I'm 55, and thinking about booking a singles cruise on the Harmony to the Mexican Riviera in Sept. I'm not a "Party Hearty" type of guy, but I'm NOT ready for the "Geritol" set either. Carnival sounds too "Party Animal" for me. Any comments would be welcomed.
Crystal Harmony is a wonderful ship. I've been on that Mexican Riviera cruise on Crystal Harmony and that particular cruise attracts a younger crowd with some young families and more active people. I wouldn't hesitate to book a cruise on Crystal Harmony.
We were on Crystal Harmony last Oct. Mostly older people, couples and some singles, only 2 babies. We enjoyed this ship because of the amenities, staff, food and the fact there were no "party animals". Most passengers had taken many trips with Harmony. I wouldn't hesitate to book that trip.
The average age of Crystal passengers are 60 + and it can go higher during the winter months. Crystal doesn't attract many families and kids, so that tends to keep the average age higher. I've been on 13 Crystal cruises, with numbers 14 and 15 coming up soon, and I would say that I've seen maybe 10 kids total on all my cruises.
Not sure what you mean by singles cruise, but Crystal doesn't really do what most think of as "singles cruises". While they do attract singles because of their nicer single supplement, most of the singles are older and not in the 20 to 40 age range. I'm in my early 50's and I'm usually the youngest single on board. I know there's a company in Texas that's marketing "singles" cruises on Crystal, but I think that's a marketing ploy this company is doing and they're doing this promotion will all cruise lines and not just Crystal.
But even though Crystal passengers are older, they are by no means the nursing home set. These are very active, well traveled, interesting people. They do all the shore excursion including safari in Africa, bungee jumping in Brazil, overland jeep tours in the desert and things like that.
You won't find all the activities that there are on the mass market lines---no pool games, best buns contests or horse racing. In the evening they have a production show or guest performers like classical musicians, vocalists or a comedian. During the day they have classes in computers, bridge, food and wine, health and wellness, investments, piano and foreign languages.
Crystal is one of the dressiest cruise lines with most men wearing tuxes (90%) on formal night, dress shirt, dress slacks and maybe a tie on informal nights, and collared shirts and nice slacks on casual nights.
You cannot go wrong with a Crystal cruise. They have been awarded the best cruise line for the past 7 years by Conde Nast Traveler and by Travel and Leisure Magazine. They have the best food and service of any large cruise ship line and their service is something to be experienced.
I'm considering MR September cruise as well and this will give me the opportunity to try out Crystal cruise line. I've been looking at the 12 D Alaska cruise in May vs. MR in September-both have great itinarary. Your chance of meeting single individuals on the September MR voyage is greater , since it is being advertised as "single cruise" by VTG website. Hopefully Crystal's reputation will attract single indivduals in their 40's and 50's interested more in conversation then "excessive" partying. So , hold off on Geritol for now and enjoy your cruise. Bo.
Check out Crystal board on Cruisecritic.com I've enjoyed reading it and have less concern about being too young for this cruiseline.
Come over to the Crystal board on cruise critic and look at the Share the Experience (STEX) threads. Matches are being made between sponsors and new cruisers.
We are on the Symphony in April and loved Crystal. We've been on quite a few cruises and would rate Crystal the best. We'll be on Harmony in October. The only disappointment we had was in the dance venues. Seems like there were only 4-5 couples dancing each night and it was really dead. Most of those dancing were with the Crystal Ambassadors. How about Harmony for evening dancing?
I'm also hoping this will be a somewhat "younger" crowd (50's). Seems everyone on that ship knew each other and it was like being at a country club where we were the outcasts.
Don't look for the age to drop much. The average age of Crystal's passengers is well above 65. While you might find a sprinkling of younger cruisers, most will still be retirees. And yes, because their older, the dance venues don't get much of a workout. It will still be the ambassador hosts and the older single women who will be dancing.
The age of passengers on any ship depend on the length of the cruise. Crystal primarily has ten to 12-day cruises so passengers are primarily 60+. However, they're stylish and urban, many from California and Florida, hardly the Geritol set. Singles have a great time on Crystal because of the cruise line's lecture and on-board activities. It's easy to meet other people. And, they carry 50 or so single people on each cruise. Crystal is the only cruise line I really recommend for singles because of this. They are the only company with a reasonable single occupancy rate as well.
Understand, the crowd can be a bit pretentious on Crystal. Lots of dressing up, resort wear. Personally I prefer Star Clippers, a laid-back sailboat carrying 150 passengers (mostly sailors). My point is that your personal interests and lifestyle is pretty important when picking one solo cruising experience over another.
Sorry Anne, but I've been on 14 Crystal cruises as a solo, and would hardly call the passengers pretentious. I've met people from all walks of life from retired teachers (Ilike myself) and welders to captains of industry. They do not only wear resort wear during the day. Lots of shorts, t-shirts and bathing suits in the warm weather cruises. I've not worn any kind of resort wear during the day---mostly shorts and capris. Yes, Crystal is the most formal cruise line in the evening with most men wearing tuxes, but that in no way says pretentious.
I have been on several Crystal cruises, on all their ships and I can honestly say they are head and shoulders above every other cruiseline out there.... as a single, we are treated royally and I've yet to meet any pretentious people.... I would not even consider any other cruiseline no matter how attractive the offers
We're blue collar workers and love Crystal. We don't find the passengers to be at all pretentious, nor any of the cruise line staff. In fact, it's the warmth and friendliness of both passengers and crew alike that keep us coming back.
Singles on Crystal Harmony
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