Coral thru Panama... 30-somethings?

[jgladding]

We're going on the Coral through Panama Canal in April... I hear there are mostly older folks on the ship, but I'm just curious what the percentage of folks under 50 are. Will we be the only people there in their early 30s??

[cruiseryyc]

I have twice gone through the Panama Canal (both times on the Dawn) and found the passengers to be a mix of all ages. Percentage wise it probably is more on the 50+ side, but there will be lots of younger folks. Plus there a lot of 80 year olds who are a lot more fun to party with than some 30 year olds!

[newmexicoNita]

I would agree with the last poster; first Princess does attract a little older crowd and the longer the cruise, the older the cruisers. This certainly doesn't mean you will not have a mixture and there will be passengers in your age group. Another thing, doing the canal is so special it really doesn't make much difference what age the passengers are.

 

Nita

[helpmesailaway]

We just returned from the Panama Canal. I would have to say that the majority of people were 50 and older. I saw a few young couples and a few young families.

 

However, I agree with Newmexiconita that the canal was so special - you will enjoy it.

 

I have found many more young people on 7 day Caribbean cruises. That being said, everyone was having a great time from what I could see. The same activities were on this ship as the others.

 

Go and have FUN!!!!

[RSWBADGER]

Dreaded Double Post

[RSWBADGER]

We will be cruising in April also, this is our second Panama Canal adventure, the crowds are older because of the length of the cruise and time of year.

 

Advantages :)

 

1. There will be plenty of lounge chairs in the sun available around the pool.

2. Late dining will be less busy.

3. Active Shore excursions (4x4 atvs, canopy, etc.) will not sell out.

[ggprincess2004]

We're going on the Coral through Panama Canal in April... I hear there are mostly older folks on the ship, but I'm just curious what the percentage of folks under 50 are. Will we be the only people there in their early 30s??

 

Please join you roll call for the cruise and get to know some of your fellow passengers before you sail. Even if you are the youngest in that group, there will be plenty who are young at heart.

[partybarbie]

We're going on the Coral through Panama Canal in April... I hear there are mostly older folks on the ship, but I'm just curious what the percentage of folks under 50 are. Will we be the only people there in their early 30s??

 

I (a forty something) have taken two full canal transits, and one partial transit, and in my experience you will be lucky to meet one or two other couples in their 30's.

 

In fact, I met quite a few passengers in their 60's and 70's who were cruising with their parents (80's and 90'). One unfortunate man (70's)passed from a heartattack after pushing his wheelchair bound 90- something-father, through the rainforest in Costa Rica.

 

As others have said, there are some advantages to cruising with the older folks as you usually won't have a problem finding a deck chair by the pool. Plus you will have the disco to yourself after midnight and the DJ's generally will play whatever you want to hear.

 

It never bothered me to cruise with the old folks (I'm on way there myself:) ). Most of them are really nice. It's kind of like hanging out with your grandparents. However, if you really want people your own age, I would pick a different cruise or perhaps try for a canal cruise during Spring break or Christmas break.

[mamatrouble]

We're going on the Coral through Panama Canal in April... I hear there are mostly older folks on the ship, but I'm just curious what the percentage of folks under 50 are. Will we be the only people there in their early 30s??

 

What is the date of your cruise? Come and join a roll

call, this way you will get to know your fellows cruisers and make some new friends...check here for your dates http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=298

[here2cruise]

I have twice gone through the Panama Canal (both times on the Dawn) and found the passengers to be a mix of all ages. Percentage wise it probably is more on the 50+ side, but there will be lots of younger folks. Plus there a lot of 80 year olds who are a lot more fun to party with than some 30 year olds!

 

i agree...we were in our early 40's when we did the 15 day panama canal cruise from florida to san francisco...it is still our favorite cruise so far!

[jgladding]

Oh we're quite sure we'll have fun regardless, how can you not??? Cruising through the Panama Canal is on our "40 before 40" list, among other things. :)

 

I was just curious as what to expect... I think we just may enjoy the relaxed atmosphere, we will be coming off of a 3-week road trip with the kids!!! :eek: Something tells me a kick-back cruise will suite me just fine. I just hope there's still calypso music...!

[jerseymax]

We were on Coral April 2007 10 day Panama Canal. We are in our early 40's. I can tell you because of the passengers, it was our best cruise ever! The passengers were our age and older. We only saw two children (under 5). We did love the Coral and were on again in December 2007 - unfortunately we did not enjoy it as much - fellow passengers can certainly help make a trip.

 

One small piece of advice, bring one of those small plastic rain coats just in case. The weather was amazing until we got to the entrance of the canal. The sky opened and I have never seen such rain. It was brief but heavy. Enough to clear the decks other than those who had an umberella or rain coat. Lesson learned, I never go on a cruise without one now. I just picked up 10 from the dollar store. Who knew the rain forest could mean rain?!? The rest of the day was clear and sunny but that rain sure made for some great pictures and funny stories.

 

Enjoy your cruise.:)

[CrusinAgain]

When we were on the Cruise Connection bus in Nov. it was going to both the Ft. Lauderdale and Miami terminals. If you have heard of the Love Connection bus or the The Love Bus Express - it is the Cruise Connection bus. The Coral Princess was leaving from Lauderdale on Friday and we were trying the Pearl (huge mistake) but anyway the Coral is the one we would do later but the passengers on the bus were all older than us and we are in our 50's. We felt like the young ones. But they were all very nice and you can learn alot from these people. We don't mind traveling with them at all and the disco is something we stopped a number of years back along with the pool scene. We do like good entertainment though as we do stay up late and Princess ships offers this to us.

[Flyer]

We started cruising in our late 40s and as two who are now in their 60s, I'll have to say that We have "Been there, Done that" so we can relate and not all of us are using walkers or travel with limited mobility. We enjoy experiences visiting with all ages and I believe in spite of the early to bed group you will have a great time. :)

[wethreecruzers]

Don't you worry about being the youngest on this cruise!! We're in our early 40's but are bringing our 5 yr old and our 2 yr old !! Oh, and I won't tell anyone on the roll call site that you inquired on this board!! :D

[Ethel5]

Oh, and I won't tell anyone on the roll call site that you inquired on this board!! :D

 

They already know!!! :D

[RDJ]

my husband did this cruise on this ship 2 years ago for our honeymoon, we are 33 years old now. it was a much older crowd, we joked that there were only about 10 couples under the age of 40 on this ship...and no kids. We like the older crowd so it was fine for us. Most entertainment, activities, even the ship decor was geared towards an older crowd. We definitely felt we stood out as being the kids on the ship! But it was a great time, we made great friends, and we would absolutely do it again!

[rc51]

We're going on the Coral through Panama Canal in April... I hear there are mostly older folks on the ship, but I'm just curious what the percentage of folks under 50 are. Will we be the only people there in their early 30s??

 

How long is your cruise...? 15 days? We just did the 15 day LA - FLL and I think were maybe 1 of 2 couple's in our 30's.

 

It was a much older/slower crowd on this cruise. Ship was DEAD by the time the late show ended. Even the crew was commenting that this particular cruise was alot quieter than other crossings.

 

One lady even asked my wife 'why we were on the cruise' and 'if my wife thought she was too young for it'...not sure what that was supposed to mean.

 

Some people say teenagers of today have no manners...well, I experienced alot of seniors in that boat as well.

[Suncat]

There were lots of older people, but very nice and boy can they be competitive at Scattegories and Pictionary! (60+)

 

If you like lying by the pool, its great, cause most of the older folks tend to go for the indoor pool (it sort of reminded me of the movie Cocoon to see them all in there! lol!) There were plenty of poolside chairs to be had last Nov. (maybe it was time of the year too!) I was so glad not to have to fight for a chair if I didn't get to the pool until around 10am.

 

Enjoy your cruise. I really did and it was mostly because of the smaller ship and not fighting for loung chairs than the Panama Canal/locks. We have locks in WA and I didn't find the experience too exciting. It's not something I'll try again, but I did love The Coral Princess.:D

[cherylakers]

Hi, we too are going through the canal in April on the Coral. We are leaving April 15th. Are you on our cruise??? We are in our 50's and are very active. We have late dining. We love to snorkel and are doing that twice. We just got back from 2 weeks in Egypt and were very active over there. There is a roll call for our cruise if you are sailing on the 15th. Join us.

 

Cheryl in sunny Florida

[doubledtbay]

In April 2007 we did my first 'official' cruise on the Coral to Panama Canal. The occasion was in celebration of my 50th birthday. For seven months prior to the trip, we perused through every possible piece of literature, as well as the Princess DVD to get a sense of what laid ahead of us. The pictures in the brochures portrayed very ‘hip professional types’ which portrayed all ages. After spending a few days aboard, I had to ask “where are all the people from the brochures?”

 

We’ve met people much younger than us, around our age and much older. That’s the wonderful thing about ‘Anytime Dining’…you get a new variety of people every night. I totally agree with the rest of the posts, the canal IS the #1 priority in selecting this cruise, meeting and making new friends is a bonus.

 

My philosophy is that when you have too many preconceived notions, you may be sorely disappointed. Go, have fun, enjoy the moment and it will be the best adventure of your life. It was for us, so much so that we are doing a Southern Caribbean cruise in a few weeks. I’m hooked on Princess for life! Watch out….I may be the future older person in the walker, with the biggest smile on my face, dancing my booty off in the night club, martini in hand! Life is great!

[Desert Cruizers]

As most have said, age 50 +, one gentleman probably 70 + stayed in a suit the intire time. We did have a 2 1/2 yr old with his parents, who was the hit of the Cruise, a well behaved young man. He even had his own Sea pass Card, thought that was cute. The trip is something to experience, especially doing the full transit. We went from Ft Lauderdale to Seattle, Wa 17 days and were never bored.

[smoosh21]

My partner and I are 30-somethings, and we are going through the Canal next March. It is also on my list of things to do before 40.

[cruiserjanet]

We have often been in the group of youngest people on our cruises with Princess. Our tablemates at each of those cruises have all had children that are older than us. Our cruises have been fabulous and we've had such wonderful times with our tablemates. We would see them throughout the week on the ship and have good conversations with them. All of us looked forward to coming to dinner each night just so we could gab. We have also kept in touch with some of our tablemates. We met other, "more mature" folks on the cruise as well and they too added to our special cruise memory. DH and I are looking forward to our Panama Canal cruise including meeting new, interesting people.

[cruzegirl]

We're going on the Coral through Panama Canal in April... I hear there are mostly older folks on the ship, but I'm just curious what the percentage of folks under 50 are. Will we be the only people there in their early 30s??

 

I went on the Coral through the Panama Canal April 07. It was a grand time.... there was all ages.... We were a group of 12 and ranged from 9 y/o to 70+........ Saw all ages on board...... You'll have a great time......