College Spring break cruisers

Onboard we were told that most college students cruise (large groups of them) on the shorter cruises and out of Florida....5 nights on less. Anyone have experience of them on the longer cruises in March?

No problems on 7 dayers on Oasis, Allure, Harmony. Just a few/enough to keep the clubs thumping into the night for us old people.

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We've cruised 2nd week of March for past 13 yrs. We like it better than summer crowds for sure.

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We cruised the first week of March on the Independence and it was HORRIBLE! Never again. We were told by some girls that there was a Facebook page just for this 5 day with over 600 members from the university of Florida alone. :eek:

I just got back from a "spring break "week long cruise on liberty. I didn't see any college kids, that weren't with their families. (Including the four that I brought) I was on this exact same cruise two weeks earlier, so it was very interesting to see the differences. As expected the cruise in late February had a lot fewer kids, the ones there were mostly younger. And then the spring break cruise had kids of all ages. I think I only saw one scooter on the spring break trip. And many many more on the earlier cruise.

One of the most interesting differences I noticed was there was a lot less inconsiderate/rude behavior on the spring break cruise. I never would have guessed that. The non-spring break cruise seem to have more people that had very little patience when someone would try to squeeze in the already full elevator, or if that absent-minded passenger happened to step in front of someone at the buffet.

From my experience, a "spring break cruise" at least one that is a week long, which I think is what you originally asked about, didn't seem to have any negatives. Another positive for us, was that we didn't have to get to the early show more than 10 minutes early to get a good seat. The cruise director would comment each time that the early show was only half full, where as the late shows were sometimes standing room only. We prefer the early show and then dinner, but I guess most families wanted to go to dinner first and then the show.

I was surprised that the spring break cruise didn't tailor the entertainment a little more towards a younger crowd.

OK I thought of a negative. The lines were much much longer to have your picture taken with Shrek on the spring break cruise. [emoji4]

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We cruised the first week of March on the Independence and it was HORRIBLE! Never again. We were told by some girls that there was a Facebook page just for this 5 day with over 600 members from the university of Florida alone. :eek:

Oh great! :rolleyes: We will be on the Independence next March with our college aged kids. It's the only time they can go. We have cabin 7408 booked so I'm hoping it will be a respite from the craziness!

One of the most interesting differences I noticed was there was a lot less inconsiderate/rude behavior on the spring break cruise. I never would have guessed that. The non-spring break cruise seem to have more people that had very little patience when someone would try to squeeze in the already full elevator, or if that absent-minded passenger happened to step in front of someone at the buffet.

This was our experience too on our recent 5-night sailing on Brilliance out of Tampa. Many spring breakers but everyone seemed well-behaved. We also noticed that their presence positively enhanced the Belly Flop and Sexiest Man competitions. :cool:

Our DD was in this cruise.

And

Had the time of her life.

From kareoke to dancing

They were from BGSU.

Thinking about doing it again next year.

Did not have any problems with crowds or other college students.

Ltr

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We were on the same IOTS cruise 3/6. The college age crowd didn't bother us except at the pool. They took over the main pool area. I have never seen so many bodies in a hot tub! The last night at dinner we were surrounded by many with almost no issues. A few of the boys were wasted. Thankfully their friends took them out of the dining room before the problems started.

I'm more concern about college age groups, not families on Spring Break.

TIA for all the UTD information!

Did the 9N on Oasis this week last year. No college groups to speak of. Several college age passengers but with families. Again, the longer the cruise the fewer "spring breakers".

We were on a spring break Indy cruise on 3/16. Lots of college kids and lots of young kids. Personally, the college kids didn't bother me. They had fun...spent a lot of time in the center hot tubs and in the pool and really weren't bothersome. We had a couple college aged girls complain because they got splashed from my kids (by accident - my kids would never splash a stranger on purpose) but I subscribe to the theory of "kill them with kindness" and apologized and they were sweet afterwards. There was one elevator after Cozumel that reeked of booze, but that can happen on any filled elevator on a cruise. Honestly, I would gladly cruise on a spring break cruise again...it was a ton of fun and the price was right!

I would much rather be onboard with lots of Spring Breakers than a bunch of 70+ people......

I would much rather be onboard with lots of Spring Breakers than a bunch of 70+ people......

Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss :cool::cool::cool:

College kids can't usually afford anything more than 3-4 night cruises...and they have to be either 21 or 25....so you won't get a slew of 19 and 20 year olds without parents.

Were you on the March 6th cruise with us? That explains things......

We cruised the first week of March on the Independence and it was HORRIBLE! Never again. We were told by some girls that there was a Facebook page just for this 5 day with over 600 members from the university of Florida alone. :eek:

There's a charter cruise that was marketed to the college spring break crowd and that did cut down I'm sure on the number of college kids on mainstream cruises. I was on the Spring Break charter called Inception of the Seas on Royal's Enchantment of the Seas. When we were in Nassau, the only other ship which looked like it had a party crowd was the Norwegian Sky. When Anthem of the Seas pulled in, it was a much older crowd. I don't think the college kids want a longer voyage that eats up their entire spring break. :)

That's what I thought too but apparently mommy and daddy paid for their 5 night cruise on IOS on March 6th....

College kids can't usually afford anything more than 3-4 night cruises...and they have to be either 21 or 25....so you won't get a slew of 19 and 20 year olds without parents.

Onboard we were told that most college students cruise (large groups of them) on the shorter cruises and out of Florida....5 nights on less. Anyone have experience of them on the longer cruises in March?

Never had a bad experience on a 7 night during spring break. We did have a terrible experience on a 4 night on NCL Sky a few years ago out of Miami. Never again!

Our DD was in this cruise.

And

Had the time of her life.

From kareoke to dancing

They were from BGSU.

Thinking about doing it again next year.

Did not have any problems with crowds or other college students.

Ltr

 

 

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Bowling Green, Ohio? That is my neck of the woods.

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Just did one. Here's the review: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2472117

Cruised on the Allure last week. I'm sure there were Spring Breakers on the cruise but it certainly wasn't a Spring Break cruise! If that makes sense. Everybody had fun but the ship certainly didn't feel overrun with college students. We cruise during March quite often and each of our cruises has been similar in that fashion.

Onboard we were told that most college students cruise (large groups of them) on the shorter cruises and out of Florida....5 nights on less. Anyone have experience of them on the longer cruises in March?

They are all over the place.

I would much rather be onboard with lots of Spring Breakers than a bunch of 70+ people......

I will take the 70+ crowed over the kids any day.

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That's what I thought too but apparently mommy and daddy paid for their 5 night cruise on IOS on March 6th....

Our DD is a full time student at BGSU.

Volunteers at the local grade school in their sports program

Has been practicing to do the Bikes for tykes fund raiser a roughly 180 mile bike run from Cincinnati to BGSU as a fund raiser this April..

Is in the process of finishing her thesis.

Works out in the gym every day.

Works part time to pay for her utilities, gas, make up and food.

She was able to save the money to book her own way on this cruise with out "mommy and Daddy paying for it".

Which included air, cruise, spending money.

I would think this displays the maturity of a remarkable young lady.

Yea I know they drank.

But took the time to book the WiFi package and texted us a couple times a day to share her adventures and to let us know she was safe.

Oh, her cruise-mates were just as accountable.

Just saying

My 21 yo DD and I sailed the 5 night Brilliance from Tampa the same dates as the much discussed Indy cruise. The Indy cruise was our second choice - my DD selected the Brilliance for the itiniary and because we had never tried a Radiance class ship.

The Brilliance had many spring breakers. I know we had groups from UF, Georgia, South Carolina, East Carolina, Penn State, a group of about 15 girls from a small school, and my daughter is from UVA. I know there were many other small groups as well. Some were trying to relax, others drinking but well behaved; others rude. There was a fight in the hall Cozumel night that apparently resulted in broken dishes, etc. We had extra security on-board and the bartenders were actively carding those under 30 and enforcing one drink per person (no bringing other cards to the bar) for those under 30. We avoided the obnoxious and had a very good time. Unlike what I am reading from Indy, we were able to get bar service - in fact this was the best cruise for waiters on the pool deck in the last 4 years. I saw many spring breakers tipping the pool bar guys and on more than one instance getting out of an elevator so a handicapped person could fit. One of the groups clearly had a designated person each day that drank less and monitored the others. As I noted there was one group we tried to avoid.

We also had a group of approx. 350 Carrier Dealers as part of Florida Comfort Experience.

We both had drink packages, enjoyed an almost empty diamond lounge each night, and dined in specialty restaurants for dinner. We did the chef's table one night and had a great group 3 were 21 - 23, 3 were mid 40 - 50, and 4 were 65+.

To address the comment about parents paying. I paid for our trip because it was my vacation too. My daughter could have paid to go on a trip with friends if she wanted to. Like the poster above's daughter, mine works a part time job, volunteers, and is an honor student. She is also an experienced cruiser - will turn D+ on our May trip and opted to cruise because she enjoys it

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