel there are others they can chat to who are at a similar stage in life, similar interests, that sort of thing.

On a slightly different angle, a while back my daughter cruises to the sth Pacific and one of the women on board was an American who had just got off a more exclusive cruise to Antarctica, where the fare had been in the region of $5000+

Apparently she kept moaning that the 'class' of people on the sth pacific tour was a lot lower.

My daughter couldn't see anything wrong with the people on the sth Pacific cruise, but given the price difference, I would guess it was a different demographic.

So from that viewpoint, different ships/different cruises will suit different people.

Slightly off topic, but I got off Carnival Valor a few weeks ago and I was stunned with the demographics onboard!!

It seemed that 70% of people were travelling in large groups and the over 60 age bracket passengers must have numbered around 10%, if that!!:eek:

Where do you want to go to?

 

Usually though, the longer the cruise, the older the demographic :D

 

Stick to 7-14 night cruises, with people who work and can't go for super-extended trips and you'll be just fine with your age demographic.

Geeeez Deb, how old does this make our recently returned World Cruises (104 days). LOL

(no offence intended to the World Cruises)

Cheers

Johhno