Adult-only Cruises

[caviargal]

My understanding as to why Renaissance Cruises went bankrupt is that at one point they felt they didn't need Travel Agents to do business and refused to pay any commissions to them. After a while, when their bookings dropped to practically nothing, they realized that they did need agents to book their cruises. Travel Agents felt that there was no need to book Renaissance (unless a client specifically asked for them and usually the agent did his/her best to discourage those ships.)

 

Consequently, with agents boycotting Renaissance, and not having clients directly book them, they went bankrupt. This is what I was told years ago when I was a Travel Agent.

 

Renaissance went bankrupt right after 9/11. I was booked on the next sailing and was incredibly disappointed! No kids and no smoking sounded like heaven to me:).

 

I do believe their decision to not pay agents was a big part of their death knell. It takes a lot to support a marketing organization that is as far reaching as a happy group of TAs who really like selling your ship~

[Treven]

Contrary to popular (and inaccurate) opinion on this thread, any cruise line can have adults only cruises if they choose, and Celebrity has had them several times in the past and still advertises that they have them - but don't have any currently scheduled.

 

The problem with Atlantis charters is that the mainstream hetero couple might feel a little out of place.

Probably.

[keylime27]

Trying booking a cruise for early in September. Parents tend to be more hesitant about pulling their kids out of school right at the beginning of the year. We went last September and there weren't as many kids onboard. Plus RCCL has a great kids program, so a lot of times the kids stay in the "kids club" and you rarely see them. The only place kids were running wild was at the pool. (this can be extremly annoying if you are trying to relax poolside) Also, try get late seating at dinner. Almost never any kids in the dining room then.

[caviargal]

Trying booking a cruise for early in September. Parents tend to be more hesitant about pulling their kids out of school right at the beginning of the year. We went last September and there weren't as many kids onboard. Plus RCCL has a great kids program, so a lot of times the kids stay in the "kids club" and you rarely see them. The only place kids were running wild was at the pool. (this can be extremly annoying if you are trying to relax poolside) Also, try get late seating at dinner. Almost never any kids in the dining room then.

 

I wish it were that simple! With so many kids being home schooled these days and with parents pulling them out to travel, I do not think there is a "safe" time, just one that there is a better chance of fewer families being aboard.

 

RCI has been the very worst in managing their problems with kids. It is not about how good the kids program is, it is really about the fact that RCI needs to get with the program and enforce the adult only areas. I personally have given up hope.

 

It is not just the pools. It is steps where they congregate and block traffic, it is the hallways that they race down, without regard to who might be around the corner, it is the elevators and the dining rooms where young children are apparently permitted to run around without regard for the safety of the waitstaff and the enjoyment of others.

 

I have had too many off putting experiences and just will not take another chance. If and when RCI decides to offer an adults only cruise and it is on a Radiance class ship, then I will perhaps think about. Until then, it is just not worth it!

[FPP777]

What many people miss, is the bottom line. Kids drive the economics of a cruise ship more then you think. First, the junior suite I booked next year for my family of four could possibly only have two people in it if it was an adult only cruise. I/m sure the overall amount of people onboard would shrink as it most likely would be more couples then anything else. That would have an impact on the bottom line. Having two little ones with us will mean that we will spend more money then if it were just the wife and I. That is what drives this ship. Money and how much can they make.

 

Here is some more bottom line. Many cruise lines, RCL included, has tapped the family market and there is no going back. They make more money with families coming on vs. just adults. Come to grips with that and stop complaining. Find another situation that you would be comfortable in and stick to it.

 

You wont find me over on some of the other boards complaining about how they do not cater to my family and just to the adult crowd. Or complain about how they do not have a childrens program. Find someplace else to complain or just accept the fact that someone elses kids are going to ruin your vacation... ONLY IF YOU LET THEM.

 

My kids may not be the best behaved, but I dont let them get out of control. I wish some of the adults were as well behaved as my kids.

[lv2cruisgrl]

What many people miss, is the bottom line. Kids drive the economics of a cruise ship more then you think. First, the junior suite I booked next year for my family of four could possibly only have two people in it if it was an adult only cruise. I/m sure the overall amount of people onboard would shrink as it most likely would be more couples then anything else. That would have an impact on the bottom line. Having two little ones with us will mean that we will spend more money then if it were just the wife and I. That is what drives this ship. Money and how much can they make.

 

Here is some more bottom line. Many cruise lines, RCL included, has tapped the family market and there is no going back. They make more money with families coming on vs. just adults. Come to grips with that and stop complaining. Find another situation that you would be comfortable in and stick to it.

 

You wont find me over on some of the other boards complaining about how they do not cater to my family and just to the adult crowd. Or complain about how they do not have a childrens program. Find someplace else to complain or just accept the fact that someone elses kids are going to ruin your vacation... ONLY IF YOU LET THEM.

 

My kids may not be the best behaved, but I dont let them get out of control. I wish some of the adults were as well behaved as my kids.

Yes, you are right about RCCL going after the $$ by going after the family market. The sad part is they have rules but don't enforce them so why have the rules in the first place, get rid of them!! However we are sad because RCCL use to be more adults then kids on the ships and everyone liked it. So some of us hope that RCCL will enforce their rules, that is all we want. However others think the because RCCL is going after the family market people who dont want that type of atmosphere will have to change lines. We love the ships on RCCL and the staff, but the type of people that cruise now is changing and that changes what we use to have. :(

[FPP777]

Yes, you are right about RCCL going after the $$ by going after the family market. The sad part is they have rules but don't enforce them so why have the rules in the first place, get rid of them!! However we are sad because RCCL use to be more adults then kids on the ships and everyone liked it. So some of us hope that RCCL will enforce their rules, that is all we want. However others think the because RCCL is going after the family market people who dont want that type of atmosphere will have to change lines. We love the ships on RCCL and the staff, but the type of people that cruise now is changing and that changes what we use to have. :(

Is it the children that break the rules? Or is it the parents? Now I/m sure some kids will get out of control and run up/down the hallways. Push all the buttons in the elevator and a few other things. But as far as rules go, the adults are the ones who break them or allow their children to break them.

Children do not smuggle booze on board.

They only wear to the dining room what their parents pack for them.

They dont hog chairs unless their parents tell them to do so.

 

So tell me, what rules, that apply to children, do you feel RCL does not enforce?

[caviargal]

 

 

You wont find me over on some of the other boards complaining about how they do not cater to my family and just to the adult crowd. Or complain about how they do not have a childrens program. Find someplace else to complain or just accept the fact that someone elses kids are going to ruin your vacation... ONLY IF YOU LET THEM.

 

My kids may not be the best behaved, but I dont let them get out of control. I wish some of the adults were as well behaved as my kids.

 

But you are on a thread where the topic is "Adults only cruises" complaining about those of us who prefer to cruise without kids:confused:.

 

And ones vacation can most certainly be negatively impacted by too many misbehaving kids. I stayed in the Solarium and kept to adult only areas - as adverstised by RCI - and still they were everywhere. Ruined it for me:rolleyes:

 

And adults that do not behave are dealt with by staff very effectively IME. The same cannot be said for the problems with kids and the parents who choose not to supervise them.

 

I can only vote with my vacation dollar, and I do.

[Guest cvbart]

But you are on a thread where the topic is "Adults only cruises" complaining about those of us who prefer to cruise without kids:confused:.

 

And ones vacation can most certainly be negatively impacted by too many misbehaving kids. I stayed in the Solarium and kept to adult only areas - as adverstised by RCI - and still they were everywhere. Ruined it for me:rolleyes:

 

And adults that do not behave are dealt with by staff very effectively IME. The same cannot be said for the problems with kids and the parents who choose not to supervise them.

 

I can only vote with my vacation dollar, and I do.

 

I'm guessing that your some sort of TA?

 

If you a TA what cruise lines do you send familys to?

 

And what cruise lines do send the adult onlys to?

 

I'm also guessing that you don't have kids or if you do you don't travel with them?

 

I think a cruise with a cross section of everyone, familys to older cruises is the best. One reason I like RCCL.

[Nliedel]

RCI makes a ton of money off families. They would lose a lot of revenue if they cut out kids and they know it. Their kids program is one of the best out there. They market to families and that's not going to change.

[caviargal]

I'm guessing that your some sort of TA?

 

If you a TA what cruise lines do you send familys to?

 

And what cruise lines do send the adult onlys to?

 

I'm also guessing that you don't have kids or if you do you don't travel with them?

 

I think a cruise with a cross section of everyone, familys to older cruises is the best. One reason I like RCCL.

 

Yes.

 

RCI/Carnival/NCL

 

Depends on budget. Oceania, Crystal, Regent, SeaDream, Windstar are top tier in my book

HAL (non Vista), X (except holiday sailings). RCI Radiance class (except for school holidays) if they want a more casual experience

 

No kids. Niece, nephew. Travel with them occasionally. Avoid family friendly restaurants at home unless I am enjoying the company of my 4yo niece. Family trip on X this year.

 

That is why there are choices.:) I prefer no kids, traditional dining, less nickel and diming, ships that have dress codes and pay attention to them. Age range of adults is not important to me.

[crusinmama06]

They should just raise the rates on 3rd and 4th passengers.

 

Why should they? I already pay more than you do for the same room. And in my case, I book categories like Grand Suites so my kids probably cost more than some adults on board. (Have paid up to $899 per child for a certain cruise (3rd and 4th person rate)

 

Go ahead and raise the rates...I can still afford it :p

[lv2cruisgrl]

Is it the children that break the rules? Or is it the parents? Now I/m sure some kids will get out of control and run up/down the hallways. Push all the buttons in the elevator and a few other things. But as far as rules go, the adults are the ones who break them or allow their children to break them.

Children do not smuggle booze on board.

They only wear to the dining room what their parents pack for them.

They dont hog chairs unless their parents tell them to do so.

 

So tell me, what rules, that apply to children, do you feel RCL does not enforce?

The bottom line is RCCL now chooses to entice families to cruise. With families comes kids, with kids, come adults that let them run amuck. I have been on ships where the staff has kicked parents/kids out of the hot tubs in the adult areas, I have been on ships where they walk right past them. Do the adults need to obey the rules, and take care of their kids, of course! Does RCCL need to be better at making people obey the rules, yes! I would just like a cruise where people dress nice for dinner, kids are not running round the dining room, taking over the hot tubs, running up and down the halls at 1am, etc. In the past 3 years we have experienced many unpleasant kid/parent incidents. I should start a book!! :)

[Onessa]

Wow! Some of these posts are getting a bit scary!

 

I hope the comment about "keeping out" the gays and lesbians in the AI post was a aberation, I'd hate to think that my fellow cc'ers are so narrow minded and bigotted that they fear associating with anyone who don't share identical demographics as them.

 

There are alot of people on a cruise. Some are young, while others more mature. Some are well mannered, while others are less so. I think we'll all agree that some kids are better behaved than others - I think we've also all been in situations where we've seen adults behave in a manner that, if they were adolencents would not have been tolerated.

 

The lower-cost cruise lines have discovered, that in order to remain competetive, they must market to a diverse demographic - which includes families. The lines set and, for the most part enforce, rules for behavior. Some of the examples of poor behavior by kids, did have examples of apprporiate cruise line enforcement (the 7YO boy splashing water, was asked to stop by a crew member - it was the adult pax, mom and dad, who made a scene. Who's to say that these same boors of pax would not and/or did not make scenes about non-child related issues).

 

Cruise lines occassionally do advertise and offer adult-only cruises. If you are interested ask about them and then follow-through and book them! If there is truly a market for Adult-Only cruises, there is money to be made. Where there's money, the cruiselines will follow.

[caviargal]

The bottom line is RCCL now chooses to entice families to cruise. With families comes kids, with kids, come adults that let them run amuck. I have been on ships where the staff has kicked parents/kids out of the hot tubs in the adult areas, I have been on ships where they walk right past them. Do the adults need to obey the rules, and take care of their kids, of course! Does RCCL need to be better at making people obey the rules, yes! I would just like a cruise where people dress nice for dinner, kids are not running round the dining room, taking over the hot tubs, running up and down the halls at 1am, etc. In the past 3 years we have experienced many unpleasant kid/parent incidents. I should start a book!! :)

 

Having recently been aboard FOS for a 2 nighter, IMO this ship will be a kid magnet. They have taken so much space for the waterpark, that the main pool and Solarium appear to be inadequate for the number of passengers.

 

I see you are aboard in October (members cruise I believe?) and hope you enjoy. I think it is totally designed for the family market. I will be interested in your review as the large ships are not appealing to me and I am wondering how it will all shake out. Please post when you return.

[travellgirl]

I agree with Superjerry. The longer cruises seem to not attract families. We normally take 10 or 12 day cruises and have found not many children on them. We also usually sail Celebrity which attracts fewer families, but have sailed on AOS and found the same. Am in the process of now booking the NOS for 14 night Mediterranean. We try to go once a year to an all-inclusive, usually in Mexico and only go to all adults. Again, nothing at all against children, but my children are grown and I prefer a quieter vacation. When we have grandchildren, then we will do a child-oriented vacation with them. And as other posters have noted, the children are wonderful, it's the parents that let them run wild. Cannot blame the children.

[kitty9]

double post, sorry

[kitty9]

Crystal used to be known as an adult cruise line, but that's not the case anymore. I used to love cruising Crystal in the summer because you were lucky to find no more than 2 or 3 kids on board, but now, you find more than 100 kids on their summer sailings, and for a ship that carries under 1000 passengers and are much smaller than RCCI ships, that's a lot of kids. Heck, last year's world cruise had kids on board for the full world cruise---I can't imagine how those parents explained that the kids would be out of school for 104 days---and these weren't home schooled kids.

 

To avoid the highest number of kids, there's a few rules to follow. Longer cruises, 14 days and longer, tend not to attract families. More exotic itineraries, like in Asia, South America and Africa don't attract families. Cruises that fall between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the first three weeks of January and most of May tend not to have many families. Seabourn, Sea Dream, Regent, Europa, and Silversea don't court families at all. There's nothing like a kid's playroom or video arcade on those ships.

[gt_mustang_gal]

Having recently been aboard FOS for a 2 nighter, IMO this ship will be a kid magnet. They have taken so much space for the waterpark, that the main pool and Solarium appear to be inadequate for the number of passengers.

 

I see you are aboard in October (members cruise I believe?) and hope you enjoy. I think it is totally designed for the family market. I will be interested in your review as the large ships are not appealing to me and I am wondering how it will all shake out. Please post when you return.

 

We are booked on the Freedom for Sept 24th. I am crossing my fingers that the new waterpark will keep the kids away from the main pool and the Solarium. We had bad experiences with kids on the Majesty in 2001, so we went on the Explorer in 2003 since it was a larger ship. It seemed just as bad! I'll let you know how it goes on the Freedom.

[zotzer]

We are booked on the Freedom for Sept 24th. I am crossing my fingers that the new waterpark will keep the kids away from the main pool and the Solarium.

 

It does! I think you'll be pleasantly surprised!

T

[lv2cruisgrl]

Having recently been aboard FOS for a 2 nighter, IMO this ship will be a kid magnet. They have taken so much space for the waterpark, that the main pool and Solarium appear to be inadequate for the number of passengers.

 

I see you are aboard in October (members cruise I believe?) and hope you enjoy. I think it is totally designed for the family market. I will be interested in your review as the large ships are not appealing to me and I am wondering how it will all shake out. Please post when you return.

Oh I certainly will. We travel with another couple that share our same views also. We are anxious to see if we will like the bigger ships. We are awaiting that cruise to see how it all turns out before we book anymore RCCL ships, as we were thinking of Liberty next. Our problem is we love the "new" ships (they are so lovely) but dislike some of the issues that have come up over the years with the types of people that are now cruising. Right now every cruise is a gamble, you either have great experiences or not so great. We must say we do enjoy the staff and food on all the ships, never had a bad experience with them. Even my TA says she is afraid the RCCL ships are going to end up with a rep more in line with Carnival if they are not careful!!

[caviargal]

Even my TA says she is afraid the RCCL ships are going to end up with a rep more in line with Carnival if they are not careful!!

 

I am sorry to say I agree with her:o.

 

There was a great trio in Vintages in the evenings, three ladies with one playing violin and all contemporary music. Really terrific!

 

The gym is the best I have ever seen:).

 

If you enjoy duck, they served it one night in the dining room with a red cherry sauce. Yummy...

 

I will be anxiously awaiting your review. We had a D1 on 8 and the new bedding is to die for! Flat screen TVs pretty cool as well!

[lv2cruisgrl]

I am sorry to say I agree with her:o.

 

There was a great trio in Vintages in the evenings, three ladies with one playing violin and all contemporary music. Really terrific!

 

The gym is the best I have ever seen:).

 

If you enjoy duck, they served it one night in the dining room with a red cherry sauce. Yummy...

 

I will be anxiously awaiting your review. We had a D1 on 8 and the new bedding is to die for! Flat screen TVs pretty cool as well!

 

Sounds good to me, I hope the kids area really keeps the kids busy. We are hoping we enjoy it as we love the Voyager class of ships and of course we always have a good time, but will certainly take notice of the crowds, kids/parents, etc. Next we have to get through our July cruise on Sovereign, we are going to be in FL and decided to do last minute. Hope its not a ship full of wild kids/parents.

[caviargal]

Sounds good to me, I hope the kids area really keeps the kids busy. We are hoping we enjoy it as we love the Voyager class of ships and of course we always have a good time, but will certainly take notice of the crowds, kids/parents, etc. Next we have to get through our July cruise on Sovereign, we are going to be in FL and decided to do last minute. Hope its not a ship full of wild kids/parents.

 

Just off Sovereign and back again in 6 weeks. Really crowded, lots of kids, drunk teens and 20 somethings. 2700 pax in 77,000 GRT and I really felt it.

 

Get a day pass in Nassau (hate it there myself) at Sandals Royal Bahamian and enjoy the beach, pool and adult only atmosphere for the day. We head straight there every time we pull in.

 

Sorry but those short cruises are pretty party hearty.

 

BTW, the Jetski tour on CoCoCay is a blast if you are into that. Have fun!

[FPP777]

But you are on a thread where the topic is "Adults only cruises" complaining about those of us who prefer to cruise without kids:confused:.

 

Right. I am on a RCL forum. A forum for a cruise line that markets to families. Are you saying I am out of line for commenting on a topic that has no merit? RCL does not have adult only cruises.