Out of control kids~what's worse, spring break or summer?

I have been reading several reviews about out of control kids .... not just MSC but most cruise lines.

I realize it's Spring Break. I don't think we've ever cruise during Spring Break, but we did cruise Easter week last year and there were very few kids on board, but this was Celebrity.

We were very eager to book Seaside, but only in the Yacht Club. I guess I waited too long, because I kept running into Sold Out! April, May (we couldn't go in June), August, September hurricane season then October was sold out too. I didn't want to wait till November, so I booked July. Yes, July ....Summer!:eek:

So in your opinion, what is worse for lots of kids, Spring Break or Summer?

6 of one half dozen of the other...main difference, IMO, is the age of the 'children'... college kids vs. younger ones with some limited supervision. I'd take the younger. At least you have a small chance of SOME of the parents trying to make the kids behave.

Based on feedback from last weeks Seaside cruise....Yacht Club isn't immune from the children concerns either!! But both timeframes have alot of grade school children. Many families cruise in Summer as well. When my children were in middle school thru their college years we always cruised during their vacation periods, mostly March but an occassional Thanksgiving or Christmas. Peak cruise season so lots of kids. Never seemed to bother us....then again we had our kids too. I found Mid-March to be a bit more crazy because of the college Spring breakers..... Fun to watch though!

I think they are equally bad. I try to avoid both.

I’d be no more worried about out of control kids than rude or selfish older passengers.

I’d be no more worried about out of control kids than rude or selfish older passengers.

Well, I've never seen rude or selfish older passengers scream uncontrollably, push all the elevator buttons, run down halls knocking on the doors or do cannonballs into the pool. :rolleyes: Have I just been lucky?

Well, I've never seen rude or selfish older passengers scream uncontrollably, push all the elevator buttons, run down halls knocking on the doors or do cannonballs into the pool. :rolleyes: Have I just been lucky?

He has children...LOL So maybe a bit biased!!

We routinely go during spring break and never had a problem. We also sail summer and never real problem.

We did have one family with Octomom whose kids in YC were out of control including going in the pool with diapers.

We also had one sailing NCL to Bermuda from Boston where the college kids were being a bit rowdy but pretty much never saw them anywhere else.

The ones I"ve read about lately are Epic out of Florida doing 3/4 day cruises that apparently were marketed to college kids.

In my experience, summer months have more children than spring break months. I attribute this to added vacation time to allow families to drive to Florida verses flying. However; I think that the screaming/running/elevator pushing kids can happen at either time as that is simply a result of poor parenting.

Is it too late to switch? To increase your odds of having less children, I just checked for you and YC has availability several dates in both April and May. There will be very minimal children. Prices all seem to be $2,139 pp for YC deluxe balcony. I don't know if that is in the ballpark of what you paid or not. Let me know if you want a screen shot.

Thanks, BB.

April might be a little too soon for us, but I'll check May and then run it by DH. That's a little higher than I paid, but not much.

:hearteyes:

Thinking back, we have cruised in the Summer twice.

Once was on Mariner of the Seas. There were a lot of drunken teens on that one, but they were more amusing than bothersome.

Another was on a Norwegian ship where there were plenty of screamers, but it was port intensive, so we were off the ship a lot, and we were lucky in the dining room and our cabin.

You can always tell in online forums who are the parents of free-range children because they are the ones who say that adults can be just as bad if not worse, so there.

If we have to cruise in school-break territory (some itineraries are only available certain times of year) then we will try to get a longer cruise or move to a more upscale line that doesn’t have the kid-friendly activities. In addition we frequent the adult-only areas of the ships, if available.

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It sounds like you are already hesitant. If I were you I would just cancel and go in the fall or when kids are in school.

Thanks, BB.

 

April might be a little too soon for us, but I'll check May and then run it by DH. That's a little higher than I paid, but not much.

 

:hearteyes:

 

Thinking back, we have cruised in the Summer twice.

Once was on Mariner of the Seas. There were a lot of drunken teens on that one, but they were more amusing than bothersome.

 

Another was on a Norwegian ship where there were plenty of screamers, but it was port intensive, so we were off the ship a lot, and we were lucky in the dining room and our cabin.

I agree, so much is luck of the draw even if you do book at the most optimal times. I would also recommend you take a peak at whether or not KSF is going on the week you are sailing. That's a variable worth considering also. The other ways we have had fewer children are longer itineraries to more exotic places. We've had great luck in Norway, Greek Isles, Med, etc... But I absolutely appreciate taking an inexpensive swirl through the caribbean once a year too.

Best of luck :)

free-range children

OMG... that made me LOLOLOL :) :) :) Ty!

I agree, so much is luck of the draw even if you do book at the most optimal times. I would also recommend you take a peak at whether or not KSF is going on the week you are sailing. That's a variable worth considering also. The other ways we have had fewer children are longer itineraries to more exotic places. We've had great luck in Norway, Greek Isles, Med, etc... But I absolutely appreciate taking an inexpensive swirl through the caribbean once a year too.

 

Best of luck :)

What is KSF? Nevermind, it's Kids Sail Free.

You're right about availability, though. There's a lot of cabins available, especially on April 14. Where were they when I was looking in December? I guess they're cancellations?

EDIT: It's not a KSF sailing (July 7)

What is KSF? Nevermind, it's Kids Sail Free.

 

You're right about availability, though. There's a lot of cabins available, especially on April 14. Where were they when I was looking in December? I guess they're cancellations?

Thank you for confirming. I've been told I'm FOS on this forum and that YC could not be available because it sells out so quickly ;-)

No real way to tell if they are cancellations or if it's just another one of the MSC weird marketing glitches where they did not release all cabins initially?

I lean toward the later because I didn't even start looking until January and almost every single date has had YC availability. January was probably too soon for cancellations based on reviews.

Heck, there is still YC inside availability for Easter week (March 31st) and Thanksgiving week 2018!

In fact, anyone looking for a value based trip Easter week you can get an inside cabin for $389 pp and I believe KSF that week. Imagine, an entire family of 4 could be cruising Easter week for less than $1,000. Now that's value :)

We've done two summer cruises and one March Break (Spring Break) cruise. (My wife and I are both teachers so we are limited to school breaks for our cruising.)

Here in Nova Scotia the public school breaks are in March, and the universities here have their Spring Break in February. Turns out, in Florida, most of the universities shut down during the same week in March that our public schools have their break - unbeknownst to us before we embarked on Indy!

We'll probably never do a Spring Break cruise again; or, if we do, we'll try to search for a ship or line that has less appeal to the college kids. Maybe Holland America or something. The two summer cruises were no problem for us - one as a couples cruise and the other as a family cruise.

Alcohol is the determining factor for us. When we were on Indy last March the consumption was excessive, and the behaviours were - at times - simply out of control.

There is a definite difference between young kids whose parents don't keep them reigned in, and drunk college kids. The out-of-control younger ones can be annoying, but it is a different type of annoying than loud, obnoxious, intoxicated 21-year-old adults.

I'm surprised that the lines don't market certain ships as "party ships" and market other ships as "family ships" during Spring Break. I understand that some people like to party loud and hard, while other folks don't. Why not market a few ships as the booze cruises? It might or might not work, but stricter enforcement of alcohol consumption on the non-party cruises would help!

We are just off MSC Seaside. While there were plenty of children, there were virtually ZERO college spring breakers. Several times we were in port with NCL ships and saw tons of loud drunk kids streaming back onto their NCL ships after senor frogs or whatever. Several could not even walk they were so drunk.

I don’t think MSC markets to or is even known by the college crowds. They don’t even bother to check alcohol at ports because they just do not seem to have the same problem.

So, feel free to cruise MSC in February and March, at least for now!

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We’ve done several Spring Break cruises. All but one cruised out of Fort Lauderdale, and some with & some without our kids. If you can sail out of Galveston, I highly recommend it. 60% of our Ship was “under 25” ( so we were a little apprehensive) but they were the most well-behaved group of kids I’ve ever seen - littles as well as HS & college kids. Will not do Spring Break from FL again.

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Well, I've never seen rude or selfish older passengers scream uncontrollably, push all the elevator buttons, run down halls knocking on the doors or do cannonballs into the pool. :rolleyes: Have I just been lucky?

Sorry- not trying to hijack.... I hear you but I have seen them cut in front my wife and I with our baby in a stroller while we wait for an elevator (we were there first?) and then make it seem like a burden when I tell them to make room. Lots of places on Seaside was like a “me, me, me” mentality amongst the older passengers. Buffet? Me first. Elevator? Me first. Doorway? Me first. Disembarkation this morning was hilarious with some passengers just all of a sudden forgetting how to speak or read English with clearly the sole purpose of cutting the self-disembarkation line. Witnessed it several times. Meanwhile we were waiting 15 minutes before our spot in the line even moved. That one really ticked a few people off.

Don’t get me wrong, lots of people were endeared by our sweet little boy and the staff always made a point to say hi. All I was really getting at is each age group can have its bad apple or two and their weren’t many little rebels on board. I don’t be think MSC attracts the rowdy crowd.

Ps- I did get in the elevator once or twice and several buttons were pushed lol. I might do a brief review so I don’t end up taking up other peope’s threads like I have done just here. Enjoy your cruise!

I would just pick the time of year that works best. I would probably pick summer though.

Keith