scared and unsure

[winny63]

hi

Im travelling on Feb 12 on the star princess. We have never ever taken a vacation before. We are in our 40's and would like to know if lots of children go on this cruise.

we are wanting to get away from it all and want to meet new people our age

[suzeyQ]

There will likely be a fair number of children on the cruise, but Princess is a pretty good line, as far as attracting more "mature" cruisers. You'll be fine... enjoy your cruise!

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

Here's my guess. At that time most children will be in school. Very young children may be on board, but not school age including high school age teens.

 

I've never been on a cruise that did not have some children, but the one's that are highly populated with families and children are the summer cruises and spring break cruises. Also shorter cruises have more children and teens than longer cruises.

 

I think you will meet plenty of passengers in your age range. Don't worry. Kids have their own cruise-sponsored activities anyway. They are not under foot all day long.

[clackey]

Hola Winney,

 

Congrats on taking the plunge. Remember, this is a VACATION. Relax, take it all in and enjoy. A cruise is what you make it. If you want to hustle around and try to do everything you will wear yourself out. Savor it. Relish it, because tomarrow, it is gone. Then you book another one.:D

[kitty9]

That pretty much sounds like President's Week, so lots of kids from the East Coast will be cruising. The second week of February is one of the busiest with kids because so many school districts are closed. Even though it's mostly the East Coast kids, they really seem to like to cruise that week because there have always been more kids than there are any other week in February.

 

But I have to ask: Why Scared? There's nothing to be scared of if there are kids on board. There are places to go to avoid them, so don't worry.

[Fredr]

Hello,

 

The first thing that you and your husband are going to do, is to relax. And based on my 14 cruises (with two more paid for for 2006) I am going to give you some ideas on how to have a great time and see as few children as possible. I have two children of my own, the youngest is 21 years old.

 

After embarkation, go out and explore the Star Princess, and you will find very quiet places both inside and outside the ship. In particular the boat deck (where the lifeboats and tenders are stored, is relatively uninhabited.

You will also find nooks and cranies that will give you privacy and quiet.

 

Have breakfast and lunch in the main dining room, and have second seating for dinner. There is less likelihood of children here than at the buffets adjacent to the pool areas.

 

Inside the ship the library is usually a quiet place where children must behave themselves.

 

You will have a great time (let me now if you need more help).

 

Fred

[catmand]

Fred, good points all but it's probably too late to change dinner seating and with Anytime maybe they would do better to meet many different people?

I just wanted to add, Star is a beautiful ship and Princess used to limit the number of kids onboard, do they still? Hey good question for the main boards.

[Happy ks]

That pretty much sounds like President's Week, so lots of kids from the East Coast will be cruising. The second week of February is one of the busiest with kids because so many school districts are closed. Even though it's mostly the East Coast kids, they really seem to like to cruise that week because there have always been more kids than there are any other week in February.

 

But I have to ask: Why Scared? There's nothing to be scared of if there are kids on board. There are places to go to avoid them, so don't worry.

 

President's week should be the following week. Feb. 20th is on my calendar as Presidents Day, the "week" is usually taken off at that time.

 

I don't think you'll find as many kids on Princess as you will on Carnival or RCI, but I wouldn't worry. We've cruised on a ship with lots of kids when we left ours home and they didn't bother us. As a matter of fact, witnessing a few situations made us very happy to be away from ours for a week.

 

There are always places onboard a ship where you can find peace and quiet, just don't expect it to be next to the pool. Even if there aren't any kids onboard.

[madelinerose]

Hi...Nothing to be afraid of, really. Just remember, other than the muster drill, there's absolutely nothing you are "required" to do. Read your daily paper, choose how you want to spend your day and enjoy!

 

There will be many others who are also on their first cruise.

 

If you've booked a balcony cabin, room service breakfast on your balcony, in your robes, watching the sunrise is, imho, a fabulous way to begin the day.

 

Have a wonderful cruise! ;)

[winny63]

Mann YOu guys are great!! Im more excited now then scared. I bought a set of new suitcases never needed them before now.. felt great.. Just Have to decide what to bring to wear. My comfy clothes are jeans and obviously you cant wear them so i have to probly buys some new things. Any advice would be great

Diane and Tim

[celbercrz333]

Diane,

Get Khakis. They are the dress "jeans" of cruising. If you get some with stretch in them, they are really comfortable and they go with just about every color. Hope your new suitcases have wheels. I'm glad ours do. Put a colored string or something that stands out on your suitcase. You can't believe how many people have similar suitcases. When you get off the ship to go home, you go through a building (port building) to where a very large room is. You will see every piece of luggage that sailed with you. They try to put them in the colored sections that your luggage tags are. You get these tags in the mail before sailing. Imagine a ship that holds 2,000 passengers, imagine the luggage you will have to sift through with 1,998 other passengers!!! We have a navy blue suitcase with a NEON green shoelace tied about 10 times in knots on it. An old trick that goes back to the 70s (and beyond) is to use electrical tape and do you initials really big on the side or on the front. My old red suitcase still has my blue initials on it from 1975. Also, if you are flying, we took a blank large label and wrote the flight number, the airline and the cruiseline & room number on it in case the luggage got lost somewhere. There is a "lost luggage" room on the ship and if your luggage is put on the ship but you don't seem to get it, they tell you to go to this room and see if your tag came off and if it's there. I'm sure you'll do just fine and everything will go smoothly. I just wanted you to know what to do in case of a problem.

[Fredr]

hello (again)

 

Get your husband some shirts with a collar as they will go with khaiki pants (this is a great idea from a respondent). As for formal night your husband will look great in a suit and tie or even a nice coat and slacks combination. You will look great in a nice dress or in a pantsuit.

 

Attend formal night in the dining room because there is something magical about attending a dress up dinner party with your new friends and other passengers. The dining room is usually fixed up with decorations and sometimes special plates, etc are used, to give the dining room a special aura. The waiters are dressed up as well and there is usually a special menu just for the formal night. The formal night goes back to when ocean travel was really very special. I am not telling you to spend a lot of money on clothes. To the contrary, you probably have everything you need in your closet. For example, your husband's suit for church is fine.

 

Remember, calm down and you will have a great time.

 

Fred

[Lymami]

Hi Diane,

 

My husband and I are also on the Feb. 12 sailing of the Star. And we ALSO bought new luggage for our first cruise!!! We are so excited and can't wait to meet new people and explore our beautiful ship. This website has been so helpful in the planning and anticipation part of our first cruise experience. See you there!!

 

Lynn and Jim

[cjh]

You can call Princess and they will give you total number of children. We are on the Caribbean 2 weeks after yours and there are 63 3-12 year olds and 70 13-17 year olds. You have to remember the ship is big I mean BIG the star has 1,200 just in crew members.

 

We sailed on the Star twice it is a wonderful ship.