Which cruise line?

[Reiland]

My husband and I are in the beginning stages of planning our first cruise and I am trying to decide whether to go with Carnival or Royal Caribbean. We are going with two other couples (no kids) and our goal is to enjoy kid-free adult time- some drinking/partying and some relaxing. We've narrowed down our search to one option on the Carnival Magic ship, one option on the Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas ship and one option on the Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas ship. Any opinions?? 

[GUT2407]

Probably neither if you want kid free.

[champagne123]

What time of the year do you plan on cruising? Both of those cruise lines are extremely family oriented and will always have kids. ... Especially during school breaks, then there will be tons of kids.  

[KmomChicago]

I agree with the other posters.  These are the most family-friendly cruise lines in the business.  Do you mean free of your kids, or free of kids in general?  Because every ship you mention will have kids year round and far more during school breaks.  In fact, it would be nearly impossible to avoid kids entirely until Virgin cruises comes live in a couple of years.  The same people go on cruises as walk around in the outside world, and that includes plenty of children. 

 

However, all of them will also have nightlife for you to enjoy and are also designed to entertain adults of all ages. There is adults-only comedy, and children are not running around inside the nightclubs or the casino, which are adult playgrounds as the sun goes down.  Allure and Symphony in particular have something for everyone and would be my choice in your case (Symphony is newer but either would be great), but the kiddos tend to be sort of herded to their own area where the sports / waterpark pools and their activity clubs are.  These two ships will also have a large Solarium which is the adults-only sun deck with a pool and large hot tub.  Carnival will have a similar Serenity deck.

 

Even lines geared to a somewhat more mature clientele like Celebrity, Holland America, and Princess will still have some kids and families aboard, and on top of that they may not be as fun for you.  Some reviews report these lines getting very quiet very early.

[Essiesmom]

I would choose Magic, not because I haven't sailed the others...But Symphony and Allure are two of the largest cruise ships and might be simply overwhelming for a first time cruiser.  Take the whole week to find your way around.  I don't believe in starting with the biggest/newest.  Magic is a very big ship, too, but a lot smaller than the other two.  And possibly less expensive, too.  EM

[Turtles06]

3 hours ago, KmomChicago said:

Do you mean free of your kids, or free of kids in general?

 

I had the same thought.  If you are looking for a mostly kids-free cruise, those aren’t the cruise lines I would pick (except on longer itineraries, like a transatlantic, or carefully chosen when schools are in session, and even then there will be kids). 

[George C]

I love rccl but just did allures sister oasis lots of children , smaller ships like liberty and navigator had way less children but still lots to do.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

If those were my only choices, I would chose one of the RCI ships.  JMO

[1025cruise]

Is there a reason you are limiting yourself to just RCI and Carnival? You might want to look at Princess or Celebrity for "less kids".

[champagne123]

10 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

Is there a reason you are limiting yourself to just RCI and Carnival? You might want to look at Princess or Celebrity for "less kids".

 

I also prefer Celebrity, but if you re-read the OP'S question, they want to party somewhat.   Celebrity does not fit that bill IMO.  

[KmomChicago]

23 minutes ago, champagne123 said:

 

I also prefer Celebrity, but if you re-read the OP'S question, they want to party somewhat.   Celebrity does not fit that bill IMO.  

 

I agree with this. It seems to me that the same cruise lines that are known for being the best for partying, are also the best for kids and families.  They both certainly offer enough booze in their add-on packages, if that's really the prime objective here.  The more "grownup" lines are also sometimes seen as being a little on the sleepy/quiet side and going a little more toward the mature demographic than these folks may want.  I think what they want is what Richard Branson has in mind for Virgin. However that's a long wait, and I think it's going to be pretty expensive and maybe out of reach for a lot of people.

 

Kind of hard to find the right happy medium.  This would be a bit of a stumper for a travel agent, methinks.  I like the suggestion of a smaller RC ship when most kids are in school.  We don't know anything about what they do for fun when they aren't "partying," whether they care about the ports, what kind of stateroom they want, what's the budget, etc.  I'm not even sure a cruise is the right vacation for them. Maybe they should go to an adults-only all-inclusive in Jamaica or Cancun or something.

Edited January 6, 2019 by KmomChicago

[Joebucks]

If you want to avoid kids, it can be done without buying a very expensive cruise. Just make sure to go in off-peak season. During any breaks or summer will be kid central. I generally go in fall and spring, and there aren't many.

[MCC retired]

RCI and CCL cater to Families . Wrong choices for Kids Free anytime of year , especially during school breaks.

However , great lines for the party type .

 

[Heidi13]

We also prefer cruising without kids, so in researching cruises we don't consider any of Disney, NCL, Carnival or RCI. For less kids look at longer cruises of 2 weeks or longer and not during the summer, Spring Break, etc. For cruise lines meeting your criteria, might want to check out Princess.

 

For zero kids, Viking Ocean is minimum 18 years and about 1/2 the P&O-UK fleet is also 18 +. However, on Viking you can drink, but not much partying. Not sure about P&O pax demographics these days.

[Reiland]

I'm sorry, I did not mean that I want the cruise to be entirely kid-free. I just meant that my husband and I (and the two couples who are coming with us) are leaving OUR kids at home and want to enjoy time away. We don't mind if there are kids on the cruise as long as there are adult-only forms of entertainment and areas (which it sounds like both Carnival and Royal Caribbean provide). Yes? 

[KmomChicago]

11 hours ago, Reiland said:

I'm sorry, I did not mean that I want the cruise to be entirely kid-free. I just meant that my husband and I (and the two couples who are coming with us) are leaving OUR kids at home and want to enjoy time away. We don't mind if there are kids on the cruise as long as there are adult-only forms of entertainment and areas (which it sounds like both Carnival and Royal Caribbean provide). Yes? 

 

Yes.

[snyniew]

22 hours ago, champagne123 said:

 

I also prefer Celebrity, but if you re-read the OP'S question, they want to party somewhat.   Celebrity does not fit that bill IMO.  

I've done Celebrity numerous times and there is a party if you want to find it. Not as crazy or busy as some other lines but usually a crowd up dancing after 10 pm. Also the Martini bar can be pretty busy at times. I'm 45 and have been on 9 Celebrity cruises and have even taken my nieces ages 18-22 and they enjoy the line as well.