Holiday cruises loaded with kids?

[room010]

Common sense would dictate that there will be a lot of kids on holiday cruises, especially Christmas, Thanksgiving, Spring Break, etc. If you are a teacher and have the same vacation times as your students then I guess the only way to avoid them is to pick a time when they will be in school, an itinerary that may not appeal to families, or a cruiseline that doesn't necessarily attract the family market because they don't offer extensive childrens' facilities and that usually means the more upmarket ones. If you are thinking of Carnival then forgetaboutit!

 

As for parents who don't think they have a responsibility to supervise their kids ("hey, it's my vacation too") there's no solution to that and as a teacher I'm sure you already figured that out. :(

[kath00]

Our last two cruises in suites have been so much fun and we just love the aft cabins. We really don't like the crowds around the pools and prefer to be on our balcony. We usually meet some really fun people and it's like a private party in our cabin rather than yelling above other people in the varies lounges. They say once you are in a suite, it's hard to go back to a reguar room. We have been on other lines but right now would like to stay with Princess. I suppose I could give my TA a call and see what else might be alvailable. thanks for the suggestion.

 

Spring breaks are usually from mid-March till mid-April. Since it's almost a month's span, I find that the ships are not nearly as crowded with children as Xmas or Thanksgiving.

[Deckhandoug]

Wow, don't know if we lucked out or what but we didn't have that many kids last month on Victory, maybe because we sailed out of San Juan?

 

We usually sail May or September, better rates, good weather and no kids but this year we did the Thanksgiving week and had such a good time I've been considering a Western out of Miami next year but after hearing all the stories I'm starting to reconsider.

[jocap]

I quite enjoy travelling in the big ships with children around, but I notice that P&O is adding a THIRD adults only ship when Royal Princess transfers this spring.....

Jo.

[Breezey]

Common sense would dictate that there will be a lot of kids on holiday cruises, especially Christmas, Thanksgiving, Spring Break, etc. If you are a teacher and have the same vacation times as your students then I guess the only way to avoid them is to pick a time when they will be in school, an itinerary that may not appeal to families, or a cruiseline that doesn't necessarily attract the family market because they don't offer extensive childrens' facilities and that usually means the more upmarket ones. If you are thinking of Carnival then forgetaboutit!

 

As for parents who don't think they have a responsibility to supervise their kids ("hey, it's my vacation too") there's no solution to that and as a teacher I'm sure you already figured that out. :([/quoteI

 

Hi Room 010 - I see you are an Aussie. We have a planned Australia/New Zealand cruise booked for Dec 2011 (oops that this year, woo hoo!) My husband, while not a teacher closes his business during the Christmas vacation and would prefer to take our cruise then. Naively I thought, hey there wont be a ton of kids coming from overseas, because of the length of travel and length of the cruise, totally forgetting that its your summer break. So guess there will be a ton of kids taking vacation and on the ship anyway?

[jewopaho]

Spring breaks are usually from mid-March till mid-April. Since it's almost a month's span, I find that the ships are not nearly as crowded with children as Xmas or Thanksgiving.

 

Right ... but the college kids more than make up for it. We cruised last March on the Sapphire Princess (ultimately a mistake for several reasons ... but we were traveling with a family of four, so our options were limited), and about 40-50 of America's future leaders virtually commandeered the adults-only pool and hot tubs for the duration of the cruise. Pretty much all of them were buzzed by 10:00 a.m. and hammered by noon. Enforcement of the rules concerning drinking age, behavior, chair-hogging and the like was non-existent. The security staff actually appeared to be intimidated by them. So we now cruise exclusively when kids (of all ages) are in school.

[mizLORInj]

I avoided holiday cruises just for that reason, yet this past Thanksgiving week we took a 7 nighter out of Tampa and I don't remember seeing a lot of kids onboard. I suppose they were all involved in Carnival's activities.

I'd do it again.

[Haoie]

Carnival Paradise Dec 13 was filled to the brim with families!

[room010]

 

Hi Room 010 - I see you are an Aussie. We have a planned Australia/New Zealand cruise booked for Dec 2011 (oops that this year, woo hoo!) My husband, while not a teacher closes his business during the Christmas vacation and would prefer to take our cruise then. Naively I thought, hey there wont be a ton of kids coming from overseas, because of the length of travel and length of the cruise, totally forgetting that its your summer break. So guess there will be a ton of kids taking vacation and on the ship anyway?

 

Yes, the Christmas break is the start of the Aussie long summer holiday and the kids are out of school from mid December to the end of January. The number of kids on your chosen cruise totally depends on the itinerary and cruiseline, plus the "cruise culture" doesn't apply quite so much Down Under so there won't be as many kids on board as the US during peak holiday times but it's still very likely you'll have plenty of 'em! ;)

 

I still maintain that the more 'upmarket' you go, the fewer kids you'll have to deal with and the fewer delinquent parents who won't control them. Flame away.