50th birthday party cruise

[CrossM2]

On 7/25/2023 at 7:01 PM, crystalspin said:

I have cruised eight times (nine cruises, one was a B2B) with Holland America; once and done with NCL, and once with Royal Caribbean. I would not rule out another RCL cruise, but they do not contact me so it's never come up, and also once you get to 4-star loyalty, it's hard to look around!

 

My first HAL cruise in 1999 (at age 41) was not an immediate hit, but that was certainly the travelling companions over a total of 10 or 11 seadays (Hawaii)! By the next one, ten years later, I was hooked! 

 

We sailed on Rotterdam's sister ship, the Koningsdam, last winter and we're booked on that ship next February! REALLY loved it. 

 

ETA: We took a family group including my very social 35-yo sister on a 14-day Alaska cruise on the much smaller HAL Zaandam in 2018. She LOVED IT. 

Hi, what types of activities are on board and what age group do you primarily see?

[crystalspin]

5 hours ago, CrossM2 said:

Hi, what types of activities are on board and what age group do you primarily see?

My husband and I are not particularly joiners of activities. On sea days he has breakfast (Lido) while I sleep in, join him to get espresso drinks at the Exploration Cafe (in the Crows Nest) then relax there, reading our Kindles, until we get restless. Then we might go to the Grand Dutch Cafe, or a walk around the Promenade. Then back to the Crows Nest to drink boat drinks (!). 

 

On the K'dam, the trivia was held in the "Music Walk" (the Rolling Stone Rock Room and/or Billboard Onboard), which made the Crows Nest SO much nicer.

 

So I let your questions simmer on the back burner while I made dinner and visited with my mom, then came back to think of THE TRUE ANSWER. Roger Jett has the When-And-Wheres (the daily programs) for a Caribbean cruise on the Rotterdam no less!!! Thanks to @Crew News I give you:

https://rogerjett-photography.com/specialty-2/on-locations-specific-cruises/ms-rotterdam-7-day-western-caribbean-when-where-2022-23/

 

As far as age group. My husband says "HAL markets to 55-60 year-olds (he is 76 hahaha). What do I primarily see? I am not very good at judging, but I would say 60... plus or minus 30 years. Sorry I can't be more specific! But I can say, either there are very few children, or the kids' clubs are back in the swing and keeping them busy.

Edited July 31, 2023 by crystalspin

[CrossM2]

5 hours ago, crystalspin said:

My husband and I are not particularly joiners of activities. On sea days he has breakfast (Lido) while I sleep in, join him to get espresso drinks at the Exploration Cafe (in the Crows Nest) then relax there, reading our Kindles, until we get restless. Then we might go to the Grand Dutch Cafe, or a walk around the Promenade. Then back to the Crows Nest to drink boat drinks (!). 

 

On the K'dam, the trivia was held in the "Music Walk" (the Rolling Stone Rock Room and/or Billboard Onboard), which made the Crows Nest SO much nicer.

 

So I let your questions simmer on the back burner while I made dinner and visited with my mom, then came back to think of THE TRUE ANSWER. Roger Jett has the When-And-Wheres (the daily programs) for a Caribbean cruise on the Rotterdam no less!!! Thanks to @Crew News I give you:

https://rogerjett-photography.com/specialty-2/on-locations-specific-cruises/ms-rotterdam-7-day-western-caribbean-when-where-2022-23/

 

As far as age group. My husband says "HAL markets to 55-60 year-olds (he is 76 hahaha). What do I primarily see? I am not very good at judging, but I would say 60... plus or minus 30 years. Sorry I can't be more specific! But I can say, either there are very few children, or the kids' clubs are back in the swing and keeping them busy.

Thanks for the honest answer. My husband is 55, I will be 50, in my mind I’m 25, my body would beg to differ. Sometimes we want the activities and sometimes we want the relaxation. We are past the Carnival party scene but we aren’t ready to give it all up completely and we will have a huge range in ages, probably 30-70.

[aungrl]

On 7/30/2023 at 6:15 PM, CrossM2 said:

Thank you. I was curious how they compare to Celebrity or RC? What types of activities are on board typically?

I haven't been on RC or Celebrity in many years, but we cruised with both of them several times, several years ago, so take my comments with a large grain of salt.  I don't think I'm qualified to comment in real detail, given how long it's been, but I'm happy to give you my overall impressions.  The first thing I think is different between those two and Regent is the overall size, as well as the passenger-to-space ratio.  The Regent ships have far less passengers than the other two lines, and they also allocate more space/passenger overall.  To me, this makes the Regent ships seem very open and uncrowded, even at popular times in popular venues (restaurants/lounges).  Regent is also pretty much entirely all-inclusive.  There are a few optional excursions for which you can pay extra, but most of the excursions are included in the cruise fare.  Regent also includes airfare, but will give you a credit if you elect to book your own air - which we've always done, so far.  The food - and this is highly subjective - is of much higher quality on Regent vs. the other two lines.  We've rarely experienced any lines for anything on a Regent ship, were always able to find a lounger by the pool, and found other passengers to be warm and welcoming.  

 

Another major difference was in the type and variety of entertainment on board.  Regent tends towards quieter, less splashy entertainment in the evenings, whereas my memory of the other two lines is of big production-type shows on most evenings, with lots of cast members, costume changes, and a full light/sound system.  In addition to differences in the evening entertainment, the larger ships of both RC and Celebrity have a wider variety of things to do, i.e., multiple pools, rock climbing walls, and - on the newer and bigger ships - many more choices.  

 

This is a generalization, but my experience with Regent is that the demographics skew older, with (far) fewer children, than on either RC or Celebrity.  

 

Something you might want to do is read several posts on the Regent board, which will likely give you a pretty good feel for what a cruise on that line would be like.

 

We've really enjoyed all our cruises over the years, and would still sail on any of these lines as well as others, depending on itinerary, if friends asked us to take a cruise with them.  That said, as we've gotten older, we've sailed primarily with  Oceania and Viking - as well as Regent.  All three of these lines have their pluses and minuses, with 'smaller ship size/better passenger to space ratios' being the most common denominator across them, in my view.