Patty

I know on Princess the limit is about 200 max on holiday sailings. Does anyone know which other lines, if any, limits the number of children on board? I'm planning a holiday cruise and don't want a ship overrun with kids. Last year we had a great time on the Sea Princess but would like to go with another line this year. Thinking of doing a western Caribbean route. Thanks.

Paul Therault

Hi Patty,<BR><BR>Royal Caribbean and Carnival will also limit for some sailings. Also all cruise lines that sail to Bermuda will limit 3rd and 4th passengers in a cabin whether adults or children. You must book well in advance.<BR><BR>Paul

Peter

Patty - Princess limits the number of children on all sailings, not just holidays. Also, the limit is by age group, not just children in general.

Peter

Another thought - Celebrity has sailings they call "escapes" which are adults only cruises. You might look that up on the Celebrity website.

Patty

Thanks guys. I will check with RCI to see if they have anything in place for Xmas sailings. Not too keen on trying Carnival. Peter, the Celebrity escapes sound great but they don't offer any sailings over Xmas (probably not in their best interest to ban children at that time of year). We may still decide to go with Celebrity though and just take our chances. <BR><BR>Can anyone who's sailed on Celebrity over Xmas comment? Lots of kids or no?

Patty

Just got off the phone with the reservations departments of almost all of the major lines (with the exception of Carnival) and apparently this limitation is pretty unique to Princess. Some of the reservation agents reacted to my question as if I had just asked them 'does the ship sail to Mars?'

Sandy

You could try going with a cruise line that caters more to adults. While they don't say no to children, they don't encourage them either -- such as Crystal, Radisson Seven Seas, Silversea, Seabourn, Sea Goddess.

Patty

If only I could afford those lines over Christmas for 6 people. I would pick Radisson or SeaDream in a heartbeat!

Sandy

Patty,<BR>Radisson is offering 2-for-one on their Holiday Sailings. Can you afford it for three people?

Patty

I did get the Radisson holiday brochure but I didn't look over it thoroughly. I'll check it out again, thanks.

Patty

OK I looked over the Radisson brochure again and the least expensive sailing they have over Xmas is almost $6000 per cabin after the discount is applied (unless I am reading it wrong?) which is more than twice my budget

Sandy

The week before Christmas, both the Navigator and the Mariner are showing lead-in rates of less than $3,000. That's with 50% off the second passenger.

worfsmom

DON'T GO CARNIVAL !!!!!!<BR>We did this spring, there were 750 kids onboard. 500 of them were teens (13-16). It was the "cruise from hell", and we are attempting more compensation than they offered(15%). Unless Carnival gives us 50% off our next cruise.....we will never sail with them again.......

Paul Therault

Hmmm, interesting. If Carnival gives you 50% off each cruise, you will continue to sail with them.

Starfish

Patty,<BR><BR>Can you go the week before Christmas?<BR>Lots of good sales, much cheaper than Christmas. <BR>Sorry, but Christmas and New Years will have loads of kids on all the lines. <BR>I would love to sail over a holiday but when I weight lots of kids verses just a couple, I will take just a couple any day.

Lenore

Hi Patty - We did the Princess Grand over Christmas last year (rates were unbelieveably cheap due to 9/11 travel fears). There were plenty of kids and teens, but it was never an issue for us. We did the personal choice dining and dined alone each night except the first. The only time I saw a lot of kids in one place was during sea days by the pool. <BR><BR>I wonder how successful those Celebrity adults only cruises have been so far. Does anybody know for sure? We'd love to try one, but they seem be scheduled at times that aren't good for us.

Patty

Sandy & Starfish,<BR>If it was just the two of us, we could probably cruise any time of the year. But I have to work with the schedules of six people and Xmas is one of the few periods that all of us can travel.<BR><BR>Lenore,<BR>We experienced the same on Sea Princess last year. They really seem to do a good job of keeping the kids occupied. <BR>We're considering the Grand this year but really wanted to try something else. I was hoping the atmosphere on Celebrity over Xmas might be similar.

Lenore

Patty - We've sailed twice on Celebrity and neither time had nearly as many kids as our Christmas cruise on Princess last year. Of course, when the kiddies are out of school, you have to expect that! We cruised the first week of March one year and the third week of April another. Both times Easter was at least a couple of weeks before/after our cruise. I'm guessing that for a Christmas cruise probably HAL would have the least amount of kids, followed by Celebrity. That's just what I gather from reading here and other informative sites.

Patty

We thought of HAL too, but wondered if it would suit us. My group is between the ages of 24-55 which is much younger than the HAL average (or so I gather). I'm probably looking for the perfect combination that doesn't exist.

Paul Therault

Take a look at the new HAL Zuiderdam Patty. They are building it to attract young active passengers.<BR><BR>Paul