Summit at Easter

[KatieBits]

Hi, I have a group of friends that want to go on the Summit in March or April 2013. The cruise date we are looking at sailing is March 30 out of San Juan. I have read many reviews on RCCL about the horror of sailing out of San Juan at Easter, especially on the Adventure of the Seas, because of kids running wild. Easter is March 30th in 2013. My questions is, has anyone sailed Celebrity out of San Juan during Easter week and was their a similar problem. I am inclined to think we would be ok on the 30th because it is Celebrity and I don't see it as such a family oriented cruise line, but we have not sailed Celebrity yet (we are Diamond on Royal). Any input would be appreciated. We can go on the March 16th or April 12th for the same ports but the 30th is a better date for some of the group. Also this cruise goes down to Dominica and Grenada, will the weather be extremely humid if we wait until April? We usually do the Caribbean in late Feb or March. Thanks in advance for any info you can share.

[Peteymil]

Hi, I have a group of friends that want to go on the Summit in March or April 2013. The cruise date we are looking at sailing is March 30 out of San Juan. I have read many reviews on RCCL about the horror of sailing out of San Juan at Easter, especially on the Adventure of the Seas, because of kids running wild. Easter is March 30th in 2013. My questions is, has anyone sailed Celebrity out of San Juan during Easter week and was their a similar problem. I am inclined to think we would be ok on the 30th because it is Celebrity and I don't see it as such a family oriented cruise line, but we have not sailed Celebrity yet (we are Diamond on Royal). Any input would be appreciated. We can go on the March 16th or April 12th for the same ports but the 30th is a better date for some of the group. Also this cruise goes down to Dominica and Grenada, will the weather be extremely humid if we wait until April? We usually do the Caribbean in late Feb or March. Thanks in advance for any info you can share.

I have been on that cruise at Easter on the Summit, and yes there are more kids because of Easter break, but in my opinion they were very well behaved and never running wild. I think the Adventure of the Seas would have a lot more kids than a Celebrity ship.

I have been on a Celebrity ship for the past several Easter's, and I have never found the kids to be a problem. The pool might be a bit more crowded with kids, but again, not a problem.

[KatieBits]

Thanks so much for your reply!

[james'mommy]

We'll be on the ship at Easter with a 10 year old but don't worry, he's well behaved.

[KatieBits]

I am sure he is. It's usually just a few that cause trouble. I have read some reviews about the Adventurer and kids u late running around unsupervised and playing in the elevators etc. I doubt there will be a problem on Celebrity, I was just curious about other's experiences. Hope to see you and your son on the cruise!

[MicCanberra]

In my experience badly behaved children have badly behaved parents. Hope your cruise has neither.:D

[petepie]

We went this year at Easter on the Summit out of San Juan with our kids ages 6 & 8. We all had a great time and heard that there were 400 kids on board for our cruise. Although there were a lot of kids, it didn't feel overwhelming. During the day, lots of kids by the pool and in a couple of the hot tubs, but not obnoxiously splashing or running around. Therapy pool was always adults only, and the kids really thinned out by evening. I think you will enjoy it. We heard that there were 900 kids on board Serenade of the Seas that same week! FYI, March 30th is our spring break again next year, so you'll definitely be in the school spring break timeframe.

[MicCanberra]

We went this year at Easter on the Summit out of San Juan with our kids ages 6 & 8. We all had a great time and heard that there were 400 kids on board for our cruise. Although there were a lot of kids, it didn't feel overwhelming. During the day, lots of kids by the pool and in a couple of the hot tubs, but not obnoxiously splashing or running around. Therapy pool was always adults only, and the kids really thinned out by evening. I think you will enjoy it. We heard that there were 900 kids on board Serenade of the Seas that same week! FYI, March 30th is our spring break again next year, so you'll definitely be in the school spring break timeframe.

 

Good to know if you want to avoid the spring break crowd.:D

[KatieBits]

Thanks for your replies. We don't need to avoid the Spring Break crowd, we just did Mariner Western Caribbean March 25, which had a break crowd, but they were well behaved and not overwhelming but it was out of Galveston and not Puerto Rico. I have read that Mexico and Puerto Rico have their children out of school for the week before and after Easter and that some of the cruises that depart from Puerto Rico in that time frame are a nightmare. As I said before don't expect that to be true on Celebrity. Anyone know how the humidity is in Grenada and Dominica in April?

[kenevenpar]

Thanks for your replies. We don't need to avoid the Spring Break crowd, we just did Mariner Western Caribbean March 25, which had a break crowd, but they were well behaved and not overwhelming but it was out of Galveston and not Puerto Rico. I have read that Mexico and Puerto Rico have their children out of school for the week before and after Easter and that some of the cruises that depart from Puerto Rico in that time frame are a nightmare. As I said before don't expect that to be true on Celebrity. Anyone know how the humidity is in Grenada and Dominica in April?

 

Since they are islands, the humidity would tend to be higher than I am used to; I do not think there is much difference between March and April. We have enjoyed both stops on many occassions. Have fun!

[phoenix_dream]

In fairness to the OP, I have read of some cruises out of Puerto Rico (including on Celebrity) where a large majority of cruisers were Puerto Rican families. It has been reported (just passing along what I've read here folks) that on some of these cruises the kids were running wild and the passengers in general were behaving in a manner more befitting the ambiance of a Carnival spring break cruise than a Celebrity one. I have personally not experienced this in my multiple cruises out of San Juan (including spring break, but not necessarily right around Easter), but this is what has been said. I love sailing with all kinds of different nationalities, but if these reports were accurate I would not have been very happy on those cruises.

[MicCanberra]

In fairness to the OP, I have read of some cruises out of Puerto Rico (including on Celebrity) where a large majority of cruisers were Puerto Rican families. It has been reported (just passing along what I've read here folks) that on some of these cruises the kids were running wild and the passengers in general were behaving in a manner more befitting the ambiance of a Carnival spring break cruise than a Celebrity one. I have personally not experienced this in my multiple cruises out of San Juan (including spring break, but not necessarily right around Easter), but this is what has been said. I love sailing with all kinds of different nationalities, but if these reports were accurate I would not have been very happy on those cruises.

 

I love kids, but I think I would go spare if the kids were misbehaving and the parents do nothing about it. I would rather cruise outside spring break. :D

[wurmine]

We just spent easter on the summit, leaving from PR. I did not realise so many children, the fellow cruiser were very nice and polite. (ok, after cruising Costa at christmas, it was like heaven)

I can hardly belive, that 400 kids could have been on board- mostly, I just saw my own ones- in the pool maybe 15 to 20 on a sea day. The kids club never had more than probably 40 children from what I saw.

We loved the trip and all the islands.

[KatieBits]

Thanks for all your replies. We are still debating. May try March 16th or April 13th instead of the 30th. Do you think the weather will be any different with either of those dates or does it stay pretty consistent Feb -May?

[petepie]

We had really great weather for the Easter cruise this year (Mar 30th-April 7th), have also had excellent weather in the USVI for first week in April on other vacations. However, on one vacation in early may we had tons of rain, mosquitoes, and heavy humidity. So, if you have the choice, I would go earlier (Mar 16) rather than later. Also, with leaving from San Juan, you're already starting in the warm weather so don't have to worry about cooler weather at the start of the cruise if you go earlier in the year.

[d&a Delaware]

Allen and I have done both Celebrity and Royal cruises over Easter/Spring Break weeks, as we are tied to Allen's public school calendar. Yes, there are more kids over spring break, but never a deal breaking problem on either line. Two of our spring break cruises (Adventure of the Seas and Serenade of the Seas) have been out of San Juan, our favorite departure port. The bad mouthing of Puerto Rican and Mexican families (ie Spanish speaking families) is simply not true. Parents whose children are well behaved and parents whose children are not well behaved exist in all cultures, and you will find both on any spring break cruise. Don't let it ruin your cruise.

 

San Juan is a fantastic departure port -- go a day early and stay over a day late for a fantastic cruise experience. We enjoy both Celebrity M class ships and RCCI Voyager class ships, and have not yet decided between Summit and Adventure for Easter week 2013. But either way, it will be a great cruise and we will get to sail out of San Juan again :). The night time sailaway from San Juan has to be one of the best in cruising.

 

We will probably make our decision (as to which ship) while we are on board Summit next week for a Bermuda cruise, and book our 2013 spring break cruise while we are on-board. Good news is that we can't go wrong :D.

 

David

[KatieBits]

Thanks again for the comments. D & A,this will be our 3rd time out of San Juan, like you, we love the port. Last time we went 4 days early so we could see more of the island and had a wonderful time. This time I am sure we will go early again, still so much to see. Personally, besides not wanting to miss our ship, we just can't see flying somewhere and just getting on the ship without seeing the area. You never know for sure if you'll be back there again, so we want to experience as much as possible.

 

Petepie will take your advice and take the cruise on the 16th or if some in our group can't go then will go for the 30th. I think April 13th may be a little too late.