Taking parents on a cruise! Help!!

[canne]

Hi, my husband and I want to take my parents (70+) on a cruise next year - but are stuck as to which cruise line to pick:confused: They have only cruised once on the Independence of the Seas in September 2008 and found the ship a bit big - also I think they felt a little lonely as according to them, they never saw the same people twice!! Anyway we want to go in June and only for seven nights - no long haul but cannot decide which cruise line to use. We usually use rci but feel that maybe this might be a little too 'children friendly'. does anyone have any ideas:confused: Thanks:)

[GTO-Girl]

Hi, my husband and I want to take my parents (70+) on a cruise next year - but are stuck as to which cruise line to pick:confused: They have only cruised once on the Independence of the Seas in September 2008 and found the ship a bit big - also I think they felt a little lonely as according to them, they never saw the same people twice!! Anyway we want to go in June and only for seven nights - no long haul but cannot decide which cruise line to use. We usually use rci but feel that maybe this might be a little too 'children friendly'. does anyone have any ideas:confused: Thanks:)

 

If you choose to go in June all cruiselines will have an abundance of children since school is out. We try to sail either in Oct/Nov or late April/early May to avoid this situation.

[johneeo]

Hi, my husband and I want to take my parents (70+) on a cruise next year - but are stuck as to which cruise line to pick:confused: They have only cruised once on the Independence of the Seas in September 2008 and found the ship a bit big - also I think they felt a little lonely as according to them, they never saw the same people twice!! Anyway we want to go in June and only for seven nights - no long haul but cannot decide which cruise line to use. We usually use rci but feel that maybe this might be a little too 'children friendly'. does anyone have any ideas:confused: Thanks:)

 

Look at Holland America.

[DanJ]

I wouldn't hesitate to take them on HAL, Celebrity, Princess or Royal Caribbean. We actually took my wife's parents (mid-60's) on Carnival and they had a great time. But that was a case of we were taking our kids on their first cruise, and asked her parents if they wanted to join us. But I'm not sure if it was just the 4 of us that we would look at Carnival too closely.

 

Any of the big 6 cruise lines in summer on 7 day itineraries in North America are going to have a lot of families on board (even HAL).

[Essiesmom]

Celebrity on the M class ships, Holland on any ship, all will be smaller than Indy. If they want to 'see' some people more than once, ask for traditional assigned dining, at a large table. EM

[98Charlie]

Summer time will have more families, period. You may pick a week with fewer children than others but it is the luck of the draw.

 

IMHO any of the 6 major players can be good. We've been on all but HAL multiple times and haven't had a bad cruise. HAL has just seemed overpriced for similar itineraries when we are looking. If the right bargain comes our way we'll be on a HAL ship.

 

Cruising is what you make of it also. If they were on the Indy and didn't see the same people twice does that mean that they requested a table for 2? Did they not eat in the MDR? Sounds like they may need to just relax and start up conversations.

 

Whatever you choose get them to the Meet & Mingle if there is one for the roll call.

 

Charlie

[cb at sea]

It's true, on the big ships you can go the entire trip without seeing the same folks twice! The "work around" for that is to have tablemates!!!! You'll see them almost everynight...and can become good friends! It sure is fun to have like-minded folks to chat with every evening!

[jocap]

If you've been on Indy, I take it that you're writing from the UK?

The smaller ships from Southampton are those run by Fred Olsen, or P&O. The new ship in the P&O stable, the Adonia, has less than 1,000 passengers, and is adults only. The recent reviews are good.

Fred Olsen's ships are older, but highly regarded by their fans....the age group is mainly older, although children are welcome. They also use Dover as a home port.

Expensive, but much loved, are the Saga ships, which cater for the over 50s, but seem to be almost all-inclusive, with massive input from lecturers etc.

Arcadia (adults only), Q. Victoria and Q.Elizabeth are the same build ship, and are around 82,000 tons to Indy's 154,000+ tons, so are easier to negotiate.

Oriana will also be adult only by winter.

Thomson ships are all small, and are older than most lines, but have excellent entertainment on board....they also use Thomson flight from virtually every airport in the UK and Ireland, so you have a seamless package- good value, but not much glamour about the ships!

Hope you find something suitable- do let us know!

Jo.

[canne]

Thank you all so much for your help, am searching the internet now and looking at various options - again thanks and will let you know what we decided to do.:)

[katz]

Have you looked at Oceania? Your parents might like this cruise line. The average passenger age is probably 55-60. On our last Oceania cruise, there was only one baby who was the child of a crew member. People are very friendly, the ships are fairly small (650 and 1250 passengers), food and service is great and the atmosphere is generally quiet.

[Talisker92]

Princess has some of the identical ships as Oceania, and I think they would be less expensive.Check out the Pacific or Ocean Princess. We just did an 11 day cruise on the Ocean Princess and really enjoyed it. It only holds 680 passengers.

[romnan]

You might want to try Celebrity:)

[DanJ]

If you've been on Indy, I take it that you're writing from the UK?

 

 

That's kind of what I was thinking at first too, but I also seem to remember that the Indy was in Florida back in 2008 before moving to Europe full time.

[jschm27]

Taking 82 year old MIL on her first cruise next August to Alaska. Using HAL.

 

John

[trish1c]

We took dad on the Carribbean Princess last Spring. He found the walking to be a bit much.

I think with you there, the ship will feel more personal to them b/c they have you.

Pick something you like (although maybe not Oasis :p) & have fun.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Us Holland thay will have the best time and so will you

[jocap]

That's kind of what I was thinking at first too, but I also seem to remember that the Indy was in Florida back in 2008 before moving to Europe full time.

Agreed, but looking at the OP's sig., she's been to the Carib once, 3 times to the Med, and is on Indy this Sept, so I thought the odds would be that she was from the UK or Ireland ;)

Plus, this forum is advertised as Cruise Critic UK at the top of each page, and has a different home page to the one in the US, so many new posters these days automatically think that they're asking questions of their country folk.

If I'm wrong, then it might help another person who wants small, child free ships.

Cheers!:)

Jo.