I need help picking out the right cruise to choose?

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TINKERTOY ..... the 1 & only

I have been on about 20 cruises with 4 different cruise lines and I offer this advice based on my experiences:

- Cruises are all pretty much "all inclusive". When you purchase a cruise it includes your cabin, all meals on ship including breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and 24/7 free room service. It also includes all entertainment on ship and free use of all facilities on ship except the spa. You can use the pools hot tubs, gymnasium, sports equipment and all other facilities and equipment free of charge. All ships charge for spa service like massages, hair and nail appointments, and yoga lessons. Some ships also charge a fee for certain services like the pool table, the bowling alley, or for special restaurants not included in your normal cruise price (there may be a $10 to $20 per person gratuity/service fee). Coffee, tea, milk, juices, punch, iced teas are included but you must pay for soft drinks and alcoholic beverages and a 15% gratuity will be added to each check each time you order a drink.

Then you will have to pay for anything you buy on ship like photos or souvenirs and any tours you book from the ship. And lastly you will pay a $10 per day per per gratuity at the end of the cruise. The only mandatory of all of these charges is the gratuity. So after you pay for your cruise the only other charge will be the gratuities.

- You are not likely to find ANY cruise line that does not allow kids. BUT, there are some way to reduce the number of kids likely to be on the cruise that you take. First, the cruise line that tends to have the oldest passengers, mainly senior citizens, is Holland America. Their ships will likely have a few kids but not many. Its been my experience that Princess and Celebrity also have fewer kids at certain times of the year. So consider first there three cruise lines.

Then cruises in the Caribbean at times outside the summer vacation and those that are for more than 7 days tend to have fewer kids. So if you have a 9 to 12 day cruise there will likely be fewer kids, especially if its during school periods. Also, cruises to Alaska, the Mediterranean, the Baltic and the Panama Canal will have fewer kids. But you seem only interested in the Caribbean so see my recommendations below.

- Three cruise lines offer the type informal dining option that you want. Norwegian advertises as though they are the only one, calling their's "freestyle". But Princess also offers the option for you to go to dinner whenever you want and they call it "personal choice" cruising. You can pick a set dinner time or just go when you want. Holland America also offers the exact same options and they call their's "As You Wish" dining.

Here are some recommendations for a Holland America cruise:
http://www.hollandamerica.com/find-cruise-vacation/CruiseDetails.action?noOfFlexibleMonths=1&flexibleMonths=false&pageNumber=1&voyageCode=D848&destCode=C

http://www.hollandamerica.com/find-cruise-vacation/CruiseDetails.action?noOfFlexibleMonths=1&flexibleMonths=false&pageNumber=1&voyageCode=N859&destCode=C

http://www.hollandamerica.com/find-cruise-vacation/CruiseDetails.action?noOfFlexibleMonths=1&flexibleMonths=false&pageNumber=1&voyageCode=U851&destCode=C

Here's a couple on Princess:

http://www.princess.com/pb/itineraryDetails.do?voyageCode=3812&tourCode=&date=&noOfPax=2&resType=C&definition_name=

http://www.princess.com/pb/itineraryDetails.do?voyageCode=B841&tourCode=&date=&noOfPax=2&resType=C&definition_name=

http://www.princess.com/pb/itineraryDetails.do?voyageCode=E827&tourCode=&date=&noOfPax=2&resType=C&definition_name=

Celebrity cruise line:

http://www.celebritycruises.com/search/vacationItinerary.do;jsessionid=0000e0LZ2t-7Jw7CqbeiyXGHwEA:12h3rnd1c?packageCode=CS11L006&backPageName=Itinerary+Search+Results

My advice is to go on one of the Holland America cruises. You'll have fewer if any kids and you can dine like you want to.

Johan from Sweden

There is no such thing as the best cruise ships there is only the best cruise ships for YOU. You need to make a wish list and then start to go the web pages of the cruise liners to find out weather or not its for you. If you dont want children youre option are severely reduced since many of the big cruiseliners are tailored to family cruising. That doesnt mean you cant find child free areas or child free ships in the major cruise lines but your options are way down. But that maybe a good thing for you.
Things that you want to decide before making a choise:
What amount of money can you afford?
Are you going alone?
What age range is best for you?
What kind of activitetes (If any) do you want?
What kind of lifestyle do you want?
Where do you want to cruise?
When?
From/ to where and are you dreaming of a specific port of call?
Thats a few questions to help you out.

If you want to avoid children dont choice Disney Cruise line. A more child friendly cruise line is hard to find. Good Luck and dont rush it. Johan

woodsacre

Good luck finding one that doesn't allow kids. Travel on off seasons while most kids are in school. The programs for kids on board usually keep most of them busy.

We went on the Norwegian Wind on a 10 day to Hawaii. It had a fantastic itinerary and even went to a far away, rarely visited island called Kiribati (Christmas Islands). The activities on board were great. The open seating dinner has pros and cons. I liked it because we hit it off with another couple on a tour and ended up sharing several meals with them after that. So, it gave us that option. Plus, we could stay ashore longer without missing our dinner time. However, sometimes you have to wait in line for up to half and hour for a table at popular times.

A great website to use for travel is Vacationstogo.com. I use it all the time. Bon Voyage!

brentrobe

Princess cruises is great. You can have structured time dining or your choice of times. Room service is free as well.

cruisecrazy

I loved Royal Caribbean. I'm sure though that there are NO cruise lines that are Kid free. We just went on the Empress of the Seas(retired to pullmantur cruises now) and it was the smallest ship for Royal Caribbean. It was an 11 day cruise and we were travelling with an 11 year old and A 15 year old. There was A TOTAL of 8 kids on board(3-17)! It was great for the othere people on board as the kids were never seen because they were always in the Adventure OCean facilities. My best advice would be to go on a cruise longer than 7 days and to go during the school year. This will limit A LOT of kids. But RCI does a GREAT job of keeping the kids interested in Advenutre Ocean and the kids are hardly seen! You can't go wrong on a Royal Caribbean cruise!! Try the new Freedom Family ships!

summer 12343

royal caribean your lucky im broke.

mr.strangeone

Carnival Valor and Royal Caribbean Voyager

AskFred

Check out some exciting and low priced cruise packages that are available here.

Genna R

I think the top contributor has pretty much answered this one for you...!

Just wanted to add that there are child free, adult only cruise ships.

P&O Arcadia and Artemis

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