Quiet cruises

[OttawaJohn]

A few posts of late have been talking about more rowdy cruises, lots of younger people, partying, heavy drinking, etc.

 

It happens mainly when younger people are off school I guess, or on shorter cruises that are cheaper.

 

Our plans are to continue cruising at April, taking longer cruises so we hope that less families and young kids/teens/20's are on board to party.

 

If you were looking for a quiet cruise, any thoughts on a type? Alaska? Longer ones, like 10 days +?

 

What is a cruise where you would expect a more adult, relaxed environment?

[garycarla]

First off, spring break can go from late Feb into late April. Forget trying to figure it out.

 

Best bet for a quieter cruise is to take something longer than 7 days. You will find a totally different mix. When you get over 10 days, it really changes.

 

More upscale cruises also change the mix.

[VideoTech]

A few posts of late have been talking about more rowdy cruises, lots of younger people, partying, heavy drinking, etc.

 

It happens mainly when younger people are off school I guess, or on shorter cruises that are cheaper.

 

Our plans are to continue cruising at April, taking longer cruises so we hope that less families and young kids/teens/20's are on board to party.

 

If you were looking for a quiet cruise, any thoughts on a type? Alaska? Longer ones, like 10 days +?

 

What is a cruise where you would expect a more adult, relaxed environment?

 

I'd say Alaska is a quieter cruise. I'd also say longer ones, as many parents don't like to take their kids out of school for a 10 to 14 day cruise.

 

But in summer time, with school out, all bets are off. Even during the school year, it amazes me to see parents and kids out on cruises. Missing school for something like that just wasn't in the books when I was a kid....but now I sound like the old fogey I probably am.

[dalgirl]

Cruising Alaska in May or Sept., taking Med cruises anytime except June, July, or August, cruising the caribbean in off season from Sept to early Dec (skipping the Thanksgiving holidays) or cruising Hawaii in the winter or early May before school is out. We always book off season except our upcoming Baltic cruise in July 2012 - but that is nine days out of Copenhagen, and hopefully not really something that most parents will do with small children.

[retired rascal]

We have some of the same preferences...we're doing a 25 day transatlantic B2B mediterranean next april....don't expect a whole lot of rowdiness. We did 15 night Panama Canal over Thanksgiving last year that was quite quiet. We're doing Alaska mid September this year when kids are back in school. We've also done Caribbean in winter and noticed....short cruises around school vacations = more kids. Longer cruises = fewer. Both young children and college age.

[KansasCityGuys]

I would also stay away from the 3 and 4 day cruises. We took a 4 day Bahama Cruise a few years ago and never again. Too many kids running around and out of control too and that included some of their parents too.

[LOWTYD]

Once my kids graduated, we opted for the Fall cruises when school was in session. We did a 7 Bermuda in October, a 7 day Western caribben in November and we are doing an 11 day S. Caribbean this November. I am hoping for a little peace and quiet but I doubt it will be kid free. I am sure there will be families with toddlers, maybe home schooled kids, families on holiday from other countries or parents who just pulled their kids out of school but it wll be nothing like a cruise out of NYC to Florida in July!

 

Feb- May are loaded with Winter and Spring breaks and college graduations so choose your dates wisely.

[fridaythe13th]

A few posts of late have been talking about more rowdy cruises, lots of younger people, partying, heavy drinking, etc.

 

It happens mainly when younger people are off school I guess, or on shorter cruises that are cheaper.

 

Our plans are to continue cruising at April, taking longer cruises so we hope that less families and young kids/teens/20's are on board to party.

 

If you were looking for a quiet cruise, any thoughts on a type? Alaska? Longer ones, like 10 days +?

 

What is a cruise where you would expect a more adult, relaxed environment?

 

This year we did a Celebrity repositioning 8 day cruise from San Juan to Bayonne, NJ. We enjoyed it so much we booked again for April 2012. Talk about quiet. You even get away from the announcements that other lines have pushing Bingo, games, art auction, etc....

[DMH15]

The two 14 day cruises I took were very quiet. First was a TA from Miami to Athens. Second was South America.

 

I just realized my next scheduled cruise is during Spring Break time out of Miami. But it is 11 nights, so I am hoping that is the difference.

 

Spring Breakers tend to go for sunny climates too. Lot's of fun in the sun! So, if you look at cruises without that feel (Canada and New England/Pacific Coastal/Alaska) they don't seem as interested. Now smaller kids might be found anywhere the parents want to cruise.

 

A few kids never bother me. One of my favorite pax I met was on my SA cruise and the little girl was a seasoned traveller and just the sweetest, most well-behaved child I have ever had the pleasure of cruising with!

[Mooder]

Longer definitely helps - even if it is Spring Break season, a 10 day won't be so rowdy. Our Greek Isles cruise last May was very quiet on board. It was port intensive, which explains it in part, but I expect the same would be true of any European cruises that time of year.

[fiftyguy]

The two 14 day cruises I took were very quiet. First was a TA from Miami to Athens. Second was South America.

 

I just realized my next scheduled cruise is during Spring Break time out of Miami. But it is 11 nights, so I am hoping that is the difference.

 

Spring Breakers tend to go for sunny climates too. Lot's of fun in the sun! So, if you look at cruises without that feel (Canada and New England/Pacific Coastal/Alaska) they don't seem as interested. Now smaller kids might be found anywhere the parents want to cruise.

 

A few kids never bother me. One of my favorite pax I met was on my SA cruise and the little girl was a seasoned traveller and just the sweetest, most well-behaved child I have ever had the pleasure of cruising with!

 

Is this the new (new to me) itinerary on the Sun with Curacao & Aruba? That one has my interest for April. I've wanted to try the Sun and I like the ports.

[my_crib_too]

We went on a Panama Canal cruise last November/December and had a great, older crowd. 15 days in length.

[Ask4Jay]

@OttawaJohn -

You may also want to check out T/A Repo cruises to Europe in spring, or coming back in autumn. Quieter cruise, cooler weather, more enjoyment, especially on an aft balcony. That's what we do. YMMV.

[Cruise_More_Often]

We're doing our second Canada/New England cruise next fall. Verrrrrry quiet.

 

If you cruise to Alaska, the first couple of cruises begin before schools let out for the summer, so they're pretty quiet, too. Ditto the last couple at the end of the season.

[Hikini]

As you can see by my signature line, we love to cruise in September. Part of the reason, most kids are back in school by then. Quieter yes, but certainly not boring! :)

[Tatka]

We took 10 dayer out of NYC last year on Explorer OTS in the end of October and were surprised how many children we saw.

 

These kids were not taken from school, but it appears that teachers in NJ schools have almost a week of conferences at that time every year, so parents are using this time for vacations with kids.

[Deb in Cali]

Tahiti

[yoyocruiser]

If a longer cruise is not what you want--

The Bermuda cruise in the fall is pretty laid back. . .very laid back. . .so laid back it can go into the borderline boring range. . .although I still love it!

 

Even folks who take their kids out of school don't generally do it in the first few weeks of school. Guaranteed it is not spring break and college kids are not likely to be skipping out at the very start of the year either.

 

I don't necessarily want a rowdy cruise, but to be honest, on the Bermuda cruise in the fall I did miss seeing kids and younger folks. I mean--it is really an older crowd--:D--myself included!

[Cattie]

We took 10 dayer out of NYC last year on Explorer OTS in the end of October and were surprised how many children we saw.

 

These kids were not taken from school, but it appears that teachers in NJ schools have almost a week of conferences at that time every year, so parents are using this time for vacations with kids.

 

NJ kids barely go to school in November, so if you plan on cruising out of the NE, stay away from Nov.

 

I do hope my repo in April 12 doesn't have many kids. It's a 12 day, after Easter and a repo so I'm hoping so! We cruised last year on CCL during spring break it was horrible. I'm not sure who was worse, the kids or the adults!

[Davechipp74]

my fiance' and i are doing a 17day repo at the end of april, and i hope its not all an older crowd. we are in our 30's and are hoping for many pax to be around our age, i dont want it to be all wheelchairs and walkers (not that their is anything wrong with that)

[Davechipp74]

my fiance' and i are doing a 17day panama canal repo at the end of april, and i hope its not all an older crowd. we are in our 30's and are hoping for many pax to be around our age, i dont want it to be all wheelchairs and walkers (not that their is anything wrong with that)

sorry about the 2x post

[Davechipp74]

bueller anyone, anyone?:):)

[fergusonvt]

A few posts of late have been talking about more rowdy cruises, lots of younger people, partying, heavy drinking, etc.

 

It happens mainly when younger people are off school I guess, or on shorter cruises that are cheaper.

 

Our plans are to continue cruising at April, taking longer cruises so we hope that less families and young kids/teens/20's are on board to party.

 

If you were looking for a quiet cruise, any thoughts on a type? Alaska? Longer ones, like 10 days +?

 

What is a cruise where you would expect a more adult, relaxed environment?

 

Our cruise in January was very quiet. Very few teens or young children on the ship. We left on 1/1 so I expect the time of year had a lot to do with it. I booked a slightly later cruise this year (1/29) but I expect that there won't be a lot of teens at least because there are typically no school vacations that time of year.

[STARFISH*4]

my fiance' and i are doing a 17day panama canal repo at the end of april, and i hope its not all an older crowd. we are in our 30's and are hoping for many pax to be around our age, i dont want it to be all wheelchairs and walkers (not that their is anything wrong with that)

sorry about the 2x post

 

chances are it will be an OLDER crowd--our Dec Panama Canal cruise the average age was 65+ (we were 50) and felt YOUNG.....lol...

alot of walkers wheelchairs and scooters-we felt like we were on a HAL cruise but it was the NCL STAR*

they even did 'buy one get one free' beer specials quite a bit, cos the booze wasnt flowing~~

but usually the longer the cruise the OLDER the passengers and we definitely have heard that about Panama Canal cruises.

[cruzcrazze]

Definitely cruises of a week or more. My husband and I prefer to travel in Oct/Nov and either do back-to-back, or repositioning cruises, which tend to be at least a couple of weeks long. Alaska in July had many multi-generational families on board (grandparents, parents, kids) but not a rowdy crowd. Stay away from cruises less than a week long, as they tend to be 'party' cruises. We loved our Panama cruise - started in New Orleans and ended in Vancouver. Next fall (Oct 21st 2012) we are doing a repositioning cruise onboard the NCL Star - 14 days starting in New York City and ending up in New Orleans. The thing with longer cruises, is that you get, how do I say, a more mature crowd or at least people who have more vacation time, and less families with young school aged children.

By the way, we are also from Ottawa!