I've done my searches here on Flyertalk, but it seems as if everyone's circumstances are different so here's my plea.

We want to head to the Caribbean, we're looking at October. We're in our late-20s. We love to eat and enjoy a glass of wine with dinner. We're looking for a line where the cruisers trend younger, but where we won't be driven crazy because of large numbers of screaming children. We're looking at a Miami, Ft. Lauderdale or Port Canaveral sailings. 4-7 nights.

I was leaning towards Norwegian, but Carnival, Celebrity, Royal and Holland all look alright too.

Thanks for any help!

For info on cruises you can refer to the cruising equivalent of FT www.cruisecritic.com

I'll disclaimer what I'm about to say by noting that I've only sailed Holland America, Regent, and Disney.

I think what you're looking for may best be served by Celebrity. Pretty much any short cruises to the Caribbean like that will tend to attract families, especially the cheaper lines like Carnival and Royal Caribbean. Holland America is excellent but you will likely be the youngest passengers aboard, but that didn't bother my wife and I at all when we started sailing with them in our late 20s.

Do consider Disney. Although clearly a family-friendly line, they go to great pains to separate and enforce adults-only areas on their ships. The ships themselves are gorgeous, and the staff provides that Disney level of service that is so difficult for other companies to match (except at a MUCH higher price point). Even on Disney's private island there is an entire beach and set of activities that are all 21+. The shows, food, shore excursions, etc. are all great. Now that I think about it, they may be the perfect cruise line for you if you're at all "Disney people"!

I'd agree that OP would be right fit for Celebrity, though average age will vary depending on each sailing. For example a sailing on Celebrity Solstice saw more scooters and wheelchairs for elderly passengers than on Holland America's Eurodam four months earlier. I loved the Solstice and its thoroughly modern layout, something Holland America would do well IMHO to emulate.

FWIW I often compare cruise lines to hotel chains as the demographic is very similiar. Celebrity reminds me of really nice Westin hotels while Carnival is more Holiday Inn. No judgements and no right or wrong choices, just different segments for every budget.

Let us know what you decide and you could do worse than wading through the pages of Cruise Critic as tentseller recommended. Careful of the brand cheerleaders however as they embrace their favorite brand so hard there is no patience for dissenting opinions or critical and realisitic feedback from newer posters.

Good luck and happy sales, err sails!

My girlfriend and I did our first cruise a couple weeks ago (well, she did one with her friends a few years back before we met, but this was my first cruise). We chose Royal Caribbean "Liberty of the Seas" on a 5-day Western Caribbean itinerary out of FLL, calling at Labadee (Haiti) and Falmouth (Jamaica).

Royal Caribbean was probably a good cruise line to start out on - a step above Carnival, but not too expensive just in case we didn't like it. We had a balcony for about US$1500, all in. Obviously specialty meals, drinks, excursions were more. But for a 5-night balcony, I'd say we got a good deal.

Royal had good and bad aspects. Good - ship was lovely, crew were mostly all fantastic, room was larger than we expected, drinks slightly cheaper than we expected (note: not cheap, but cheaper). Poor - food was awful in most places on the ship, Falmouth (a private Royal port) was a pure money grab.

I still say Royal was a good one to do first.

I agree with all of the Celebrity comments - they may be a very good choice for you. Also take a look at Princess as well.

If the "limited kids" thing is a real issue for you, then make sure you book your Caribbean cruise during a week that schools are all in session (and just because schools are in session in your town, doesn't mean they are in session everywhere -- winter and spring breaks vary dramatically around the country).

Having said that, October should be one of the "safest" months to travel, with that your goal.

Traditionally, I've always heard that Holland America skews the oldest, but I haven't done any recent research on it.

Have you considered Oceania or Azamara or any of the other Premium lines? Costs a bit more, but includes more for your buck, and you don't have the crowding issues at the buffet and the shows.

Personally I'm partial to Princess myself. Started cruising them in my early 30's, and never really felt out of place age wise. That said, I'd say most cruises even in my mid-late 30's now, I'm probably in the bottom 25% of the age range (but I'd say that's pretty common). Age range can vary quite a bit from cruise to cruise. Caribbean tends to skew somewhat younger, and on my cruise last week, I was probably closer to the median than I'd ever been (but keep in mind, that was a cruise that was during president's day week, and had a ton of kids on it). The Amazon cruise I did I was probably in the bottom 10% of the age group. From what I've seen Celebrity probably trends around the same age groups, RCL maybe slightly younger, but not sure it'd be significant.

October may limit choices somewhat. Cruise lines are keeping their ships in Europe as late as they can these days, although in general the Alaska ships should be back at that point. TA's from Europe seem to run from late August to early December. And of course, October in the Caribbean could lead to dodging hurricanes.

Personally, to me, anything less than a 7 day sailing is a waste. They tend to be on older ships, and you're just not doing enough to make it worth the trip. You might find one or two 5 day trips that at least are vaguely more interesting, but most of the 4 day itineraries are really pretty unimpressive for their destinations.

Mrs. Swede and I took our first cruise in our late-20's. We did RCCL's Radiance of the Seas around the Caribbean in mid-December, which probably had fewer kids compared to two weeks prior and after. That said, we didn't notice many kids, nor were we ever inconvenienced by any.

Initially, we sat at a table where we could've been any of the couples' grandchildren (or great-grandchildren!). We asked to be moved and, from then on, we sat at a table of eight with two other couples around our age, a couple in their 40's (who were professional ballroom dancers and so much fun), and two single people.

The weather throughout the whole cruise sucked, but it was nice to have such fun tablemates.

We recently did Carnival over New Year's, and, even though there were a ton of kids on-board (including our two little ones), they were never bothersome (except at the hot tub). My five nieces and nephews ranged from 12-18, and I was lucky to see them except when on-shore or during dinner!

Celebrity sounds like a good bet for the OP. I am a big fan of NCL and hate Royal.

Royal did nothing to disguise the attempt to hold me upside down and get every penny out of my pockets. They're all out to get our money but some do it in a better manner than others.

Holland America is a great line but tends to be for the older crowd or whole family cruises.

Since Oct. is still in the Caribbean hurricane season, "safest" to avoid children perhaps but maybe not stormy weather. Just saying it's a reality of that place at that time of year.

I just got back from a cruise with Royal Carribean. Visited Dubai, Fujairah, Muscat and Abu Dhabi. RCCLs got a great program. Ive already reached gold status, and soon to be platinum. (there are many levels)

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.

Oceania gives you a free cruise in the Owner's Suite after you've sailed 100 times with them.

Something to shoot for, I guess!

The Disney cruise was grazed over in above comment.

They are still rated as number one and enjoyment by adults of all the cruise ships. And they "take care" of the kids, so I have found LESS screaming kids than on the RC or Cel.

But Crusecritic as noted has good reviews and some of the traveling mags give great reviews.

Have fun, I never thought I would like it and now have condo on cruse ship and take others as often as can. One of the great trips of a lifetime is the Queen across the pond and any to St Petersburg and to the Med

It is a little more $, but get a balcony. You will really enjoy it. We bring along a portible hammock and put out and fight over it.