Will NCL be a good fit for 40 somethings?

[Peace2U]

You'll find that often happens. People who have never been on a particular cruise line seem to know all about it.

 

I like to try different things but I just like to know what to expect beforehand. I want to try at least one cruise on each of the mainstream cruise lines. Hubby, on the other hand, sticks with one particular thing. Variety is my spice.

[LynneL]

I like to try different things but I just like to know what to expect beforehand. I want to try at least one cruise on each of the mainstream cruise lines. Hubby, on the other hand, sticks with one particular thing. Variety is my spice.

 

My thoughts exactly. Possibly because I am lucky enough that I know each particular cruise won't be my last one (not unless the man upstairs has other plans for me : o ) I go with an open mind & know I will have a good time. I also try not to compare one line to another while I'm sailing. Different lines are a better fit for some people. If a cruise isn't the exact fit for me....no biggie...I've had a new experience of something different. My hubby sounds similar to yours. Guess that's why they say opposites attract....they'd never try anything new if they didn't have wives like us - lol.

 

I generally look at reviews of the particular ship I'm going on & also port reviews. I look at how many stars the average cruisers gives the ship & read those. I'll read read one or two at either end of the spectrum but try to focus on ones that seem to what the majority of people scored the ship. I put more weight on the reviews of people who have been on more than one cruise & more than one cruise line. (just my style of doing it). I love to get an idea ahead too of what to expect for my cruise experience, focusing on the offerings/pluses so I know what can make each experience even better. (example: So much negative stuff on Jamaica. I used those complaints of pushy vendors to make my approach to it a really plesant, but very clear reply to them that whatever they're selling was really lovely, but, "No thanks, I can buy absolutely nothing to take home...but I hope they have a wonderful day!"...and walk on. In the end, I've never had a problem with vendors in my 4 or 5 trips there.

 

Have a wonderful cruise, in whatever you may choose!

[STARFISH*4]

we re 62 and 61..

 

and we had heard that NCL s passenger s were generally on the senior

side..yet there was a even scattering of all age groups..*and all having

a BLAST*:D

 

actually it really depends on the SAILING...i have been on NCL 6 times and the cruise to the Panama Canal (avg age 65) did i feel like maybe i was on HAL-was one of the younger ones 50s-- all the other cruises were all age groups...i have NEVER heard that NCL was an OLDER crowd...it just really depends on WHERE and too WHAT time of the year you sail

[14ersco]

Looking at your choice from the child's viewpoint our son who is almost 7 prefers NCL over Carnival. He does not want to go back to Carnival, because he found the child care staff not friendly and some of the activities boring. There was only member of child care who would actually say hello when we passed them around the ship. As for child care activities every day part of the time of the child care was done in one of the nightclubs (before open for adults). The staff would put on music; then sit back and expect the kids to dance for a hour or so.

 

On our NCL cruises the child care staff were always friendly when we saw them around the ship and most had remembered his name. We were on the Sky when it was the Pride of Aloha and found the child care area smaller and with less kids stuff. The Sky and Sun are the oldest NCL ships so they do not reflect the rest of the NCL fleet when it comes to the child care facilities, but the child care staff were still great.

 

The only problem with NCL and cruising during the summer is the small size of the fleet. This limits the number of NCL cruising options that do not involve plane flights. For Florida you only have the Sky and Epic available. Starting next summer the Spirit will be going to the Western Caribbean out of New Orleans. Right now the New York - Boston area has the most North American NCL ship options during the summer, with three.

[suz1607]

The wonderful thing about NCL is that because of freedom of choice you can make your cruise be what YOU want it to be! I have cruised NCL with family from 7 to 84 and all were pleased.

[Peace2U]

This is all such good info. Thanks!

[Viesczy]

Our last 2 cruises were on NCL, the Dawn and the Jewel & we are late 30s/early 40s somethings...

 

The Dawn was an 11, or 12, day cruise that hit over spring break so there was a huge amount of young folks, sorta felt like I was back in jr. high or high school. Which is neither good nor bad, but I was certainly glad I didn't have to study for any calc exams. We have our own teens which we were hoping to get away from, which we did and were around other teens.

 

The Jewel was a 2 week repo from this past fall, NY to Miami, and honestly we were among the youngest folks on the boat and that was a different atmosphere as compared to the Dawn's cruise. I think the average age was very late 50s or early to mid 60s. Neither better nor worse than the Dawn crusie. About the worst thing was there was less eye candy around the pool for me, but then again I had dropped down to about 5.8% body fat forthe cruise and was most likely eye candy for others! :rolleyes::cool:

 

You can expect an older crowd on a longer cruise that doesn't take place over a popular break time.

 

As a note we shared the ports of call with HA and RC on several dates and the HA folks coming off the ship looked like someone forgot to close the cemetery gates and zombies all loaded up on the HA boat, no offense to anyone. The HA guests made most of the Jewel's guests seem spry.

 

With a shorter cruise like the OP listed I bet there will be a huge diversity of age groups and plenty of contemporaries for any age group.

 

Derek