Best Cruise Lines for Older Adults and Couples
Whether it’s hitting the road with our little trailer or boarding a flight to a new city, I love traveling. One of my very favorite ways to see the world is via a cruise because you only have to unpack once, yet travel to many locations. Cruising is a super popular way to travel, and for understandable reasons. You have all of the amenities of an all-inclusive resort with the added benefit of seeing multiple destinations throughout your cruise itinerary.
My favorite part about a cruise is that you can do as much or as little as you want. If I find myself in the mood for relaxing, I can sign up for a day at the spa, read a book, or gaze off into space and relax. If I want to have a day of fun, cruises are absolutely full of shore excursions and lots of on-board activities, from Bingo to casinos to yoga to comedy shows. Most also have a gym so you can stay on top of your exercise routines.
There are many cruise lines out there, and they range from luxury ships that offer exquisite cuisine and pampering to more affordable trips that are a little easier on the wallet. It can be a little overwhelming when you’re trying to decide which one to book. My husband and I have taken many cruises over the years and have grown quite fond of several cruise lines.
Before we get into discussing our favorite cruise lines, I thought I would share some other cruise posts you might like:
- Essentials to Pack for a Cruise
- Cruise Wear for Women Over 50: What to Pack
- What to Pack for a Riverboat Cruise
Viking
We used this cruise line when we took our riverboat cruise down the Danube in 2019. Since Viking operates both ocean cruises and river cruises, they have over 90 ships in their fleet and offer a wide array of destinations and cruise lengths. This line is perfect for my husband and me since it’s aimed at passengers that are over 50 years. In fact, all Viking ships are adults-only, and nobody under the age of 18 is allowed on board. Viking focuses on cultural enrichment, so passengers get more time to experience the local culture and explore historical sites.
Seabourn
Seabourn is a leader in luxury cruising with destinations around the world. You’ll love their delicious cuisine and wonderful service. They even have a new vessel that is designed for polar areas like Antarctica, which would be such a blast! They offer hand-selected itineraries that take you beyond the reach of larger ships. Seabourn’s intimate ships have a club atmosphere and one of the highest space-per-guest ratios in the industry. I love the idea of that because being crowded together isn’t my idea of fun. There’s also never a tab to pick up because complimentary fine wine and spirits are available on board at all times.
Windstar Cruises
We’ve done several cruises on the Windstar Cruise Line and are huge fans. We like their smaller ships which hold less than 200 passengers. By breakfast the day after boarding, every crew member had memorized our names, so we felt like we were guests on a private sailing yacht!
I love that their smaller ships don’t have food court-type dining. Everything is in a dining room and feels special. You’ll eat like a king (or queen) on board because the onboard menus are designed by Michelin-star chefs and are included in your cruise fare. I can attest that I never arrive home lighter than when I left.
Oceania
These upscale and intimate ships are a little larger than Windstar’s but still small in comparison to some of the larger cruise lines. Although there are only seven ships in their fleet, there is no shortage of amazing destinations. Oceana visits more than 450 ports.
On board, you’ll discover beautiful amenities and a country club-esque ambiance where you can spend your days at sea reading in their gorgeous libraries, doing wine tastings, or taking art workshops or cooking classes. This cruise from Reykjavik to Oslo looks wonderful. They have so many great destinations and itineraries to choose from, including Alaska, Australia, and New Zealand, the Greek Islands, Tahiti and the South Pacific, and the Panama Canal!
Reading about all these amazing destinations has given me serious wanderlust! Do you like cruising? What’s your favorite cruise line and destination? I think our favorite so far has been the Baltic Sea into St Petersburg. I’m so glad we got to experience that while we could.
My husband proposed to me on Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 during our first Transatlantic crossing in 2019. So the QM2 will always be my favorite ship. It’s an ocean liner rather than a cruise ship (the only one in the world now) so it is very stable regardless of the weather. We had a sheltered balcony stateroom and dined in the gorgeous art deco Britannia dining room for all but 2 meals during the 8 day trip from Southampton to New York City. The food was fabulous as was the service from every crew member we encountered on board. Fun Fact: It’s the only ship at sea with kennels for people who are traveling with their dog or cat. There are lots of enrichment activities, daily lectures and presentations by experts in almost any field you can name, art classes, balls in the largest ballroom at sea, and more. We are making the crossing again next June to celebrate the fifth year anniversary of our engagement.
We need to try that ship! It sounds amazing.
You forgot to add the word wealthy to your title.
We’ve done several Viking river cruises & decided to take a Viking Ocean cruise last November. We loved it. Casual atmosphere, great food, beautiful ship. Not always possible to get the shore excursions you want. Highly recommend Viking for both ocean & river cruises.
Thanks for the recommendation. I never thought of them for the ocean cruises.
Upgrade to Uniworld. Boutique travel not the average riverboat cruising. Check it out. Much better than Viking
Great post. We really enjoyed cruising, but now we are unable because my husband’s health keeps us home. However, we have such great memories of the cruises we took
I’m so sorry to hear about your husbands health.
‘we love cruising also, using most of the time Holland America cruise line, which we like very much and have taken 8 cruises. We are booked for our very first Viking river cruise leaving Amsterdam to Budapest in August, cannot wait! Lots of good value in cruising and meeting lots of different people from around our world!
We saw none of that on Windstar.
I would highly recommend Holland America. We took a Thanksgiving cruise to the Caribbean which was on a bigger ship (still not huge, they don’t do the party boats) and there were too many kids. In January, on a smaller ship we went through the Panama Canal and it was wonderful (no kids). A good value, interesting itinerary and really great, personal and kind service. We are not big evening entertainment people either, but loved the early evening theatre shows and the music walk. We had only booked a window cabin in the canal, because we never used our balcony in the Caribbean. The second day there was a drinking water leak on our cabin floor and with no hassle at all, they moved us up to a balcony for the duration of our cruise (about a $5,000 upgrade). They even offered to do our packing! It made me feel very secure that if anything went wrong and we were not happy, it would be taken care of. We have already booked our next cruise to Norway and Iceland with HA.
My husband and I are preparing to take our second cruise. The first on Costa to the Caribbean which we enjoyed; we were in our 30’s and got it free when we opened an account at a local bank. Remember those days? Some 40 years later- This summer we booked on Silversea to Alaska. We are really looking forward to it.