Age Requirements

Families with Children

Most cruise lines welcome children to travel on their ships, though infants and pregnant women are subject to some restrictions (click here to read more).

Families booking more than one cabin may be subject to minimum age requirements for kids staying in a separate cabin. Your Vacations To Go cruise counselor can check these requirements for you, once you have found a cruise you are interested in.

Guests Under 25 Years of Age

All cruise lines require that at least one person in each cabin meets a minimum age requirement. The lowest minimum age requirement for any cruise line is 18. The information that follows was provided by the cruise lines at the time of this writing, is subject to change, and should be verified with your Vacations To Go cruise counselor prior to booking.

The following cruise lines require that at least one person in each cabin is 18 or older:

Cruise West, Cunard, Fred. Olsen Cruise Line, SeaDream, Star Clippers and Uniworld.

The following cruise lines require that all passengers in a cabin are 18 or older or that at least one person in the cabin is 21 or older:

Disney Cruise Line, GAP Adventures, P&O Cruises, Paul Gauguin Cruises, Silversea and Viking River Cruises.

Note: For the P&O ships Artemis and Arcadia, all passengers in a cabin must be 18 or older.

The following cruise lines require that at least one person in each cabin is 21 or older:

Azamara, Celebrity, Costa (25 for holiday and peak season sailings), Crystal Cruises, Hurtigruten, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania, Princess Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Seabourn Cruise Line and Voyages of Discovery.

The following cruise lines require that all passengers in a cabin are 21 or older or that at least one person in the cabin is 25 or older:

Carnival, Holland America and Windstar Cruises.

An exception may be made for underage married couples, as long as they are both 18. These couples may be asked to show proof of their marriage. This exception is based on individual cruise line policy and should be confirmed by your Vacations To Go cruise counselor prior to booking.

Your age on the date of sailing is generally considered your age for the length of the cruise.

Consumption of Alcohol

Once you've left port, the minimum age for the consumption of alcohol varies by cruise line.

Fred. Olsen Cruise Line, Oceania and P&O Cruises allow all passengers 18 and older to consume any type of alcoholic beverage they choose.

The minimum drinking age for all alcoholic beverages on all Azamara, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean ships is 21. However, on cruises departing from European and South American countries, where the legal drinking age is typically lower than 21, a parent who is sailing with his or her son(s) and/or daughter(s) who is between the ages of 18 to 20, may sign a waiver allowing the 18 to 20 year old to consume alcoholic beverages.

Carnival, Costa, Cruise West, Crystal, Cunard, Disney, Holland America, Hurtigruten, MSC Cruises, Norwegian, Paul Gauguin Cruises, Princess, Regent Seven Seas, Seabourn, SeaDream, Silversea, Star Clippers, Uniworld, Viking River Cruises, Voyages of Discovery and Windstar require passengers to be at least 21 to consume any type of alcohol.

Gambling Onboard

Gambling, a popular form of entertainment on cruise ships, also has age restrictions which differ between cruise lines. Carnival, Fred. Olsen Cruise Line, Holland America, Norwegian, Oceania, Paul Gauguin Cruises, Regent Seven Seas and SeaDream require passengers to be 18 or older to play in the shipboard casinos. Celebrity and Royal Caribbean require passengers to be 18 or older to play in casinos, except for Alaska cruises (passengers must be 21 or older). Crystal, Cunard, MSC Cruises, Princess, Seabourn, Silversea, Voyages of Discovery and Windstar restrict the casinos to travelers 21 and older. Costa requires those gambling in the casinos to be 25 or older.