Which for first time???

[sunnywa]

We are looking for some help from the experts please.... Trying to plan a "Girls Vacation" and would like a little help please. We are leaving our husbands at home, we are active early 40's, and like to have fun but don't need a huge party/drunk fest. We have narrowed our trip down to January 2010 and we like the looks of the Southern Caribbean becuase of the only one sea day. We know that we need a room with a balcony and we know we want the ship with the least amount of kids. We aren't real "formal/elegant" people but we can be if we have to (just don't like to pack that much.... :) ).. We just want to relax, meet new people to visit with in a clean, comfortable place with good service and good food. So, between the Caribbean Princess, Adventure of the Seas, and the Serenade of the Sea, which ship would the experts here pick for us? And any other advice/help would certainly be appreciated.... Thank you for the help... Happy cruising....

[cb at sea]

There will be kids on every sailing....as long as YOU don't have to take care of them, it shouldn't affect you one iota!

I would pick Adventure....nice, nice ship...lots to do and you can party or not...up to you!

The Voyager class ships have a lovely, open-roofed Solarium (adult only, 16+), whereas the Radiance class Solarium is under glass...they seldom, if ever, open the so-called "retractable" roof...so no tanning in there!

There will be 2 formal nights on a 11 or less night cruise...you don't have to have ball-gowns to be "formal"...a cocktail dress will be more than adequate.

Princess will have a slightly older demographic....I would choose RCI and Adventure of the Seas!

[firefly333]

Princess used to do a 10 day southern I think, or the last time I looked. Princess will have fewer children in my experience. I did Caribbean Princess when it was new, so naturally I loved it.

 

Caribbean Princess ... and Im a RCL kind of gal ...so that would be a close 2nd pick.

[Hlitner]

We are very familiar with all 3 of those ships and they are all fine. As to avoiding kids (we agree), if you go in January after the New Years week there will be very few school aged kids. I would say you should choose your ship based on the price and itinerary (remember to pay attention to the times a ship is in port).

 

Hank

[leaveitallbehind]

I tend to agree with CB - been on both classes of RCI but probably would recommend Adventure-class as the first choice given your criteria.

[Cuizer2]

We are looking for some help from the experts please.... Trying to plan a "Girls Vacation" and would like a little help please. We are leaving our husbands at home, we are active early 40's, and like to have fun but don't need a huge party/drunk fest. We have narrowed our trip down to January 2010 and we like the looks of the Southern Caribbean becuase of the only one sea day. We know that we need a room with a balcony and we know we want the ship with the least amount of kids. We aren't real "formal/elegant" people but we can be if we have to (just don't like to pack that much.... :) ).. We just want to relax, meet new people to visit with in a clean, comfortable place with good service and good food. So, between the Caribbean Princess, Adventure of the Seas, and the Serenade of the Sea, which ship would the experts here pick for us? And any other advice/help would certainly be appreciated.... Thank you for the help... Happy cruising....

 

Well, if you really are looking for something around January 2010 then you literally have missed the boat. Same with January 2011, which brings us to January 2012.

 

Of the three ships you have selected, the two least likely to have kids are the Serenade of the Seas and the Caribbean Princess. So, for your stated purposes, I would select one of those two.

[tak81288]

I say go by price and itinerary too! There's no way to avoid kids completely, but in January most will be back in school. Plus, when choosing an itinerary that is port intensive, you wil be spending most of the daytime hours off the ship anyway. For nightime activities (unless you are too tired from your port activities) you will more than likely be doing "adult things"...hanging in lounges and such... kids will not be in those areas. Most will either be sleep or doing night activities in the kids club.

 

When you have a lot of port stops and very few sea days, in my opinon the ship itself becomes less important.

 

Have fun planning!

[138east]

School vacation weeks start President's Day week - usually the 3rd week in Feb. I would go with the first two weeks in Feb. You can tell the vacation weeks because the cruise price will be higher.

 

I wouldn't worry about kids on the Adventure - they have their own club area on the ship. You want to see some kids on the ship because it means that there will be people your age on the ship.

 

tak81288 is right about the port intensive itinerary - the ship itself becomes less important with only one sea day. I'd let the itinerary be the determining factor.

[Krazy Kruizers]

we choose by itinerary and length of time in ports

 

10 day cruises in january will have fewer children than a 7 day cruise