Cruise company?

Question

We are a couple in 50-60, looking for a cruise company fit to our age, no noisy, crowded, or family with children, we are willing to pay more for quality food and service, modern ship and attractive tours, can you indicate a specific ship?.we are looking for Alasca and south America - south pole.

Answer 1

I am a senior myself and I have cruised many times on Norwegian, Princess, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean cruise lines.   These, along with Holland America, Carnival and Disney, are the lines that most people take.

In view of your requirements you can completely eliminate Carnival and Disney. Any of the others would be a good fit based on age group, but Holland America is noted for have the most senior passengers and probably the fewest kids on Board.  BUT, to a great extent the number of kids on board is dictated by the itinerary.  For example, last May we went on a cruise to the Baltic (Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Russia, Norway, Finland, Poland) on a Celebrity cruise ship and there were fewer that a dozen kids on the ship.  Likewise when we cruised to Panama on a Princess ship there were almost no kids on the ship.  On the other end of the spectrum, cruises to the Caribbean always draw a lot of kids.

ALASKA

The Alaska cruise season is from May to Sept.  The weather is generally warmer in June, July and Aug, but it can also be pleasant in May and Sept.  The best time to go is when you can get the best price.  The best prices will be in May and Sept, there will be fewer kids at that time because its not during school vacation periods, and you will see the same things as other times. The port stops will be the same but may be in a different order.  Some cruises ship itineraries are run in reverse order, North to South vs starting in Seattle or Vancouver. Check the cruise line web sites for variations by date, itinerary and price.

The best Alaska cruise experience is the CRUISE-TOUR. Princess, Holland America, and Royal Caribbean all run cruise tours which take you by train all the way to Fairbanks, Alaska. Princess and RC have special domed train cars for this. Your best chance to see wild animals will be if you do a cruise-tour where you go further north after cruising the inside passage. The only animals you are likely to see in the inside passage is seals.  On these tours You can arrange to stop for a night or two in Taketna, or  Denali National Park. This will be your best opportunity to see Moose, Caribou, eagle, wolf, and bear. But you really need two days at Denali so that you have time to get one of the Park Service's busses that go deep into the park. Regular tour buses , cars and campers can only go about 3 or 4 miles into the park. The Park Service runs buses about 17 miles into the park, but you must get to the visitor center very early to reserve a spot on one of their buses. The train stops going north and south do not get you to Denali in time or allow enough time for the deep back country busses.  With Princess, Holland America, and RC you can do the tour part first and then go to Seward or Whittier to get on ship for the inside passage part.  Based on what you want I suggest taking a Holland America cruise to Alaska.  It may cost a little more on that line, but not THAT mush more and there will definitely be more seniors.  If we crusie to Alaska again (we hope to) I plan to reserve a cabin on the Royal Caribbean ship, Radiance of the Seas.  I have been on two of its sister ships which have identical configurations and I love that ship's design and layout best of all of the 15 or so ships I have been on.  This ship has been featured on the Travel Channel's Tour to Alaska programs.  I highly recommend it for your Alaska cruise.

SOUTH AMERICA

We are going to South America on a cruise on a Royal Caribbean ship next March.  Our cruise starts in Santiago, Chile and sails around the Straights to Sao Paulo, Brazil, with several stops in between.  For South America  I recommend  Holland America, Princess, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean, pretty much in that order.  All of these lines have South America itineraries that you can look at and see which best fits what you want to see.   We are frequent cruiser on RC so we take them most often because of the discounts and benefits we get from them.  They had the best South America itinerary for what we wanted to see.

One other bit of information for you.  If you have the money to spend for the very top and best cruise lines try Crystal, Radisson, Cunard, Windstar, and Silver Sea.  These cruise lines are a cut above the others because they run smaller ships (about 500 to 700 passengers) and have a higher staff to passenger ratio so you get top of the line service.  They also have more amenities included in the much higher price, like all veranda/balcony cabins, tubs and shower bathroom, larger cabins, daily wine and/or champaign with meals, etc.  These ships generally go to a port or two on a seven day cruise which may be different from the normal.  Prices for a 7 day cruise on these top of the line ships may start at  $3000 to $4000  (vs about $1200 on the next tier of ships.).  These ships tend to have a more sophisticated and older crowd and more formal dining.  They don’t pressure you to buy with art auctions and spa deals.  You are more likely to see a celebrity or someone famous on one of these cruises because they are what you may call “exclusive”.

Answer 2

carnival would be the most entertaining for familys

royal caribbean is nice.

Norweigan is good

I would skip Disney.  

Probably Princess is your best bet, I beleive they are more expensive.  I have been on carnival, royal, and norweigan.

Answer 3

royal caribbean is my favorite,  but it seems to be more kid friendly and alot of youngers.

try looking at celeberty.

But i do have to say, about 3 weeks i was on royal caribbeans voyager of the seas in europe(spain,france,italy)(7 days)  there arent that many kids.  It was a great trip.

Answer 4

royal carribean is a family based cruise so i would not recommend it. your best best is princess and holland. holland caters to the senior citizens age

Answer 5

You want to avoid the family friendly lines such as Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Disney and Norwegian.  Princess is family friendly, but usually attracts people your age.  However, many people your age also bring their grandkids, and you seem to want to avoid that.

Holland America Line (HAL) and Celebrity are a step up in class, and during school time it is not unusual for these ships to have no children on board.  Both are what are known as a premium line, which basically means less crowding, better service and better food.

Moving up the ladder again you come to the luxury lines (top of the line - 5 star venues).  These are Crystal, Regent (formally Radisson), Seabourn and Silversea.  

Crystal has larger ships, and thus might have some children on board.  However, the typical Crystal passenger tends to be a retired affluent professional who values high dress standards.  I toured a Crystal ship once.  When the passengers arrived, they were dressed like they were going to a business meeting.  While on the cruise, during the day, dress is casual, but when the sun goes down, the typical Crystal passenger expects everyone to be well dressed.  That being said, of the luxury lines, Crystal is the most family friendly.

Regent Seven Seas passengers are about the same as the Crystal passengers, except that the ships are smaller, which means there is less room for family friendly attractions, so you are less likely to see children on these ships.  Also, these passengers are a little less fashion conscious and thus will dress a little more casually at night.

The Seabourn ships are fairly small.  In fact, they are advertised as the yachts of Seabourn.  Any child on this ship had better be able to entertain him or herself, because this line is not family friendly.  In fact, I believe some of the Seabourn cruises are adult only cruises.

Silversea's passengers are going to be much the same as the other luxury lines' passengers.  However, I am not familiar with the dress codes on either Silversea or Seabourn.  

All the luxury lines have more room per passenger and all would be described as sophisticated.  Food and serves are top notch.  During the normal school year these lines are very unlikely to have children on board.  The passengers are not into "commercial" entertainment, and prefer to entertain themselves.  The ships have a pool and a dance floor, but the others areas are more lounge like than activity oriented.  The cabins are bigger so that you can invite your friends over and entertain.  

Look at it like this.  If you were looking to take your children on a cruise, would you pick a ship that reminded you of Disneyland or the symphony?  Think of the family friends lines as Disney on water (in fact, Disney has two cruise ships with more on order) and the luxury lines as several nights at the symphony.  The premium lines (HAL and Celebrity) are more like a play.  There might be some children, or there might not be any.

Also, the longer the cruise, the less likely you are to find children.  I was on a two week cruise to Alaska on a small ship (740 passengers) during the summer.  I doubt that there were a dozen children on the ship.  This ship really had no facilities for the kids, and the ones that were between three and sixteen I felt bad for.

I took a one week cruise on a very large ship (4200 passengers) during the summer.  This ship had a mini water park, a miniature golf course and a separate place for the teenagers to hang out and dance.  As you might expect there were a lot of children.  I was told 800 - 1000 children.

I have taken at least three cruises on the family friendly ships during the school year.  In each case there were 100  - 150 children on the ship.  I have read reviews of school time cruises on the premium lines where there were no children.  Thus, as you can see, even during the school year, the family friendly lines will attract kids, while the premium and luxury lines do not.

Simply put, the smaller the ship, the longer the cruise and the more expensive the cruise - the less children will be on board.  As to service and food, look at the family friendly lines a three star, the premium lines as four star (give Princess 3 1/2 stars) and the luxury lines as five star venues.  

Enjoy your cruise.

Answer 6

look for "princesscruises.com'its a luxury shipping lines that fits for u and ur family..

Answer 7

The longer the cruise, the fewer kids there will be.

The best prices that I have found overall are from www.cruisequick.com.

HOWEVER they do not hold your hand. What I mean is that you need to know what cruise you want, what ship, date and category. You cannot call them, they do not answer a phone.

They are internet based only, completely legitimate, and offer a bonus or discount that most other agents don't offer.

They work on a flat fee profit and are completely automated.

They do answer emails promptly.

Their site explains how they work. I have used them for years, without any problems. They offer free price quotes via email that include all port fees, taxes etc.

Happy Cruising !