Classic adult cruise, which cruise lines?

[JensJ]

If I would like a classic cruise with few kids, which cruise lines should I look at?

 

I have tried to Google it and my list look like this:

 

Classic adult cruise lines

Celebrity Cruises

Cunard Line

Holland America Line

Princess Cruises

 

Family cruise lines

Disney Cruise Line

Norwegian Cruise Line

Royal Caribbean International

Carnival Cruise Lines

 

Is my list correct? Do you have any comments to the above?

[carpe cruise]

Your list is right on. I took a celebrity cruise for my honeymoon and it's an awesome experience if you are kid less and 35 and older.

[CruiserBruce]

You are on the right track, but...

 

Any cruise line can have a lot of kids on shorter (7 day, maybe 10 day) routes, or at holiday/vacation periods. And any cruise line will have few kids on longer (greater than 10 day) routes, and when school is in session. I have been on a Holland America cruise with nearly 400 kids, (a 10 day cruise in the summer) and less than 5 kids, on a 19 day cruise.

[SPacificbound]

If I would like a classic cruise with few kids, which cruise lines should I look at?

 

I have tried to Google it and my list look like this:

 

Classic adult cruise lines

Celebrity Cruises

Cunard Line

Holland America Line

Princess Cruises

 

Family cruise lines

Disney Cruise Line

Norwegian Cruise Line

Royal Caribbean International

Carnival Cruise Lines

 

Is my list correct? Do you have any comments to the above?

 

With the exception of Alaska we are only booking cruises of 2 weeks +.

So far we are going to stick with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. We have only been on one cruise, 18 nights Sydney to Honolulu. :)

[Keith1010]

The key is to not travel during the summer or over holidays and spring break.

 

Longer cruises also have less children too.

 

Keith

[Capt_BJ]

edit: is Windstar classic? maybe not but

 

add Windstar to your 'adult' list. while they do not proscribe children they certainly do not encourage them ...

 

Children, especially infants and toddlers, are not encouraged aboard Windstar cruises. The intimate ship size and unregimented atmosphere are adult in orientation and do not provide for the care, supervision, or entertainment of children. Children occupying staterooms as the third person are charged the applicable "third person" rate, which is available on request. Travel for children under eight years of age is limited.

 

We ONCE had one teen on a Windstar cruise and she looked BORED to death! As I recall she was with her grandparents. {hey sweetheart, wanna come with us on a cruise????}

 

one used to be able to say that the more $$ the cruise, the fewer kids. but with DCL commanding such high prices that one is out the window IMO. but the smaller and more $$ ships sure seem to get fewer kids ... one thing for sure, Windstar ain't got a kid's program!

Edited November 17, 2013 by Capt_BJ

[paul929207]

We take longer Princess cruises to exotic locations and rarely have more than 3 or 4 kids onboard.

[Essiesmom]

I you don't mind sailing from the UK, P&O-UK have three ships that are adults only. EM

[OCruisers]

The key is to not travel during the summer or over holidays and spring break.

 

Longer cruises also have less children too.

 

Keith

 

What Keith said .... totally true and especially so on LONGER cruises even for those with pre school aged children.

 

LuLu

~~~

[Cruisin' Chick]

Maybe you should consider more premium cruiselines such as Oceania, Regent, and Crystal that don't have kids' programs.

[Karysa]

Of your list I would say 7 day or longer cruises on Cunard or HAL will have fewer children than Princess or Celebrity cruises of the same length.

Edited November 18, 2013 by Karysa

[swsfrail]

I have taken several 12+ night cruises on Celebrity and rarely saw any children. Celebrity is not marketed as a kid oriented cruise line. There may be a few, but they keep them well hidden. :D

[dorisis]

Maybe you should consider more premium cruiselines such as Oceania' date=' Regent, and Crystal that don't have kids' programs.[/quote']

 

For an adult cruise I prefer Oceania. better food and service and the small ships seem friendlier.

[puppycanducruise]

Don't forget the river cruise companies. Many of them are not set up for children. We did a river cruise with Avalon with no children.

[ducklite]

edit: is Windstar classic? maybe not but

 

add Windstar to your 'adult' list. while they do not proscribe children they certainly do not encourage them ...

 

Children, especially infants and toddlers, are not encouraged aboard Windstar cruises. The intimate ship size and unregimented atmosphere are adult in orientation and do not provide for the care, supervision, or entertainment of children. Children occupying staterooms as the third person are charged the applicable "third person" rate, which is available on request. Travel for children under eight years of age is limited.

 

We ONCE had one teen on a Windstar cruise and she looked BORED to death! As I recall she was with her grandparents. {hey sweetheart, wanna come with us on a cruise????}

 

one used to be able to say that the more $$ the cruise, the fewer kids. but with DCL commanding such high prices that one is out the window IMO. but the smaller and more $$ ships sure seem to get fewer kids ... one thing for sure, Windstar ain't got a kid's program!

 

This!!!

 

The youngest person on our two weeks on Windstar was 18 going on 19-- and while he seemed fairly bored at times, he was old enough to not become disruptive. (He spent a lot of time playing with the ship board Wii. They have zero provisions for children. No kids club, no kids menu, no cribs, high chairs, nothing, nada. They will not even take bookings for children under six.

 

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

[navybankerteacher]

In declining order of classic adult-ness:

 

Cunard

HAL

Celebrity

Princess

 

GAP

 

Royal Caribbean

Carnival

 

HUGE GAP

 

NCL

[marco]

We have taken more than 8 river cruises and there were no children on any of them (don't know if a river cruise is something you considered). And as some posters above have stated, the longer the cruise, the less children. Even some of the lines folks mentioned that are not really child oriented, if it's a one week (or shorter) cruise during school break or vacation there will be a good number of kids aboard. For instance, there are usually not a lot of children on Celebrity, butour experience has been that in the summer, their one weekers to Bermuda have a good number onboard.

Edited November 18, 2013 by marco
Typo

[Keith1010]

The key to avoiding children is to sail in months other than the summer and spring break and Christmas/New Years Holidays.

 

Of the lines you lasted Cunard would have the fewest children.

 

Also take a look at a few others including Oceania and Azamara.

 

Keith

[Hlitner]

We cruise a lot (over 100 days last year) and have a strategy to choose cruises with a minimal number of children and teens. It is not so much about the cruise line but rather the length of the cruise and the timing. Take a longer cruise (over 10 days) during the school year and you increase the odds of fewer kids. A shorter cruise (10 days or less) on any line during a time when kids are out of school almost guarantee lots of kids. The one exception (on your list) would be Holland America which has built a reputation as a line for older folks (we are in our 60s and often among the youngest on some HA cruises) which helps dissuade many families from choosing this line.

 

We also agree with Keith's post in that some of the smaller ship luxury lines (i.e. Azamara, Celebrity, Seabourn, Silverseas, etc) tend to have fewer kids.

 

 

Hank

Edited November 19, 2013 by Hlitner

[ducklite]

We cruise a lot (over 100 days last year) and have a strategy to choose cruises with a minimal number of children and teens. It is not so much about the cruise line but rather the length of the cruise and the timing. Take a longer cruise (over 10 days) during the school year and you increase the odds of fewer kids. A shorter cruise (10 days or less) on any line during a time when kids are out of school almost guarantee lots of kids. The one exception (on your list) would be Holland America which has built a reputation as a line for older folks (we are in our 60s and often among the youngest on some HA cruises) which helps dissuade many families from choosing this line.

 

Hank

 

I respectfully disagree that the cruise line doesn't also have some bearing on the situation. The lines that actively discourage children are going to have far less of them--if any--regardless of the season or itinerary.