Hello all! Just found this place kinda by accident. I'm a cruise virgin. We're leaving for our first cruise during Thanksgiving week...going to the western caribbean. Thought I'd chat with others and find out all I can about this stuff before we go.

Look forward to chatting with ya'll!! Thanks.

Mel

Hi Mel,

Welcome to Cruise-Chat! If you have a question there is someone here who has the answer.

Our first cruise was a Thanksgiving cruise - back in 1992. It is a good time to be in the Caribbean.

Welcome aboard....

Thanks!

One of the reasons we picked that time is that we're hoping to have less children/teens on board to deal with. Do you think it's usually older people during this time? We're in the doorway of 30 and the other couple we're going with is in their 30s too and neither of us have kids or care to deal with it much this week- hoping for lots of quiet!!

Cruise Virgin,

Welcome to Cruise Chat
You'll find this site very helpful.

Sorry to burst your bubble, BUT, change your cruise date quick if you do not want to deal with children.
Holiday times are the worst possible time to cruise if you want to avoid children.
There are always loads of families onboard with their kids. Christmas is probably worse than Thanksgiving if I recall.

HOPE this does not spoil your cruise. Do not allow it to.

Happy planning.

Cathy

ugh really???? The TA told us that this was one of the better times...that it'd be mostly older people. We were kinda wondering if the week before or after Thanksgiving week might be better though.

Bummer. Guess they lied to us then?? ggr.

We're going with another couple and we've both been dealing with infertility for several years and so lots of small children, babies, preggos are a painful reminder...and if we were going to be flooded by them - well we wanted to avoid that as much as possible. Also- the other couple has been on carnival before and they said the trip was ruined because the ship was overrun with teens everywhere- they had taken all the deck chairs and everything.

Yes, cruising the week before or after the week of Thanksgiving would probably be best as far as minimal childern goes. Those weeks would probably be less expensive also.

You are still outside of the "no refund" window, if you can get the extra vacation time, call the travel agent back and see if you can move your cruise. Except for airfare possibly, there should not be a charge this far out to move you dates.

If your TA gives you grief about, find another one because that would definetly not be a cruise friendly TA...

Jim

ok. I appreciate your alls honestly and I'd rather us find out now then later.

Yes the prices were a lot cheaper right before or after turkey week too. We hadn't booked air yet- we were going on our own with that so....that part shouldn't be a problem. I'll have to let our other couple know and see what they say.

Geesh. That wasn't very nice of that TA then. I'm tired of people making up answers just cause they don't know. Or maybe he really didn't know any better? pshaw.

Thanks a ton!!!!

My wife and I have had pretty good luck during the first part of October as well as Feb. We went thru the infertility stuff as well. Tried invetro several times, what a waist of money.

It will get better in time, 38 now and starting to like being Kid free.

Have fun on your cruise.

You should consider on of Royal Caribbeans Voyager class ships. The new Freedom of the Seas or The Navigator of the Seas. They are huge ships and you will never feel over run by anyone. We went last October and there were very few teens or children. These ships are lots of fun and are big enough even if there are kids on there. Visit www.freedomoftheseas.com to see this ship.

quote:

Originally posted by Cruise Virgin:

Geesh. That wasn't very nice of that TA then. I'm tired of people making up answers just cause they don't know. Or maybe he really didn't know any better? pshaw.

Thanks a ton!!!!

Virgin, it's possible that your travel agent was on a Thanksgiving cruise once and didn't see a lot of kids, but it could have been on a cruise line that attracts an older crowd to begin with.

I think you'd like Royal Caribbean better than Carnival, and agree with the suggestion of the Voyager class ship, on a non-holiday cruise. Although no one can predict the number of children on any cruise, going during a school week is a better bet than a holiday week!

Sandy

Thanks so much for the input guys.
We talked about it and I think we're just going to stick with this- we're doing the later dinner so that'll help some...and hopefully just because of the size of the ship it won't be a big problem. I don't think it could be as bad as christmas week or spring break.

Also us girls are tight on vacation days and kind of have to take it during a holiday week.

I think it'll be okay....if not we have our nice balconies to retreat too and talk to eachother over the railing.

Vafatboy- sorry to hear you guys have dealt with this crap too. It totally sucks. We won't be doing IVF but have been told that's our only hope and otherwise our chances are 2% so we're going to start the adoption process in the next year probably. Glad it's getting easier for you all. (((hugs))) If the wife ever wants someone to talk to about it- I'm always up for it.

I'd suggest a Holland America cruise, if you don't want to trip over kids all day. Went on Volendam last January, and it was overrun by old people, didn't see more than 6 children the whole time on a boat with about 1,400 passengers. You might not like this extreem either, but we thought it was great. We don't mind kids at all, but I swear there were only about 3 younger families and a few grand parents with thier grand children and that's it. I think whichever cruise I've been on (with the exclusion of the Volendam) has had a good number of children during any time of year. I suppose summer and certain times of spring are busier. Someone told me that Holland America was always an older set of travelers, is that true?, or was that just a freak incident?
Also: Cruise Virgin, We too had fertility issues, then we adopted. We were looking into adoption then my sister passed away suddenly at a young age, so we adopted my nephew. It's been great. We got him at 5 years old, now 13. We're a real family and it's just wonderful. Hope you have the greatest time on your cruise!!! We just love cruising. Beware though, it's addicting, really. Not even kidding here, quite serious, it's very addicting, right folks?

quote:

Originally posted by Cruise Virgin:
we're going to start the adoption process in the next year probably. Glad it's getting easier for you all. (((hugs))) If the wife ever wants someone to talk to about it- I'm always up for it.

Cruise Virgin,

If you choose to you can avoid the children it is not that difficult. As far as adoptions goes, my wife and I adopted a our daughter when she was 4 and she is going to be 18 this year. It was a great moment when we did it and we have no regrets today.

Just so you know, we found the Tahitian Princess geared more to adults. The entertainment and public areas were for the grownups. We did see some children, though, when we went.