I've done several cruises, mostly on Celebrity but a few on Norwegian, Princess, and Azamara. The one thing I have noticed is that the average passenger age tends to increase with the length of the cruise, so a shorter cruise is probably better for you from that standpoint. Kids should not be an issue if you cruise between mid-September and mid-November.

A few years ago I took back-to-back 4 and 5 day cruises on Celebrity - I enjoyed it thoroughly, and encourage you to look into them. The one downside of short cruises like this is the ports; longer cruises can get to more interesting places.



This being FT, I think I need to bring up "frequent cruiser" programs. Some lines count the number of days to earn status (e.g. Royal Caribbean), some count the number of cruises (Celebrity, Azamara), and some count either (Princess). Status doesn't earn free cruises*, but it does grant privileges while onboard. I booked the back-to-back cruises above to help me gain elite status (10 cruises) on Celebrity and Azamara before their programs separated - now on Celebrity I get free happy hour from 4-6 almost every day aboard ship, along with some free internet minutes and other bennies. You might want to spend some time looking over the elite programs of the cruise lines you end up considering - if you find you like cruises as much as I do, it can make sense to concentrate your cruising on one line to gain elite benefits (and the short Celebrity cruises are a great way to work on building status in their program).

Good luck - let us know what you decide!

* The couple with the most status on Celebrity was given their 100th (might have been their 101st) cruise for free, but that's the closest cruise-equivalent to an airline award ticket that I have ever come across.