What are the very best adults-only cruises — those that not solely ban youngsters however cater to grown-up tastes and pursuits?
It’s possible you’ll be asking since you simply frolicked on a megaship the place the children took over the swimming pools and sizzling tubs (to not point out the elevators), a lot to your chagrin. Or, you is perhaps searching for a trip with extra lectures and fewer limbo, or maybe a cruise that skews extra R-rated than G.
The checklist of cruises for adults solely is, alas, very quick. Solely a handful of cruise strains ban kids from their ships and promise cruises for grown-ups — maybe essentially the most notable being cruise newcomer Virgin Voyages and fast-growing Viking.
The development lately in cruising is, the truth is, extra family-focused, with extra youngsters showing on ships of all sorts. Certainly, a number of the largest, best-known cruise manufacturers have gone full-bore after the household market, to the extent that the sun-soaked high decks of their ships generally can really feel extra like a scene out of “Daddy Day Care” than a blissful trip retreat.
For extra cruise guides, suggestions and information, join TPG’s cruise publication.
Do not despair, although. Whilst many strains double down on the household market, a small group of cruise operators stays all-in on the concept of adult-only cruises.
Listed below are our picks for the very best adults-only cruise strains, with a grown-up vibe in addition.
Associated: A novices information to selecting a cruise line
Virgin Voyages
The much-ballyhooed new line from Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group has banned kids underneath the age of 18 from its ships. It is a part of an effort to create a hipper, more-sophisticated, adult-focused vibe that firm leaders assume is sorely missing within the cruise world.
Day by day E-newsletter
Reward your inbox with the TPG Day by day publication
Be a part of over 700,000 readers for breaking information, in-depth guides and unique offers from TPG’s consultants
“We’ve accomplished a ton of analysis actually making an attempt to create a complicated expertise,” Virgin Voyages CEO Tom McAlpin stated within the days earlier than the road’s 2021 debut. “I’ve accomplished some private analysis. We discovered that if you put youngsters within the pool, they scream, and we do not need that.”
Associated: I have been on greater than 150 cruise ships. Here is what I considered Scarlet Girl
Virgin Voyages’ first three adults-only cruise ships, the two,770-passenger Scarlet Girl and sister vessels Valiant Girl and Resilient Girl, cater to grown-ups searching for a decidedly grownup kind of enjoyable with such choices as interactive dance events and a drag queen efficiency. It additionally affords a karaoke lounge with pink-and-purple karaoke rooms and a tattoo parlor (examine how one in all our staffers was among the many first to get inked on board).
What you will not discover on the three ships (a fourth is due later this yr) are waterslides, watery splash zones, teen lounges and all the opposite family-friendly options which are turning into so frequent on greater ships.
Viking
To create an adults-only cruise expertise, Virgin Voyages took a web page from fast-growing Viking’s playbook. Viking’s 12-ship ocean cruise division has banned kids underneath the age of 18 because it debuted in 2015. As well as, its 80-ship river cruise division has had a minimal age restrict for greater than 20 years. (Initially, the cut-off was age 12; as of 2019, that jumped to 18, too.)
Not that Virgin and Viking are something alike. Virgin is designed to enchantment to millennials and older vacationers who wish to get together like they’re millennials. Viking, in contrast, is the anti-millennial line.
Viking’s goal market is squarely within the 55-plus bracket. It zeroes in on that demographic with an upscale, destination-focused expertise that’s heavy on what the trade likes to name “enrichment” — onboard lectures and different studying alternatives. It additionally emphasizes excursions targeted on historical past and tradition (with at the very least one free tour in every port) and leisure choices that veer extra towards string quartets than dancers in string bikinis.
“What we’re seeking to do is attempt to not be every thing for everybody,” Viking’s government vp of selling, Richard Marnell, advised TPG. “We do not need a youngsters’ program. What we’ve is . . . [an] immersive expertise that’s greatest suited for those who are intellectually curious.”
P&O Cruises
This storied British line clearly sees the demand for adults-only cruise ships, nevertheless it is not giving up on the household market, both. The road splits the distinction between the 2 segments. 5 of its seven vessels (Arvia, Iona, Britannia, Ventura and Azura) are marketed as “family-friendly” and open to passengers of all ages. The opposite two (Arcadia and Aurora) are reserved completely for adults.
Provided that greater than 95% of the Southampton, England-based cruise line’s passengers are British, you may in all probability wish to be both British your self or a serious Anglophile to contemplate reserving one of many latter two vessels. Crusing with P&O Cruises is a really British expertise, one thing that turns into clear the second you see its vessels. They function hulls painted with huge Union Jacks.
As well as, you may discover quintessentially British choices on board P&O Cruises ships, resembling elaborate afternoon teas, quoits on the highest deck and restaurant menus designed by cooks large in the UK, resembling Marco Pierre White.
For reserving functions, P&O Cruises considers anybody who shall be 18 or older when crusing an grownup.
Saga Cruises
Like P&O Cruises, Saga Cruises is a British line that has honed in on the enterprise of providing voyages only for adults. Nevertheless it goes manner past what P&O Cruises or some other line does in shunning youthful vacationers. The minimal age at Saga Cruises is not 18 and even 21 — it is 50.
That is proper — you will not discover a single millennial and even that many Technology Xers on board a Saga Cruises ship (at 58, even the oldest members of Technology X solely make the cut-off by eight years). You will see that a heck of loads of child boomers, a lot of them retired.
Saga Cruises operates simply two ocean vessels, crusing completely out of the U.Ok., plus a number of river ships. Like P&O Cruises, it is a product that’s in all probability greatest for British vacationers or big-time Anglophiles.
Different adult-focused cruises
Along with strains that ban passengers underneath the age of 18 outright, a lot of cruise operators enable younger kids however get comparatively few of them.
Examples embrace such upscale strains as Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Silversea Cruises and Seabourn, which cater closely to an older crowd. Small-ship specialist Windstar Cruises permits tweens and youngsters on its six ships, nevertheless it does not enable any kids underneath the age of 8.
Scenic Luxurious Cruises & Excursions, which sells each ocean and river cruises, historically discourages prospects from bringing passengers underneath the age of 12 on vessels besides throughout Christmas vacation sailings.
Additionally, the longer the cruise, the less kids you can find. Guide a two-plus-week crusing to a extra unique location, like Asia or South America, in the course of the college yr on a line like Holland America or Princess, and you may share the ship predominantly with adults.
Planning a cruise? Begin with these tales:
