An almost kid-free cruise...!

[CeleBrat]

You will never believe this...

 

We just got off the Norwegian Dawn today (9-day Southern cruise, which ROCKED!)

 

Of the 2200 guests on board, 70 were kids.

 

That's 7-0.

 

Holy cow!

 

The kids had the run of the Kids Club, and their kids pool. The kids only went to one late-night (for a fee) kids club event, because they were one of 4 kids there. No so much, fun, or wild, or party-like. It was so strange to be one of the families on board that actually had a child (children) in their party. They were treated like rare specimens. EVERYONE talked to them, everywhere.

 

So, those who are looking to sail a mostly kid-free cruise, just missed it!

 

CeleBrat

[jlsmith24]

We did the RC's Explorer last month with only a dozen or so kids on-board. There were 7 or 8 kids we saw regularly in the 18 - 36 month playgroup, and then a few others in the 3-5 playgroup. Most all of the kids were very well-behaved and the crew and many passengers really doted on the little ones.

[graceinmelbourne]

You will never believe this...

 

We just got off the Norwegian Dawn today (9-day Southern cruise, which ROCKED!)

 

Of the 2200 guests on board, 70 were kids.

 

That's 7-0.

 

Holy cow!

 

The kids had the run of the Kids Club, and their kids pool. The kids only went to one late-night (for a fee) kids club event, because they were one of 4 kids there. No so much, fun, or wild, or party-like. It was so strange to be one of the families on board that actually had a child (children) in their party. They were treated like rare specimens. EVERYONE talked to them, everywhere.

 

So, those who are looking to sail a mostly kid-free cruise, just missed it!

 

CeleBrat

 

We can beat that!:) On our cruise there were only 30 kids on board. (Royal Caribbean - Med. cruise). That is because it was September when kids in the US, Europe and UK had just started their school year. Most of the kids were other Australians who were on school break. There were also quite a few Spanish kids on board.

 

We were told that in August the same cruise had 500 kids on board. They had a great time and were thorougly spoilt by the crew. The passengers liked having them on board too and would chat to them all the time. They didn't have to line up for the waterslide or the rock climbing wall either.

[Scrapchick]

I'll beat all of that! Hubby and I have a 9 year old and always cruise during school vacation time, so we are used to tons of families everywhere we go. Last month we took our first ever cruise without our DD, on the Diamond Princess to Southeast Asia. There were 4 kids on board. FOUR!

 

It was a completely different type of cruise than we are used to. I'm not used to seeing one or two adults leisurely swimming laps in the main pool with no kids around. We have no problem sailing with kids, we just haven't done it by ourselves for 10 years now, so this was almost like a new experience for us.

[StarSun]

Yes!! my daughter was one of the four kids on board. She thought it was great compared to other cruises we had been on.

We are now booked to go on Dawn Princess in Feb 2011, she's hoping to be very privileged again. As this ship is leaving from our home town, I'm hoping we meet people we know.

[kalowa]

During our early January cruise I was the ONLY teenage girl onboard...and only 3 other boys and 1 of them was my brother. There were 2 other little kids using the kids club (who only spoke french) so needless to say I (and other teens/kids) was treated so awesome and special by our 2 girl teen- cousenlors and the staff always said hi to any of us teens or the kids we saw and it was so nice. I like it better with lots of kids/teens but it was also nice to feel super special because EVERYONE (even passengers! haha) knew you...somehow with so little kids on board everyone recognizes you and it was really cool :D

 

the "K" in Kalowa :)

[kanitter]

I think there was 6 kids on our cruise. It was a ta so that probably was why but I was still expecting more kids than that. But the ones that were on board were very well mannered, you hardly noticed them actually.

Sue

[Skeetercat]

Hi Celebrat,

 

I noticed that your last couple of cruises have been on either Carnival or NCL. We are trying to decide between these two cruise lines. Do you have a preference over either one?? We have two children under 11.

 

Thanks.

[Essiesmom]

In 2002 we were on the inaugural cruise of Star Princess, 26 days Singapore to LA. I Asia, they sold it in segments, and on the segment from Osaka to LA there was only one child. EM

[LittleMissMagic]

That happened to us on a RCI Alaska Cruise in 2001. My sister and I were two of only 50ish kids, so we got a lot of attention (especially because we look alike and people think we're twins).

[mjkacmom]

LOL - that's because all of the kids were on the NCL Jewel! They were expecting 200, but maybe they didn't realize this sailing coincided with NJ Teacher's convention (2 day school week), because they ended up with over 700 kids! I did feel sorry for the passengers without kids, thinking that the first week in November would be relatively kid-free.

[CeleBrat]

Hi Celebrat,

 

I noticed that your last couple of cruises have been on either Carnival or NCL. We are trying to decide between these two cruise lines. Do you have a preference over either one?? We have two children under 11.

 

Thanks.

 

Hi Skeetercat--

 

It depends. Carnival has the ships than "seem" more fun: brighter colors, fun decor, etc. Newer ships too. And, FunShip Freddy. Whereas NCL has the Freestyle Dining, which is a HUUUUGE bonus if you don't want to lug along formalwear for your family. NCL also has fun themed kids pools (this last one was dino themed) with several water slides and a mini playground. Their kids club will also usually have some sort of indoor climbing/playground structure. And, the shows on NCL are more family-friendly, with circus acts (jugglers, rope swingers, etc), magicians, and NO g-strings on the girls.

 

We always choose our cruises by 1)price, 2) age of ship 3) itinerary.

 

If you read through some of my reviews (link in signature), you can see first-hand what I am talking about. They're both good cruiselines. Each have their merits. You won't go wrong with either.

 

Hope that helps!

 

CeleBrat

[joyride21]

There were very few kids on Jewel of the Seas last month (New England/Canada itinerary). Maybe a dozen. It was fabulous!

[kelly11]

Our last cruise had 700 kids on it, and I wouldnt have never ever guessed that many, the childrens staff did a magnificent job with them, actually there were about 400 college age 'spring breakers' who were behaving so horribly that I would have prefered another 700 children as opposed to them!