kid population?

[asquared17]

8 hours ago, PRMLVM said:

can you compare the live music on both?

we thought the live music was quite good!

the shows are obviously on a much smaller scale than the royal broadway-esque productions we are all used to seeing while onboard the big ships especially; but they still are very good!!

we would often go to eden every night before dinner and there was always a live singer of some kind there. you could grab a drink and listen, or talk amongst yourselves as the space is gorgeous and spread out well. 

eden had an acoustic guitar player much like jed in central park. (jed? ned? unsure ) and they would rotate the singers and the genres throughout. 

8 hours ago, PRMLVM said:

It would help me defect if I knew there are as many options/frequency/quality of shows "over there".

one night there was a cher impersonator with the live band and she was phenomenal — i don’t even like cher, and i thought she was great!!

the shows don’t have the traditional reserved seating that royal shows do — meaning you’re not “pre booking” in the app — and they do fill up quickly, so they recommend arriving 45 mins before start time. 

if you are in a suite or zenith, i think they have some reserved serving. but it gets released to gen pop if not full, about 15 mins before the show starts if i am remembering correctly. 

8 hours ago, PRMLVM said:

My husband and son would like to know how the casino and its reward program compares.

i don’t gamble, so i can’t compare the two programs BUT i know @Ampurp85 has been doing some research lately, so she may know more. (i am trying to get her to come over!! )

 

i think it is worth a shot for you to try, if you can get a relatively reasonable sailing and set the expectation that the shows are quite good for their caliber, but not the same as the royal productions. 

the food quality and great variety of music at the pool deck, around the martini bar, and in eden sold us. we were willing to lose our precious vouchers in exchange for a much more peaceful time. 

there are a lot of folks who will try to strike up a combo and talk as well, so i would not consider it a boring cruise by any stretch of the imagination. 

we just happen to go to bed before a lot of the shows would start at 10:45 so unfortunately, i can’t give you more of a review other than this

[Ampurp85]

I am planning to defect to Celebrity as Royal's food has started to become mostly a miss. As is the case I have been researching Blue Chip, Celebrity's casino program. Imho the offers look to be a bit better than what Royal offers as far as you see 8+nights on their 1200pt list. The casino is also nonsmoking, and the point system seems to be the same as Royal however they offer more tiers. I have also heard they offer drinks and comps without you making their prime level tier. 

[CruiseRoyalDad]

For us, RCCL cruisers since 2014, I do feel RCCL has always been a family focused line. Mixing a quality cruise with a family vacation.

We have four kids and have been cruising since our eldest (now 12 year old) was 17 months. At least two of them cruised in utero. I might be wrong but I'd like to think we've raised them to be respectful cruisers. I do agree that the bars themselves should be mostly kid free with parents ordering and moving their families to the lounge areas away from the countertops. I'd go so far as to say as making lounges NO kids zones at around 9:30pm-10pm. It gets a little dicey here because I've seen many a sleeping child in the arms of vacationing parents passing time with friends and family in night time bar setting. This extends to a tweens doing the same, just spending time conversing with family. Nobody being bothered or acting up in those cases. There would need to be somewhat subjective enforcement of a rule like this. Kind of like pool chairs being reserved. Unattended children would be the first to go. 

The real problem are the children that run wild. It's not that their parents don't know how their kids act unsupervised, it's that they don't care. Have you ever wondered why so many arcade games are broken even on the newest ships? Spend 20-30 minutes in the arcade in the evening and see how some of the older unattended kids treat those games and act in that venue. Thankfully, the games are very well secured into the ship because if not we would have heard more stories about machines falling on kids than norovirus hitting ships.  

 

[CruiseRoyalDad]

Almost forgot, as we've never cruised without kids, and honestly don't look forward to the days where that will be the case, I do feel that it would be very simple to isolate ourselves from the annoyance of even the rambunctious unattended children if we wanted to. We know the Oasis class ships well and there are plenty of places that just don't interest the kids of all ages. So many that are unfamiliar with cruising, cite crowds as a reason not to cruise. When the kids are at AO or otherwise occupied with grandparents or family, my wife and I find it odd that on a ship with so many people we often feel completely alone! 

[AshleyDillo]

On 4/6/2025 at 1:07 PM, PRMLVM said:

My husband and son would like to know how the casino and its reward program compares.

The casino program is similar to Royal. As @Ampurp85 mentioned there are more distinct tiers, but you earn instant certificates on sailings just the same and I was surprised at the offers available even at the lower point levels. It's the same 1 point per $5 in the slots to earn the points.  I love that the casino is non-smoking and you also get free drinks while playing at any casino tier, though you can't walk up to the casino bar to order them and have to rely on roaming servers.

[Crazy Cruise Lady]

Royal Caribbean’s “kids sail free” program has made cruising less desirable. Too many kids and many are not well behaved. If I wanted to sail WITH KIDS, I would cruise with Disney. Time to switch to Celebrity or other cruise lines. Royal may as well paint Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse on their ships. 
 

[Matt]

1 hour ago, Crazy Cruise Lady said:

Royal Caribbean’s “kids sail free” program has made cruising less desirable. Too many kids and many are not well behaved. If I wanted to sail WITH KIDS, I would cruise with Disney. Time to switch to Celebrity or other cruise lines. Royal may as well paint Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse on their ships. 
 

A lot of kids on cruise ships isn't new. Royal has always been a family cruise line.  There have been LOTS and LOTS Of kids going back decades, well before KSF deal was a thing.

[smokeybandit]

1 hour ago, Crazy Cruise Lady said:

Royal Caribbean’s “kids sail free” program has made cruising less desirable. Too many kids and many are not well behaved. If I wanted to sail WITH KIDS, I would cruise with Disney. Time to switch to Celebrity or other cruise lines. Royal may as well paint Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse on their ships. 
 

Sounds like for someone who doesn't want to cruise with young families, sailing a cruise line targeting young families may not be your cup of tea.

[King of Wales]

Our kids are now in their 20’s, but we prefer not to be on cruises where in our late 50’s were the youngest people on the ship . We find that sailing while school is in session helps keep the balance right for us. It’s usually less expensive too!

[Doug_Texas]

I used to feel like we could select longer cruises on older ships during the school year and end up with a more adult passenger mix.  That strategy no longer works.  We just got off a 10-day on Explorer out of Miami that sailed April 10th and there were 1,000 under 18 onboard.  We thought that a longer sailing right after return to school from spring break would provide a more adult passenger mix but it did not.  The school year seems to have no effect on pulling kids out of school to sail and now Royal is cutting out sailings over 7 nights which will make the mix even higher with children.  While Royal has always been family friendly it is hard to argue that this has become the sole demographic they seek which is certainly a valid marketing strategy.

We are taking our first Oceania cruise this year and Celebrity next year.  I hate to depart Diamond Plus and Prime but need to explore other options.

[Ryan79]

26 minutes ago, Doug_Texas said:

We are taking our first Oceania cruise this year and Celebrity next year.  I hate to depart Diamond Plus and Prime but need to explore other options.

Look at the plus side, at least with Celebrity, you at least get to take your D+ with you with the loyalty match. I know it’s not the exact same, but also not a total loss.

[PRMLVM]

3 hours ago, Doug_Texas said:

I used to feel like we could select longer cruises on older ships during the school year and end up with a more adult passenger mix.  That strategy no longer works.  We just got off a 10-day on Explorer out of Miami that sailed April 10th and there were 1,000 under 18 onboard.  We thought that a longer sailing right after return to school from spring break would provide a more adult passenger mix but it did not.  The school year seems to have no effect on pulling kids out of school to sail and now Royal is cutting out sailings over 7 nights which will make the mix even higher with children.  While Royal has always been family friendly it is hard to argue that this has become the sole demographic they seek which is certainly a valid marketing strategy.

We are taking our first Oceania cruise this year and Celebrity next year.  I hate to depart Diamond Plus and Prime but need to explore other options.

This^^^ is what I was thinking.  I know Royal has always been welcoming and safe for families but it just feels like now there is a PUSH - which, as you say, is certainly their right and responsibility to go where the market is. 

But families have older people too!  And like @King of Wales said, I'm not ready in my 50s to be the youngest on board.  As part of this family, can we have SOME 21+spaces or hours?  Yes, the solarium but I mean for music and drinks before/after dinner.   Maybe it's hard to carve that out on the wonderful beloved smaller ships but now they're only making MONSTER ships, it seems like they can accommodate us. 

[Ampurp85]

1 hour ago, PRMLVM said:

This^^^ is what I was thinking.  I know Royal has always been welcoming and safe for families but it just feels like now there is a PUSH - which, as you say, is certainly their right and responsibility to go where the market is. 

But families have older people too!  And like @King of Wales said, I'm not ready in my 50s to be the youngest on board.  As part of this family, can we have SOME 21+spaces or hours?  Yes, the solarium but I mean for music and drinks before/after dinner.   Maybe it's hard to carve that out on the wonderful beloved smaller ships but now they're only making MONSTER ships, it seems like they can accommodate us. 

I think the true problem is entitlement. I hate that people feel like they can skirt the 18/21+ rule. I can't ever recall a time when I went to an adult activity where someone didn't bring a child and then get mad.

[karl_nj]

On 4/23/2025 at 7:58 AM, Crazy Cruise Lady said:

Royal Caribbean’s “kids sail free” program has made cruising less desirable. Too many kids and many are not well behaved. If I wanted to sail WITH KIDS, I would cruise with Disney. Time to switch to Celebrity or other cruise lines. Royal may as well paint Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse on their ships. 
 

Celebrity actually has better 'kids sail free' deals, since kids are <18 instead of <12. But you are right, there are way fewer kids on Celebrity.

[BigKarl]

If your looking for fewer Kids on a Cruise Ship try a "Virgin" Cruise.

[asquared17]

23 hours ago, King of Wales said:

kids are now in their 20’s, but we prefer not to be on cruises where in our late 50’s were the youngest people on the ship .

as someone who took a celebrity sailing and was “among the youngest on board” — i can tell you it was the most relaxing week we’ve ever had and it’s true, we are pre-vintage and kind of low key when it comes to what we like to do while cruising, but i am looking forward to going back. 

it is good that royal has the three brands for their customers to select from. silver sea is out of our budget, but celebrity has been a welcome and lovely surprise. 

[PRMLVM]

22 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

I think the true problem is entitlement. I hate that people feel like they can skirt the 18/21+ rule. I can't ever recall a time when I went to an adult activity where someone didn't bring a child and then get mad.

Well, it didn't even take a full day to prove your point!   From the other thread about Icon:  @rjac had this experience: "As far as the "adult-only pool/hot tub area, it was a joke. A sign (as in 1) that said "18 years and older only" which was not enforced. Located on the aft end of the ship with practically no shade at all a small crowded bar and loud blaring music. The pool (small) and hot tub were filled with teenagers who looked well under 18 years old. "

 

[Bowen]

On 4/3/2025 at 2:08 PM, WAYNO said:

Royal has always been family friendly.  We'd see lots of kids during the obvious kid-vacation times such as summer or spring break.  I believe with all the home schooling with covid, folks realize school attendance is not all that important, and now we see lots of kids onboard throughout the year,

This is what I was going to say. We’ve always homeschooled, so we’ve kept up with local groups for gatherings. The amount of homeschoolers has boomed since COVID. A group of fifty in my town is now over 500. I believe I see the same thing reflected on cruise ships. But also Royal has done a lot to make the new ships very family friendly.

[Bowen]

On 4/3/2025 at 2:49 PM, Ryan79 said:

Yes it is. It’s certainly a step up in class for sure, but not stuffy and not to the point where it feels like a retirement home. I would say it more caters to those at the tail end of their careers and are more recent empty nesters who get to finally have an “adult” vacation without having to plan around kids/teens/college age kids. The entertainment options aren’t as loud and flashy. The dining room has less people in shorts. You see less obnoxious “Carnival-type” people who invade RC ships every once in a while. Overall, it’s more of a relaxed environment 

The worst sentence to hear from people when you get on a Royal ship: “We normally sail Carnival, but decided to try Royal this time.”