Here's an age breakdown of Virgin Voyages sailors (passengers)

[CineGraphic]

A travel agent on another site recently posted this breakdown of passenger ages from her regional sales rep.

Make of it what you want.

 

6% 18-24

20% 25-34

25% 35-44

19% 45-54

16% 55-64

14% 65+

[Freelancer1]

Great info. Thanks!

[basenji56]

Interesting.  Median age is around 44. 

 

I wonder how this compares to Carnival?

[cantgetin]

This looks identical to what I saw several months ago.....wondering if this is the "end of  2022" numbers or first half of 2023.  Doesn't really matter if there are no significant changes.  Every set if numbers I've seen has put the median at either 43 or 44.

How this compares to Carnival....well, since Carnival allows kids, I'd assume their numbers would reflect lower ages.  True, they have grandparents on board, but Carnival would logically be kids, young adults, and parent types primarily.

[red lobster]

I appreciate the info, I have cruised quite a bit, but have my first on VV in April.

[CineGraphic]

1 hour ago, basenji56 said:

I wonder how this compares to Carnival?

 

I'm not sure how old this info is, but in an article from Frommer's, I found this:

Carnival estimates about 30% of passengers are under age 35, another 40% are between 35 and 55, and 30% are over age 55.

 

[Rothko1]

Definitely not a Ship of the Walking Dead.

[basenji56]

4 minutes ago, Rothko1 said:

Definitely not a Ship of the Walking Dead.

I don't mind young as long as not kids.  Drunken brawlers I can do without.  (Carnival, I am looking at you.)

 

[basenji56]

2 minutes ago, basenji56 said:

I don't mind young as long as not kids.  Drunken brawlers I can do without.  (Carnival, I am looking at you.)

 

carnival drunken brawl at DuckDuckGo

 

Edited July 21, 2023 by basenji56

[Rothko1]

10 minutes ago, basenji56 said:

carnival drunken brawl at DuckDuckGo

 

 

You mean that wasn't the floor show entertainment?

[RBCal]

The more elite the cruise the older the crowd.  I don't remember seeing many young people on WindStar and Azamara.  Not sure how Seabourn, Silversea, Viking etc. compare.  The older I get the less tolerant I am of loud partiers and noisy kids.  Getting old happens to everyone except the unlucky or foolish.

 

Though if you watch Bravo's below deck you will see plenty of the young foolish party crowd.  Money doesn't buy class.

Edited July 21, 2023 by RBCal

[Shep_Proudfoot]

4 hours ago, Rothko1 said:

 

You mean that wasn't the floor show entertainment?

A bit more entertaining than the typical cruise nightly show. 

[Rothko1]

5 minutes ago, Shep_Proudfoot said:

A bit more entertaining than the typical cruise nightly show. 

 

And a guest participation event.  All are welcome to join in the festivities.

[Jetdriver787]

Interesting figures and I would say that based on our recent Mediterranean cruise two weeks ago probably about right? Despite being (very) well into the 16% demographic, we thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. We felt welcome and completely spoiled. Loved the variety and difference with the entertainment, and the food and service was completely "top notch!"

Can't imagine how the design for the pools made it to the final draft, but otherwise it was fantastic. 

 

[Travel-and-See]

On 7/21/2023 at 1:22 PM, CineGraphic said:

25% 35-44

19% 45-54

I'm in that 25% so it definitely checks out for me! 

 

21 hours ago, RBCal said:

The older I get the less tolerant I am of loud partiers and noisy kids.

One of the great things about Virgin is the design of the ship separates the loud parties. Most happen on the pool deck, or in the club next to the casino. There is live music presented at "On the Rocks" but the stage is over to the side so it's not LOUD unless you are within the bar and close to the stage. 

 

On other ships the music / parties seems to fill entire areas of the ship. 

 

So yes, Virgin is a great ship if you want to party, but it's also great if you like peace and quiet. 

[cantgetin]

I'm in the old group and never had a noise problem on the VV ships.  Yup, on other lines it can be an issue.  On VV never and cabin noise issues and the shows, music events, parties are loud if you are in that area, but the sound doesn't travel around the ship.  If you don't like the music on The Dock (or anywhere else) the sound doesn't follow you when you go elsewhere.

[SueMo]

I wonder if the demographics change based on the length of the cruise.  We're in the oldest age group (but definitely young at heart!) going on a transatlantic from Miami to Barcelona in April 2024, and know that our kids (40 ish) can't take over 2 weeks off of work in one stint.

[cantgetin]

1 hour ago, SueMo said:

I wonder if the demographics change based on the length of the cruise.  We're in the oldest age group (but definitely young at heart!) going on a transatlantic from Miami to Barcelona in April 2024, and know that our kids (40 ish) can't take over 2 weeks off of work in one stint.

I've been on both VV TAs and have 2 more booked.  THe difference seemed to be that it was less of a party ship than the shorter cruises.  THe age stats were very minimally different, but they young people on board were able to work on line.  And while there was plenty of fun, it wasn't as rowdy as shorter cruises.  There were more active vloggers in April than in Oct 2022.There were people filming in October, but it was't intrusive or "watch me film myself chewing."  It was more "this is the ship, this is one minute of an activity."  In April, it was "look out because I'm filming and I can't watch where I'm going."  Likely it was a couple of invasive filmers.

[CruisingWalter]

On 7/23/2023 at 5:55 PM, SueMo said:

I wonder if the demographics change based on the length of the cruise.  We're in the oldest age group (but definitely young at heart!) going on a transatlantic from Miami to Barcelona in April 2024, and know that our kids (40 ish) can't take over 2 weeks off of work in one stint.

 

Supposedly the vibe is very different on European cruises vs. the Miami cruises. I've heard that multiple times from folks who have sailed both destinations. The crowd tends to be a bit more mellow and chill in Europe, a bit more into parties and the events out of Miami. Of course Europe is almost exclusively 7 nights or longer while Miami is mostly 4/5. Shorter cruises tend to bring a little more of the 'party' atmosphere as folks try to get the most out their shorter cruise.  That being said, we've gone on two cruises on Scarlet and it's been awesome both times. We are in the mostly chill crowd enjoying the evening music in On The Rocks vs. The Major in the evening. 

[cantgetin]

I think age and length of cruise are both related to the atmosphere on the cruise.

[neverendingcruising]

We have done Scarlet a couple of times and also Valiant last year (back to back med) and Resilient this year (Mermaiden) and it is definitely different. In the Caribbean we never leave the ship, catch all the shows, and PJ party is a priority. In Europe we do excursions at almost every port and usually pack it in early for the next day's adventure. 

 

I don't think that's unique to Virgin though, we followed a similar pattern on Disney. 

[_tacocat_]

2 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

Supposedly the vibe is very different on European cruises vs. the Miami cruises. I've heard that multiple times from folks who have sailed both destinations. The crowd tends to be a bit more mellow and chill in Europe, a bit more into parties and the events out of Miami. Of course Europe is almost exclusively 7 nights or longer while Miami is mostly 4/5. Shorter cruises tend to bring a little more of the 'party' atmosphere as folks try to get the most out their shorter cruise.  That being said, we've gone on two cruises on Scarlet and it's been awesome both times. We are in the mostly chill crowd enjoying the evening music in On The Rocks vs. The Major in the evening. 

100% my experience.  I've done all itineraries on Scarlet, the 8 night on Valiant and Greek Island Glow on Resilient.  The 4 night Scarlet itineraries have been the "booze cruise"-iest because they're quick and cheaper so lower time and $ commitment.  Lots of birthday celebrations and bachelor/bachelorette parties on the times that I've been on.  5-nighters are still kind of a party, but I've seen fewer huge party groups on the ones I've been on.

 

I was on the 8 night on Valiant in early December, and the average age had to be pushing 60, maybe even more, but still very lively because we had 2,300 onboard.  8 nights is a big time commitment (and way more expensive!), so a lot of people onboard seemed to be either retired or remote workers (me!  grounds club and draught haus were pretty packed with a bunch of us during the middle of the day, and they even had tables that people were working from on the pool deck!)  We had a ton of medical emergencies as well, and the crew we spoke to basically said it was a numbers game on that voyage - 2,300 pax, higher average age than scarlet, more days away = higher instance of evacs.

 

Did that same itinerary a month later, and only had 800 pax onboard.  Absolute ghost town the whole time.  They scheduled fewer occurrences of each event because they didn't want to have like 10 people at each show, which made it difficult to fit everything into your schedule.  Also, they pulled a few usual Manor events off the schedule - it was only open a few nights vs. every night the previous month - and they even had a crew party in there one night.  The only time I've been legit board on a VV!

 

Finally, my voyage on Resilient did have a much more chill vibe than any other itinerary I'd been on before.  I'd say the average age was upper 40s-mid 50s, and very lively.  It was late May/early June, so there were a lot of parents with their just-graduated high school, college or grad school kids, with the cruise being their grad present.  We also spent significantly less time onboard due to the port-heavy nature of the itinerary and were up early most days, so we also weren't actively seeking out the party scene.

[cantgetin]

I would say this is typical of many lines.  We did a 4/3 B2B on Disney some years ago and were honestly shocked at the difference.  This was after many longer DCL cruises, and the only reason for the B2B rather than 7 nights was flight availability.

[CruisingWalter]

15 hours ago, _tacocat_ said:

We had a ton of medical emergencies as well, and the crew we spoke to basically said it was a numbers game on that voyage - 2,300 pax, higher average age than scarlet, more days away = higher instance of evacs.

 

That's not typical at all in our experience. We've done 10 to 14 day cruises and longer cruises doesn't necessarily mean more instances of evacs. Maybe 1 per cruise in our experience, but often none. That's over almost 20 years so far of cruising.

 

As for the 'booze cruise' nature of the shorter cruises, that's true of every cruise line 3 and 4 night itineraries. We never thought about it until we took a 3 nighter years ago on Mariner of the Seas. They had party events starting at 12:30a which is not typical of most cruise lines. Then we realized a 3 night cruise is essentially a Las Vegas weekend. Gotta get the most bang for your buck in 3 nights so that means partying into the late hours and drinking as much as possible. Unless we really want to get away for a weekend, we try to do no less than 7 nights on any cruise. Which is why we don't sail VV as much when only one ship is in Miami. . 

Edited July 26, 2023 by CruisingWalter

[Freelancer3]

10 VV cruises all 7 days or more - 1 evac at the dock of a port.

Edited July 26, 2023 by Freelancer3