Cruiser Average Age

[nwcruisemamma]

My husband and I were on the eclipse in January last year on a 14 night Caribbean cruise we felt very out of place as the average age of cruisers was 60+. We are doing a 10 night Caribbean cruise over Thanksgiving do you think the crowd will be more diverse?

 

 

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[TFLG]

The longer the cruise the older the crowd seems to be. Me and my wife are both around the 50 mark and it seems we are always in the youngest 20% on any Celebrity cruise we have been on. Not the ideal ratio for sure as we would prefer a few more our age. Overall we still prefer Celebrity over most of the other lines we've tried. I do like some of the Royal ships though.

[Alsmez]

Agreed with TFLG, the longer the cruise, the older the crowd, although I think Celebrity is attracting a younger crowd than they used to overall. We are late 30s-early 40s and started cruising Celebrity when we were early-mid 30s. We were some of the youngest people on the ship on our first (11 day) cruise on Equinox in 2011 - I think we met one other couple our age and most everyone else was substantially older, maybe an average age of 65+. On our most recent Reflection cruise (7 day) in 2016, there were many other couples our age or younger, and the crowd probably averaged 50-55. The music and other entertainment was definitely geared to a younger crowd, too.

[TFLG]

We are doing a 7 day on the Equinox in June for my wife's 50th Bday hopefully the crowd will be more our age and the entertainment more lively. On our last Eclipse cruise (14 day) most of the entertainment was certainly not geared to guests our age. Of course if you can meet some other people that like the same type of music and stuff it can still be a great cruise.

[markeb]

Have to agree with the others. We haven't done a longer Celebrity cruise yet, but we've done some longer RCI cruises, and the age generally goes up with the length of the cruise. Which makes sense. The average American probably has around two weeks of vacation (if salaried) while working, which means older, retired cruisers are more likely to have the time to go on longer cruises. That seems to kick in around the 8th day.

[Lastdance]

We are doing a 7 day on the Equinox in June for my wife's 50th Bday hopefully the crowd will be more our age and the entertainment more lively. On our last Eclipse cruise (14 day) most of the entertainment was certainly not geared to guests our age. Of course if you can meet some other people that like the same type of music and stuff it can still be a great cruise.

 

 

I think you will notice a younger crowd in the Caribbean or at least a better mix for you. I am going on a TA and have heard they have wheelchair races! Anyway, we hang with a younger crowd, but all in all, I enjoy a nice mix too minus the kids that run and yell....my Caribbean days are long gone, but were lots of fun. I think a cruise is what you make it!!!! Enjoy!

 

 

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[villauk]

We are doing a 7 day on the Equinox in June for my wife's 50th Bday hopefully the crowd will be more our age and the entertainment more lively. On our last Eclipse cruise (14 day) most of the entertainment was certainly not geared to guests our age. Of course if you can meet some other people that like the same type of music and stuff it can still be a great cruise.

 

I think it also depends on what time of year you cruise. You do find that during peak holiday sailings there is definitely a younger crowd, often sailing with extended family. I can't remember when we took our last 7 night cruise, most of ours are 11+ nights, and we always travel with our now teen kids. The flights are too expensive for us to just cruise for 7 days, but most Brits do have longer vacation times from their employment than the US do e.g. usually a minimum of 20 days, often more ;).

[Olive1950]

No that I'm retired and elderly, I try NOT to cruise from June through September, because of the large number of cruising youngsters, but also because of hurricane season (I live on the Texas Gulf coast.)

 

I also try to avoid most holidays and during Spring break.

[Pier290]

We are going over Easter on the 10 day Carribean on Equinox. ...bringing our 2 children for their 1st cruise. ..hoping for more kids over the Easter holiday!!!!

 

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[wallie5446]

Here is a link to the age group poll from last year.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2410093

[wallie5446]

We are going over Easter on the 10 day Carribean on Equinox. ...bringing our 2 children for their 1st cruise. ..hoping for more kids over the Easter holiday!!!!

 

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The sailings over 7 days tend to have the least kids due to getting time away from school.

[vulcan1971]

No that I'm retired and elderly, I try NOT to cruise from June through September, because of the large number of cruising youngsters, but also because of hurricane season (I live on the Texas Gulf coast.)

 

 

 

I also try to avoid most holidays and during Spring break.

 

 

 

Love it!!!

 

I apply a similar logic in my selection of cruise itineraries:

 

1. The longer the duration of the cruise the better as it almost always weeds out any families with small children.

2. I usually travel during the school year when children should be in school being educated (not on vacation).

3. Avoid holiday cruises at all cost (including the month of March for Spring Break)!

4. If I cruise in the summer, it's in Europe or somewhere else around the planet.

 

All of these efforts mitigate symptoms for my chronic allergies related to children. :D

 

 

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[Olive1950]

Love it!!!

 

I apply a similar logic in my selection of cruise itineraries:

 

1. The longer the duration of the cruise the better as it almost always weeds out any families with small children.

2. I usually travel during the school year when children should be in school being educated (not on vacation).

3. Avoid holiday cruises at all cost (including the month of March for Spring Break)!

4. If I cruise in the summer, it's in Europe or somewhere else around the planet.

 

All of these efforts mitigate symptoms for my chronic allergies related to children. :D

 

 

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You get a HIGH FIVE and a FIST BUMP from me, vulcan!!!

 

But I must admit that our group, the Woo Hooers, will be sailing on a 12-night Caribbean cruise on Silhouette during the Thanksgiving holiday in 2018. HOPEFULLY there won't be an overabundance of youngsters onboard....

 

Fingers crossed....

[villauk]

Love it!!!

 

I apply a similar logic in my selection of cruise itineraries:

 

1. The longer the duration of the cruise the better as it almost always weeds out any families with small children.

2. I usually travel during the school year when children should be in school being educated (not on vacation).

3. Avoid holiday cruises at all cost (including the month of March for Spring Break)!

4. If I cruise in the summer, it's in Europe or somewhere else around the planet.

 

All of these efforts mitigate symptoms for my chronic allergies related to children. :D

 

 

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Regarding point 4, and you may not believe this, but European children do get summer holidays too :D.

[vulcan1971]

Regarding point 4, and you may not believe this, but European children do get summer holidays too.

 

 

 

Yes, I'm aware of that. However, some of my other points apply here to help mitigate such as longer itineraries. Also, part of the problem with children on cruises are the parents of those children and the lack of parental oversight that children receive. That's another whole thread and I don't want to divert or hijack this one. ;)

 

 

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[villauk]

Yes, I'm aware of that. However, some of my other points apply here to help mitigate such as longer itineraries. Also, part of the problem with children on cruises are the parents of those children and the lack of parental oversight that children receive. That's another whole thread and I don't want to divert or hijack this one. ;)

 

 

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So, as you will cruise in Europe over the summer, our parenting is obviously different - for the better of course :D?

[WonderMan3]

Love it!!!

 

I apply a similar logic in my selection of cruise itineraries:

 

1. The longer the duration of the cruise the better as it almost always weeds out any families with small children.

2. I usually travel during the school year when children should be in school being educated (not on vacation).

3. Avoid holiday cruises at all cost (including the month of March for Spring Break)!

4. If I cruise in the summer, it's in Europe or somewhere else around the planet.

 

All of these efforts mitigate symptoms for my chronic allergies related to children. :D

 

 

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Same here. This is why we almost always do the longer Caribbean cruises in January as there are virtually no children on board. I think there were 3 in total on our cruise last week and one of them was an infant.

 

For Europe we've tried to go in May or late August/September to again avoid kids as much as possible.

 

We made this commitment after taking a Bermuda cruise out of Boston in July one year. The ship was overrun with children, literally; they were running up and down the halls, sitting all over the stairways blocking them, always in the pools and hot tubs so we could not even get near them, teens smoking secretly in the back areas of the ship, and playing in the elevators so much that the captain had to come on the intercom twice during the cruise advising them to stop. The ship was Norwegian Dream but we called that cruise a Nightmare.

 

 

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[cherylxox]

We were on the Reflection January 27th and we were in the minority (29 and 32) but Celebrity is our pace. I would guess that 95% of cruisers on our ship were 50+.

[Sunlover4116]

Hi there, I am also considering sailing on a 7 night Caribbean with the Reflection. My boyfriend and I being in our late 20's and my parents in their 50's. We have only previously sailed oasis class on RCCL, which we very much enjoyed although we did not endulge in rock climbing or surf simulators.. etc. I'm afraid we will be out of place on Celebrity with older class, we do still enjoy a good nightlife and fun activities. Any advice is much appreciated! :)

[CruisinNewb]

Hi there, I am also considering sailing on a 7 night Caribbean with the Reflection. My boyfriend and I being in our late 20's and my parents in their 50's. We have only previously sailed oasis class on RCCL, which we very much enjoyed although we did not endulge in rock climbing or surf simulators.. etc. I'm afraid we will be out of place on Celebrity with older class, we do still enjoy a good nightlife and fun activities. Any advice is much appreciated! :)

 

We just sailed last month on a 7 night Caribbean cruise on Reflection.

We are in our 50s and my daughters joined but they are a bit younger then you (early 20's).

This was their 5th cruise and most have been on Celebrity. I offered them the choice for this cruise between RCCL and Celebrity and they chose Celebrity. They have no interest in the rock climbing etc offered on RCCL.

On this cruise there were not many adults their age. I did see a fair number in the pool on sea days occupying several of the hot tubs where they seemed to spend most of the day.

That said they had a great time. They enjoyed the food, they saw all the evening shows and spent time on sea days at the pool or in our alcove. They sunbathed, read, listened to music, ate, drank and were content.

Dinners and most breakfasts we ate together and we had early seating and usually went to the shows together or met up there.

They went to the silent disco and hung out (there were a lot more 20-30 age group there) there and every evening they had a different spot designated as the "dance club" and they visited a few there too. That said, they were usually back to the room before midnight or 1am.

So if you are looking for evening entertainment on Reflection, it is there. It might not be as varied as RCCL and there certainly will be less people in the 20's on the ship.

Not sure what other "fun" activities you might be looking for. I am sure there are more of them on RCCL. If you are looking for other couples to hang out with on Celebrity, I think you have less options then you would on RCCL.

[rose6]

It is unfortunate that you felt out of place on that previous cruise. On a Thanksgiving cruise there may be more families, particularly intergenerational families, who might cruise at that time. Although, as others have pointed out, a ten day cruise is a longer cruise, and the demographic will skew older. If you want to try to connect with others in your age group, I suggest you go on your cruise roll call and try to arrange some sort of activity, luncheon, or tour requesting that passengers in your specific age range join you. As you mature, you will probably discover that the ages of the other passengers are irrelevant to the enjoyment of your cruise experiences. When you go into a new work environment, or out to eat at a restaurant, you have no control over who else might be sharing your surroundings. If you try to approach each cruise as a new adventure, and an opportunity to meet people (of all ages) from many parts of the world, you might be less likely to feel out of place on your future cruises.

[TFLG]

It is unfortunate that you felt out of place on that previous cruise. On a Thanksgiving cruise there may be more families, particularly intergenerational families, who might cruise at that time. Although, as others have pointed out, a ten day cruise is a longer cruise, and the demographic will skew older. If you want to try to connect with others in your age group, I suggest you go on your cruise roll call and try to arrange some sort of activity, luncheon, or tour requesting that passengers in your specific age range join you. As you mature, you will probably discover that the ages of the other passengers are irrelevant to the enjoyment of your cruise experiences. When you go into a new work environment, or out to eat at a restaurant, you have no control over who else might be sharing your surroundings. If you try to approach each cruise as a new adventure, and an opportunity to meet people (of all ages) from many parts of the world, you might be less likely to feel out of place on your future cruises.

 

I sailed the Eclipse over thanksgiving and I didn't notice any difference in the age range from my other celebrity cruises (all 10 days and longer). There were a few kids but we hardly ever saw them except at the pool. It was the typical Celebrity mix of 50 to 80 with a few younger and a few older. We tended to meet more people our age because we would stay in the sky lounge and/or Quasor until they shut down. The older crowd would vanish between 10 and 11 (they turn into pumpkins at midnight!) leaving primarily cruisers our age.

[flyingv4me]

A tale of two cruises.

 

In January 2014 we did a B2B. First 7 day was a western Caribbean and the average age was probably 50. There was a good mix of all ages. The second leg was an eastern Caribbean where the average age was 70+. While that would have normally been fine, the entire vibe changed for the second cruise. The music went from modern to not-so-much, the bars were DEAD after 9:00, even the Martini Bar. Even the food got blander.

 

I finally asked the CD about the change in vibe and he told me that they try to meet the expectations of the demographics of each particular cruise. I laughed and told him that he nailed it for that cruise! We both had a good chuckle.