which cruise line would be best?

[KeithOP]

So this month we took our very first cruise, a 7night western caribbean with disney cruise line.

Definitely amazing, definitely learnt a lot and I won't be so stressed about booking EVERYTHING next time

Although there was lots to like, as a couple without kids, a couple of things did somewhat annoy.

1. kids. Kids everywhere! outside the cabin running around, kids everywhere at dinner even though we had the late rotation. Now before anyone tells me, yeah yeah, I know, disney cruise and I guess there were parts of the ship we could've hunted out as adults only. I guess it was the huge noise every dinner that really got us along with "cherubs" running past the table every 10 seconds.

2. Internet - $89 for 1 GB, paid, and gone inside a couple of hours. I turned off everything I could and managed to make it last a bit but wow, it was like being back in the 90s.

So, we loved cruising and I'm wondering if there's a cruiseline which would be a better fit for us?

I know I'm probably not going to get zero kids ;-) but fewer kids, internet either included or better priced and perhaps even alcohol packages?

I hear great things about Royal Caribbean?
other people say, celebrity?

We normally fly into Orlando and stay in the villa there so it feels harder to get to miami than port Canaveral but perhaps I'm wrong on that?

Anyway, love to hear advice on this one because we definitely want to book something again

[Loopylooloo]

Celebrity are fabulous ships very modern, classy and we have noticed way less children.

Royal Caribbean are less expensive but will still have plenty of kids around, it will depend on time of year as to how many. (School holidays etc)

As for wifi, this is extremely expensive on all cruise lines, as it costs the cruise line so much for the signal at sea, its best to try and do without or pick up a free wifi spot in port (follow the crew!)

[BevS97]

We went with Brittannia last summer. There were kids but not many.

They have an internet package. Up to £20/day depending on what you want to do.
ask.pocruises/help/PO/li...ccess_internet


To be honest we managed without. There were times in the morning when I missed it but we could get a data signal on deck most of the times.

[stecee]

You will always get children on cruises, there will be more when it’s school holidays than at other times. But there will be nowhere near the amount of children as there are on a Disney cruise, for obvious reasons.
Most cruise lines offer a drinks package, though P & O don’t. NCL do an All Inclusive package where all drinks up to a certain price and all gratuities are included.

[scarecrow]

Mid price cruise lines are Celebrity which has already been mentioned and Princess would be a good choice.

As well as Disney ive also been on NCL, RCL and CCL and I liked all of those. They are often cheaper than the mid priced ones above and considerably cheaper than DCL, which will allow extra funds for the internet. I just wait while I get to port for WiFi.

[katiec68]

We are 2 adults in late 40s and relatively new to cruising - but love our luxury holidays

We have done 3 cruises so far
Fjords - with P&O in September
Transatlantic (via Iceland and Canada) - with Princess in September
Italy and Eastern Med - Celebrity - November.

P&O was on Arcadia therefore Adults only.

The other two had probably less than 10 children per cruise

Mind you none of the ships were particularly child friendly - ie no slides etc.

We LOVED our Princess cruise but were actually very disappointed with Celebrity . For what we had been told and believed from people we speak to Celebrity are supposed to be the top of the Standard end of the market - we did not find this to be the case. Food quality was poor - in our opinion - AND we're not fussy eaters either and they always seemed to be pushing the extra cost speciality restaurants at every occasions

I think to avoid the kids you need to
a) either pick an adults only ship (P&O) or
b) go outside of school times
c) pick your itinerary well.

Cant comment on the internet package as we love not having access to our phones while away.

How much do you drink?
We had a drinks package included on our Celebrity Cruise but we really only had a glass or wine or a bottle of beer a day (and the odd cocktail on a sea day ).
On our 13 day cruise we had 3 sea days so we were out all day every day so unless we spanked the package in the evening there was no way we were going to drink $55 EACH a day AND be up for a full day the next morning
We were lucky if we reached $55 a day between us!

We like P&O as you just pay for your drinks as you go along - they are UK pub prices and no tips ontop - unlike the $based packages.

Do you want to stick to the Caribbean? There are cruises to just about everywhere you can think of

People often say you have to book as soon as the cruises are released - if its a popular summer cruise maybe - or some South American ones we have been looking at were almost fully booked within a couple of months or release but our Princess and Celebrity cruises were booked only about 9 months in advance - and we paid around £3k per cruise - NOT per person. This was for a balcony cabin - although if we found the right cruise we would consider an outside if we couldn't afford the balcony!

Hpapy planning!

[Cinderellas]

We have been on 3 cruises so far. We have one booked in January on celebrity equinox which looks fabulous. Apparently hardly any kids which will do us 😊. We went on a Royal Caribbean cruise and loved it. But I’m expecting celebrity to be a cut above so hopefully won’t be disappointed. The only downside is that the WiFi is £160 for a week 😳. Don’t think I can justify paying that. But I really want to keep in touch with the kids so will see. We have a drinks package included which is a bonus.

Thinking about an Australia and Asia cruise next, it really is addictive 😊

[traceylou1972]

Hi Keith

Definitely Celebrity or Princess. I work in a school and we nearly always cruise in the Caribbean at Easter. Last year on the Celebrity Reflection there where 8 children on board.

Tracey

[Bats]

I've heard Princess are great with customer service, so I'd recommend them although I haven't sailed with them!

For DCL, it's not for everyone for sure, but going to the adult only areas definitely would have helped you.

Regarding the t'interweb - you didn't turn everything off I'm afraid. It's the background apps that suck the data dry - we always go to visit the t'interweb man and get him to do it for us. You'd have the same on any ship unless you do this I'm afraid.
It's normally things like auto updates that take it the most.

Joa

[SquishTheWhale]

Celebrity or Princess for sure to sail with less kids, especially if you pick a term time date. We just sailed with Princess and I would be surprised if there was 10 kids on board.
Saying that, we have also sailed with NCL, RCI and MSC and despite an increased child presence found no issue with young kids running around. Although the Italian teenagers on MSC were a whole different story!

I would suspect that the very nature of a Disney cruise would lead people to let their kids run free as its a child friendly cruise. So I think you'll find any other cruise line a bit more restrained in that aspect!

Oh, and most cruise lines have terrible internet. I know NCL has done some work recently on improving their speed, and on the newer Princess ships with Medallion Net it's supposed to be a lot better.