Best Cruisetours for Young People?

[OSUBuckly]

Hello all,

 

My girlfriend and I are looking for a suitable cruisetour for Summer of 2008. We are both in our late twenties. Are we going to be the youngest people on any given cruisetour? I hear they are mostly made up of an older crowd. Which cruisetours do most of the younger people use? From what I have learned, Holland America is probably out. Princess seems like they have great tours. How are those crowds? Royal Caribbean might work, but they don't go to glacier bay. And from what I can tell, NCL doesn't even do Alaskan cruisetours. Any help?

[NancyIL]

I can't help you with cruisetours, but we are renting a car for 9 days after our northbound cruise in June and driving to the places we want to visit. Have you considered planning your own land trip?

[gottagetout]

My DH and I went last August. We are 30 and adventerous. We chose RCCL on the Radiance of the Seas Cruisetour 17 (seward, Anchorage, Denali, Talkeetna). I loved the ship. It offered something for all ages. We chose the Radiance because of the activites - Rock Climbing, mini golf, etc. While we definitely weren't in the majority age wise on the cruise, I was suprised by the wide range of ages. We met several couples our age, but everyone was really great irregardless of age. The one negative of the ship was that they had some tables for dining that were for four people. My DH and I were seated at one of these with a retired couple. It actually worked out fine, and they were great, but I was expecting to be sitting with a group of other couples. Also, we had the late dinner. I would recommend the late dinner if you are adventerous. We would have had to come back early from some ports if we had wanted to make our dining time if it was early.

The land tour section was great. Mostly older people, but one honeymoon couple in their twenties and a few couples in their thirties. I would definitely recommend doing excursions or you will have A LOT of down time. I did, however, like doing the land portion second-contrary to most people. I just felt that we were sooo busy on the ship/ports. We almost had no down time because we like to do so much. On the land tour it was nice to just sit back in the very nice coaches and train and enjoy the ride, read, play games with my hubby, watch the scenery. Once we stopped though we managed to fill the time again with excursions, hiking, etc. By the way - There is a bus that runs from the hotel you stay in outside of Seward up to the EXit Glacier. This was a GREAT hike and opportunity to see yet another glacier up CLOSE. Glad we didn't miss it.

Have Fun!

[Coral]

I have cruised Alaska 6x in my 30's. I have done both RCCL and Princess and far preferred Princess as I thought they did a much better job in Alaska (and they do Glacier Bay). Princess also has anytime dining and there is no problem getting a table for 2. And if you meet up with another couple - you can eat with them if you want - everything is flexible as you can dine at anytime with whoever. This is not an option with RCCL.

 

On every trip - I have seen honeymooners in their 20's. By no means are you going to be the youngest people on board. You will fit in. Alaska seems to bring a lot of family reunions where you will see grandparents, parents, adult kids and possibly their kids. Don't worry - you will find people your age cruising.

 

On a side note - I think everyone should visit Alaska when they are young. There are tons of very active excursions in Alaska that one can not do as easily when they are seniors.

[Host Caroline]

Been to Alaska on RCI and Princess and I would def. choose Princess. Granted RCI ship may have rock wall, etc. but you are going to see and experience ALASkA!!:) Princess has much much better onboard Alaska program and there were honeymooners in my group in '05 who had a great time.. all ages.. activities are for all ages ashore... You def. don't want to miss Glacier Bay.

If it is your preference (and there is nothing wrong with it) to do a cruisetour I'd pick one with the most time in Denali. We used a company that is a tour company but let us customize and found that worked best for us. DH wanted to get a car (I preferred train) so we compromised and are taking train to Whittier.. Whatever you do, you will have a wonderful time...

[trunky]

I was thinking the same thing. My boyfriend and I are in our mid to late 20's. This will be our first cruise, and your question crossed my mind as well.

 

From what I have learned, Holland America is probably out.

LOL We must've learned this from the same source ;). Therefore it came down to two cruiselines. Princess vs RCCL. In the end I chose RCCL due to the nice itinerary (Vancouver RT with Hubbard Glacier viewing). I'm also hoping to be seated with another 'young' couple at dinner. But if we're not, i'm sure we'll have a blast anyway.

 

Also, Thanks to gottagetout's advice on the glacier hike, i'm really considering the X-Trek Adventure. Only thing thats holding me back is the $$ :(.