high end luxury for the 40 something set

[guy999]

So i am not elite yet on celebrity and already have a trip planned in a couple of months but continually read about people disappointed over the decline in quality over time. I'm actually pretty happy with celebrity, but we have always been in suites up until this one. We are trying out aquaclass this time.

 

 

Anyways for all of you guys trying out crystal for example, can you put your age down because really I'm 47, my wife is a year younger, we don't bring our kids along but while I might enjoy the service and food on crystal or viking, I think I would be by far the youngest passenger on the boat, sometimes I feel like that on celebrity, for example the 2 weeks Mediterranean tour, but at least people are close in age.

 

 

Is there really a luxury cruise line for people in my age group, because I haven't found one yet?

 

 

I actually think celebrity is the best at this level and the next thing to book would be renting a 100-150 foot ship for cruising but price gets pretty up there at that level.

[ghstudio]

The demographics of cruising are that (many) older folks both have time and money to cruise so you will naturally find them on longer and more expensive cruises. You can't get away from that reality. That's also true of the higher end mass market lines (celebrity, princess, HAL)...RCL is positioned to be sort of a higher end mass market line with more to do for kids.

 

At 47, you are in the "sweet spot", or perhaps "not so sweet spot" for cruising. You will find more folks your age on shorter 10 days or less cruises and less on longer cruises. Having said all that, "older" is both physical and mental....there are many many 60 yo's who can run circles around many 47 yo's. Some of us "older" folks don't eat early bird special dinners and go to bed at 8PM :)

 

I think if you focus on 10 day or less cruises, you'll find more folks of your age, even on Regent/Crystal/Viking/Oceania/....

[Want2Cruise 701]

Following along. We're thinking along the same lines as well. We are 49 and 52. Our last several cruises on Celebrity have been suites, and we are paying much more now for cruising so we are looking into more premium luxury lines.

 

The masses by the pool, not being able to get a chair and of course, the music and games that start close to noon is not our thing anymore. Never really has been but is getting worse with Celebrity now. We enjoy cruising but would like a little more relaxation in a refined atmosphere.

 

What would be a good start as a step up from Celebrity? We don't mind cruising with others that are older in age.

[villauk]

I do think it depends on when you cruise as to the demographics. We always sail with our children during school holiday time (it’s very unusual not to take the children on vacation with you in the U.K., which appears not to be the case in the US :confused:?) and subsequently there tends to be younger pax on all of our cruises. You perhaps do not sail during these peak periods?

[chemmo]

So i am not elite yet on celebrity and already have a trip planned in a couple of months but continually read about people disappointed over the decline in quality over time. I'm actually pretty happy with celebrity, but we have always been in suites up until this one. We are trying out aquaclass this time.

 

 

Anyways for all of you guys trying out crystal for example, can you put your age down because really I'm 47, my wife is a year younger, we don't bring our kids along but while I might enjoy the service and food on crystal or viking, I think I would be by far the youngest passenger on the boat, sometimes I feel like that on celebrity, for example the 2 weeks Mediterranean tour, but at least people are close in age.

 

 

Is there really a luxury cruise line for people in my age group, because I haven't found one yet?

 

 

I actually think celebrity is the best at this level and the next thing to book would be renting a 100-150 foot ship for cruising but price gets pretty up there at that level.

 

If I was you I would forget your ‘age’ and ‘cruise lines’ and decide what you want from a vacation.....

 

Up until now you have been happy with the X suite experience but now have booked Aqua...Has something disappointed you or are you simply bored by cruising only?

 

At your age we were constantly switching between cruises (mainly X and RC), land tours of the Far East (including China, Thailand, Singapore and Bali) and road trips in the USA (visiting many national parks). Coming from the U.K. it has always been easy to add in city breaks both at home and in Europe.

 

 

Variety in vacation types gave us the experiences we wanted then and if our bodies would cooperate now we would probably still do the same!

 

 

In recent years we have begun to cruise more often as it is an easy way to travel but we are so pleased we have never restricted our vacation experiences to just cruising...next month we have a villa booked in the Balearic Islands and we are looking at booking an Iceland cruise on a really small ship!!!

 

 

Yes we are older than you but we still want every vacation to be a ‘wow’ experience! I somehow think that is what you are missing....If you simply look at swapping one cruise line for another you really are limiting your options.....Why not look at alternatives to cruising as well as alternative cruise lines?

 

 

After saying this I must add we still usually still cruise X twice per year, we do always book a suite....I think it is because we add variety into our holiday diet we enjoy cruising and those suite perks so much! Just returned from a touring caravan (self catering) holiday in North Wales...really missed having a butler!

[PROCRUISE]

I would suggest that you look at Windstar and Viking Ocean.

[Host Jazzbeau]

One thing that has kept the average age up on some luxury lines is that their itineraries tended to be 10+ days. Crystal has announced that they see this as a marketing liability and are now breaking their cruises up into segments of 7 days or less to encourage folks who have the money but not unlimited time for cruising. Celebrity Suite Life is very good, but nothing touches the food on Crystal.

[cb at sea]

I'm not sure why the other passengers ages would matter too much...it's YOUR cruise...you do as you like! I mean, you can never tell what the ages of folks in a resort hotel might be...and it never seems to concern anyone....

[nhsails]

Azamra

Viking

Regent

Oceania

[san diego spartan]

Please check out Oceania - we did an Oceania cruise in November 2016 and really enjoyed it. If you are used to paying suite prices you should be worried about Oceania pricing.

 

We have done 3 Celebrity cruises with one on the immediately sight, but if it was not for pricing I'd probably have an Oceania booked right now. There specialty dining is much above what we have found on Celebrity and it is included in the pricing. Less nickle and diming too. However, Celebrity is far above some of the other cruise lines we have sailed. We found people of all ages on Oceania - though it did tend to skew older as Celebrity does IMO.

[PhD-iva]

Please check out Oceania - we did an Oceania cruise in November 2016 and really enjoyed it. If you are used to paying suite prices you should be worried about Oceania pricing.

 

 

I suspect San Diego Spartan meant to say, “If you are used to paying suite prices you SHOULD NOT be worried about Oceania pricing.

 

My DH and I went on a 10-day Baltic cruise on Marina in 2016. I LOVED it, but my DH was less impressed. He let a few items get to him, whereas I shrugged them off.

And yes, their passengers skew older but spry!!! [emoji847]

 

 

 

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[Cruise Raider]

I chose Celebrity to celebrate my 40th birthday and have loved it ever since. I am not saying that I haven't had a hiccup here and there but I still think they offer the most luxury for the least amount of $$ out of all the cruise lines.

 

Anyway, we are now both hovering around that 60 year mark and although we've seen changes, we still consider Celebrity to be our favorite line on which we sail. We feel as though we fit right in. We've never been in a suite on Celebrity but loved the Aqua Class on the one time we chose it. I loved Blu but also loved access to the Persian Gardens and the Relaxation lounge plus some other little amenities. BTW, we were invited up to the Royal Suite by some other guests ... wow ... that was something!!

[Denny01]

To answer the OP’s specific question about age of those taking Crystal Cruises type Lines, I’m 72 and my wife, a trophy wife, is 68....well, I kind of mixed up the idea of a trophy wife being 25 years younger than me and found someone who loved me......oh well.

 

We are trying a 7-day Crystal cruise out of nearby New Orleans to see if the hype of luxury cruises is worth the major additional costs. We’ve done 22 Celebrity cruises because it fits what we cruise for, and trust me, it isn’t because I’m a geezer. It’s because we enjoy being treated as adults and not being pressed to join varous madeup ‘adult’ games and so on. We can entertain ourselves, finding new friends, and find lots to do, including dancing the night away, which of course at my age means dancing until 6:45pm.....well a bit later until midnight or so.

 

We can all list a ton of luxury cruises to recommend, but my suggestion is try Celebrity. It’s not a 500 person ship line and you pay for what you use, booze and so on, which is what I think kind of works. We did a river cruise which is famous for an older crowd, and ‘luxury’. Enjoyed the itinerary and the general ship experience, but boy was there nothing after returning to the ship. But it is an itinerary-focused vacation, no real sit and relax time, or ship focused events much.

 

Going to see how Crystal does. Is it worth the additional cost? that of course is subjective. will see for us.

 

Den

Edited May 31, 2018 by Denny01

[Kfamilycruise]

Have you considered Wind Star or Royal Clipper? Much different crowds on these and really awesome, intimate vacation.

 

or the Haven on Norwegian? Huge range and great ship within the ship.

 

Enjoy your sailings!

[Jeremiah1212]

We're in a similar mindset - in our late 30's and definitely on the younger side of the Celebrity clientele, even on a 7 day cruise. We really enjoy the product overall but after our last cruise we thought we may give it a break. We don't do suites on Celebrity, but I have booked the MSC Seaside Yacht Club. The price is far more reasonable than the NCL Haven. Hopefully it's as high end as advertised with the option to exit the Yacht Club and have the full ship experience if we got bored. I would like to try a more high end line also, but I doubt many 30-40yr olds are after that experience.

 

Most people do not consider Azamara, Oceania and Viking true luxury lines. I've priced the 'premium plus' lines vs. true luxury lines and don't find the pricing that much different. I'm just timid to spend that kind of money and not love the experience.

[Cairn Mom]

One thing that has kept the average age up on some luxury lines is that their itineraries tended to be 10+ days. Crystal has announced that they see this as a marketing liability and are now breaking their cruises up into segments of 7 days or less to encourage folks who have the money but not unlimited time for cruising. Celebrity Suite Life is very good, but nothing touches the food on Crystal.

 

 

 

When we were the OP and his wife’s ages we went on a 7 day Crystal cruise to the Baltic. There were other pax our age. We met nice couples on excursions. What’s great about Crystal is that there is evening entertainment like on the big ships. There are shows and a casino. We weren’t ready for bed after dinner and we still aren’t. That takes VIKING ocean out of the mix for us. The food and service really are excellent on Crystal. We’re taking our 6th Crystal cruise in September. It’s a 7 day port intensive itinerary. Touring is exhausting so this sort of itinerary should attract a younger crowd. Try it OP, I’d be shocked if you don’t come away “crystallized” lol.

 

 

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[fleckle]

.....We’ve done 22 Celebrity cruises because it fits what we cruise for, and trust me, it isn’t because I’m a geezer. It’s because we enjoy being treated as adults and not being pressed to join varous madeup ‘adult’ games and so on.

 

Reading this post reminded me of how disappointed we were on a couple of recent Celebrity cruises when the entertainment staff's concept of entertainment was to divide the 2 sides of the ship into port and starboard "teams" and encourage us to compete to see which side could make the most noise.

 

 

Sorry, but we also don't consider it entertainment when they waste our time in the theater interviewing that nice couple in the second row, asking how long they have been married, where they live and how many children they have.

 

Additionally, in the theater the cruise director tried to get the left and right sides of the audience to compete at making the most noise, a stalling technique used to kill time when they are not ready to provide the performance we came to see.

 

It only displays their own incompetence and lets us know they have failed to prepare any kind of backup routine to keep us entertained in the interim, something that a good cruise director would always have ready.

 

It was really a pretty sorry excuse for entertainment, about the worst we have had on a cruise ship in years.

 

I kept thinking, hey, you are getting paid to entertain us.

We are not getting paid to entertain you.

I started wondering how many adult Celebrity passengers actually enjoy this sort of so-called "entertainment" (aside from the ones who were obviously heavily inebriated, and appeared to be the most enthusiastic participants in the noise making competition).

 

Years ago when we cruised on Carnival, they had similar "competitions" on the ship, so I started to think that this dreadful idea may have been brought to Celebrity by a new employee coming over from Carnival.

I hope this is not the direction in which Celebrity continues heading.

But if it is, we and many others may well be joining you in exploring other options.

The ages of the other passengers really don't matter to us as there are friendly, likeable, kind and interesting people in all age groups.

We have greatly enjoyed Celebrity through the years, and there are many things about it that we still like, despite the cutbacks.

 

But now that their priorities appear to be changing as they continue the downward spiral, it may be time for us to move on and continue to explore other options.

Edited May 31, 2018 by fleckle

[chill6x6]

I've never been on a "luxury" cruise line. Main reason is as I still work there is never an itinerary that works for me. Anything over a 8 or 9 day(stretching it) itinerary just won't work for me.

 

I like staying in a suite on Royal Caribbean. DEFINITELY a younger crowd. I bet the average is pretty close to your age(I'm 56). I bet you would like it. You can try it out in Galveston of course. Afterwards you can aways move to Star class on Royal on select ships if you want to go up a notch.

 

IMO the age thing is so over-rated. One of the best cruises I have been on was on HAL that featured the oldest demographic. ALSO a notch up in passenger politeness, adult conversation, folks enjoying the cruise instead of their phones, plenty of available deck chairs, plentiful uncrowded elevators, less drunks, etc, etc.

[ABoatNerd]

There are many cruise lines vying for your $.

 

If one can stop the "loyalty" thing - there is a world of cruise options to enjoy.

 

Celebrity never was a luxury line and the "modern luxury" is bull. Celebrity was until about 2015, the highest level of the mass cruise lines - not ever premium or luxury. Today Celebrity is firmly in the mass lines with a new focus on younger cruisers and creating Las Vegas at sea.

 

Feckle - you can move to the "premium" lines like Azamara, Oceania, Viking - which are all a big step upwards in service, food, quality and an acceptance that their guests can entertain themselves. Oceania, my current favorite, assumes you do not need loud music or pool parties etc. The premium lines also offer a smaller ship experience which is more personalized and efficient. The premium lines also assume that you have an interest in the ocean, OMG, and ensure there are many venues to enjoy indoor and outdoor vistas.

 

Cruisers have much choice, it just means liberating yourself from the past and experiencing the future.