We're two active seniors who have cruised several times with Holland America Lines. We like HAL very much, but are thinking of taking the 12 Night Egypt & Eastern Med Cruise on RCC departing Barcelona on December 29. We hear RCC cruisers are younger with more families than on HAL. Can anyone please offer an opinion on whether we might feel out of place on RCC after cruising with HAL?
Royal Caribbean has a different character to it's cruises when compared to Holland America. RCI is not as formal as HAL.
When considering the demographics of the passengers, it is often more important to look at the date, location, and length of the cruise, and not the specific cruise line.
A 12 night cruise in the Med, near the end of the typical holiday school break for U.S. schools, means there will be fewer younger families and kids aboard. Families with kids are more prominent on 7 night or shorter cruises.
Now, there is no telling how many European families might be aboard. I'd think it still would be fewer than you'd see on a shorter cruise.
You will see younger people with families, and probably more than you'd see on a HAL cruise. They just won't be as prominent as they'd be on a shorter cruise.
I've been on lots of Royal Caribbean cruises and always see many seniors aboard. You won't feel out of place. The Brilliance Of The Seas is a nice ship. I think you'll enjoy it.
Hi engineer, welcome to Cruise-Chat! As Dave stated, the longer the cruise, normally, the older the clientelle. I'm 57 and I very much enjoy RCI.
You might want to check out Princess, as well. They might be closer to HAL as far as character. However, I don't think you'll be disappointed it RCI at all
Best wishes and please let us know what you decide
Engineer,
I sailed on the Brilliance of the Seas on this itinerary just last December. This class of ship is very elegant and different than RCI's other ships. I believe you will feel very comfortable and fit right in on this cruise and itinerary. I think you'll find it very enjoyable.
Engineer, I think you'll find RCI has a livelier atmosphere than HAL, with more activity offerings during both day and evenings. I'm sure with that particular itinerary, you'll find many more seniors onboard than you may have expected.
Celebrity is worth a look, too, if they have a similar itinerary. But I think you'll have a great time on Royal Caribbean.
Thank you to everyone for your opinions. Given all your positive feedback, it's now very likely we will take that cruise on RCC. Assuming we go, I'll post our thoughts when we return.
I'm a senior and I'm doing just the opposite..
We sailed on the Oasis and consider it the best cruise our of 23....but now I'm doing the Panama Canal with Holland America...Just hope not everyone on board will be sleeping all the time:-)...Happy Sailing and go on RCC:-)
Dear Engineer.,
We cruise Eastern Med last year in May on Princess and there were only 20 kids (my 12 year old included) on the ship and that was during May when the weather was warm. On December 29 just prior to kids going back to school for, I doubt you will have very many cruisers with young families. We doing your itinerary Egypt and Eastern Med in Oct on Princess and again we expect very few kids. 12 day cruises do not appeal to the majority of families with kids unless they occur over the summer holidays in my opinion. My mom is mid seventies and loves RCCL because of the variety of activities, great shows, ice show included. They put out a great product at good value.
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