Kids on cruises in January??

[youngestof9]

I know it's not a typical kid time of year to be on vacation, but any experience crusing in January with kids? I am wondering if there will be any kids !! I won't worry about my 5 year old because at that age she'll be fine playing in Adventure Ocean (I hope for at least part of the day) or hanging out with us, but will there be anyone for my 12 year old to play with??

 

I'm suddenly nervous about the time of year we can travel and wonder if my kids will find friends. I certainly want to spend time with them, but would like it if they could find some real kid-type fun on board.

 

Any experience? advice? with January cruising?

 

Thanks!

[cb at sea]

Don't worry, there are ALWAYS some kids onboard....especially those who aren't in school yet, (or are "home-schooled")...your child will NOT be the only one!

[caribbound]

You don't say where you're going, but I'm hoping there'll be others for my 10 and 13 yo girls to hang out with on the Fantasy Jan 30. Not much going on for a roll call here.

[Cruisin' Chick]

There may be a limited number of kids of school aged the second week of January, in all honesty, other than home schooled kids. Many school districts are being tough on absences as that's how the schools get money (per child per day). I know that with my daughter being out sick this week, when she returns I have to attach a doctor's note with the absence note. If I don't, she'll get marked for unexcused absences. And many schools aren't going to be understanding when the kids just had two or three weeks off for winter break.

[MNmomof4]

Before my older boys hit middle school, we always took a january trip/cruise since they always had martin luther king day off and often another day off. I love cruising in January

[youngestof9]

Thank you! I'm guessing there will be a couple kids at least - I saw some kids on the Serenade in January of this year - I just didn't pay much attention since that was a kid-free cruise for us.

 

I love hanging with my kids, but I was hoping there would be some kids their age for them to hang with as well.

 

Can't worry about what I can't control right? :)

[ruready]

More parents are okay with taking their kids out of school to go on a vacation (why this phenomenon--not sure). I have cruised many times in January and there are always kids on board; however the amount of kids on board depends on the cruise line. I think you mentioned Royal Car. --- there will be plenty of kids onboard. Even last year when I was Princess... there were enough children onboard for somewhat fill their kids program.

[Sara&family]

I think it also depends where you are cruising, because a lot of areas have year round education or on different schedules.

[mudphud]

I'm concerned about the same thing. We're taking our kids on their first cruise in January and since they're 5 & 8 I'm hoping there will be others for them to play with. :(

 

I'm hoping since the Liberty is a larger ship and it's CCL my odds are better.

[ChristieDawn]

Before my older boys hit middle school, we always took a january trip/cruise since they always had martin luther king day off and often another day off. I love cruising in January

 

We booked a 4 day so that my 7 YO would only have to miss 2 days of school since that Monday will be MLK day! :p

[JOEZ]

I'm concerned about the same thing. We're taking our kids on their first cruise in January and since they're 5 & 8 I'm hoping there will be others for them to play with. :(

 

I'm hoping since the Liberty is a larger ship and it's CCL my odds are better.

 

We changed to the Liberty on Jan 16th. We have a 5 year old and a 3 year old.

[Wilda]

We cruised the second week in December last year on Liberty and the counselors mentioned there were about 400 kids on the ship.

 

My guess is there will be more than enough kids to pal around with :D

[iluvcruises]

We are going the same week as you but on Carnival Dream. We are going with our kids and other families with kids. (my kids are 4 and 11). I have cruised different times of the year and there are always kids on the ship. Just sometimes more then others. I am sure she will be fine and have a great time!

[josask]

We're going on RC Jewel 10 day Panama on Jan.22 with 7, 9 & 12 yo. This was definitely one of our concerns as well, but decided to go for it anyway. We're hoping there will be enough kids and if not, there is always lots to do on board. They should be able to have free reign in the kids pool.

[ugen512]

Actually January is a popular vacation time for the upper class. Last January, there were a lot of children on our NCL Sky cruise. PCL 2 years ago there were 200+ kids.

[hooked-on-travel]

Jan. a couple years ago DD was the only toddler at the AquaTots program on Royal. It just meant she didn't have to share her toys, but at that age they kind of play by themselves anyway. But I remember there were a few kids in the AO room nearby. Certainly not lots, but a few.

[Niya1969]

We are cruising in Jan with our sons (9 and 11). Last year we took them in Nov. a week b4 Thanksgiving and they had a blast and their was lots of kids on the ship. So dont worry they will have plenty of kids to play with.

[CanadianTwosome]

Our last two cruises have been mid-January and there were definitely other kids on board our daughter's age (10-11). There were more on the Mexican Riviera than the Western Caribbean, but I think it's just the luck of the draw, really. There are always some kids on board in all age groups. With fewer kids they get more attention from the Kids' Club counsellors, too. :)

[helenb]

We usually vacation in January, and there are always other kids aboard (besides ours). It's actually perfect: enough kids for company in the Kids' Club, but the ship isn't overly-crowded with 3rd & 4th passengers. ;)

[sbhdmh]

We just booked Independence of the Seas for January 3. We're new to Royal Caribbean but the ship looks amazing. I hope my 5 year old will have company - she is very social and would be so disappointed to be alone. Everyone on the roll call seems to have the college age kids along. No one has mentioned a little one yet...

[crusinmama06]

We just booked Independence of the Seas for January 3. We're new to Royal Caribbean but the ship looks amazing. I hope my 5 year old will have company - she is very social and would be so disappointed to be alone. Everyone on the roll call seems to have the college age kids along. No one has mentioned a little one yet...

 

That date is hard because it is RIGHT after the Christmas/New Years break. So you won't find many parents pulling kids out then. But you will find some. Since she is so young, you have a better chance of sailing with younger kids than older. Parents of younger kids don't have as many issues pulling a child out in kindergarten like a high schooler would. We sailed on Indy the last week of January into Feb and there were 220 kids onboard.

 

And my school district allows for one week excused Family Vacation during each school year. :D

[leanna may]

We will be going on the CCL Ecstasy on Feb 6th , we will have 6 children ages 7 to 16 .I to was worried about no other kids on ship.Thanks for the posts on here now I'm not to concerned..I wish there was a roll call for kids on here it sure would help .....

[Bluegirl]

We're cruising with our 6- and 4-year-old boys on Jan. 3rd on the Liberty. The week seemed perfect to us because it's literally HALF the price to cruise as compared with the week before. But it does mean that my 1st grader has to miss three days of school. Our school district is strict, but to me it's a no big. If they send me (yet another) sternly worded letter, I'll just throw it in the trash.

 

Our extended family did a 14-day Panama Canal cruise on the Celebrity Mercury a year ago Thanksgiving. Now that was a dead ship--just 17 passengers under 18! (We provided four of them ourselves.) My son was just in kindergarten then, but the school district still looked askance at the absence. The ship was wonderful, and we certainly didn't mind having the pools to ourselves most of the time. But the kid zone was a wasteland (and pretty meagre by the looks of it anyway). And there were quite a lot of obviously non-child-loving adults aboard. But that's another story altogether.

[leanna may]

our kids always miss about a week of school when we do Disney World,(when you have 4 kids you have to go when it is cheaper).Feb. was a cheaper cruise rate for all of us so they will be missing 5 days of school.I'm only worried about my high schooler she needs to keep her grades in check. I send the kids to school every other day except for vacations so they can complain if they want ... We're going and to all those non-loving-kid adults..sorry but I paid just as much for my kids tickets as I did my own.....That is what the serenity deck is for right??? I do hope there will be kids on the boat , but if not we will all have fun just the same...

[Onessa]

There are a lot of differences in school calendars in different places, so there are families that can easily cruise "off times" with little or no disruption for their kid's education.

 

The length of the cruise is generally one of the biggest factors with these "off season" cruises. Our DD's school is off the entire week of T'giving so we've done a lot of 7 day cruises where she has only needed to miss one or two days at the most.

 

The longer cruises will generally have fewer kids and far fewer when it comes to traditional school times.