Home/FAQ/ At What Age Can Children Travel Before We Have To Pay An Adult Fare For Them
At what age can children travel before we have to pay an adult fare for them?
The maximum age for children to qualify for Child fare reductions is dependent upon the cruise company you are travelling with and can vary from between 11 and 17 years old.
When choosing your family cruise holiday you should always check the terms and conditions of each company with regards to child ages. Each company varies, with some being more flexible than others, but you will generally find the American cruise lines to be much more restrictive than the British or European lines.
Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line, for example, will only offer a small reduction on price for children under 11 years old and only when they share a stateroom with two full paying passengers. This follows the same pricing terms as the 3rd passenger reduction so for anything other than this you will pay full price.
P&O Cruises are slightly less restrictive offering child reductions up to 16 years old at the time of travel, but the overall the winner by far is MSC Cruises where children up to 17 years old cruise for free! The price is reduced for children travelling with two full paying adults and although any flights or extras are booked and paid for at the standard rate, there is no cruise fare applied and they will only charge Port tax.
Many cruise lines also have restrictions on infant ages with many not permitting babies under 6 months old to sail on standard cruise itineraries, often rising to 12 months for transatlantic cruises.
It is also worth noting that even though children may be charged an adult fare, this does not qualify them for use of adult only facilities, so they will still not be able to use the adult pool, even though they may pay the adult price.
Our Cruise Experts are available to assist you in choosing the correct family cruise holiday for your needs. Call us today on 0800 197 8050
What our clients say
Platinum Service Award Winners
Average Customer Rating: 4.9/5
Best Cruise Agency to use
Always very helpful no matter what you ask even if it's something silly, always there for you - get the best deals for you. Elise has helped us get some good deals. My husband needs a mobilty scooter when we cruise it's not always easy to get accessible cabin for him but our agent Elise went through the whole year to find us a cabin. Which is greatly appreciated everyone we have spoken to with cruise Kings have been so kind and helpful nothing a problem we shall always book with them.
Mrs Pearson / March 2026
A good company
Well, I’ve booked all my cruises through cruise Kings Bay give a good service and good deals
Trusted Customer / March 2026
Great service and a great deal
This is the first time we've used Cruise Kings and we were very pleased with the professionalism and knowledge of the agent that we dealt with.
We feel that we got a great deal and were more than happy with their service.
We have already booked another cruise with them !????
