What Smart Cruisers Do To Guarantee Adult-Only Cruising
What Smart Cruisers Do To Guarantee Adult-Only Cruising
It is a great time to be cruising if you are a family with kids. But, if you’re looking for kid-free cruising it is getting harder than I have ever known it to be. In the past two years, most cruise lines have been chasing families, and even those that were effectively adult-only cruise lines, like Holland America, Princess and Celebrity, are now advertising special rates for families. As I was working on this, I received an email from the ultra-luxury Crystal Cruises offering a ‘kids sail free’ promotion.
This change in focus is causing issues. I have been following a lot of discussion and complaints online about the impact families and kids have had this summer on previously more adult populated lines including Cunard, Oceania and Silversea.
So, as almost all lines evolve and embrace more families, what are your options if for whatever reason you want adult-only cruising?
Adult-Only Options
There are three guaranteed adult-only ways to cruise. Although, not all will appeal when you hear what they are!
1: Adult-Only Cruise Lines
First, there are four adult-only cruise lines that I know of. For over 18s there is Viking, Virgin Voyages and UK’s Ambassador Cruise Line, and for over 50s there is UK’s Saga Cruises.
Although, watch out if considering Ambassador Cruise Line, as they do run some multi-generational cruises where all ages can go.
2: Adult-Only Ships
Next, there are two UK-based cruise lines that have some adult-only ships in their fleet, again for those aged 18 and over. P&O Cruises have Arcadia and Aurora, and Marella, a value-based line owned by TUI, have Marella Explorer 2.
3: Adult-Only Charters
The third option is to go on adult-only charters. However, these are a bit “out there”. They include adult-only nudist cruises run by Bare Necessities, swingers cruises run by Desire Cruises and Bliss Cruises and some Gay Party Circuit cruises with a raunchy reputation run by Atlantis Events.
I do talk about these in more detail in my “Naughty” Tips ONLY Cruisers Over 18 Should Know About” blog if you do want to explore those!
But, if none of the guaranteed adult-only options appeal or work, how can you minimise the chance of going on a cruise that has many families and kids?
Finding Mostly Adult-Only Cruises
I’ve found there are five key things that you can do.
1: Go Premium
The higher the grade of ship, the less likely there will be kids on board, simply because it becomes too costly for families compared to the resort and premium lines.
This is a costly approach for you too, though, as I am talking about small ship luxury lines like Oceania, Azamara, Windstar, SeaDream, or the ultra-luxury side like Crystal, Regent Seven Seas, Seabourn and Silversea.
As well as being costly for families, they usually have no have Kids Clubs or run Kid Programs, making them less appealing.
Although, in the last few years I have been on three small ship luxury lines, Paul Gauguin, Hapag Lloyd and Ponant, that did offer kids programs on some of their peak summer sailings, so that may be a trend coming to the others.
So, as I mentioned at the start, you can’t be 100% that there won’t be kids on luxury and ultra-luxury lines these days, so that leads me to the next thing to do. Timing.
2: Timing
Avoid cruising during key summer school vacations, Spring Break and any half-term breaks, and check the actual school holiday dates in the region you are looking at as they can vary.
Avoid all major public holiday periods like Christmas and New Year, Thanksgiving, Easter, and regional major public holidays with long weekends. I have been on Christmas cruises with Cunard and Holland America, with over 400 kids.
3: Length
My third tip is to go on longer cruises. Families tend to go on shorter vacations, as long trips are a big outlay for a family on a longer vacation. So, if you can go 10, 14 days or more, you’re less likely to have kids on.
4: Location
Where you cruise can also have a big impact.
Repositioning cruises tend to be more adult, even on family-focused lines like Carnival, Royal Caribbean, MSC and even Disney. Repositioning cruises are when the lines send their ships between regions at the start and end of the season, so to and from the Caribbean and Europe, Caribbean and Alaska and even to and from Asia.
These cruises tend to be mostly adult-only, as they don’t generally happen in school holidays. It is mostly April and October/ November. They’re usually around two weeks and have lots of sea days. So, parents are concerned around the time, cost, and keeping their kids busy.
Also, the more exotic locations you go to, the less chance you’ll find families onboard, particularly if they require long haul flights, as that is a massive added cost for families.
For example, consider places like South Africa, South America, French Polynesia, and Asia.
Another key thing to bear in mind with destinations is if you’re going to the Mediterranean in summer or you’re going to Alaska in the season, those will often have families no matter what cruise line you’re on because those are port-intensive destinations where parents are looking to take their kids to experience it. And, they are looking for the right itinerary at the right time and less concerned about what line they’re on.
5: River
The fifth thing you can do to minimise kids is river cruising. Although, some are trying to attract more families and run family programs during the summer, the nature of the places they call and the limited facilities on board mean they tend to almost always be adult-only and a slightly older clientele.
But, if you have already, or in the future need to book a cruise where there are likely to be many families and kids, perhaps because you can only travel during school vacation or holiday times, there are a couple of suggestions I have.
Adult-Only Spaces
Look at lines and ships which offer proper adult-only spaces on board.
Disney is probably the best known for having the most comprehensive offering of these. While of course they are likely to have loads of kids, they do have generous adult-only areas. Like on my Disney Magic cruise recently, they had a coffee shop, swimming pool and bar area, and in the evening part of the ship with more bars and night club was adult only. There was also one dedicated adult speciality restaurant.
The other family-focused cruise lines have some adult-only areas too.
For example, Carnival on some ships have the Serenity adult-only retreat area, where you must be 21 plus.
Royal Caribbean on their bigger ships have an Adult Solarium area, for 16+, and adult only spaces on their private islands.
MSC Cruises has an adult-only lounge.
Norwegian Cruise line has the Vibe Beach Club on their newer ships, where they sell a limited number of passes, and in The Haven suite area, on the newer Prima class ships, they have an adult-only deck section. However, it’s not that well enforced.
Many premium lines like Princess and Holland America do have adult-only pool areas. However, I would not rely on these because in my experience, they’re not enforced.
Do you have any other tips on how to cruise adult only that I missed? If so, leave them in the comments.
