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Average age on Oceania Cruises


Chrissi3010
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We are thinking about booking an Oceania Cruise (Canada/New England on the Insignia). We read a lot of reviews saying that the average age of the cruisers is very high, mostly retired people. Is that your experience, too? And are we probably too young for that ship with 50? We wanted to book the cruise for the size of the ship and the wonderful itinary during the Indian Summer and usually do self-guided and self-organized shore excursions...thanks in advance for your advice.

 

Christine

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Christine - it is very difficult to say definitively. It depends what you like on a cruise. For myself - mid 40's - a hectic lifestyle means that I like quiet when I cruise. I want to be able to relax by the pool or enjoy an evening meal without hordes of screaming kids. Like you we always do self-organised excursions. Oceania suits us very well (my mother is in her early '70's), although evening entertainment could be stronger (it is not what Oceania is known for). I don't stick out like a sore thumb on board, it's quite common to have late '30's upwards with the odd honeymoon couple but you will find the vast majority of your fellow cruisers are retired. That does not mean that the ship is a walking hospital; most of them seem to have more energy than me.......!

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We were on a similar cruise last August on the Insignia. We were surprised with the diversity of age groups on this cruise. There were many families onboard as it was the last hoorah before school starting. The children were very well behaved. There was an entire table of adolescent girls sitting together at dinner. They dressed up and were a refreshing breath of fresh air. But, I am assuming you are looking at after school starts up. This cruise was great. All of the ports were easily managed on our own. We booked private tours in Bar Harbor and Bermuda which turned out well. The others we used public transportation options or just walked from the port. It was one of our best cruises.

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Thanks for your replies; we very much appreciated them.

As we don't mind a more quite ship due to our stressy jobs and enjoy good food in a nice surrounding, we might give it a try. :-)

And we won't travel during summer holiday time....

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We are in our upper fifties and have been on 4 Oceania cruises. We only take cruises that occur when school is in. In all of our trips, the average age appeared to be around low 70's but that didn't bother us as we did not have to deal with a lot of loud passengers and there were still a lot of passengers in our age range that we had great conversations with.

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Average age does normally run in the mid 70s, especially on cruises greater than 10-12 days. You will get younger averages on the shorter Cruises. Something else to look for are cruises hosting groups from either Food and Wine Trails or Go Next, the college alumni groups. Both of these organizations typically bring younger than average cruisers aboard and makes for a better mix of passengers, IMO, than cruises without them.

 

Another interesting observation, from my recent cruise , is the greatly increased number of middle State Europeans (Germans, Austrian, Swiss, etc). Talking with them, they said that Oceania had significantly stepped up a diverse level of advertising and promotions on their cruises. Oceania was now doing a lot to get its name and face out to the cruising community now in those countries.An Austrian lady said that O had comped her ( and other) TAs a cruise, and that TA had came back raving about how great Oceania was and encouraging them to sign up for O cruises. The larger part of this story is that many of those cruisers trend younger (mid 50s) than the typical US/Canadian/ British crowd. On another positive note, since most all spoke very good English, conversations at sharing tables were far more diverse and entertaining! It will be interesting to see how, and if, this pattern continues to unfold.

 

Let me add that if you avoid Oceania shore tours and arrange them either via the ship’s Roll Call or privately, many of the issues with the preponderance of older cruisers disappear. OTOH, the problems are magnified on Oceania shore tours.

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I use to think it was a older group cruising, however after many years of cruising we're now it that group so it doesn't seem that old any more. Really it's a nice cruise if you like to relax and join the time--we enjoy the service and doing very little--some days we don't even get off the ship.

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We are thinking about booking an Oceania Cruise (Canada/New England on the Insignia). We read a lot of reviews saying that the average age of the cruisers is very high, mostly retired people. Is that your experience, too? And are we probably too young for that ship with 50? We wanted to book the cruise for the size of the ship and the wonderful itinary during the Indian Summer and usually do self-guided and self-organized shore excursions...thanks in advance for your advice.

 

 

 

Christine

 

 

 

Average age on O depends heavily on itinerary (both location and length).

O is a favorite of many university alumni travel groups (e.g., 1-2 week cruises to the Med), which shifts average age downward (as do summer Med and Alaska find more families with kids).

On the longer cruises, you'll find more retirees.

What I can say is that most of the passengers are fairly well-traveled cosmopolitan folks who worked hard for their money. So, "retiree" may not always mean over 65.

 

 

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LOL, THIS IS GREAT!

 

We customarily go with our children in their early 50's and they meet others their own ages and include us. We have a wonderful time. We usually can out walk and out tour all of them. They met a wonderful couple last March and we just got through entertaining them. Everyone is not disabled! Don't look at demographics on Oceania!

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We are thinking about booking an Oceania Cruise (Canada/New England on the Insignia). We read a lot of reviews saying that the average age of the cruisers is very high, mostly retired people. Is that your experience, too? And are we probably too young for that ship with 50? We wanted to book the cruise for the size of the ship and the wonderful itinary during the Indian Summer and usually do self-guided and self-organized shore excursions...thanks in advance for your advice.

 

Christine

 

Hi Christine,With respect to your question, I’m not sure why you are asking..

Age doesn’t matter.Im not yet 60 but have mixed with many people who LOOK older than me,but I never ask their age.I couldn’t care a less..There are passengers who are all shapes and sizes,different degrees of intellect,different colours,different cultures and different mobility capabilities in mobility.

Just go and enjoy,meet these people,and give them the benefit of the doubt,that you may actually get on with them.

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Hi Christine,With respect to your question, I’m not sure why you are asking..

Age doesn’t matter.Im not yet 60 but have mixed with many people who LOOK older than me,but I never ask their age.I couldn’t care a less..There are passengers who are all shapes and sizes,different degrees of intellect,different colours,different cultures and different mobility capabilities in mobility.

Just go and enjoy,meet these people,and give them the benefit of the doubt,that you may actually get on with them.

Absolutely spot on. :)

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We are 47 and 52 and did our first Oceania cruise 12 months ago. Average age when we got on board looked like it was somewhere between 75 and death. But we had a great time and met some nice people, including a few other in their 40s and 50s.

 

We are looking forward to our next Oceania cruise next year.

Basically we have learned, the nicer the cruise line, the older the other passengers will be.

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We are 47 and 52 and did our first Oceania cruise 12 months ago. Average age when we got on board looked like it was somewhere between 75 and death. But we had a great time and met some nice people, including a few other in their 40s and 50s.

 

We are looking forward to our next Oceania cruise next year.

Basically we have learned, the nicer the cruise line, the older the other passengers will be.

 

 

 

True. Hard to afford the more expensive lines when you are younger

 

Another rule of thumb: the more sea days the older the passengers. Usually true for crossings and Panama Canal cruises. The ship is the destination and cruise is less strenuous

 

 

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Shawnino;

 

Bitbob added an important one, the number of sea days. We, and many others cruise for one reason, that is the ports of call and sightseeing in and around those port towns. If the ship docks at 8:00 am and departs at 6:00 pm, we’re off the ship by 8:15 and not back until 5:00 or so. The ship is not the destination, the ports of call are. We view a sea day as nice every 8-10 days to recharge the batteries and catch up on the small stuff. However, when we compare the combined cost of a sea day compared to what that would buy in a 5 star resort, with huge swimming pools, incredible golf courses, large suites, and perhaps Michelin rated dining, we choose to keep sea days at a minimum.

 

OTOH, you’ll find the ship is the destination for others, often more senior cruisers, that may rarely, or only occasionally get off the ship for short periods of time. I’ve been told that the morning long “needle pointing and chat” group always has solid attendance as well as the bridge and other groups, even on port days.

 

Each to their own, every one pays for what they want, but the number of sea days and ports of call greatly affect the overall make up of the cruise.

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Shawnino;

 

 

 

Bitbob added an important one, the number of sea days. We, and many others cruise for one reason, that is the ports of call and sightseeing in and around those port towns. If the ship docks at 8:00 am and departs at 6:00 pm, we’re off the ship by 8:15 and not back until 5:00 or so. The ship is not the destination, the ports of call are. We view a sea day as nice every 8-10 days to recharge the batteries and catch up on the small stuff. However, when we compare the combined cost of a sea day compared to what that would buy in a 5 star resort, with huge swimming pools, incredible golf courses, large suites, and perhaps Michelin rated dining, we choose to keep sea days at a minimum.

 

 

 

OTOH, you’ll find the ship is the destination for others, often more senior cruisers, that may rarely, or only occasionally get off the ship for short periods of time. I’ve been told that the morning long “needle pointing and chat” group always has solid attendance as well as the bridge and other groups, even on port days.

 

 

 

Each to their own, every one pays for what they want, but the number of sea days and ports of call greatly affect the overall make up of the cruise.

 

 

 

FYI

 

There is no needlepoint or bridge when the ship is in port. Your information is incorrect

 

 

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Edited by bitob
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Bitbob;

 

 

 

FYI, they were listed everyday in the Currents as daily activities last month while on the Nautica. Everyday = sea days and port days.

 

 

 

We’ve been on 15 o cruises. My wife goes to needlepoint to knit and plays bridge. When the ship is in port those activities are not offered. They could offer something in the am if ship is docking at noon but Never when the ship is docked. You are simply incorrect

 

 

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We’ve been on 15 o cruises. My wife goes to needlepoint to knit and plays bridge. When the ship is in port those activities are not offered. They could offer something in the am if ship is docking at noon but Never when the ship is docked. You are simply incorrect

 

 

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It may not be an official activity - instead informally organized by passengers on port days. I could find folks in Horizon doing handwork most days (myself included).

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I'm early 50s and feel like I fit right in on the ships. I've enjoyed meeting folks from all walks of life. On our last cruise, I did plan some non-ship sponsored shore excursions that were a little more 'high adventure' in nature.

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It may not be an official activity - instead informally organized by passengers on port days. I could find folks in Horizon doing handwork most days (myself included).

 

 

Correct

Lots of people knit or do needlepoint on a cruise. They also have “unhosted” party bridge or mah jongg in the card room. The latter is rarely well attended.

 

 

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I find people older than me interesting. They know lots of stuff and many of them have been to a lot of places. Much knowledge there.

 

Hopefully we'll all get there someday. I hope I'm healthy enough to still be cruising and traveling when I'm older.

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ORV;

 

I agree 100%. We were doing the SE Asia trail last month, and one of our more senior cruisers was telling fascinating stories of living in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Bangkok back in late 50s - early 70s. What it was like then vs now! Incredible entertaining stories of days gone by. Many other type stories abound meeting remarkable people.

 

I just hope when the time comes for me to say “it’s time” , I’m senile enough to recognize it. Plus, hope I’m polite enough to not sign up for tours I can’t physically handle. Currently, senility may be a small problem with the current situation, pure arrogance and self centeredness is the main culprit. Hope, I quit before then! :o

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