celebrity vs princess / age group

[mgarla]

Hi. I am planning to do a cruise, but I am debating between celebrity and princess lines. I am single, 40 year old professional female ; not looking for a loud party atmosphere, but don't always want quiet boring evenings either. I was wondering if anyone had thoughts on what might be the best line to sail with (wondering if celebrity may attract an age group older than me ---is princess a younger crowd?). Thanks for any advice! :)

[Cruzaholic41]

I have found the demographic on both lines to be exactly the same.

 

But while I much prefer Celebrity's ships to Princess' ships, I think Princess' night life and activities are better.

[OCruisers]

Welcome to Cruise Critic! :)

You find the passenger base to be about the same on both.

Princess normally has more to do in the evenings ... not real late, but later than Celebrity.

Both are very nice cruise lines.

LuLu

[wallie5446]

I am 60, the wifester is 57.

We first sailed Princess in 1992, last in 2012, and it was not the same. Our first Celebrity was in 1993, the Reflection last Nov. and our sailing on the Equinox this yr, will give us enought points to reach Elite in the Capt Club program. The crowd on Princess has a different 'vibe' than the crowd on Celebrity, IMHO, and on ship experience the last two years. There is more packing the door to hurry into the buffet or MDR for fear of running out of food on Princess. Dont get in the way of a scooter, you will get run over.

Celebrity has a more country club laid back and refined feel. Even at the cheap watch sales, we did not see the pushing and shoving we did on the Ruby.

[FLACRUISER99]

Hi. I am planning to do a cruise, but I am debating between celebrity and princess lines. I am single, 40 year old professional female ; not looking for a loud party atmosphere, but don't always want quiet boring evenings either. I was wondering if anyone had thoughts on what might be the best line to sail with (wondering if celebrity may attract an age group older than me ---is princess a younger crowd?). Thanks for any advice! :)

I thing the length of the cruise has more to do with age group then the line. The longer the cruise the older the passengers.

[4774Papa]

We haven't cruised on Princess, but have on Celebrity and NCL.

Celebrity is our first choice, but NCL works if the itinerary is good.

Celebrity average age for a 14 day cruise is in the 60s.

We have been on NCL cruises where the average age is 40.

[Mermen]

We have been on both lines and feel the age range is similar. Along with the length of cruise, the itinerary can also determine the age group...i.e., we have seen more older passengers (60+) on Panama or European sailings. We are late 40's / early 50's and have enjoyed both the younger and older cruisers!

 

Have fun cruising!

Edited August 11, 2014 by Mermen

[KirkNC]

I thing the length of the cruise has more to do with age group then the line. The longer the cruise the older the passengers.

 

Excellent point, I don't think the age between the two lines is that different on similar cruises.

[mgarla]

Thanks everyone! :)

[Antonintassie]

Hi

 

We are a couple in this age group and our first cruise was in Europe on the Royal Princess .Boring and unrefined evenings is the only way to describe the experience .

If you are travelling on your own I suspect it would be even more so,if you do cruise I would suggest taking a friend .

We are very experienced travellers but our first cruise was not that great ,not to be beaten we are flying across the world to give the Caribbean with Celebrity a try.We picked a cruise which has some late departures from port so we can stay in town in the evening before reboarding.

[pmcue]

There will be more Kids on Princess. Very limited on Celebrity. I also feel the main age group is similar but feel that Celebrity has more passengers on high end of range but that will probably depend on length of cruise.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Forums mobile app

[Tara Jane]

In my opinion itinerary is more of the deciding factor in regard to who is on board.

We have sailed both our preference is celebrity, then royal Caribbean then princess. but saying that we are considering booking another princess for early next year, based on itinerary. We have to fly to Sydney for cruises which involves return flights and a night in a hotel the night before boarding. Dawn princess goes in and out of Melbourne and the only difference is that we don't get a stop at the bay of islands which we have visited many times spending a week there so don't feel visiting as a port stop is worth the effort to sail out of Sydney.

[royalcruz]

On 7 night Caribbean cruises in the winter/Spring season, it seems that both lines' demographics are similar. I went on a 10 night Caribbean cruise on Princess and it was a MUCH older crowd, but that was a long time ago. I went on a 10 night Mediterranean Celebrity cruise this summer, and there were more younger adult passengers than I've ever seen on either line.

[MicCanberra]

Welcome to CC, the itinerary is much more of a decider of demographics than the respective cruiselines. In my experience Princess may be slightly older and have more quiet evening entertainment while X is more disco and socialising type entertainment at bars, etc. A 7 night cruise will be much younger than a 18 night Trans Atlantic, I suggest picking a 14 night cruise that has repeat runs and avoid school holiday/spring break periods.:D

[Go-Bucks!]

Welcome to Cruise Critic! :)

You find the passenger base to be about the same on both.

Princess normally has more to do in the evenings ... not real late, but later than Celebrity.

Both are very nice cruise lines.

LuLu

 

 

I agree with LuLu. I've only had one Celebrity cruise, but it was on Spring Break week in the Caribbean so I thought it would have many activities onboard, but there weren't. I think Princess has more daily and nightly activities. No real difference in demographics that I could see. I liked the Celebrity ship alot but also missed many things from the Princess ships.

[HardToPort]

Hi. I am planning to do a cruise, but I am debating between celebrity and princess lines. I am single, 40 year old professional female ; not looking for a loud party atmosphere, but don't always want quiet boring evenings either. I was wondering if anyone had thoughts on what might be the best line to sail with (wondering if celebrity may attract an age group older than me ---is princess a younger crowd?). Thanks for any advice! :)

 

MG,

 

I've cruised Med, Carib and River Cruise (French). I cruise every year with my 80 year old Dad, so for obvious reaons it feels like a singles cruise to me, expecially after 10 PM when he calls it a night. I go on whatever cruiseline / itinerary he chooses and we've done CCL, Princess and NCL. I would advise a 40 year old single cruiser to avoid school vacation periods (Christmas, Spring Break, T'giving and Summer) and also Disney and Carnival cruiselines (very kid friendly). NCL caters to solo adults in their Studio cabins but their partnership with Nickleodeon scares me and I'm not sure if I'll go back. I don't like Spongebob Squarepants at the best of times. I sure don't want to bump into him on a cruise.

 

Regardless of the cruise line, the service has always met or exceeded my expectations. I was always able to meet and spend time with fellow adult cruisers be they single or attached. People are good at heart and like to embrace perfect strangers. Find a hot tub or pool with a chatty group. Grab a drink and slide in. You'll be included in the conversation within minutes.

 

Celebrity and Princess have the reputation of being more elegant and adult oriented, but really, on any cruise with over 3000 guests you should be able to find a handful that share your interests. Each ship will have an assortment of adult activities. Bars, comedy, DJ's, casino, dancing etc. The maitre'd or MDR hostess can help seat you with guests of similarly age or circumstance.

 

Make your decision based more on which cruiselines best meet your itinerary / cost / dates / embarkation port expectations. IMHO.

 

Hope you have a great cruise!

 

HTP

:cool:

[Tiggertastic]

The time of year also has a big impact. When we sail june to August there are many more families onboard with children and the parents I their 20s to 40s. When we sail October we find the average age goes up by 15 years. I'm early 40s and was one of the youngest in October but fitted in perfectly in the summer

[Champagne Cruiser]

We found Princess to be an older crowd, lots of motorized scooters, entertainment not as good (canned music in production shows vs live on X). . Last time we sailed X a travel agent on board mentioned that since X started offering the free beverage packages it is starting to attract a younger crowd. You will love the Martini Bar even if you don't drink martinis, the bartenders put on a great show. I think that is where you will find people more in your age group.

[phoenix_dream]

For comparable cruises (length, itinerary) cruising from the same ports at the same time, you will likely find the age group on Celebrity a little higher than Princess. If it is a school break time, there will likely be considerably more children on Princess than Celebrity IMHO. I have 25+ cruises on Celebrity and on most I have been on (7-10 days) there is some type of activity going on into the early past-midnight hours. If there is a very popular port the next day, the activity tends to wrap up earlier. If it is the day before a sea day, you will see people out in bars/disco after midnight, but definitely not a big party scene by any means.

[MicCanberra]

Make your decision based more on which cruiselines best meet your itinerary / cost / dates / embarkation port expectations. IMHO.

 

Hope you have a great cruise!

 

HTP

:cool:

Great advice.:D

[adaptabl]

We found Princess to be an older crowd, lots of motorized scooters, entertainment not as good (canned music in production shows vs live on X). . Last time we sailed X a travel agent on board mentioned that since X started offering the free beverage packages it is starting to attract a younger crowd. You will love the Martini Bar even if you don't drink martinis, the bartenders put on a great show. I think that is where you will find people more in your age group.

 

We found the opposite to be true. Celebrity was scooterville and was dead after 10:00PM. Princess was much more alive at night with more different age groups.

[KKB]

I have found the demographic on both lines to be exactly the same.

 

But while I much prefer Celebrity's ships to Princess' ships, I think Princess' night life and activities are better.

 

Having sailed several Princess cruises while in our 40s, and then Celebrity last year for the first time, I agree, generally. Although honestly we find time of year cruising affects the demographic more than the cruise line--more kids over holidays, more 20 somethings in March--700 of our 2000 passengers were spring breakers!, much older demographic in late November/early December. (and much quieter in the evenings then!)--the youngest couple in the marriage game they chose was in their 50s! Length/location also determine demographics--shorter and/or Caribbean attract overall younger clientele while longer cruises to other destinations generally attract an older clientele.

 

We enjoyed the night club on both lines into the wee hours of the morning. (1 or 2AM)

 

One thing we like about Princess is that there always see to be many activities day & night--we often had to choose between 2 or 3 we wanted to do. On Celebrity we noticed more limited activity options (we also noticed this on the Mariner of the Seas; NOT the Allure, tho guessing with 6K passengers you need LOTS of options). But after 9 cruises we have learned to relax more so not such a bad thing.

Edited December 19, 2014 by KKB

[whataboutport]

I've found the age groups are about the same. Agree with others that the longer the itinerary, the older the crowd. However, I didn't find too many scooters and there were lots of people out and about late at night on both lines.

 

We're in our mid 30s. I'm 34 going on 70 LOL. I don't stay out late. But to be fair, my dad is 70 now and he's still really active. It just depends on the person. Age does not really dictate how late they stay up.

[Champagne Cruiser]

I agree it depends on time of year and cruise. However, our experience wasWe an older demographic with lots is scooters on Princess and it was a 5 night cruise in Feb. Since Celebrity started running the "free" beverage package deals the passengers have gotten a lot younger. Lots of newlyweds and honeymooners.

[RickT]

It seems that in addition to age, you're also enquiring about the night life.

 

I've cruised a number of times on Princess (Platinum) and Celebrity (Elite) and her is my summary:

 

- Age on Princess is a little lower (but not much). They also tend to have more children on board, possibly due to MUTS and their marketing approach. All in all we find them similar unlike HAL that seems to be a much older crowd. DW and I are early 50's and have no problem fitting in with either Princess or Celebrity.

 

- As far as nightlife we find lots to do on both ships, but we find them different.

On Princess the piano bar area is usually very lively (depending of course on how good the piano player/singer is). There is also the Wheelhouse bar and Explorers lounge but we never really found any entertainment there we liked. There is of course Skywalkers which has either been very popular and fun... or completely dead.

 

On Celebrity (depending on which ship), the main atrium is a focal point of actively with bands and singers usually entertaining each evening. They also have a number of smaller venues which often have entertainement. Dancing late into the night can be done at the Sky lounge or Quasar.

 

If you are an outgoing person I'll sure either will be fine. Usually nightlife is what you make of it...