What cruises attract the least amount of kids?

[seattleguy37]

I know this is terribly politically incorrect these days, but I don't want to be on a cruise with a lot of kids. I've heard horror stories on the boards of teenagers roaming the ship at night unattended, running up and down the halls shouting, banging on stateroom doors. And the little ones pushing every button in the elevators. Even worse was the posts seemed to indicate that the cruiselines did little to stop it. Or perhaps couldn't stop it. According to HAL's guidelines found in the stateroom, children under a certain age must be accompanied by an adult at all times, do people follow this? And does anyone know if Alaska on HAL will have a lot of kids? I purposely chose mid-May (after spring break but before the end of the school-year).

On the flipside of things, I do enjoy being around children and I know that many are mature and well-behaved. Unless I was around some completely clueless parents, I would never do anything like ask to be seated at another table, etc. I think I would enjoy the multi-generational aspect and would welcome the experience, particularly with teenagers, who are easier to converse with.

Bottom line: like anyone else, I want to bring home good memories from a $4,000 vacation.

[paddletoe53]

the best time to cruise with out alot of kids is when school is going on
you can all so get a good price on cruise

[LisaK]

as a general rule if you stay away from the basic "mainstream" cruise lines and pick one thats a bit higher end, go for a longer than 7 day cruise, choose a smaller older ship and don't sail during school breaks, you will encounter less kids.
HAL is a good choice for you.

[Donna]

[color=blue]You will also find less kids when the cruise is longer than 7 days and during school.[/color]

[richstacy]

Want fewer kids? Take longer cruises, ten to 14 days, when school is in session, on Holland America, Princess, Celebrity, or the like. Avoid Carnival and Disney.

[seattleguy37]

RichStacy-I see your going on the Statendam in April, where are you going?

[richstacy]

We start in Hong Kong April 17 and end up in Vancouver May 19. four ports in China, 1 in Korea, 4 in Japan, 1 in Russia, 3 in Alaska, then Vancouver. The 2nd half of the cruise is repositioning the ship from the Orient to the summer Alaska route. We are pretty excited about it because we've never been to the Far East.
Where are you going on the Westerdam?

[seattleguy37]

Rich, I'm going on one of the Alaska cruises, it's my first one...after years of watching these ships come in/out of Seattle, I decided to check them out and I think I'm probably going to be hooked.

[richstacy]

You will love it. Something worthwhile, spend the bucks in Juneau for the helicopter ride to the Mendenhall glacier. they let you off on the glacier and come back and pick you up in 30 minutes or so. It is well worth it. Another one, is if the weather is clear, ride the train from Skagway to the B.C. border. Takes about three hours round trip. That was the most spectacularly scenic train ride ever.

[Rev22:17]

Steve,

I know this is terribly politically incorrect these days, but I don't want to be on a cruise with a lot of kids. I've heard horror stories on the boards of teenagers roaming the ship at night unattended, running up and down the halls shouting, banging on stateroom doors. And the little ones pushing every button in the elevators. Even worse was the posts seemed to indicate that the cruiselines did little to stop it. Or perhaps couldn't stop it. According to HAL's guidelines found in the stateroom, children under a certain age must be accompanied by an adult at all times, do people follow this? And does anyone know if Alaska on HAL will have a lot of kids? I purposely chose mid-May (after spring break but before the end of the school-year).

On the flipside of things, I do enjoy being around children and I know that many are mature and well-behaved. Unless I was around some completely clueless parents, I would never do anything like ask to be seated at another table, etc. I think I would enjoy the multi-generational aspect and would welcome the experience, particularly with teenagers, who are easier to converse with.

Bottom line: like anyone else, I want to bring home good memories from a $4,000 vacation.

If your goal is to avoid misbeahving children, here are some options.

>> You probably won't have much problem with misbehaving minors if you book on the "premium" tier lines like Celebrity or Princess because the parents who bring children on those lines generally are responsible enough to have taught their children to behave.

>> Families with school-age children tend not to travel when school is in session, for the obvious reason. Generally, this means that cruises in January, the first half of February, May, September, October, November before the week of Thanksgiving, or December before the week of Christmas generally have very few children aboard.

>> It's also unusual to find large numbers of children on cruises of longer than seven or eight days.

Of cousre, it's important to remember that you are dealing with probabilities here and that you could encounter an exception. I was once surprised by the number of children and teenagers on a cruise to the Mexican Riviera in late September or October, for example, but apparently some school disctricts in southern California, where the cruise originated, have adopted a staggered schedule that has 1/3 of the students on vacation at any given time as an alternative to building more schools.

If you are really serious about avoiding children, I think that there are a couple "Adults Only" cruise lines in the "premium" and "luxury" tiers o the market. IIRC, Oceana Cruises might have such a policy in the "premium" tier.

Norm.

[seattleguy37]

Thanks. I think I'd turn down even an all expense paid cruise on Disney. And Carnival strikes me as wild party ships-hardly a way to catch up on my R&R. I think I made a good choice with HAL and I'm considering booking a 2nd cruise with them in early December to Mexico.

[mehawk]

You know, I have taken three trips on Carnival and hardly ever see any kids. My DF and I are a middle-aged couple, empty nesters but we think the grandkids are ok to spoil and send back home. So we value quiet and intimate times. Carnival has activites that keep the children away from the adults and I have no problems recommending them. Princess also has activites for children and is good to sail on.

[B.J. Keen]

Wow, this is usually a hot topic.

My experience is, the ship with the least amount of young people usually is the most expensive. As always you must realize this is not always the case.

[Chuck Palm]

David and I usually book on H.A.L., Celebrity, and Princess. I am a school teacher and must travel ay peak times. So I cannot avoid school vacation bookings. We have never had a problem with too many kids.

Princess limits the number of kids on any given cruise. H.A.L. is very strict about #s of passengers in any one stateroom and has mostly two person cabins. Celebrity has great programs for kids and they keep the kidos very busy with fun activities.

It is also smart to pick a cabin in a section of there ship where there are few, if any, triple or quad or "family" cabins. This makes your space much more enjoyable to say the least.

P.S. You will love the new Westerdam. We recently sailed the Oosterdam and were quite pleased with everything. (And we are very picky!)

[B&T Downunder]

Thanks mehawk i was starting to stress reading this posting ,we will be cruising carnival liberty sept/oct mediteranean for our 25th wedding anniversary [leaving 18 year old son back here in oz ]sounded like we were going to be inundated with young kids until I read your posting ,cruise is 12 days so we should be safe ,I have no idea about when European school holidays are though ,I also teach in schools so my time potions are limited

[Cassandra]

We went in April 2005 to the Southern Caribbean. The entire week? I saw maybe 7 kids out of nearly 2,000+ passengers. What a relief!

they really dont bother you that much. I have been on ones during spring break and onces during fall break and its not that bad. Especially if you do royal caribbean most of their parents have them behaved fairly well!

[kmm44]

Most kids on our cruises-- 600-700 Jan/02 and 03 RCI Explorer to E. and W. Carib. out of Miami (7-nighters, during schooltime and right after Xmas break!!) They weren't a problem, but it still amazes me how many there were.
Least kids--total of 7 in Feb. '05 on Celebrity Galaxy to the Panama Canal out of Galveston. (11-nights)

1/02 Explorer E. Carib.
1/03 Explorer W. Carib.
8/03 Summit Alaska cruise/tour 7 nights on ship/5 on land. Not many kids on this 12-night package.
2/04 Adventure S. Carib. 7-night, but less kids possibly due to farther away departure part of San Juan.
2/05 Galaxy Panama Canal
6/06 Jewel Brit. Isles/Nor. Fjords + 3 days in London
Not as many kids as I expected in summer, but it was 12 nights round-trip from Harwich, England. Much pricier than the Carib.
1/07 Mercury Mexican Riviera--11 nights, so maybe not many kids.

[nbevins]

donnot travel when kids are out of school.Choose ships/cruiseline with limited childrens areas

hal oceanic and usual upscale crystal seven seas etc

choose longer cruise 10-14 day or places other than carribbean./mexico

[paddletoe53]

we whent on carnival cruise this fall they said there 500 kids on our cruise and we only saw few kids

[Thoth]

I traveled on the HAL Maasdam and Statendam, both in September when school was in session...almost NO kids. Last February I was on Carnival with very few children. I think it must be WHEN you go ?

[NAS-KARR]

I know exactly how you feel, we raised 4 kids of our own and now have 11 grandkids....so I'm certainly no kid hater but..........
I had enough....want to be away from them(for the most part) and live out my days in peace and quiet.
Yes...take a 12 day and up "port intensive" Med. cruise. Sail on HAL,PRINCESS,OCEANIA AND X LINE. Travel during school sessions.You can also do an ALASKAN LAND/SEA CRUISE/TOUR, also do the FAR EAST and SOUTH PACIFIC.
Also the bucks the cruise costs hasn't come "easy" either and I also want to enjoy every last nickel.

Good Luck e CIAO,
Steve