Looking for a great child-free cruise!

[Warmer Climes]

I also thought about Bermuda for you- especially in early June when most schools are still in session. Also you dock there for several days so wouldn't be on the ship so much. DH and I did that cruise a few years ago from Boston and there weren't as many kids as there usually are on a cruise in Feb. break week.

[smeyer418]

Gay cruises are not kid free...look at the videos from Rosie's cruises.

 

No three to five day cruise will be kid free especially in the summer. All the US cruises have kids programs and I assure you there will be kids aboard.

 

There are less kids aboard longer than 7 day cruises-except at school vacation time. There were hardly any on a two week Celebrity cruise during non vacation times.

[sail7seas]

Just to be clear, the cruiselines like HAL and Celebrity with fewer kids also have a much older demographic. (some would say one foot in the grave age).

 

Everything else will be geared toward families.

 

Honestly, you might not mind having children on your cruise .. I would much rather cruise than go to a land based vacation... boring. sorry.

 

 

This gets repeated over and over ad nauseum and I often want to ask the last time the writer actually sailed an HAL ship.

 

We have over 70+ cruises with HAL and yes, we see plenty of senior folks, but we also see young families, young honeymooners, generations of family cruising together, college age spring breakers.......

 

We see the same demographic we see disembarking Celebrity and Princess ships in port.

 

We sailed Nieuw Amsterdam two weeks (b-to-b ) over Thanksgiving and the demographic was the same as "X" and Princess with a wide range of ages.

 

It gets 'old' hearing how ready for the nursing home HAL guests are.

 

Sure...... if you book a World Cruise what do you expect you'll find? Who else has the time. If you book a 60 day Grand Voyage, of course, 95% will be senior. Younger people are at work.

 

For a seven or ten day Caribbean or Europe cruise, you pull the same sort of crowd as the other lines in HAL's category.

[sail7seas]

Gay cruises are not kid free...look at the videos from Rosie's cruises.

 

No three to five day cruise will be kid free especially in the summer. All the US cruises have kids programs and I assure you there will be kids aboard.

 

There are less kids aboard longer than 7 day cruises-except at school vacation time. There were hardly any on a two week Celebrity cruise during non vacation times.

 

 

The various cruise lines do a great job with kids' camp and they keep them happy, occupied and not running around wild. We hardly see the children during the day but sometimes see the counselors bring them into Lido during the afternoon for ice cream or treats and they're fabulous. They take wonderful care of the children and they kids have a blast.

[LittleMissMagic]

I'm going out on a limb here and suggesting something really odd - a Disney cruise. We also look to avoid cruising without a lot of children and were quite impressed with the amount of "adult only" areas and how strictly they are enforced. Even their private island, Castaway Cay has an adult only beach, well separated from the family beaches. Disney offers the shorter cruises you wish. Their ships don't have casinos if that is important to you. You are however allowed to bring your own booze onboard if you wish, in your carry on bag only. Just something to consider....

 

The same thought actually popped into my head!

[lawyerrose]

Not to be flip or anything, but if I wanted a cruise with really very few kids, and it were just me and the wife, I might consider booking with one of the TA's that charters cruises for Gays only. Probably very few kids, and I would just be focusing on the wife. Plus, many of the gay couples that I have met are really very nice folks. Of course, Formal night would be a blast.

 

 

Great idea!:)

[bus man]

OP, you might want to consider one of the luxury lines, like Silversea or Regent or the like. I've never been on them, but from what I've read, there are very few children aboard.

[sail7seas]

OP, you might want to consider one of the luxury lines, like Silversea or Regent or the like. I've never been on them, but from what I've read, there are very few children aboard.

 

 

Do they offer many (if any) 5 or less day cruises.

[Goldiedog]

P & O who mainly sail out of the UK have 3 ships that are child free, they also do a few 3 day short cruises but again these are from the UK.

[Friend100]

How about 7-days Transatlantic New York to Southampton on the Queen Mary 2?

[ScottC]

Hi, everyone! I am new here and not exactly sure what I'm doing, so if there is a more appropriate place to ask this question, please feel free to redirect me.

 

Anyway, my husband and I are looking to take a cruise to celebrate my 40th birthday. We are going to leave the kids at home with the grandparents, and because of that, I would prefer not to see anyone else's kids, either. But we are still looking for a typical cruise experience, large ship, great amenities, lots to explore, etc.

 

We live in the DC Metro area and plan on flying to our departure city. I think we're looking for early summer, late-June, and probably 3-5 nights. We figured we would do the Caribbean since it's closest and least expensive for us, this is fine for us even though we've done a few of these itineraries before.

 

OK, so let's hear ALL your recommendations! :D Seriously though, any ideas you have for a super-fun, kid-free cruise with at least MOST of these specs would be awesome.

 

Thanks!!

Ha... Good luck. Try Seabourn. Ive never let others kids bother me on a cruise. Actually one of them other cruises sound pretty dull to me. But you each their own.

[jocap]

P & O who mainly sail out of the UK have 3 ships that are child free, they also do a few 3 day short cruises but again these are from the UK.

...and the 2 large ships that are based in the Caribbean over winter are very much family ships.

Jo.

[bplazo]

My husband and I are going to try Windstar or Starclippers because they are not geared towards family.

 

Stay away from Royal or Carnival.

[GORDONCHICK]

You must really believe the hype.

I sail HAL and am in my 40's. Have yet to feel like I didn't fit in age wise. Many people my age.

Now, if I went on a longer cruise, like 30 plus days, then maybe you might be correct.

 

I didn't believe the hype, and shame on me. I'm in my 40s and the ship was filled with walkers, scooters, wheelchairs, and canes - all seemed to come with their very own cranky old person. DH is in his mid-50s and agreed, no HAL for us for about 30 years!

 

My only HAL cruise was May 2011. There were some children, and people our age, but they were few and far between. I have nothing against older people in general (almost all of my friends are several years older than me) but the attitudes of many older people (my grandmother would be included if she were still alive) are what I have a problem with.

[dread_pirate]

I've been reading here on these boards about the Sanctuary on the Princess ships - an all-adult area with loungers, and on the Coral and Island, an adult-only pool. Would that be appropriate for the OP?

[Marie51]

I'm going out on a limb here and suggesting something really odd - a Disney cruise. We also look to avoid cruising without a lot of children and were quite impressed with the amount of "adult only" areas and how strictly they are enforced. Even their private island, Castaway Cay has an adult only beach, well separated from the family beaches. Disney offers the shorter cruises you wish. Their ships don't have casinos if that is important to you. You are however allowed to bring your own booze onboard if you wish, in your carry on bag only. Just something to consider....

 

OP states they don't want to see anyone else's kids. A Disney cruise would hardly fit the bill. I don't care how many "adult" areas they have, the ship is still going to be filled with children especially in the summer. JMO.

[kitty9]

What you're looking for does not exist. Summer cruises are always loaded with kids and the shorter cruises are always kid friendly, plus they're known as party till you barf cruises. And, the ships they use for those cruises are the oldest of the line. In the summer, a lot of lines that attract LESS kids are in Europe or Alaska.

 

The general rules for the least amount of kids is, cruise during school times, cruises longer than 10 days or taking a luxury line. But what you're planning will always have tons of kids.

[kitty9]

Ha... Good luck. Try Seabourn. Ive never let others kids bother me on a cruise. Actually one of them other cruises sound pretty dull to me. But you each their own.

 

Seabourn is in Europe in June, does not do short cruises, and can run 4 times the cost of a mass market line.

[kitty9]

OP, you might want to consider one of the luxury lines, like Silversea or Regent or the like. I've never been on them, but from what I've read, there are very few children aboard.

 

Again, luxury lines don't do 3 to 5 day cruises and will cost 4X that of a mass market.

[Mary Ellen]

Have you sailed Disney? We have. I stand by my suggestion. The OP is free to do with the idea as they wish. There is nothing that fits the bill perfectly. They can select the best compromise for them.

OP states they don't want to see anyone else's kids. A Disney cruise would hardly fit the bill. I don't care how many "adult" areas they have, the ship is still going to be filled with children especially in the summer. JMO.

[Marie51]

Have you sailed Disney? We have. I stand by my suggestion. The OP is free to do with the idea as they wish. There is nothing that fits the bill perfectly. They can select the best compromise for them.

 

Yes, I have sailed Disney and I still feel that Disney is the wrong cruise for someone who states that they do not want to be around children. Again, just my opinion.

[shelly11]

If you want a 3-5 day check the Norwegian Sky. The only time we saw a lot of kids is when we wandered into the kid's pool area. We did cruise during the school year too when most kids are in school.

[Hlitner]

We are a retired couple that does a lot of cruising (over 10 weeks a year) and also like to minimize the number of children and teens on our cruises. This is relatively easy to accomplish when you take longer cruises (at least 14 days) during the period when schools are in session. But finding a short cruise (less then 14 days) during the summer with few children/teens is darn near an impossible task. Many families have found that family cruises an an idea vacation (we started taking our daughter at age 5) and the cruise lines love to attract these type of cruisers. Since the OP has a budget (this rules out the ultra luxury lines) and wants to cruise in the summer..we do not see any cruise that would meet their criteria.

 

Hank

[EGG]

As you can see, what you are asking for does not seem to exist. I suggest doing the best I could to make your own child free environment on the ship.

 

-Choose a cruiseship with an adults only solarium. If you choose to sit outside and sun, choose a lounge chair away from the pool and away from the food.

- Get late seating. The younger children are usually at early seating. Don't know if this can be done, but request a table without children for dinner. We have never been seated with a family with children, so this request might not be necessary (and we take early seating) . Or request the difficult to get table for 2.

-Eat breakfast and lunch in the dining room. You can usually get a table for 2 in the dining room or request no children.

- Assume that the late seating show also has fewer children.

-Sit towards the back of the theatre. People with children seem to sit up front.

-Go to activities that are adult oriented. We enjoy the lectures and trivia. These rarely have children.

-Get a balcony cabin.

-Do independent excursions maybe with your roll call group where you know whether there are children in the group. Or just go out on your own.

 

We've gone on 5 holiday cruises with up to 600 children and they did not bother us in the least. The only place we had to interact with them was on the elevator. We try to ignore them otherwise.

[RuxieGirl]

I'm going out on a limb here and suggesting something really odd - a Disney cruise. We also look to avoid cruising without a lot of children and were quite impressed with the amount of "adult only" areas and how strictly they are enforced. Even their private island, Castaway Cay has an adult only beach, well separated from the family beaches. Disney offers the shorter cruises you wish. Their ships don't have casinos if that is important to you. You are however allowed to bring your own booze onboard if you wish, in your carry on bag only. Just something to consider....

 

I would not be opposed to this option at all if we could afford it! We have done two cruises with our whole extended family on the Disney Magic and they were absolutely just that: MAGICAL! But the price is prohibitive for us this summer, so we will go with a less-expensive option.

 

Thanks, everyone, for all your amazing ideas. I really didn't know that the major mass-market cruise lines didn't do kid-free cruises. Sorry for being so clueless, but thanks for all the insight!