First time cruisers in late 20s - RCI good Choice?

[AnthonyD]

My younger sister wants to take a first cruise with one of her girlfriends. My sister is 28 and her friend is about the same age. Neither have cruised before. I think they would love a ship where they could socialize with 25-35 something singles. I don't think they are looking for true love on this cruise (but hey you never know) and they are way past the party till dawn stage. My first reaction was to get them onto a voyager class ship for a nice 7 day trip... but I want to get reaction from others who have cruised Carnival since I hear they draw younger crowds than even RCI?

 

1) So my question, would you all stear them to Carnival or a RCI Voyager class ship.

 

2) Also has anyone ever requested to sit at a dinner table with a group of single 20-30 somethings.. is this possible? I thought it might be a good idea.

 

 

Thanks,

Anthony

 

 

 

 

ps. I sailed my first cruise (honeymoon, EOS) last June and had lots of help from you good people in planning it. It made a bid difference and My wife and I still talk about it like it was yesterday. I have not been back to these boards until 3 days ago. Now strangely I am addicted and feel I must book something.

[balanceok]

I'm sure your sister and her friend will love their experience on RCI. For that matter, they would also likely enjoy Carnival or Princess.

 

The age of the cruisers has more to do with the time of the sailing and length of the cruise. On one hand, if they cruise in March, the ships will be full of 20 somethings. But if they chose a 10-day plus cruise, it will be more likely full of retirees, sith some exceptions.

 

I've never selected an age based dinner seating, but they should enjoy whoever they're set with, and if this is an issue, go with Princess and their "anytime dining" option.

[cb at sea]

RCI is a good choice for any age! Typically, the shorter cruises have more young folk than the longer ones, but summer would probably have tons of 20-30 year olds! Good luck!

[zqvol]

Your sister will enjoy any of the mass market lines. While they all have subtle differences, they are all pretty much the same.

[peep346]

my friends and i are in the 26-30 range....booked the may 25th EOS 9-day trip. we went on carnival a few years back and found that it was just was not as nice as RCI. RCI has better food and overall has "nicer" ships than carnival's lines. feel free to ask any questions.

[wrp96]

I'm in my late 20s and LOVE RCCL. In fact I leave on my 8th RCCL cruise in less than 3 weeks. I highly recommend the Voyager class ships as great introductions to cruising as they have tons of activities and tend to attract families and younger couples.

 

In my experience they usually try to seat you at dinner with people your age. I've only had one cruise where I wasn't AND those were some of my best tablemates. If you get to your table and are uncomfortable with your tablemates, you can always ask the maitre'd if he can change your table.

[sea-cruise]

Off topic but...Wrona, Can you please give me a heads up on what to see/do in Little Rock? We'll be there in a couple of months (for a week). Thanx

[wrp96]

email me at wrpierce at sbcglobal dot net I'll get you a list. If you need hotel information as well, let me know.

[sea-cruise]

Thanks a lot! I appreciate it!

[KillaFee]

My DBF and I are in our mid-late twenties and we LOVE Royal Caribbean. We always make tons of friends when we cruise on RCI and when I've gone on cruises w/friends and not him I've always met lots of people our age as well. I went on Carnival for the first time this year and it just didn't compare to the RCI experience.

 

I think they'll love their first cruise on RCI, and going on a Voyager class is a good way to start.

 

Laura

[AnthonyD]

my friends and i are in the 26-30 range....booked the may 25th EOS 9-day trip. we went on carnival a few years back and found that it was just was not as nice as RCI. RCI has better food and overall has "nicer" ships than carnival's lines. feel free to ask any questions.

 

You will love that 9 day cruise... so okay I think you've convinced me to tell her to go RCI. I love the voyager class, but just wanted to make sure Carnival wasn't this out of the ordinary cool ship for meeting up with single somethings. It sounds like you have just the same chance on either ship to make friends. I know on our last cruise our tablemates were in their late 50s and were a great fun.

[wrp96]

Two of my 7 previous cruises were as a solo cruiser and I had no troubles meeting people my age to hang out with.

[rsscaptain]

I was about 30 on my Carnival cruise and I hated it! It was a collage drinking fest, full of disrespecful snotty kids. Could have been just the ship or the week, but it was enough for me to say that you couldn't pay me to go on another Carnival cruise. I just hated it. Cruising on that ship wasn't better than a bad day at work. FYI it was the Destiny in November.

[sea-cruise]

You are right! Friends went on the Destiny and said it was horrible. We took the grandsons on the Miracle because of the price (only cruised Carnival once)...and that was excellent, but then it was a brand new ship at the time. Who knows what that ship is like now!