NavyCruiser Posted December 26, 2017 #1 Share Posted December 26, 2017 Saga, P&O, & Viking Ocean, a very few very upscale (ie: very expensive) cruise lines offers adults-only cruises, wondering if Carnival or any other mainline cruise lines offers it. Many hotel/resort chains offers both separate family & adults-only resorts, often on the same stretch of beach. Wondering that with the numerous numbers of cruise ships owned by Carnival, maybe they can designate a few to just adults-only, & leave the rest as regular family cruises. Esp cruises during the school year. Please, no flaming here, & don't turn this into a kids vs anti-kids thread, as we loved cruising with our kids over the past 20 years, but now wants a choice, without flying to & booking on those ultra expensive cruise lines. Just thinking that Carnival would be best situated cruise line to convert a few of their ships to those of us who would prefer an adults only cruises, or has outgrown the family ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomCruise48 Posted December 26, 2017 #2 Share Posted December 26, 2017 Carnival's business plan is to be a family cruise line, and it is working quite well for them. They get more on-board revenue from families since they have a higher occupancy rate. (Adults are typically only 2 per stateroom, but with families, they get 3 or 4). The closest that you can get to an adults only cruise on Carnival is to take a longer Journeys cruises during the school year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StolidCruiser Posted December 26, 2017 #3 Share Posted December 26, 2017 A nice dream but it will never happen on mass market budget cruiseline that targets families as part of its demographic (and ship design). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firemanbobswife Posted December 26, 2017 #4 Share Posted December 26, 2017 Maybe try Holland America. It's owned by Carnival Corp. and I hear it's a much more mature crowd. I don't think it will be devoid of children, but I think there will be a lot less of them. Carnival is a family cruise line and I don't see them banning kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TubT Posted December 26, 2017 #5 Share Posted December 26, 2017 By carefully choosing your cruise, you can get a pretty low-child-count cruise. None? Not very often. Here are some tricks: 1. Choose Holland America or some such cruise line with a reputation for an older clientele. 2. Choose a longer cruise. Once a cruise goes past 7 days, kids get scarce. A 10-day cruise is almost sure to be almost entirely adults. 3. Choose your date. After about January 2, until Spring Break season starts, most cruises are pretty low on kids. On our last Princess cruise, there weren't 10 kids on the whole ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nic6318 Posted December 26, 2017 #6 Share Posted December 26, 2017 Hi I agree you don't have to have a "adults only" cruise to avoid children/younger families. It is easily done by cruising with companies like HAL, or Celebrity...as was said you will find a much more mature :) (Older) crowd. Pick longer cruises sailing during the school year and you will have fewer families. You have many choices, the cruise lines have little incentive, especially one that is marketing specifically to new cruisers and young families. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The4Cruisers Posted December 26, 2017 #7 Share Posted December 26, 2017 John Heald has pretty much said that CCL won't do an adults only cruise. That's a shame as they could see this as a "theme"-type cruise that may very well be widely accepted! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Saint Greg Posted December 26, 2017 #8 Share Posted December 26, 2017 Cruising while school is in session eliminates most of them. You still have some that are under the school age or whose parents pull them out of school but it’s not noticeable most of the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Djptcp Posted December 26, 2017 #9 Share Posted December 26, 2017 DH and I would love adults only cruises! We gave up cruising around the holidays because the ships were overrun with kids. They were times when we were still working and had to use so many fewer vacation days. We are retired now and try to go when school is in session, but there are still kids aboard (home schooled maybe?), just hundreds fewer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimdalva Posted December 26, 2017 #10 Share Posted December 26, 2017 The Carnival Victory is having an adults only cruise in early February. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPKEMO Posted December 26, 2017 #11 Share Posted December 26, 2017 I think bud light? Does a party cruise once a year on carnival. Short weekend cruise but probably adults only. Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachbum53 Posted December 26, 2017 #12 Share Posted December 26, 2017 By carefully choosing your cruise, you can get a pretty low-child-count cruise. None? Not very often. Here are some tricks: 1. Choose Holland America or some such cruise line with a reputation for an older clientele. 2. Choose a longer cruise. Once a cruise goes past 7 days, kids get scarce. A 10-day cruise is almost sure to be almost entirely adults. 3. Choose your date. After about January 2, until Spring Break season starts, most cruises are pretty low on kids. On our last Princess cruise, there weren't 10 kids on the whole ship. There is another option. Although NCL seems to have the majority of "theme" cruises, occasionally Carnival will have some too. Do a search on theme cruises, concentrating on those that would attract predominantly adults. And no, I don't mean nudist or swinger cruises. Do keep in mind that theme cruises generally are more expensive than a standard cruise, and sell out very quickly. Especially if it's a music-themed cruise, such as Jazz or Country & Western. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tortuga1975 Posted December 26, 2017 #13 Share Posted December 26, 2017 The Carnival Victory is having an adults only cruise in early February. Is this an adult cruise or an “adult” cruise with naked people everywhere? No judgement on the naked people, I just don’t think my 75 year old father’s heart could take it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SadieN Posted December 26, 2017 #14 Share Posted December 26, 2017 Typically longer cruises when kids are in school will have little to no kids. We’ve had several cruises where there have been only a few kids- Carnival to Hawaii in October, Carnival to Alaska in September, Princess California Coastal beginning of March. All from Los Angeles. Alaska and Hawaii has about 20 kids, the Princess cruise had 8, mostly preschool age. Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavyCruiser Posted December 26, 2017 Author #15 Share Posted December 26, 2017 Great discussion points so far. The reason why we posted on this Carnival board, instead of Disney or Holland, is that we love & has many wonderful cruises on Carnival & are now Platinum, we want to continue to cruise & support the "Fun" ships of Carnival. Didn't know that Carnival is designated as "Family" only. We also don't want to sail the "Mature" only cruise lines. I'm generalizing here, but u get the point. Since we're from Houston & only an hour's drive from Galveston port, which Carnival & Royal Caribbean sails year round, it's pretty convenient to get to & don't to pay extra for flights to other gateway cities. So comparing to other All-Inclusive beach resorts in the Caribbean, for example, we've stayed at Hyatt Cancun Ziva resort with family & kids, had a great time, for 4 nights, then drive a mile or two down the beach to stay at Hyatt Cancun Zilara, adults only AI resort, for 3 nights after family/kids flew back. Many resort chains offer that choice. Again, we're not anti kids, but just want to have a choice... & figure Carnival might want to offer that choice for maybe at least one or two of their ships... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare sparks1093 Posted December 26, 2017 #16 Share Posted December 26, 2017 Great discussion points so far.The reason why we posted on this Carnival board, instead of Disney or Holland, is that we love & has many wonderful cruises on Carnival & are now Platinum, we want to continue to cruise & support the "Fun" ships of Carnival. Didn't know that Carnival is designated as "Family" only. We also don't want to sail the "Mature" only cruise lines. I'm generalizing here, but u get the point. Since we're from Houston & only an hour's drive from Galveston port, which Carnival & Royal Caribbean sails year round, it's pretty convenient to get to & don't to pay extra for flights to other gateway cities. So comparing to other All-Inclusive beach resorts in the Caribbean, for example, we've stayed at Hyatt Cancun Ziva resort with family & kids, had a great time, for 4 nights, then drive a mile or two down the beach to stay at Hyatt Cancun Zilara, adults only AI resort, for 3 nights after family/kids flew back. Many resort chains offer that choice. Again, we're not anti kids, but just want to have a choice... & figure Carnival might want to offer that choice for maybe at least one or two of their ships... I hear what you are saying but as others have said CCL has too much invested in making their ships more family friendly. They still have some cruises where you are likely to have minimal children but that would be about it. (PS Fast Frigates rule!:)) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DebJ14 Posted December 26, 2017 #17 Share Posted December 26, 2017 The cruise line Richard Branson is developing has announced that it will be adults only! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StolidCruiser Posted December 26, 2017 #18 Share Posted December 26, 2017 Great discussion points so far.<snip> Since we're from Houston & only an hour's drive from Galveston port, which Carnival & Royal Caribbean sails year round, it's pretty convenient to get to & don't to pay extra for flights to other gateway cities. <snip> Again, we're not anti kids, but just want to have a choice... & figure Carnival might want to offer that choice for maybe at least one or two of their ships... Would you support the choice to offer such an “adult only” option on one or two ships that sail from, say, Miami (from where they sail year-round) that have a likely higher “adult” client base? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavyCruiser Posted December 26, 2017 Author #19 Share Posted December 26, 2017 Would you support the choice to offer such an “adult only” option on one or two ships that sail from, say, Miami (from where they sail year-round) that have a likely higher “adult” client base? Sure, would also make sense to initially start at Miami... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonzowifey Posted December 26, 2017 #20 Share Posted December 26, 2017 I just took my first cruise (on Carnival) returned on Saturday. During Christmas break, full of kids. I will have to tell you, it had it's advantages. The bars were not crowded AT ALL. We pretty much owned the Alchemy Bar. Ditto for the night club, although to be honest, we weren't crazy about the DJ. We only ate at the buffet once, and that seemed to be the more popular dining option for kids. We hung out on the Serenity Deck (adults only). Although, on our sea day, there were some obnoxious adults in the hot tub who were far from serene, and should have been invited by someone to take their party to the Lido Deck. I'm like you, I've raised my kids and I'm over the "family friendly" routine (for now). I was traveling with my adult kids and we all just want to enjoy ourselves before the grand kids come...at which time, I'll be all about the family friendly again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K&RCurt Posted December 26, 2017 #21 Share Posted December 26, 2017 Is this an adult cruise or an “adult” cruise with naked people everywhere? No judgement on the naked people, I just don’t think my 75 year old father’s heart could take it. �� It is a clothing optional Charter, but sadly it is sold out, there is another scheduled for next year on The Carnival Sunshine. You might be surprised, there will be plenty of folks in their 70s and no one under 21! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanger727 Posted December 26, 2017 #22 Share Posted December 26, 2017 I don't think Carnival will offer this - especially not during the school year. But it's easy enough to get a cruise that is almost kid-free. To the point you hardly ever see any. 1. cruise outside of school holidays 2. cruise longer than 7 days We cruised a 10 nighter in Jan and never saw kids walking around the ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purvis1231 Posted December 26, 2017 #23 Share Posted December 26, 2017 I am a parent and educator and a relaxing kid free cruise does appeal to me. On several of our cruises 2/3 of the passengers where under 18. The reason Carnival does not have adults only cruises is pure and simple economics. On an adult only cruise most of the cabins will have two people but with families many or most of the cabins will have 3 or 4 people. Sure the 3 and 4th guest pay a little less but it is still more per cabin than just 2 people. Secondly, the more people on the cruise generate more revenue across the board. Occasionally Carnival will charter vessels to organizations that have adult only cruises but I imagine these are far from relaxing. We did take a relaxing Alaskan cruise on Holland American with very few children. Camp Hal had only 21 registered children and often closed early since there were no children attending. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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