Just a question from a Celebrity first timer

[TEXASMUNK]

On longer cruises, 10 days +, we found on HAL that the passenger demographic was considerably older and very, very few kids. Is this true for Celebrity?

[CruisingChick]

Hi Jim,

 

It all depends on the time of year. Our 13 Night Meditteranean last August had 400+ kids on it.

 

If you are traveling when school's in session, yes there will be less kids. If you are traveling during school vacations, then probably will be a good mix.

 

Anne Maria

[Deb C.]

Last Nov. on the Zenith, there were 11 children under 17 yrs. of age. (This was a 14 day cruise).

[tuggers]

I'm surprised you had 11 unless it was over Thanksgiving break? I always try to travel when school is in, but a lot of states are now going to year round so it is making it harder to figure out!

[chessbriar]

Another time to watch out for is spring break. The number of kids seem to be up at that time as well.

[CINDYSUE]

We have only gone on one cruise that was more than a week. Last October we went to Hawaii on a 11 day cruise. It was the "oldest" cruise we had been on. Alot of people over 65. I only saw about 10 kids the whole time.

[Deb C.]

Tuggers: Of those 11 children, three were from one family and they were homeschooled. Several of the others were pre-schoolers. I saw one child blowing bubbles on day on deck and he had TWO Celebrity staff members with him. Good ratio---his mother said he was getting spoiled! :-)

 

Celebrity seems to do a good job with keeping the kids busy and contented. I generally don't notice they are onboard.

[garykool81]

I must say that the children I've encountered aboard Celebrity, though my experience with the line is limited to one cruise as of now, have been *much* better behaved than those I've seen aboard Norwegian and Carnival, etc.

 

That said, it's still nice to have a cruise with fewer children, IMO.

[wv4891]

Yes, the crowd is older on the longer cruises. On my 14 day Panama Canal cruise my table mates were 89 and 85. The young couple were in their mid 70s. The older couple were great fun and very active, they used to go dancing with my son's grandfather's big band in Chicago in the very early 1930s (anyone remember Ted FioRito??). As to kids, this cruise was in April, just after the Spring break. I think I saw 3 school age kids (all the same family) and one baby on board. I personaly like kids on board, not 400, but a few more. They are great fun to watch and make me feel a little younger.

[rjack22]

We are on Summit for the 10 day Ultimate the 1st of April. I realize that this might be spring break for some. But spring breaks vary widely. I am sure that it will be someone's spring break (smile).

 

Easter though is March 27, so for those who get the week after Easter off, their break will be ending on Apr. 3rd. So I am *hoping* that the cruise that we are going on won't have that many kids on it.

[kitty9]

On our Summit cruise this past January, there were no more than 5 kids and only one of them was school age.

[charlielinda]

We were on the Summit last Easter and we're told that there were 400 children on board. They were the most well behaived children I've even seen -- because we never saw them. We must have been on different schedules but it was amazing to us that so many children were on board! Obviously, the kids, the cruise staff and the parents deserve great praise -- I know the kids had a great time because I saw lots of pictures of children -- just never saw them.

[CelebrityMan]

JM,

 

As the other replys have said, the longer cruise tends to reflect an older demographic. Many of the truly longer cruises 12+ days, a large number of which are repositioning cruises, are only done during times when schools are traditionally in session. Hence, in our experience the "repo" cruises have the lowest ratio of children.

 

That said, on our last Canal cruise (which we're doing again next spring) the children aboard were home schooled. They were a delightful family, the oldest daughter won the talent contest with her Tchaicovsky piano piece, and as a former college history professor I was asked to give them a 'lecture' during the Canal transit.

 

I'm sure you'll enjoy your longer cruise on Celebrity. For us, the longer the cruise the better the relaxation.

 

Cheers!

[Bruin Steve]

It used to be the hard-and-fast rule was:

1. The longer the cruise, the fewer kids...

2. School vacation times = more kids

3. Colder the itinerary, older the demographics

4. More remote the itinerary, older the demographics...

5. More expensive the cruise, the older the demographics...

 

...and this was pretty much true for ALL cruise lines...

Of course, you also had to factor in that certain cruise lines just had reputations as older (HAL) and others younger (Carnival)...

 

By these rules, a 7 nighter out of Miami on Carnival (or on an RCI Voyager-class) will give you the maximum of kids...while a 20+ nighter out of Singapore or Bangkok will give you virtually no kids (and no one under the age of 65)...

 

Of course, a lot of that is changing...For one, as pointed out earlier, year-round school schedules will have an effect...

Another new wrinkle...and one clearly evident on that 13-night Mediterranean with the 400 kids (I was on that one with CruisingChick), Celebrity has upped their marketing the European cruises to Europeans...So, whereas what were formerly more remote and therefore more expensive cruises--like Europe--are now CLOSE and INEXPENSIVE for a large segment of the clientele... So, for the same reasons we Americans might take our kids along on a cruise to Mexico or the Caribbean and leave them home when cruising Europe, Europeans now find it economical to take their kids on cruises to the Mediterranean...

 

Still, the controlling factors on kids or no kids for most people are 1) school calendars, and 2) cost...Driving four people to San Pedro or Miami and going on a 7-night family cruise to the Mexican Riviera or Caribbean is within the budget of most American families...Flying four people to Europe and going on a 14-night cruise with the kids is out of reach for a lot of people...Most think "We'll put that one off until the kids are grown and on their own"...

[RSteele]

Our daughter was the YAC ( youth activities coordinator) for another line for several years. Our 17 day cruise to Scandinavia/Russia had 5 kids on it...4 were crew kids (their Dads were bridge officers) and they knew how to handle themselves on a ship. The other 17 day cruise was a repositioning cruise that had 1 kid on the ship....now, other locations and shorter trips had many more kids, but she always had lot's of help....she never convinced us that she really worked hard... :rolleyes:

[nealberk]

I must say that the children I've encountered aboard Celebrity, though my experience with the line is limited to one cruise as of now, have been *much* better behaved than those I've seen aboard Norwegian and Carnival, etc.

 

That said, it's still nice to have a cruise with fewer children, IMO.

The Celebrity attitude toward kids and what they expect of kids is well expressed in the kids' newsletters. They expectt he kids to have fun but to act like adults when it comes to respecting the rights and feelings of the other guests. I have heard that almost all the kids have no problem with that and actually try to live up to the standards! (They also get to make out like bandits with all the attention they get)

 

I have the kids newsletters on my website.

[BSeaBob]

Jim

Our last 14 dayer on the Infinity (Jan) Panama had only 2-3 kids aboard and the usual middle age crowd. (40_60) a few older and few younger. a 7 day alaska this past June. (Infinity) About the same for "kid's" but there were about 20 teenagers who as far as we are concerned acted like young adults and fit in better than we did likely.

[Catnip]

rjack,

I'm hoping the same thing! I am on that cruise, too!!

[rjack22]

Catnip,

 

You are on the April 1 Summit too? Fantastic! Did you register for the CC get together yet?

 

Email me and lets talk cruise! rjack22@mail.com

[cruzaddict]

I personally hope there are a sizeable amount of kids on my april 11th 11-night cruise,so my son will have lots of kids to play with!

[Jacqueline]

I agree with Steve.

The Baltic cruises will have fewer children than the Med cruises. And even HAL is seeing a lot of kids- we had 200 teens alone on our two week trip from London to athens. And they were largely American and Canadian kids.

Traveling during the summer anywhere will almost guarantee kids. Even Crystal and other luxury cruise lines plan for them.

A three week cruise in January will be safe- Europe in spring and fall will have fewer children