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A Thanksgiving Cruise . . . Never Again

IrishCC

By IrishCC,
in Royal Caribbean International

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LittleMissMagic "Live from...." Rare

LittleMissMagic

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The Liberty of the Seas is a ship that draws a lot of families with its surfing simulator and ice rink.

 

The smaller ships with less activities typically draw less kids. We went on a Christmas cruise on the Grandeur of the Seas a few years ago. Normally, Christmas cruises are full of kids. There were 100 children total (ages 0-17) onboard.

 

However, the staff and other cruisers were complaining about the large number of children onboard. Apparently 100 is a lot more than normal!

 

I think if it's a school holiday, you're going to have more kids than normal onboard, no matter what ship or itinerary.

 

If you're looking to avoid kids, I'd suggest looking at smaller, older ships with less family-geared attractions. Also, look at odd itineraries like Transatlantic. And of course, be cautious when the cruise falls over a school break. If you want to cruise over a holiday but want to avoid the masses of school-age children, you might consider a longer cruise that starts well before the holiday.

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Morecruisesplz

Morecruisesplz

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Mind you, I like kids, ( see my screen name) have 'em and work with them, but when DH and I travel without our own, I'd rather not travel with everyone else's. :rolleyes:

 

You are definately booking the wrong cruise lines then. We've been surprised by lots of children at odd sailing dates when foreign schools have booked large numbers of cabins for groups (seems like half the cabins have 4 kids in them!) and at times when you wouldn't normally expect schools to be out. I know our local schools have consecutive partial days in early December for teacher in-service days. Most of the week is shot and nothing much is happening in classes so many parents plan vacations then and just take their children out of school for the week.

You need to know also that the Solarium is not always an adult-only venue. When the weather does not permit use of outdoor pool the staff has the option of permitting "family time" in the Solarium pool. This happens often during cooler months sailing out of Batimore but we have also encountered it sailing out of Florida in cooler weather. Signs are sometimes posted on the Solarium doors but it usually catches those who are not familiar with the practise completely off guard and the seniors are screaming for security before someone can explain that it is now "family swim time." Usually there will be several two or three hour time periods specified during the day for family use of the inside pool. Children are to be supervised by parents or guardians during these times and we have seen children removed who are not accompanied by an adult.

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jwitt2

jwitt2

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We just got off the Enchantment out of Baltimore. Our anniverary is Nov. 25, so we have sailed many times during this week of the year. In the old days, kids didn't seem to skip school like they do nowadays. We thought that there would not be as many kids since it was a 9 day cruise. WRONG. There about 500. We sailed on the Carnival Pride out of Baltimore for a 7 day cruise last year and to me it was a much better ship and the kids didn't seem as bad. Kids were in the hot tubs and Solarium when they weren't supposed to be on the Enchantment. I would love to sail on HAL, but they don't go out of Baltimore. We are taking a 2 week cruise to Alaska on HAL out of Seattle in late June, so hopefully we won't bump into so many kids then. I don't think we will ever do Thanksgiving on a ship again. We are Diamond members and have no children,nor any family in our area to spend the Holidays with. We flew to Seattle for Thanksgiving 2 years ago but that didn't work out well for us. We will be taking a 2 week cruise the end of Jan. on the new Celebrity Silouette out of NYC, hopefully the kids won't be on it.

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critterchick

critterchick

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We're not kid-friendly (well, I'm not) but we accept that there will be plenty of them onboard most RCI sailings. If we're booking when school is out, we get a nicer cabin than usual so we can have a private refuge (knock wood; we haven't needed it yet) and we avoid activities that are likely to draw the kids, like anything Dreamworks.

 

I don't know how many kids we had on our recent LOS cruise, but we sat next to a family and they were just fine. Much better than the adults behind who talked loudly through the entire show.:mad:

 

You can still sail RCI and not be overwhelmed by the under-18 by choosing the time and itinerary carefully - we only had 11 on the Jewel Canada/NE in October and 27 on Rhapsody from HNL to YVR. I imagine that we'll have hundreds and hundreds on Navigator for New Year's, just as we had last year on Mariner. They didn't bother us a bit.

 

Hm. Maybe I'm more kid-friendly than I thought. If only they would stop holding that danged pirate parade in the MDR.

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Lib0007

Lib0007

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I was on the FOS last week and we had 1,300 kids on board. One of them was mine . . . but to be honest, they didn't bother me at all. I did enjoy the serenity area at the pool although it wasn't that quiet but I like the hottubs with no kids.

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mommabean

mommabean

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We're not kid-friendly (well, I'm not) but we accept that there will be plenty of them onboard most RCI sailings. If we're booking when school is out, we get a nicer cabin than usual so we can have a private refuge (knock wood; we haven't needed it yet) and we avoid activities that are likely to draw the kids, like anything Dreamworks.

 

I don't know how many kids we had on our recent LOS cruise, but we sat next to a family and they were just fine. Much better than the adults behind who talked loudly through the entire show.:mad:

 

You can still sail RCI and not be overwhelmed by the under-18 by choosing the time and itinerary carefully - we only had 11 on the Jewel Canada/NE in October and 27 on Rhapsody from HNL to YVR. I imagine that we'll have hundreds and hundreds on Navigator for New Year's, just as we had last year on Mariner. They didn't bother us a bit.

 

Hm. Maybe I'm more kid-friendly than I thought. If only they would stop holding that danged pirate parade in the MDR.

 

:D That's the only part of the kids being on board that I like. They come in and out and I can see them all at once looking cute and under control. Then if I don't see them for the rest of the cruise, I'm happy. :p

 

Gina

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Ocean Boy

Ocean Boy

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For those stating that Celebrity is the place for a non kid enviroment might want to read this. I would have departed the ship on the first port of call.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1523361

 

I couldn't even get through the entire video that was posted. The sound started to give me a headache.:rolleyes:

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sr5242

sr5242

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I'm a teacher so I'm limited to traveling when the schools are out, I've just booked a cruise over spring break and expect tons of kids, but planned a beach heavy destination with hopes that the kids will frolic on the beach and I can read by the pool!

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Canusa02

Canusa02

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:eek: We just got off of Liberty of the Seas for Thanksgiving. Let me give you some background: We are Diamond members . . . . I'm in my late 50s and my other half is in his early 60s. We aren't particularly kid friendly . . . unless they are our grandkids and then my DH can only tolerate limited quantities. We were on Liberty last March and booked this cruise on board. I specifically asked about kids and was assured that there are rarely families on board for Thanksgiving as they prefer Spring Break or Christmas . . . . . .I bought that line. You can imagine our abject horror when we got on board and found out there were 1200 kids on board!! The whole cruise was geared towards families . . . .even the the daily activities were altered! The kids were EVERYWHERE . . . .and for those of you who are about to flame me and say your children are well behaved . . . . they're NOT. They were even allowed in the specialty restaurants at all times. The only place we were safe was the Solarium though I heard they were in there later in the week. My poor other half . . . .I fully expected to find him in the fetal position in our cabin . . . refusing to come out!!

 

OK . . . . here are the good things . . .the weather was perfect! We thoroughly enjoyed the ports of call . . . .we were able to get a cabanette on Coco Cay and that was in a private area so we were protected from the little darlings! We loved Falmouth!. The food on board was good especially Portofinos. The staff was very friendly but frazzled! Lastly there were very few smokers so I didn't have to deal with smelling smoke on the balcony.

 

Bottom line . . . If you are a family considering sailing at Thanksgiving, Go . . . you'll be totally catered to. If you don't care for kids . . . .avoid this one like the plague!!

 

Please don't tell me to try Celebrity . . . we did and didn't care for it.

 

I don't keep compasses but will try to answer any questions I can.

 

Will you squeeze some of that sour lemon over my pitcher of water? I bet you were a delight to sit beside at dinner.

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storm1of4

storm1of4

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We never cruise or go anywhere during the holidays.........Its madness. Went to WDW one year..OMG

The service staff is usually tired and over burdened. Everybody is expecting the cruise line to create a good time for them....

Stay home during the holidays and make your own good time...then cruise after. Unless you have or like being around children it might be best to travel when you know atleast most of them are in school...Thanksgiving, Easter, Xmas you can certainly expect families and children during these times.

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Cindy

Cindy

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We don't have children, but since I'm an elementary school principal, ALL our cruises have been during busy times. We've cruised for 7 consecutive Spring Breaks from Galveston (on three different lines), and have gotten accustomed to having well in excess of 1,000 children on the ship...there are usually around 1,300! That said, we've only had a problem on one cruise -- the Voyager in 2008 -- and it was a doozy. For some reason, the parents of the 13-16 age group on that cruise decided to just let their kids run wild around the ship that week.:mad: They totally took over the elevators, and spent hours "racing" each other...eating in the elevators and leaving food everywhere...pushing the close button before an elderly or handicapped person could get on...it was awful. On the last night, one lady from our Roll Call had a Coke thrown at her when she asked the kids to let her on an elevator. That same night, my husband was told to perform a sex act on himself.:eek: The worst thing was security was nowhere to be found. Needless to say I had a LONG talk with C&A after that cruise!

You never can tell...a year later we were on the same ship the same week, and you could barely tell there were 1,300 children on board. Everybody just needs to be respectful of their fellow passengers, and the ships are plenty big enough for everybody to have a good time.

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IrishCC

IrishCC

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The OP was just trying to pass on information from a lesson learned and all she gets from the peanut gallery here is, "You should have known better." Some of you sound a little too defensive. It sounds like a replay of the kids in the CL/DL thread.

 

Thanks OP

Thank you . . . that really was the point of this posting. I just didn't want others to book a Thanksgiving cruise without knowing what they were getting into. We are very happy with Royal and will just adjust our sailing dates. The reason I booked it was because the loyalty ambassador on board said there wouldn't be many kids . . . . I didn't see why she would lie as this was a cheap cruise and I was going to book something. Also I still don't understand why it was so much cheaper than a Christmas cruise . . . . I just chalk this one up to live and learn!

 

Colleen

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IrishCC

IrishCC

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i'm still trying to figure out how 2000+ kids can even be accommodated on the Oasis or Allure. The rooms in Adventure Ocean certainly aren't big enough to entertain HUNDREDS of kids at a time?!

They can't . . . that is why they were EVERYWHERE . . . . LOL

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IrishCC

IrishCC

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This would be the perfect cruise to find out how things went in the Concierge Lounge. :D

 

Gina

I only went in there to book my cabanette and the poor concierge looked beside himself!! The kids were racing all over the place . . . .luckily kids weren't allowed in the Diamond lounge . . . . . I know . . . more flaming . . . .on the up side I'm a stockholder so I guess giving Disney a run for their money is a good thing!

 

And for those of you who think I HATE kids . . . . .I love Disneyland . . . . I just go into it with my eyes wide open!!

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mommabean

mommabean

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I only went in there to book my cabanette and the poor concierge looked beside himself!! The kids were racing all over the place . . . .luckily kids weren't allowed in the Diamond lounge . . . . . I know . . . more flaming . . . .on the up side I'm a stockholder so I guess giving Disney a run for their money is a good thing!

 

And for those of you who think I HATE kids . . . . .I love Disneyland . . . . I just go into it with my eyes wide open!!

 

Poor Francois. :( At least he will be gone for the Christmas child rush.

 

Gina

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Phillies14

Phillies14

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Holland America . . . .REALLY?????? I'm not in a bloody walker!!! I bought the Loyalty Ambassador's argument because the cruise was so cheap . . . . Holiday cruises usually cost a lot more!

 

Don't worry . . . won't make that mistake again . . . .have booked for Dec 2nd 2012 . . . . can anyone think of a school holiday then??

But you really didn't think that the ship with a HOLIDAY, NO SCHOOL...wouldn't have children onboard?????:rolleyes::rolleyes:....K.O. near Philly
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