seniors

[richardAnn]

its been a while since me and my wife have been on a cruise we are both retired now i am 66 and my wife is 73 we want to go on a 5 day cruise next year i am wondering we have only been on carnival . we are looking at royal caribbean or princess for it .which one will be better for someone our age .we just dont like all the hoopla that goes with carnival.we are in texas so the only ones we have are carnival ,royal and now princess(part time) so can anyone help us 

[Mary229]

5 day cruises are more likely to have hoopla than longer cruises.  Of the three Princess will be the most “mature”.  

[Markanddonna]

I would recommend going on cruises LONGER than seven days. You will likely find a more mature crowd there.  BTW- that includes Carnival. I've only been on one Carnival, but it was an eight day Southern Caribbean cruise and the passengers were very much like the other cruise line (excluding the premium lines.)

Edited June 22, 2022 by Markanddonna

[Hlitner]

Agree with Markanddonna.   Short cruises tend to attract a younger crowd, many of whom try to cram several weeks of partying into a few days.  To get away from that issue on mass market cruise lines you need to think long.  Another option is to book a shorter cruise on a very upscale luxury line (think Seabourn, Silverseas, Regent, etc) where the higher price and lack of a decent kids program will work in your favor.

 

Hank

[Mary229]

The OP wants to sail out of Galveston.   The choices are RCL, Carnival and a limited number of Princess cruises.  

[navybankerteacher]

1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

The OP wants to sail out of Galveston.   The choices are RCL, Carnival and a limited number of Princess cruises.  

Then definitely Princess should be considered.

[Markanddonna]

1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

The OP wants to sail out of Galveston.   The choices are RCL, Carnival and a limited number of Princess cruises.  

I would recommend they look at cruises outside of Galveston. If they only want that port, then you have probably only similar cruises in the western Caribbean. Those can get old.

[jsn55]

Sailing out your 'home port' is a wonderful thing, we're doing it the first time at Christmas out of San Francisco.  So liberating to not deal with the air.  We did an RCCL Panama Canal out of Galveston some years ago, really enjoyed it.  I agree with everyone, a longer cruise will deter the party-people ... somewhat.  Lots of it depends on luck.  On our Christmas cruise there were lots of kids; we found them quite refreshing to watch as they had a great time while minding their manners.  The only issue, as always, is parents who don't seem to care what their kids do.  So the kids become ever more boisterous trying to garner attention.  Those families are fairly easy to avoid.  As are most 'pills' you meet on a cruise as long as you pay attention.  Determine which ships of each line fit your sailing dates.  Read reviews on CruiseCritic.  Once you've read a few dozen and made some notes, the right choice will stand out. 

[GeezerCouple]

There is a CC subforum about this, so consider asking there also, plus generally reading/browsing through the existing posts.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/189-55-cruisers/

 

Avoiding school holidays (and especially "spring break" weeks) will probably help a lot.

 

I understand the appeal of sailing out of a nearby port and avoiding air travel (especially these days!!), but if you are willing to sail from other ports, you'll have far more choices to consider.

 

GC

[Aquahound]

I believe Grandeur of the Seas is sailing out of TX.  That would be an excellent Royal Caribbean option without all the "hoopla" that comes with their newer ships.  

[ldubs]

4 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

Then definitely Princess should be considered.

 

X2.  Of the three Princess is the more likely fit.   

[lenquixote66]

8 hours ago, richardAnn said:

its been a while since me and my wife have been on a cruise we are both retired now i am 66 and my wife is 73 we want to go on a 5 day cruise next year i am wondering we have only been on carnival . we are looking at royal caribbean or princess for it .which one will be better for someone our age .we just dont like all the hoopla that goes with carnival.we are in texas so the only ones we have are carnival ,royal and now princess(part time) so can anyone help us 

Youngster,I have friends who are close to 80 and only cruise NCL out of Galveston.

[Mary229]

3 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

Youngster,I have friends who are close to 80 and only cruise NCL out of Galveston.

Thanks for that.  I was unaware that NCL was now in Galveston

[LHT28]

53 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Thanks for that.  I was unaware that NCL was now in Galveston

I do not think they do now 

[Aquahound]

IMO, the ships matter more than just saying the cruise lines generically.  I looked at the 5-night cruises out of Galveston and the options are Ruby Princess and Grandeur of the Seas.  I think both are good options when moving away from Carnival.  

 

I have sailed both ships.  All in all, I recommend Grandeur.  While I do like Princess, I was not a big fan of Ruby.  I found the ship to feel dark, crowded, and the staterooms are small.  On Ruby, you have to book a mini-suite in order to get a couch.  There is no separate sitting area in standard rooms including standard balconies. 

 

Otherwise, I'd rate service, food, and entertainment exactly the same between these 2 ships.   

[wcook]

CruiseCritics’ unofficial motto is “my line is better than your line.” But while we are loath to admit it, the mainstream lines have much more in common than they are different. I’d focus more on time of year (ie when kids are in school) and which part of the ship you hang out in. 

[pris993]

I am 75, my dh is 90, we are going on our 31st Princess cruise in December.  We have cruised on 9 different lines.   We have well over 60 cruises.    Princess has a good mix of passengers and a more mature approach to cruising.  If you can do longer than 5 days, do recommend Princess.  

 

When we first started to cruise, we went on RCCL.  I feel it is targeted more to younger folks, so have not been on that line in years.   

 

We enjoy going out of our on port San Francisco.  My sister is cruising on Princess from Texas to San Francisco next spring.   It is a cruise through the Panama Canal.   LOnger than 5 days but many older folks take the longer cruises.  

 

Whatever choice you make I am sure you will have a good time. 

[jsn55]

9 hours ago, pris993 said:

I am 75, my dh is 90, we are going on our 31st Princess cruise in December.  We have cruised on 9 different lines.   We have well over 60 cruises.    Princess has a good mix of passengers and a more mature approach to cruising.  If you can do longer than 5 days, do recommend Princess.  

 

When we first started to cruise, we went on RCCL.  I feel it is targeted more to younger folks, so have not been on that line in years.   

 

We enjoy going out of our on port San Francisco.  My sister is cruising on Princess from Texas to San Francisco next spring.   It is a cruise through the Panama Canal.   LOnger than 5 days but many older folks take the longer cruises.  

 

Whatever choice you make I am sure you will have a good time. 

We are sailing out of SF to Hawaii for Christmas, Pris, on Royal Princess.  It's our first Princess cruise.  Which cruise are you on?  We could have our own Roll Call.  I am so jazzed about no air at Christmas, it will be such a no-brainer, my favorite kind of trip.  I love flying, but avoiding the crowds at SFO over the holidays will be a great treat.  I am a little worried about this Medallion thing and wondering if it will work.  I've just started learning how to really use my phone, got an "Android for Dummies" book and it's very helpful.  I hope I know it all well enough so I don't have to bring the book with me!

[pris993]

1 hour ago, jsn55 said:

We are sailing out of SF to Hawaii for Christmas, Pris, on Royal Princess.  It's our first Princess cruise.  Which cruise are you on?  We could have our own Roll Call.  I am so jazzed about no air at Christmas, it will be such a no-brainer, my favorite kind of trip.  I love flying, but avoiding the crowds at SFO over the holidays will be a great treat.  I am a little worried about this Medallion thing and wondering if it will work.  I've just started learning how to really use my phone, got an "Android for Dummies" book and it's very helpful.  I hope I know it all well enough so I don't have to bring the book with me!

I got an iphone for travel last year for the first time.  Got use to the iphone and then down loaded the app for the Princess Medallion.  Overall was able to put info into the Medallion app without too much effort.  Not a lot different then doing on line.  Downloading passport was a bit tricky.  When you do that need to focus iphone on the barcode of you passport I believe then works.    We did not use iphone on board much accept like we would a room key.  We used to pay for drinks, open cabin door, otherwise did not use it to order items around the ship.    We were on a cruise in February, so ship was less full.  We will see how it is in December a holiday cruise.  My dh is 90, my sister has cancer so we will try to avoid crowds as much as possible on board.  We are on the December 22 holiday cruise to Hawaii.   Should be fun with ship fully decorated for the holidays. 

[SbbquilterUT]

I personally would be very happy sailing grandeur  of the Seas or Radiance of the seas out of Galveston, avoiding holiday periods.  Grandeur was our first RCCL cruise and we still love her - older, smaller and feels like a cruise ship.

[George C]

On 6/22/2022 at 1:33 PM, Aquahound said:

I believe Grandeur of the Seas is sailing out of TX.  That would be an excellent Royal Caribbean option without all the "hoopla" that comes with their newer ships.  

Older ship without the the frills, perfect for a relaxing 5 day cruise, allure has too much frills.

[George C]

On 6/22/2022 at 2:51 PM, LHT28 said:

I do not think they do now 

I don’t recall last time I saw ncl in Galveston and we have taken several cruises , normally just rccl and carnival.

[LuckyStar]

On 6/22/2022 at 4:07 AM, richardAnn said:

its been a while since me and my wife have been on a cruise we are both retired now i am 66 and my wife is 73 we want to go on a 5 day cruise next year i am wondering we have only been on carnival . we are looking at royal caribbean or princess for it .which one will be better for someone our age .we just dont like all the hoopla that goes with carnival.we are in texas so the only ones we have are carnival ,royal and now princess(part time) so can anyone help us 

I would definitely recommend the Carnival Vista out of Galveston.  The Havana area is very peaceful, if that interests you.  We're both 61 and most people were in the age range 50-70s.There have been no teens in this area on my two cruises.  It was quiet and just awesome.  There are several choices of room types.  We now stay in Havana interiors but I'm the odd duck in that I love interior rooms. 

[shipper50]

I am an oldgoat of 72 and guessed in mid 60's all the time even though my hair and beard is white like some guy named Kenny. As I have stated only been on 2 cruises, those being out of Seattle and Tampa, my experience was much better out of Tampa on Carnival for 5 days. I guess the kid in me fit in better with Carnival than in my opinion the stuck ups on Celebrity.

[bjkTX]

On 6/23/2022 at 5:43 PM, George C said:

I don’t recall last time I saw ncl in Galveston and we have taken several cruises , normally just rccl and carnival.

From the Galveston Port web page!  Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Prima will begin with two roundtrip Western Caribbean voyages from Galveston: a three-day cruise on Oct. 27, 2022, and a four-day cruise on Oct. 31, 2022.

Starting in the winter season 2023 and 2024, Norwegian Prima will homeport out of Galveston, offering seven-day voyages to the Western Caribbean out of Galveston. The ship will call to Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico; Harvest Caye, a private island in Belize; and Roatan Island, Honduras.