Mid 30's Need Cruise Line Advise

[big al]

My wife and I are both first time cruisers in our mid-thirties. I'm trying to determine what the best cruise line is for us. Looking to take a 7-10 day carribean cruise. What a relaxing ship with a good mix of activities and entertainment. Neither of us drink a lot or gamble so by entertainment I'm more talking about shows. Don't mind kids (we have two of our own but they won't be coming this time) but am looking for relaxation so a yon of kids probably wouldn't work. Not necessarily looking to be @cheap" but also don't want to spend more then I have too.

 

Thoughts

 

Thanks in advance

 

As you can read, when you ask a question regarding what cruise line or a food question, you will get an eye full...I am a cruise agent & avid cruiser- the Oasis next month will be our 30th on all but Costa & MSC...I will give you thoughts on what I would suggest to people in your age group ( and I have plenty who call or e-mail for this..)...

 

First you should know that ALL cruise lines will offer something for everyone, BUT some cruise lines tend to attract certain age groups and certain levels of activity oriented vs. laid back type of cruise ..be aware that some will disagree with me, as I have disagreed with them as I read the responses, so here we go:

 

If you are mid 30's and prefer a cruise with little or no kids, the first thing you have to do is go WHEN SCHOOL is IN- that means DON'T go during Thanksgiving, X-MAS, NYE, Spring Break, and of course, summer...all the other time should produce fewer or almost no kids on the cruise ( Disney being the exception, but although I LOVE Disney cruises, I won't recommend them for your 1st cruise)..Jan is great..1st 2 weeks of Feb, also..1st 2 weeks of Dec..Sept- 1st 3 weeks of Nov also good...so choose a month & go from there..

 

Second- I will NOT comment on food, because food is soooo subjective..what I think is good, you might hate, and visa versa! I will comment on dining OPTIONS..most ships today have what is called "specialty restaurants"..these are restaurants that cost $$ per person, anywhere from $10-50, depending on the ship...why go there if the food is included in the Main Dining Room ( known as the "MDR" on Cruise Critic)..we go because we ( wife & I) personally feel 85-90% of the MDR food is mediocre to "OK", to "it was alright", or "not bad, not great"..you get the message??

[FawnRiver]

DH and I were in our mid thirties when we started cruising five years ago. A friend of ours was a TA and she suggested Princess, knowing that we're not big into partying.

We loved it, and haven't tried any other cruise line (yet). We have friends of a similar age who started with Celebrity and were equally impressed with them.

The 10 day southern caribbean itineraries on Princess are our favourite caribbean cruises.

For entertainment, there are shows in the theatre, usually a comedian in the Explorer's lounge and various musical acts all over the ship. If you love movies, there's Movies under the Stars (my personal favourite - while DH goes off to play poker in the casino).

Like other posters have noted, just avoid holiday times and you shouldn't see too many kids. On our last 10 day in January, I think we saw about 4 or 5 kids through the whole cruise. There was a lovely little girl on one of our excursions who was better behaved then some of the adults.

 

Good luck and happy cruising :D

[big al]

As you can read, when you ask a question regarding what cruise line or a food question, you will get an eye full...I am a cruise agent & avid cruiser- the Oasis next month will be our 30th on all but Costa & MSC...I will give you thoughts on what I would suggest to people in your age group ( and I have plenty who call or e-mail for this..)...

 

First you should know that ALL cruise lines will offer something for everyone, BUT some cruise lines tend to attract certain age groups and certain levels of activity oriented vs. laid back type of cruise ..be aware that some will disagree with me, as I have disagreed with them as I read the responses, so here we go:

 

If you are mid 30's and prefer a cruise with little or no kids, the first thing you have to do is go WHEN SCHOOL is IN- that means DON'T go during Thanksgiving, X-MAS, NYE, Spring Break, and of course, summer...all the other times should produce fewer or almost no kids on the cruise ( Disney being the exception, but although I LOVE Disney cruises, I won't recommend them for your 1st cruise)..Jan is great..1st 2 weeks of Feb, also..1st 2 weeks of Dec..Sept- 1st 3 weeks of Nov also good...so choose a month & go from there..

 

Second- I will NOT comment on food, because food is soooo subjective..what I think is good, you might hate, and visa versa! I will comment on dining OPTIONS..most ships today have what is called "specialty restaurants"..these are restaurants that cost $$ per person, anywhere from $10-50, depending on the ship...why go there if the food is included in the Main Dining Room ( known as the "MDR" on Cruise Critic)??..we go because we ( wife & I) personally feel 85-90% of the MDR food is mediocre to "OK", to "it was alright", or "not bad, not great"..you get the message?? Others will argue why pay for food that is included? We find $$ venues have better food & choices ( for sure we think so..),MUCH better ambiance ( small venue, dark, quiet, table for 2 by a window overlooking the sea, soft music, NOT busy like the MDR, etc..)..so some cruise lines have more dining options, both included & specialty, than others..RCI & NCL lead the pack for this..both have new ships ( Allure, Oasis, NCL Getaway, Epic, & Breakaway) that have 20+ dining venues...YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO to these $$ venues, but it's nice to know you can take your wife to a nice, romantic dinner where you can actually talk without 1500 people & 200 waiters walking around or being loud...

 

Third thing-Since you don't drink nor gamble, & like lots of entertainment & shows, again both RCI & NCL fit this need..I will include the Celebrity Solstice ships ( there are 5 of them)..Celebrity might be a good fit because they are more "mature" and "upscale" than RCI or NCL, but they have good dining & optional dining, decent entertainment, few kids & ships are elegant & beautiful..The Oasis/ Allure ships have a diving show, ice-skating show with Canadian,Russian & US skaters, Flowriders ( surf simulator),zip-line, Central Park area, adult pool area, and so much more..NCL Getaway/Breakway/Epic also have great shows like Blue Man Group, Illusionarium ( a dinner ./magic show,), Rock Of Ages ( 80's music), and more..they also have specialty venues in dining including Japanese steakhouse ( hibachi style), French Cuisine, Irish Pub open 24/7, Brazilian Churrascaria, and more..NCL also has killer slides at the pool, but NO adult pool area like RCI, which has killer adult pool areas that have infinity hot tubs that stick out over the side of the ship for awesome views of the sea...RCL has no slides, but has the Flowriders & Zip line plenty of pools & hot tubs...

 

Regarding a few other cruise lines..I'll probably get flamed for saying this, I think HAL is not the right fit for you..I was on HAL a few years back, and although they have nice ships, we were 54 & 52, and we were TWENTY years younger than the average passenger on there..75% of the passengers were in wheelchairs, walkers & canes..not kidding...we found the food VERY mediocre and entertainment not only average at best, but the ships close down by 10-11 pm ..That was our impression of HAL-I simply think you have better choices at your age level..Princess is a fine line as well, but they too, are slightly older in passenger age, and I have read alot about entertainment being so-so and again, ships closing down early..we loved Princess, BUT we were late 40's when we were on there..the newer ships Royal & Regal Princess are bigger & have more entertainment options, but reviewers have been unhappy because cabin sizes have shrunk, mostly balcony sizes..They are beautiful ships...Carnival has a few ships like the Breeze, Magic & Dream, but they are more for drinkers, gamblers, partiers , and entertainment seems to have gone downhill according to most reviews I'v read...we thought the MDR food was OK, but again, subjective! Some get tired of the wait staff dancing on top of the tables & singing Italian songs, some find it entertaining..you won't see that on Celebrity for sure, nor Princess....

 

A final thing you must decide- Where do you want to go in the Caribbean? Eastern Caribb tends to have St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Nassau, or San Juan as ports of call..lots of beaches & shopping is great there ( in ST & SM)..Western Caribb often has Cozumel, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Belize, Roatan, private islands ( Like Labadee or Great Stirupp Cay), and more, and finally the Southern Caribb, which requires often ( but not always) you fly to San Juan, PR, and islands include Aruba, Curacao, Barbados, Antigua, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, and more..TIP: Western Carib usually has 4 ports & 2 sea days, Eastern has 3 ports & 3 sea days & Southern has 5 or 6 ports and one or NO sea days at sea- something to consider because obviously the Southern routes will be more "busy" and the Eastern route will be more "relaxing" due to the 3 + 3 itinerary...any comments, questions or thoughts let me know...hope this helps...

 

Big Al