choosing a cruise

Not sure if this is the right forum but here goes. We are 3 time cruisers. One Alaska with HAL,

one Mexican Riviera with Princess (i think) , and one Sea of Cortez with HAL.

We enjoyed most of them but with the Sea of Cortez we felt a little out of our element

regarding our ages. We were ) -58 and 52 at that time.

We are now 64 (husband) and 58 (me).

On that cruise we felt surrounded by people mostly in their 80's. No offence to that crowd, as we will be there one day but it would have been nice to have more cruisers in our age bracket. And possibly because of the age this cruise geared towards - most of the entertainment was also too old for us.

Comments from fellow diners on more than one night were 'oh it's the kids!'.

We are now thinking of a Panama Canal cruise and would like to choose the right one.

Departing port - either San Siego or Los Angelos - to Ft. Lauderdale (or reverse)

preferably different ports but the same is not a deal breaker. Miami is a possible

option as well.

The longest we would want to be on a ship would be 15 days. Departing in

January or February 2018.

We are not 'game and party' people so i think Carnival is out..

We do not know much about any other cruise lines than HAL, Princess and Carnival.

Aside from that i don't know what criteria to look at to find the right cruise.

Any help would be appreciated.

You might want to consider going on the new locks at Panama Canal on Coral Princess.

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Can't speak from practical experience but I've heard through the grapevine that the longer the cruise the older the people tend to be due to the kids having to be in school or lack of vacation time for those still having to work. Additionally, the smaller the ship the older the crowd will tend to be. I'd suggest contacting a travel agent or two for advice and search CC for similar topics. Happy cruising!

In the mass market cruise lines, HAL usually has the oldest cruisers and Carnival usually the youngest. In the middle are RCL, NCL and Celebrity - with Celebrity generally having slightly older than the other two.

The full transit Panama Canal we have been on (quite a few of them) were 21 days. Not too many cruise lines do full transits in January/February.

Take a look at Princess.

HAL does tend to attract older people on the longer cruises.

Can't speak from practical experience but I've heard through the grapevine that the longer the cruise the older the people tend to be due to the kids having to be in school or lack of vacation time for those still having to work. Additionally, the smaller the ship the older the crowd will tend to be. I'd suggest contacting a travel agent or two for advice and search CC for similar topics. Happy cruising!

That lines up with our experiences.

Personally, I would not bother with a canal transit on a typical cruise ship. I did it on a tour boat. So got the real experience of being IN the lock, and rising out of it, and coming down, sinking INTO the lock.

The cruise ships at the same time, went from being closer to the ground to being further away.

The full transit Panama Canal we have been on (quite a few of them) were 21 days. Not too many cruise lines do full transits in January/February.

Take a look at Princess.

HAL does tend to attract older people on the longer cruises.

Agree with KK! Take a look at Princess!

You might find Carnival to your liking. They do not do many full transits, just when moving ships from one coast to the other. Although Carnival does have a reputation as a party cruise, the longer cruises have more gray hair than other. And the other might be colored...I was on the Carnival Pride partial transit in Feb/Mar of this year, and it definitely had an older group. Carnival has two full transits scheduled next year, and I am on the Splendor From Miami to Long Beach (13 days) on Jan. 14, Carnival Miracle is trading places with her, and will be leaving Long Beach on Jan 13 for a 14 day journey to Tampa. That said, I really enjoyed my two full transits, one on HAL and the other Celebrity. EM

Wind Star does full transits and we really enjoyed our Panama Canal cruise a couple of years ago on the Wind Spirit. Small ships with fantastic crew members and an unbelievable experience going to small and different ports than the main stream lines. We are 64 & 56 and loved being able to be up close and personal with the Panama Canal.

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Take a look at Azamara.

I hate to say it but on a full transit cruise lasting 10+ days, the demographic is going to be about the same on all the lines. I would only recommend Princess or Celebrity over HAL for the better entertainment and activities.

Just off the Carnival 14 day cruise to Alaska. Many were grey haired (or covering up the grey;) ) with only 54 kids onboard. Our Carnival Hawaii cruises have had a similar passenger manifest. Our 10 day Princess cruises have been similar.

Need to decide what you’re looking for. Young at heart or young chronologically. My 79yo mom prefers Carnival because of its vibrancy. She likes Princess for its itins.

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HAL does seem to have an older demographic than the other mainstream lines. Try a different line. There are all ages! Longer cruises skew to the older group, as they have more time (and usually, money!)