Average Age Ranges...

[Hatty324]

My girlfriend and I are going on our first cruise in Jan '09 on the Ruby. We are of the younger variety (21 and 20 at time of departure). I have heard rumors that there are less young people on Princess than on most other cruiselines and was wondering if this were true (this is fine as my girlfriend and I are a bit more reserved, not much for partying)?

 

I have no qualms in any way of the ages of those on the cruise because I enjoy getting to know people of all ages, especially when those who are older than I have many more life experiences to share.

 

Just curious what people have experienced on Princess cruises as to the average age of the passengers. :cool:

[blindrid]

My experience is the Princess crowd is a tad older. That doesn't mean they are all older and some cruise destinations also affect the average age as well.

[Casshew]

We were docked next to HAL in Alaska, I never saw so many walkers and wheelchairs in my life as I did coming out of that HAL Ship.

[dhl]

My girlfriend and I are going on our first cruise in Jan '09 on the Ruby. We are of the younger variety (21 and 20 at time of departure). I have heard rumors that there are less young people on Princess than on most other cruiselines and was wondering if this were true (this is fine as my girlfriend and I are a bit more reserved, not much for partying)?

 

I have no qualms in any way of the ages of those on the cruise because I enjoy getting to know people of all ages, especially when those who are older than I have many more life experiences to share.

 

Just curious what people have experienced on Princess cruises as to the average age of the passengers. :cool:

 

The wife and I started cruising in our Mid 20's... we are in our early 30's now and will say Princess's avg age is more than a tad older than what we expected. The funniest story we tell people is on our Princess Hawaii cruise we were hanging out at the captains cocktail and a couple comes over and sits with us and comments on how everyone is just so old... The wife and I estimated that the couple that made the comment were in their mid to late 60's. Also if you are looking into night life, Princess entertainment pretty much shuts down around 1 am (except for the skywalker lounge).

[karatemom2]

You don't mention when in January you are traveling, but if it is over or near the New Year's holiday, you may find some families traveling. Because we travel with our children, we tend to travel during school vacation times and we find that the age range is fairly broad, from babies to grandparents and every age in between.

[LoveSanibel]

We are early forties and have found our 2 Princess cruises(Mexico and Alaska) to have a very broad age range.

 

We met some pretty active 60 somethings that had traveled all over the world, a 40 something teacher of English in Japan who had been to 146 countries and a really hilarious 20 something that worked for Disney. All were amazingly fun, interesting people. We also met some families from the next town over at home!

 

It has been a great mix, interesting people, great food and entertainment, fun ports ~ it is what keeps us coming back:)

[sunsurf]

I have heard rumors that there are less young people on Princess than on most other cruiselines and was wondering if this were true (this is fine as my girlfriend and I are a bit more reserved, not much for partying)?

 

Just curious what people have experienced on Princess cruises as to the average age of the passengers. :cool:

 

 

Simply not true! We thought the same thing before we started sailing Princess. You'll see a wide variety of age groups...especially if sailing around the Caribbean & Mexico. The groups (on our past 2 cruises) have ranged anywhere from teens to early 80's. We enjoy meeting new people of all ages and had the pleasure of dining with some really great couples in their 70's on our last cruise out of San Juan. What a BLAST!!! We had Anytime dining and often didn't mind being seated with others. We also met some couples our age and had a great time as well.

 

The nice thing about cruising is that you can make it as private as you want, or get out, mingle and meet some really great people. Skywalkers is a good place to dance, drink and just have fun!.

 

I wish you & your girlfriend a GREAT cruising experience. Hopefully there will be many more!.

[Wilda]

I do find that the Princess crowd is more sedate.

 

There are more activities on RCI (rock climbing, ice skating, roller blading, etc) geared to a younger demographic such as yourself.

[DrivesLikeMario]

It depends when you're going. During school breaks, the age lowers quite a bit. In January, it may be on the slightly older side (relatively speaking). Still, you'll find plenty of people in all age ranges.

 

Princess is definitely a little more sedate than RCI or Carnivore - in fact, I would call Princess more "intimate" than the others. There's still plenty to do and there's still the rowdy pool games, but once they're over, it settles right down. There's always a quiet, out-of-the-way place to find peace.

[BJS]

Also if you are looking into night life, Princess entertainment pretty much shuts down around 1 am (except for the skywalker lounge).

That will also depend on the cruise. We have heard the CD make comments about where has everyone gone after 9 PM? We've frequently heard that even in Skywalkers there is no one there past 11 PM.

 

On port intensive itineraries frequently that is the case.

 

We've been on many Princess cruises where the average age has been inbetween 65 and 75 but we have found the average to be even higher on our three HAL cruises. Again all of this depends on the cruise - longer cruises and "bargain" cruises do attract many "seniors".

 

 

 

.

[dhl]

That will also depend on the cruise. We have heard the CD make comments about where has everyone gone after 9 PM? We've frequently heard that even in Skywalkers there is no one there past 11 PM.

 

On port intensive itineraries frequently that is the case.

 

We've been on many Princess cruises where the average age has been inbetween 65 and 75 but we have found the average to be even higher on our three HAL cruises. Again all of this depends on the cruise - longer cruises and "bargain" cruises do attract many "seniors".

 

 

 

.

 

Yeah, I guess I was being generous by saying 1 am... On a couple of occasions we were told that the musical performers were taking a 15 minute break at about 11pm and that they would be back, but they never came back on because the place was empty except for my group. Even the casino kicked us out early (1:30 am) because the place was empty.

[SeanCU79]

The age really varies depending on the time of year, length and location of the cruise. General rule of thumbs are the longer the cruise the older the average age, and if you go during non-vacation times it tends to be a bit older. For example two cruises I did on Princess were (1) a 7-day W Carib during spring break and the ship was filled with younger people. Skywalker was packed and went well into the night pass 1am... didn't even sleep the last night on the ship and (2) a 10-day New England/Canada during late October and my parents would have been considered young for the crowd. Its the only cruise I've been on where the bars were closed by 11 and the casinos were empty as well. So depending on the specifics of the cruise you could fall anywhere within the two extremes I experienced.

 

I think more importantly when considering whether or not to do Princess versus another cruise is whether the style of the line appeals to you. Princess is a little more refined IMO then Carnival or RCI and much more subdue in its decor but also does not offer as many active activities as those other lines. I am in my late 20's and love Princess. Good luck and hope you find a great cruise!

[Hatty324]

Thanks for the info all...my cruise will probably be a more mixed crowd from what I am hearing. We are going on January 3rd to 10th Western Carib on the Ruby. This is because we will both still be in school (for me it will be right before my last 3 months woohoo) so we needed to do it when our breaks matched up.

 

I actually like that Princess doesn't have all of that rock climbing, skateboarding stuff because that does not appeal to me (not your typical 21 year old) so it should be a good time for me and my girlfriend. Looking forward to it...it has consumed my life....:p

[4cats4me]

Out of 8 cruises with Princess we've actually had 7 cruises which had

lots of active people on them. It really depends on the time of year.

The last two cruises have been 10-days during mid April and not spring

break either, but the average ages have been 40,50,60&70's with some

30 and 20-somethings mixed in. On the last cruise

Skywalker's was still going strong at 2 a.m.

 

On a Feb. Mexican Riv cruise in February once Skywalker's was still

going strong around 2 a.m. In fact, all the early Feb. cruises

had plenty of activity.

 

The most activity occurred during our Sapphire Alaskan cruise 2 years

ago where we had 550 kids on board and it was basically nice

and active the whole time, but not in a bad way at all. On champagne

waterfall night the atrium was packed and it seemed as if a third of

the shipgoers were crammed into that area dancing and having a great

time.

 

The WORST cruise ever was out of Ft. Lauderdale on the Golden

during the first week in December. The median age had to be

80, and my husband said that he felt like he was on a floating convalescent hospital. Bad attitudes everywhere -- crochety people.

The ship's employees told us [even on the last cruise we were on]

that that is a typical clientle for November through January for

cruises which depart out of Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, with the exception

of the holiday periods.

We will never consider a cruise during those time periods again as a result

of such a dispositive clientele during the above-mentioned times.:rolleyes:

[cubfan60004]

My girlfriend and I are going on our first cruise in Jan '09 on the Ruby. We are of the younger variety (21 and 20 at time of departure). I have heard rumors that there are less young people on Princess than on most other cruiselines and was wondering if this were true (this is fine as my girlfriend and I are a bit more reserved, not much for partying)?

 

I have no qualms in any way of the ages of those on the cruise because I enjoy getting to know people of all ages, especially when those who are older than I have many more life experiences to share.

 

Just curious what people have experienced on Princess cruises as to the average age of the passengers. :cool:

 

Im 39 and this is my first princess cruise (5/08). Guess Im getting into that tad older crowd. I did a Celebrity cruise a few years back and thats a much more refined crowd but I still managed to have a great time.

[Putterdude]

In January you will likely have a broad range of ages aboard but I think that 50 and up will be the dominate age group.

[cruisinbuddy]

This'll scare you. When we were on the Golden in '05, a lady who turned 75 the day she went snorkeling, this is where we met her, said at debarkation to us, we were 43 at the time, " We're too young for this crowd". I kid you not. People asked me the avg. age and I said, oh about 102. Now we were on the Crown in Feb. and I'd say the ave. was @ 55, I felt like I was on CCL. You'll be able to find the youngin's on your cruise and some young at hearts. Have a great time.