Kidless Cruises

[donna5]

Which Princess ship is going to be the Adonia?

[Essiesmom]

Which Princess ship is going to be the Adonia?

Royal Princess.

[printingchick]

Tips for locating a cruise on a mainstream cruise line where you will be cruising with the fewest children:

• Book longer cruises - at least 7 days. Families with young kids typically book 3-5 day cruises.
  
• Book smaller ships. Families tend to book ships with lots of bells and whistles to amuse the youngsters. (Outdoor movie screens, FlowRider, bowling, ice skating, zip lines, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, etc.) Book on a smaller, probably older and more elegant ship that has fewer things aimed at young passengers. I believe we had about six kids under the age of 18 on our Serenade of the Seas cruise in March.
  
• Do NOT cruise during school holidays.
  
• Book more port-intensive cruises. Parents traveling with very young children like more sea days, either to give the kids down-time or because the kids are more enamored with the ship than with the ports.
  
• Choose less touristy ports of call. Parents with young kids like to pick ships visiting ports of call with all sorts of fun, kid-friendly excursions. They may not want to hike the rain forests of Dominica or tour museums in Europe.
  

You'll notice my next cruise is booked on a relatively large ship with three days at sea. That's because I'm cruising with my teenage son in honor of his high school graduation. I narrowed the field by price, but he made the final decision. He really likes sea days!

[mtaylor04]

We're booked on a 10 day in November and there are only 42 children scheduled to be aboard, with a ship that holds 3100 people, I doubt 42 kids are going to have any impact on us at all.

 

Length of cruise and time of year :)

[jocap]

Donna- I'm not sure about the Loyalty levels, but we have had points from our Princess cruise added to our P&O ones. I don't know if this is because of Carnival, or because Princess and P&O used to be the same company- I suspect it's Carnival policy.

Jo.

[ovccruiser]

Do our Princess loyalty levels cross over to P & O, such as elite, platinum?

 

 

Not too sure on this, but I know the cruise days are 50%(?) one to the other, so a 14 day cruise on Princess will add 50%(7 days) to your P & O loyalty scheme.

[fridaythecat.u.k.]

Well, I am going to stick up for the kids, even though I don't "do" kids and don't have any of my own through choice :p

 

I went on a 12 day cruise last August on the Ruby Princess in the Med and admit I was a bit concerned beforehand as I expected there to be a lot of kids on board, running around being obnoxious.

 

In reality, I was correct with my first pre-conception (there were a lot of kids on board) but totally out of line with the latter - I never once saw any mis-behaving kids and none of them spoiled the enjoyment of my holiday.

 

On the other hand, some of the rude, obnoxious adults I came across were a different story entirely..... :eek:

[paul929207]

Glad everything went well. We have found kids to usually be well behaved.

[Travelcat2]

We, too, prefer to travel without children around. Try to choose a time when school is in session (not always easy to coordinate with Europe). Avoid February - April (Spring Break, Winter Break, President's week, etc.) Look at cruise lines that do not generally have programs for children (in the luxury arena, this would be Seabourn and Silversea). As mentioned, few children sail on HAL or Oceania. We have sailed twice in mid-May (making sure not to include Memorial Day -- or long enough to incorporate the week before and after Memorial Day), and there were no children on the ship (Regent). January is another great month as is mid September through mid-December (avoiding Thanksgiving in the U.S. and Canada).

[travelbug924]

I was just on the Regent Voyager. While they allow children, if there was a single child on board, I didn't see him or her. Not one. It was lovely. I like children, I just prefer not to travel with them.

[biziasabee]

We're booked on a 10 day in November and there are only 42 children scheduled to be aboard, with a ship that holds 3100 people, I doubt 42 kids are going to have any impact on us at all.

 

Length of cruise and time of year :)

 

 

How can you find out how many children are going to be onboard? I would love to cruise on a ship without so many children but unfortunately my vacation time falls during summer break - I don't have enough seniority at my newest job to choose when I vacation.

[6rugrats]

How can you find out how many children are going to be onboard? I would love to cruise on a ship without so many children but unfortunately my vacation time falls during summer break - I don't have enough seniority at my newest job to choose when I vacation.

Call the cruiseline and ask.

[paul929207]

How can you find out how many children are going to be onboard? I would love to cruise on a ship without so many children but unfortunately my vacation time falls during summer break - I don't have enough seniority at my newest job to choose when I vacation.

Call the cruiseline, but remember the numbers can change.

[haikou]

The advice given by some here is spot on. If one wants to be free from the hassles of misbehaving kids(and coincidentally oftentimes the parents are no better!), one should

1. Travel on a cruise with a lot of sea days(read: the kids might get bored), such as a trans ocean crossing

2. Travel during the school year(In Australia the kids there seem to be out of school in long stretches at a time, like a month or so-at least that was the case when I was there in March-April of 2010)

3. Avoid cruises offered by a given line ,with special promotions for families(i.e. kids sail free)

4. Save your pennies and sail on high end luxury lines, as, by definition, they are expensive, so fewer families with kids tend to sail on them

5. Do not pick destinations which are popular with families during the summer -ie forget the Mediterranean or Caribbean if you want some peace and quiet!

 

Sometimes adults behave worse than young adults and kids, so keep that in mind. Often times I have found it helpful to talk to the parent/s and just sympathize with them if a kid is being unruly. You can often see tan exasperated look on many parents' face, and a little kindness often goes a long way to help them regain control of their children. I am a mother of 2 daughters and 1 grandson, and I was not lucky enough to be able to afford to cruise with them, and not sure I would have anyways. as traveling with kids is major work(I could never totally relax while my girls were with me on car trips, as much as I enjoyed spending time with them) and you have to carry so many things with young kids, that I would likely have preferred to stay at home!

[1025cruise]

You realize this is a 3 year old thread?

[spookwife]

:o Forgive me if this has been discussed before (and point me to the thread :-)), as I am a newbie here....but are there any no-children-allowed cruises and if there are, which do you suggest? :)

 

every mainstream line will have kids, period.

 

the trick is finding the itineraries, length and time frame to minimize that.

 

ten day or longer cruises: fewer kids

off season( fall, early spring): fewer kids

Non beachy centered destinations: fewer kids

 

some lines do not market to families.. they have no or very small kids club programming.. American Steamboat River cruises, the luxe lines like Crystal and Seabourne. as a result, these ships tend to attract fewer families with younger kids but no line will actually ban them altogether.

[Texas Tillie]

every mainstream line will have kids, period.

 

the trick is finding the itineraries, length and time frame to minimize that.

 

ten day or longer cruises: fewer kids

off season( fall, early spring): fewer kids

Non beachy centered destinations: fewer kids

 

some lines do not market to families.. they have no or very small kids club programming.. American Steamboat River cruises, the luxe lines like Crystal and Seabourne. as a result, these ships tend to attract fewer families with younger kids but no line will actually ban them altogether.

 

Crystal does have kids clubs. Does market to families - especially on their summer cruises - where they even have some kid' sail free deals. See a current thread on the Crystal board about unruly children.

[dark star]

P&O still have two ships that are adults only. they are very much a mainstream cruise line that are owned by carnival corp and operate out of the u.k.

[calliopecruiser]

I've heard several people say that a Disney cruise had fewer kid problems than they'd had on any other line they'd sailed.......there were lots of kids on board, but the programs for children were so good that the kids were never a (noise, mess, congestion) problem for the adult passengers. FWIW.

[spookwife]

I've heard several people say that a Disney cruise had fewer kid problems than they'd had on any other line they'd sailed.......there were lots of kids on board, but the programs for children were so good that the kids were never a (noise, mess, congestion) problem for the adult passengers. FWIW.

 

 

concur. if it were not for the premium price and the ( to us) lousy MDR food we'd sail them in a heartbeat. Crew were not shy about keeping the adult only areas AO as well as maintaining decorum in the rest of the public areas.