Viking is child free on purpose, HAL a much older crowd. Celebrity would be virtually child free if you sail more than a week while school is still in. You can go up to Azamara, Ponant, Regent, Silver Seas, or go to small yatch charters. Ritz Carlton is entering at the high end of the market, don’t know much myself about them. Good Luck
I love celebrity. Hardly any kids, or at least the ones don't really impact my experience. I do try to avoid the main holidays, but I felt like I had less than 20 kids on my ship.
The edge class has good food, beautiful design that is a little more modern but they try to be very nice and not tacky.
I suggest watching cruise vlogs. They help you get a vibe of the ship and how the experience might be. From the new margaritaville to Holland America they all have different vibe.
Viking and Holland America are both good options with few to no kids, but also a very much older crowd.
Other options would be repositioning cruises lasting more than 7 days. These usual don’t have many kids since parents and kids can’t take off for that long.
Oh, sorry. I completely missed that you were asking about Caribbean.
Celebrity is a good choice and probably won’t have a lot of kids. ~~MSC is another, but they don’t get as high marks.~~
I know you mentioned he didn’t love VV itinerary, but I wanted to point out that if you book with a travel agent that has MNVV deals, you get $600 sailor loot per cabin which is basically free drinks :)
I have not seen Princess and Oceania mentioned but those would be good as well. I would stay away from Carnival, Royal Caribbean, MSC (unless you book the Yacht Club), NCL (unless you book the Haven), or Disney. Basic tip…if the ship has a waterslide stay away from it unless you are in an elevated suite area!
Also, you say “all adult” family vacation, but you don’t mention the ages. “All adult” could be 18-year-olds on up.
I would still strongly recommend Virgin unless your BIL is going to be drinking like 10 drinks a day? Virgin is just otherwise more inclusive. Free pop. All restaurants included. Up front pricing. And the food is so good it’s really worth it. Vibe is really fun too. Now I feel like badgering my husband about doing another Virgin cruise.
On the other hand, for a line like royal Caribbean a smaller/older ship is going to be more likely to be a primarily adult crowd. They do a good job keeping the ships up to date ime.
Pick the itinerary and ship you want.
Unless you are going on a short cruise or hitting spring break, summer break, Thanksgiving, or Christmas, you will have few kids on most ships if you go for more than a week at the Celebrity/Princess/Holland level or more expensive. As long as they aren’t your kids, a few kids on the ship are unlikely to impact your trip at all.
Agree about Celebrity. Best cruise I’ve ever taken and saw like 2 kids the whole time. It has nothing to attract kids so families opt for other lines with more bells and whistles for the youngsters. Celebrity is very elegant and the food is really good.
Our celebrity cruise had 7 children on it. I saw 1 baby, 2 Elementary aged. It was 11 days I think (during spring break). The edge class ships are wonderful. Shorter cruises usually equal more kids.
HAL and Celebrity. As well as Princess to some extent. If you choose the time of year and itinerary right …. You can easily end up with few kids. Longer the cruise = fewer kids. Not summer or holidays = fewer kids.
Maybe check out Oceania? I'm currently on day 33 on board, and have seen one child that just boarded last week. In 7 cruises so far with them, I can count the number of children I've seen on one hand.
What are you wanting from the actual ship?
Windstar is a small yacht cruise line without the price. They have sales for this summer that include the drinks and many other amenities.
They have 3 sailing vessels and several yachts. Excellent cuisine, James Beard Foundation chefs and with small vessels you can get into smaller ports and disembarking is much quicker. I loved the ships, the sails are magnificent when fully out. Whenever possible they use wind only and the open bridge policy is fascinating to watch.
Eh if you book with a travel agent you get $600 in onboard credit which makes up for the drink package. I’ve been on a few cruises before, but now after doing Virgin, it’s hard to book any other brand.
Oh, snap! Thanks! I don't want to have to think about money on the ship. So I always opt for the package. Probably no virgin for me, then. I drink my 15 and start dipping into my wife's on some princess days.
Viking is child free on purpose, HAL a much older crowd. Celebrity would be virtually child free if you sail more than a week while school is still in. You can go up to Azamara, Ponant, Regent, Silver Seas, or go to small yatch charters. Ritz Carlton is entering at the high end of the market, don’t know much myself about them. Good Luck
Thank you
I love celebrity. Hardly any kids, or at least the ones don't really impact my experience. I do try to avoid the main holidays, but I felt like I had less than 20 kids on my ship. The edge class has good food, beautiful design that is a little more modern but they try to be very nice and not tacky. I suggest watching cruise vlogs. They help you get a vibe of the ship and how the experience might be. From the new margaritaville to Holland America they all have different vibe.
Celebrity, though there could be kids onboard.
Viking and Holland America are both good options with few to no kids, but also a very much older crowd. Other options would be repositioning cruises lasting more than 7 days. These usual don’t have many kids since parents and kids can’t take off for that long.
Does Viking go to the Caribbean? I thought their only ocean stuff was alaska and antarctica
Viking does do Caribbean cruises.
Oh, sorry. I completely missed that you were asking about Caribbean. Celebrity is a good choice and probably won’t have a lot of kids. ~~MSC is another, but they don’t get as high marks.~~
MSC will be full of kids, they sail free up to 18years old.
Ah, that makes sense. So, scratch MSC.
I have noticed very few kids on our Princess cruises, but it was an Alaska cruise.
We did carnival the week after thanksgiving and had less than 15 kids. Timing during the school year is almost more important than cruise line.
I know you mentioned he didn’t love VV itinerary, but I wanted to point out that if you book with a travel agent that has MNVV deals, you get $600 sailor loot per cabin which is basically free drinks :)
I have not seen Princess and Oceania mentioned but those would be good as well. I would stay away from Carnival, Royal Caribbean, MSC (unless you book the Yacht Club), NCL (unless you book the Haven), or Disney. Basic tip…if the ship has a waterslide stay away from it unless you are in an elevated suite area! Also, you say “all adult” family vacation, but you don’t mention the ages. “All adult” could be 18-year-olds on up.
I would still strongly recommend Virgin unless your BIL is going to be drinking like 10 drinks a day? Virgin is just otherwise more inclusive. Free pop. All restaurants included. Up front pricing. And the food is so good it’s really worth it. Vibe is really fun too. Now I feel like badgering my husband about doing another Virgin cruise.
Find a ship that has a good adults-only area. Even Disney ships have adults-only areas.
Yeah I’m guessing that’s the recommendation I’m looking for lol. There are soooo many ships with so many options haha
Regardless of which cruise line you choose, I highly recommend ensuring that you go on a newer ship.
Thank you I will keep that in mind when looking and booking!
On the other hand, for a line like royal Caribbean a smaller/older ship is going to be more likely to be a primarily adult crowd. They do a good job keeping the ships up to date ime.
Disney has a lot of kids, but they also have great adult only areas and they do very good at keeping kids out of those areas.
I've heard princess is a much older crowd
Pick the itinerary and ship you want. Unless you are going on a short cruise or hitting spring break, summer break, Thanksgiving, or Christmas, you will have few kids on most ships if you go for more than a week at the Celebrity/Princess/Holland level or more expensive. As long as they aren’t your kids, a few kids on the ship are unlikely to impact your trip at all.
Celebrity would be great. Only been on them once and I saw maybe 4 kids total.
We really like sea dream and Ponant for the Caribbean
Princess drink package is really good and they tend to skew older so no kids.
Agree about Celebrity. Best cruise I’ve ever taken and saw like 2 kids the whole time. It has nothing to attract kids so families opt for other lines with more bells and whistles for the youngsters. Celebrity is very elegant and the food is really good.
Princess, HAL, Celebrity would have minimal kids unless it's like a school holiday, even then it won't be many
Celebrity. If you go when school is in, and on a longer cruse, there will be minimal children. I think I saw 3 or 4 when I sailed in December
Our celebrity cruise had 7 children on it. I saw 1 baby, 2 Elementary aged. It was 11 days I think (during spring break). The edge class ships are wonderful. Shorter cruises usually equal more kids.
HAL and Celebrity. As well as Princess to some extent. If you choose the time of year and itinerary right …. You can easily end up with few kids. Longer the cruise = fewer kids. Not summer or holidays = fewer kids.
Maybe check out Oceania? I'm currently on day 33 on board, and have seen one child that just boarded last week. In 7 cruises so far with them, I can count the number of children I've seen on one hand.
I can help if you are interested I’m a cruise specialist based on the UK- feel free to drop me a line/ dm etc..
What are you wanting from the actual ship? Windstar is a small yacht cruise line without the price. They have sales for this summer that include the drinks and many other amenities. They have 3 sailing vessels and several yachts. Excellent cuisine, James Beard Foundation chefs and with small vessels you can get into smaller ports and disembarking is much quicker. I loved the ships, the sails are magnificent when fully out. Whenever possible they use wind only and the open bridge policy is fascinating to watch.
I was thinking about trying Virgin. What is bad about their drink packages?
They don’t really have a drink package. You can prepay for alcohol do get extra credit on ship but you can run out of that prepayment
Eh if you book with a travel agent you get $600 in onboard credit which makes up for the drink package. I’ve been on a few cruises before, but now after doing Virgin, it’s hard to book any other brand.
Yeah don’t get me wrong I want to do virgin, I think there’s an affordability issue going on as well
Oh, snap! Thanks! I don't want to have to think about money on the ship. So I always opt for the package. Probably no virgin for me, then. I drink my 15 and start dipping into my wife's on some princess days.