demographicquestion - early January Caribbean cruise

[Cancruizer]

Hi all,

 

I'm hoping someone who's cruised before on this itinerary at this time might be able to help me with this.

 

I'm looking at the Crown Princess 10 day Caribbean in early January, however we have a 19 year old son that will be with us. I'm wondering if there are some families with kids/young adults on board at this time/on the longer sailings? 

 

To clarify, we enjoy Princess and have no issue with people of all ages, but I know it would be nice for him to find a few friends closer to his age. We've cruised over the Holidays and have done 7 days right after New Year before, but I know longer cruises tend to have less families.

 

I appreciate your insight and experiences

 

Ilana

[Waynetor]

We have done 14 cruises over the last 2 winters which included 4 of the 10 day voyages.  There were some children 8 yrs and younger, mostly 4 or younger.  I don't recall seeing any that were older teens travelling with family.  Possible to get some young couples (early 20s) travelling together.

[deliver42]

Highly doubtful, since they already came off Christmas vacation, and this is for a longer cruise . 7 days, small possibility, but not so much on a 10 day. Sorry.

[skynight]

I see you are looking at the January 6th sailing. Observations from January and other non-holiday periods is very few in the 19 year old age range. If you call Princess you may be able to determine how many youth are on board and the age ranges, but realize that 19 will be an adult. Counts would be for 17 and under.

I would plan on booking some really nice beach, snorkeling and boating tours which should be of interest. We are on the same itinerary in February. It's a nice voyage. The 19 year old should enjoy, but may have to spend some time with the parental types. I have met younger cruises playing trivia, at karaoke, at deck parties and other activities. We always got along during the activity, but of course we didn't pal around afterwards. The 19 year old probably will have more in common with the Cruise Director staff.

Edited September 12, 2019 by skynight

[JimmyVWine]

Of course, one never knows until one knows,  but I have a slightly different take. (And it is only slight).  Many colleges don't begin their Spring semester until around the 15th-20th of January.  We have taken a couple of cruises with our college-age daughter right after New Year's, and before she has to report back to school.  She was far from the only college age person on the ship though I can't say that there we throngs of them. The first two weeks of January are actually great weeks to travel if you have a family member in college (anywhere, not just on a cruise.).  You avoid the holiday crunch and high season pricing.  This concept is not lost on seasoned travelers.  Still, all this means is that the number of similar aged passengers will be slightly more than "none". I'm not suggesting that the ship will look like Spring Break.

[Cancruizer]

3 hours ago, Waynetor said:

We have done 14 cruises over the last 2 winters which included 4 of the 10 day voyages.  There were some children 8 yrs and younger, mostly 4 or younger.  I don't recall seeing any that were older teens travelling with family.  Possible to get some young couples (early 20s) travelling together.

Thanks for sharing that

[Cancruizer]

3 hours ago, deliver42 said:

Highly doubtful, since they already came off Christmas vacation, and this is for a longer cruise . 7 days, small possibility, but not so much on a 10 day. Sorry.

Thanks for that.Where we live,college goes back about Jan 22,so we're still on "break". Hoping maybe others will be in the same position

[Cancruizer]

2 hours ago, skynight said:

I see you are looking at the January 6th sailing. Observations from January and other non-holiday periods is very few in the 19 year old age range. If you call Princess you may be able to determine how many youth are on board and the age ranges, but realize that 19 will be an adult. Counts would be for 17 and under.

I would plan on booking some really nice beach, snorkeling and boating tours which should be of interest. We are on the same itinerary in February. It's a nice voyage. The 19 year old should enjoy, but may have to spend some time with the parental types. I have met younger cruises playing trivia, at karaoke, at deck parties and other activities. We always got along during the activity, but of course we didn't pal around afterwards. The 19 year old probably will have more in common with the Cruise Director staff.

Thanks for the observations and suggestions. Last year we were on for the holidays and NY - this will definitely be different :-)

[Cancruizer]

2 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

Of course, one never knows until one knows,  but I have a slightly different take. (And it is only slight).  Many colleges don't begin their Spring semester until around the 15th-20th of January.  We have taken a couple of cruises with our college-age daughter right after New Year's, and before she has to report back to school.  She was far from the only college age person on the ship though I can't say that there we throngs of them. The first two weeks of January are actually great weeks to travel if you have a family member in college (anywhere, not just on a cruise.).  You avoid the holiday crunch and high season pricing.  This concept is not lost on seasoned travelers.  Still, all this means is that the number of similar aged passengers will be slightly more than "none". I'm not suggesting that the ship will look like Spring Break.

Thanks - I had the same thought. Tbh, we were on Celebrity mid june for 11 days and there were about 10 people ages 18-23. They all did fine. Just hoping there are a handful that may be on before heading back to school later in January

[katisdale]

We are cruising over Christmas this year. Our grandchildren go back to University on January 6. Our cruise is December 19 through January 3 so not much time after we get back.

[DrivesLikeMario]

State colleges in CA usually don't go back until around the 18th of January so maybe there'll be a few his age.  Make sure he goes to the 18-20 yr. old get-together at the very beginning of the cruise if they have it.

[tailspintom]

Hello Cancruizer, we do a bit of cruising at this time of the year.  We have seen young adults on the ship and believe that a 19 year old is closer to a 70 year old than a 13 year old. If the lad is in college I am sure that he may be interested in the European exploration of the Americas and the implication of their influence. There is a plethora of great information about the Americas available on the cruise. destinations 

 

The young folk we have met met on the cruises have always made us feel younger. So, give us older folk a break and bring him on that cruise. And, who knows, there may be some new younger acquaintances that he meets that are his age. Or maybe not. 

 

At any rate, I am sure that he will meet interesting people from different places with different ideas that will, maybe, hopefully, fill his mind with ideas that will lead him to a learned life-long perspective.

[Cancruizer]

On 9/12/2019 at 5:05 PM, katisdale said:

We are cruising over Christmas this year. Our grandchildren go back to University on January 6. Our cruise is December 19 through January 3 so not much time after we get back.

Enjoy it! We love the holiday sailings when we can do them!

[Cancruizer]

On 9/12/2019 at 5:41 PM, DrivesLikeMario said:

State colleges in CA usually don't go back until around the 18th of January so maybe there'll be a few his age.  Make sure he goes to the 18-20 yr. old get-together at the very beginning of the cruise if they have it.

Thank you. He definitely will!

[Cancruizer]

On 9/12/2019 at 6:10 PM, tailspintom said:

Hello Cancruizer, we do a bit of cruising at this time of the year.  We have seen young adults on the ship and believe that a 19 year old is closer to a 70 year old than a 13 year old. If the lad is in college I am sure that he may be interested in the European exploration of the Americas and the implication of their influence. There is a plethora of great information about the Americas available on the cruise. destinations 

 

The young folk we have met met on the cruises have always made us feel younger. So, give us older folk a break and bring him on that cruise. And, who knows, there may be some new younger acquaintances that he meets that are his age. Or maybe not. 

 

At any rate, I am sure that he will meet interesting people from different places with different ideas that will, maybe, hopefully, fill his mind with ideas that will lead him to a learned life-long perspective.

What a nice perspective! I am hoping that there will be others (even a handful) around his age, but I'm sure he will meet and talk with people of all ages. Thank you!