Need Luxury Line Recommendations

[galant1]

Hello,

 

We’re a family of four who have been on perhaps eight cruises over the years, mostly Celebrity (Mediterranean, Alaska Bermuda, Mexico et al). To celebrate our son’s graduation from high school, we were thinking of moving to one of the luxury lines, perhaps for a cruise to Australia/New Zealand, Scandinavia/British Isles or South America. We’re having trouble, however, sorting out which line would be best.

 

Our sons are more mature than most 16 and 12 year olds. Our older boy is a superb pianist who has played for dinner and at the Michael’s Club and with the orchestra on the Celebrity ships; our younger son is an excellent chess player and we often find him playing with adults in the lounges. Both boys are sophisticated eaters, love historical cities like Florence, Barcelona and Quebec, don’t mind dressing up and, although they enjoy the teen activities on board, also have a good time with cruising young and older adults.

 

A travel agent, when asked about the style of Crystal, told my wife that the line is inappropriate for youngsters…that there are essentially no kids on board and that the youth activities are “nothing more than glorified baby-sitting services”.

 

I also noted the following post from Host Dan from May of last year:

 

“If you want a larger ship with refined service, choose Crystal (semi-inclusive). If you want a laid back luxury experience, choose Regent (all-inclusive). If you want a smaller ship experience with fine service and nice balconies, choose Silversea (all-inclusive). If you want a large yacht-like experience with the finest food and service on the seas, choose Seabourn (all-inclusive). If you want to cruise in the finest style on true yachts with wonderful service and food, choose SeaDream. Keep in mind, Seadream and Seabourn can call on ports large ships simply can't.”

 

With your knowledge of luxury cruising, do you think we’d enjoy and fit in on any particular line or ship?

 

Thanks.

[Texas Tillie]

From my obsevation, I think your travel agent is wrong about Crystal. I have my 3rd Crystal cruise booked for next month, but my first 2 were short (7 days) cruises and the last one was over this past Thanksgiving. I am sure that there were more than 100 children on that cruise and they all seemed to be having fun. I have heard that there are always children on the summer cruises. Others can speak to that. One thing that you might consider is that Crystal does not include alcohol in the fare - and that would seem to be an advantage when you have your sons who won't be drinking - it seems foolish to pay for something you won't use. I'm sure some of the Crystal regulars on this board (Keith, where are you?) will be able to add to what I've said.

[Keith1010]

I have sailed with Crystal numerous times.

 

Yes, Crystal is a luxury cruise line and an outstanding cruise line in my humble opinion.

 

You will find a good many children on board in the summer months and a few other times of the year such as on the holiday cruises.

 

Other times of the year you find far fewer children and many times no children.

 

In terms of popularity you will see more children on cruises of the Med in the summer. You will less but some on other summer cruise such as the British Isles along with others in Europe.

 

Given the time of year that Crystal sails in Australia and South America you will see very few if any children other than say a couple of infants, except on one of the South America cruises if it coincides with the Holiday Cruise.

 

Based on what you have said I would recommend Crystal.

 

Crystal does have counselors on board for the children in the summer months and on the holiday cruise. When we took our children on Crystal for the very first time our son was 16 and our daughter 20. Our son had a great time. There were enough children on board around his age. Our daughter had a great time as well but at her age at the time she could stay with the adults and be fine as well.

 

I would not recommend Silversea nor Seabourn because the reality is these two lines really cater to the adults, there are really no areas for the children and there are very few children on board.

[kitty9]

I think you need to ask your TA what she means by "youngsters". Personally, I feel any child over age 8 would be fine for Crystal, but I'm not so sure for kids under age 8 as their itineraries and tours aren't geared for really young children. For children the ages of yours, if you cruise in summer or during Christmas, there will be other children on board. But as you say, your children seem much more mature, and seeing that, they would fit in just fine on Crystal. I would not at all recommend Seabourn or Silversea, but you could also give Regent a close look. They tend to have a lower average age on their cruises, and they are all inclusive, plus they have open seating at dinner, which Crystal does not. Crystal has the traditional assigned tables, two seating dinners, and if you have a very port intensive cruise, open seating with children can be a big plus.

[galant1]

Thanks Kitty, Keith and TT for the advice. It sounds like Crystal's the way to go. I'll also check out Regent and will set Silversea and Seabourn aside.

 

Take care.

[martinsfo]

I'd like to add my two cents. We have sailed on Crystal 3 time with our son who is now 12. Since we sail only when school is not in session, we have observed many kids of all ages on the ships. In fact, we were on the the Thanksgiving cruise that TT sailed on, and there were over 100 children. Except for meals and ports, we never saw our son. And speaking of piano, our son, who is very good at it for his age, would go to the Palm Court, the observation lounge on the Symphony, and play the piano in there after dinner. We never knew this was happening until one of the bartenders complimented him on it when we were with him.

[TravelingNinja]

I would recommend the small luxury cruise line Quasar Expeditions which has family-oriented cruises. There are lots of Movie nights, board games, and video games and special activities to keep them busy as well as the adult pampering that you'd want on a luxury cruise - see http://www.galapagosexpeditions.com/tabs/cruise_style.php.