Children in September

[kalves]

Has anyone taken a young child on a cruise in late September? My husband and I would like to do the Southern Caribbean itinerary on Serenade of the Seas for our 10th wedding anniversay Sept. 2011 but are unsure if there are many children on board? It is our first cruise with Royal all previous on Carnival.

[Langley Cruisers]

There are always children onboard, no matter what time of year it is. Having said that, I'm not sure you would encounter that many as school will have just begun for most students.

 

Welcome to Royal Caribbean. :)

[B-52]

There are always children onboard, no matter what time of year it is. Having said that, I'm not sure you would encounter that many as school will have just begun for most students.

 

Welcome to Royal Caribbean. :)

 

 

We sailed the mariner right at labor day. There were hardly any children onboard. You could count them on one hand. I'm sure there were more but seems that way on a ship that size.

Come to think of it, did not see any in our vicinity of the MDR either.

There were a lot of scooters, walkers, etc.

[sandinmypants]

September is our favorite time to vacation. Even Disney, there are fewer kids (if that's possible?) I think most parents don't want to take their kids out of school at the first part of the year. You would think that there would be some younger kids, though.... Five & under?

[gaiamother]

We have two young children (7 & 9) and we cruise a lot in September, mostly the week of Labor Day though and there are always other children on board. Not even close to as many as summer. Maybe 30-50ish.

 

Have a great cruise!!

[renae83]

We cruise in October, we have 4 children 6,5,3,1 they have a great time and there are always a few kids for them to make friends with. Its a fun time they are able to get alot more attention to which all kids love

[sandinmypants]

To the OP - are you wondering because you WANT kids onboard, or you want to AVOID kids? Just curious......

 

We always take our son out of school for vacations, we go on 2-3 a year but don't travel during summer, holidays or spring break - I can't stand being around a bunch of other people's kids. My biggest fear on our upcoming November cruise is that they're going to stick us at a table in the MDR with other people's brats.....er, I mean kids, yeah, that's it. :D

[yogimax]

There will certainly be less kids onboard in late September than in July and August.

[cb at sea]

There won't be "many" kids, but there are always some. As long as you don't have to care for them, it shouldn't affect your vacation at all. And, no...they will not put folks without kids at a table WITH kids.....that would be stupid.

You will be with other "adult" type folks... Enjoy! Tablemates are awesome and make dinner so much more fun!

[seeship]

Many families that home school cruise during the school year.

[RadMom43]

We're traveling with our kids on the Freedom on September 26th this year. We live in San Diego and our kids are on a modified year round schedule, so they are out of school. They started back at school on July 21st. I love traveling this time of year because most kids are back in school and the weather is still pretty good. I'll let you know our encounter with the amount of kids after our cruise. We have a 13 and 11 year old (almost 14 and 12.)

[CruiseCarrie]

There won't be "many" kids, but there are always some. As long as you don't have to care for them, it shouldn't affect your vacation at all. And, no...they will not put folks without kids at a table WITH kids.....that would be stupid.

You will be with other "adult" type folks... Enjoy! Tablemates are awesome and make dinner so much more fun!

 

Not completely true. Last May on the Freedom, my husband and I (30 & 43) shared a table with my parents (in their 60's) and a family with 3 young children. My mother was not thrilled about that situation. I guess they have to put people where they have room.

[sandinmypants]

Well, but we'll have a 9yo with us. He's well-behaved, an only child that is more seen than heard, if you know what I mean. His nose will be in a book as much as we let him, even at dinner... We don't put up with whining, running around the table, interruptions during adult conversations, none of that. And I'm hoping we'll either get seated with adults (hopefully they'll give us one night to show how well behaved he is), or with another couple with an only child that is well-behaved also. I'm fearing the thought of a family with several little ones where the kids have to raise their voices to get the parent's attention.....:eek: I just couldn't do it.

[MomtoCCC]

We took our then 4yo dd on a cruise (Liberty of the seas) in late Sept/early Oct a few years ago. She loved it and there were plenty of other kids for her to play with in AO.

[ehfl]

There definitely won't be as many kids as there would be if you went when school's out. But there will be some.

[StGeorgeCruisers]

This is good information~! =)

 

We will me on the Freedom September 26th also. We are leaving our kids at home, since school just started for them. I don't mind kids since I have three of my own.

 

Enjoy your trip~!!!!

[janazaz]

Seriously? People take their kids out of school to take a vacation? WOW! Didn't school just start? It's not like they need a break since school just started, right? Confused and concerned why people would do this, but to each his own.

[Langley Cruisers]

Seriously? People take their kids out of school to take a vacation? WOW!

 

Well, if the parents can only get away at a certain time of year due to their own work situation, it makes sense that they would either have someone stay with their kids, or take them out of school and everyone goes on vacation. Doesn't seem strange to me. As I said earlier, there are kids on every cruise. Some people have no alternative but to take time off during school.

 

When you were in school, weren't there always some kids who missed the first few days? Yeah, me too. I guess they were on vacation with their parents (seriously - not being facetious).

[aussiefam]

:)We hope to cruise in September 2011 with our three teens, it is school holidays in Australia at that time, although they will have an extra week out of school, we cant fit disney, cruise and universal plus 24hrs travel each way in two weeks.

[LA_CA_GAL]

Just wondering. Do any of the cruise lines have a designated cruise that does not allow minors?

[kernow]

There won't be "many" kids, but there are always some. As long as you don't have to care for them, it shouldn't affect your vacation at all. And, no...they will not put folks without kids at a table WITH kids.....that would be stupid.

You will be with other "adult" type folks... Enjoy! Tablemates are awesome and make dinner so much more fun!

 

 

Not necessarily true, when our son was about 9 they sat our family of three at a table with a honeymoon couple. Initially I felt sorry for them and expected them to move but we all got along really well, even spending time together away from dinner.

On the last night they said they hoped any children they may have would be as well behaved as our son.

 

Funnily enough on all the cruises we've taken we've only been seated with other families a couple of times, the seating always seems completely random.

 

Julie

[sandinmypants]

Seriously? People take their kids out of school to take a vacation? WOW! Didn't school just start? It's not like they need a break since school just started, right? Confused and concerned why people would do this, but to each his own.

 

It doesn't have anything to do with the kids needing a break, it's about taking a family vacation at a time that is less expensive and the resorts, etc. are not as busy. For us the timing doesn't matter with our jobs - we tend to take our vacations in Sept., Nov., and April - but only because these times are less expensive, weather is good, and places aren't as crowded. Also we don't like being gone during the summer too much - that's when the weather is so nicer HERE!

[griffy116]

Just wondering. Do any of the cruise lines have a designated cruise that does not allow minors?

 

Just as cruise lines have tried "no smoking" ships, there are no mass market lines like RCCL, Carnival, Hal, NCL, Princess or Celebrity that have a "no kids" cruise ship. I've never seen a cruise advertised as "No Kids" or seen mention on any of the forums for cruisers. There is a thread on another site with a survey asking how many would book a cruise and there are 88 people who answered yes. The reason why the "no smoking" ship failed, I'm told, is that families couldn't/wouldn't book because of one or more smokers who wanted to go along on the cruise. I would think the same would be true of "no kids." It would severely limit the ability to fill the ship to capacity. You can certainly stack the odds in your favor by booking a luxury line ship, during school calendar, for more than one week (preferably more than 2 weeks, since we did a 2 week cruise with kids). Book a cold location or a European cruise would also help. On the larger ships, the kids have their own space and there is a family pool and an Adults only pool. Kids aren't allowed in the hot tubs, lounges, gym, casinos or spa. Specialty restaurants have very few kids that are included since they can be booked while the kids have a special "sleepover" night in the kids club. The big lines do everything possible to appeal to both the families and the people who don't want to be swimming in kids. Personally, we took a 2 week cruise to Hawaii, which we now call the "Blue Hair Cruise" and I'd just as soon be run over by a 3 year old as a walker or cane.

[renae83]

Seriously? People take their kids out of school to take a vacation? WOW! Didn't school just start? It's not like they need a break since school just started, right? Confused and concerned why people would do this, but to each his own.

Not as if I need to defened myself but our children are in year round school so they will be on break for 2 weeks in October. We cruise in October 1. because it is alot cheaper with a family of 6 it gets to be pretty expensive.2. Our kids are out of school. 3. its usually not as crowded 4. It happens to be my husbands and I anniversery.

 

As my sons first grade teacher says There is nothing more imortant than family time together, school work can always be made up.

 

You dont know what any day can bring so if you need to take your children out of school to go on vacation Do It. Memories are extremley important to people of all ages!!