177 Children - Is That A Lot!

[CariBlue]

You will probably hardly notice them.

[claudiam]

We cruised in April on the Voyager and were told there were 900 children on board. Compared to other cruises, we definitely were aware of these kids. They were unruly at the pool, laughing/screaming down hallways, pushing all buttons on the elevator -- it amazes me that parents let their kids run free without any supervision whatsoever.

 

We were not aware that NJ/NY had a school break -- which is why the volume of kids was so high. Trust me - we will ask more questions next time before booking. Even the comedian for the ship made his routine around all the kids running amok!

 

And what's even better are the parents who think the rules don't apply to their little darlings -- for example, the solarium - SUPPOSED to be for adults - yet they would parade their little divas in and then be annoyed when told to go to the main pool area.

 

I adore children - have 3 and 2 grandchildren - and we had a great time in general ... but the atmosphere was more "Disney" then the normal cruise!

 

Next time - a smaller ship without the rock wall or ice rink ... these mega ships attract the big families (hubby wanted to try the big ship this time)

[Dreamer333]

There is one more reason why we are pulling our kids out of school besides the education on different cultures. We are renewing our vows after 20 years of marriage, so for our kids to witness our love for each other to me is PRICELESS!

 

Congratulations on 20 years!! You chose a wonderful way to celebrate!!

[Druke I]

I would consider that a relatively low number of kids. As Dreamer pointed out - about 6% of the passenger load.

[marymb]

I have taken my 9 year old daughter out of school for a week each year since she started school. She has not been truant, as our school system allows a child to miss 5 days of school per year for Family events. We get her class assignments in advance and she works on them during the vacation.

 

Each trip has been educational - Arizona (Grand Canyon, Painted Desert, Native American cultures), Great Smoky Mountains, Disney World, and a Caribbean Cruise (well maybe not Disney World). She has learned a lot about geography, history, science and different cultures. These experiences are very valuable to her overall education experience.

 

Equally important is the value of the time spent together as a family. It is very easy to get caught up in the day to day activities at home - and not always being able to find the time to do the fun stuff. Our vacations each year (and we usually go away 2 or 3 times a year) allow us some time to relax and enjoy ourselves without the "at home distractions."

 

Thats my opinion of taking kids out of school - its not all bad - actually not bad at all.

 

Mary

[ajdegumbia]

We were on CB 4/23 sailing. I can't tell you how many kids...but they were having way---way tooooo much fun. They did scavenger hunt one day. One of the things they needed to find was someone who's name began with a vowel. One boy about 12 just got in front of all the people in the pool are yelled... "Does anyone's name start with a vowel" (My husbands comment...this kid is a born leader) Low and behold my name is Anita...signed there sheet of paper and they were off onto looking for the next item. They must have about 50 or 60 things they needed to find on the ship.

 

The kids were very well behaved (I wish some of the adults would have taken a cue from them!!!)

[GramaFran]

This was not a cruise but a trip to Italy when we pulled our DD out of school and dragged her all over Rome, Venice and other parts of Italy. Lots of museums and historical sites. She was 10yrs old. Well, years later she is in collage taking art history. Guess what she remembered seeing the different works of art they were studying. So our trip was beneficial to her education

 

Two years ago we took grandkids on cruise to Alaska, not pulled out of school, I made a Scavanger Hunt Book for the cruise. Every port and days at sea were covered. They had to find and then note what they saw or read and then write about it. Included in it was signatures from officers, waiters, bartenders and other passengers that they met onboard.

 

They had a great cruise and at the end had a record of what they did and what they saw. In fact DGD used a section of it for a school report.

 

So even if at the time the cruise or trip does not seem educational, later on the experience of travel and different cultures will have an impact on their out look at life.

[kryos]

I am on the Cribbean Princess cruise 10/22/05 and just called to see how many children. There are 177 different ages the most in the 4-12 yrs.(116), Is that a large number compared to others who have cruised the caribbean?

Holy toledo! In October? 177 kids? Why aren't they in school? Is that a vacation period cruise?

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

I would consider that a relatively low number of kids. As Dreamer pointed out - about 6% of the passenger load.

I sailed on the Island this past April and we only had about 12 to 20 kids aboard.

 

I realize some parents will pull their kids out of school for cruises, but this seems like an awful lot of kids for an October sailing. I hate to say it, but it screams "affinity group cruise" to me ... something maybe along the lines of a Christian group ... where many of them home school their kids anyway. I can't imagine this many kids being on an October sailing any other way. Sure, parents take their kids out of school for a seven-day cruise routinely ... but this many parents all doing it the same week? Is there something special going on for that sailing ... like some sort of a theme cruise?

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

I know I will be flamed for what I think, but who cares.

 

When you take your kids out of school for a vacation, they are truant, end of story. You think you can justify it by thinking it is educational. You must be delusional. You are not taking your kids on vacation for them, you are taking them for YOU. I have two children and I would have never entertained the thought of taking them out of school for a vacation.

 

Thats my opinion and I am sticking to it.

I think you can get permission from their teachers for this sort of thing ... and it won't be considered truant. The kids will have to visit a school or other educational type venue at some point during the cruise and will have to write a report on it ... and maybe make a presentation to their classmates when they return. They will also have to keep up with their regular class assignments while they are out of school as well.

 

I go back and forth on this one. When I was growing up, my parents wouldn't have dreamed of pulling me out of school for any sort of "vacation" trip. That's what summers were for. Of course, my vacation trips would have never been cruises either ... my parents did not have that kind of money. While I realize that a cruise can be "educational," I keep coming back to the question of why the cruise can't be taken during the summer months.

 

I remember a year here in Philly when I was enrolled in college ... night school, adult student. That particular winter was a bad one and the schools had closed down a lot because of weather. Come springtime, the schools had to do something to make up the missed time. One of the things they did was extend the school year clear up to the Fourth of July Weekend, and cut out most of the spring break for the public schools. Even our college spring break was drastically shortened.

 

One of my fellow students was lamenting in the student lounge one evening that she and her husband had made arrangements the year before to take their kids to WDW during what would have been spring break. Now she had to cancel the trip and would likely lose some of the money she had down on the hotels and whatnot. I suggested to her that if it were me, I would still go ... it wasn't the kids' fault that the winter was so bad.

 

She told me that she and her husband had talked about it and they both decided that pulling the kids out of school for a vacation was not something they felt comfortable doing. She felt it sent the kids the wrong message ... that school could be put on the back burner for "important" stuff like family vacations, and that's just a message they didn't want to send to their kids. They had always trained them that school was their job, and they had to take it as seriously as the parents took their jobs ... and pulling them out of school for something like a week in WDW would go against that principle. She cancelled her trip ... and lost several hundred dollars in the process.

 

At the time, I thought she was nuts ... but after thinking about it, I came to realize that what she was actually was a damned good parent.

 

Unless the school systems did away with summer vacations, I am of the same mind as you ... I would never pull kids out of school for a cruise ... nor for any other type of vacation. That's what the summer months are for. But, then ... I'm not a parent, so perhaps I should keep my mouth shut. :(

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[GramaFran]

My grandkids go to a year round school in Hawaii. they only get 6 weeks summer vacation, 2 weeks in Oct., 1 week at Thanksgiving, 3 weeks at Christmas and 2 weeks spring break around Easter. So taking them on a cruise in Oct is vacation time. That totals 14 weeks out of school. I believe regular school is about the same.

 

So I am not surprised at the number of children on board. We are on a cruise Oct 9 and so far have found another 7 children just from CC. I do not know how many more will be on the ship, and I really do not care.

 

On our Alaska cruise there were over 500 kids of different ages and we all had fun and no one was extremely out of control. Kids should be allowed to have fun, be it in the pool or at the Kids clubs. I love the sounds of kids playing, our world would be a somber place with out their laughter.

[LunchCompanion]

The 40 cruise woman, who introduced me to cruising in the seventies, said never to go during holidays or during the summer to avoid kids.

There was one kid who would dive on top of people on one cruise(Paradise) I went on and he was one kid too many. On another cruise(QM2), the captain had his three children on board, one of which was well behaved:eek:

I went on an Alaska cruise last year on the Regal Princess. I was first seated at my usually requested table for six with a screaming four year old. I was alone on that cruise and went to the first singles get together. I had something to talk about and another lady at the singles free champagne fest got me a seat at her table. There were two punk teenagers at the table but they were her grandchildren and were well behaved when she was around.:cool:

I have been on cruises with eight hundred kids who were well behaved but it takes only one kid to monopolize my favorite pool on the Carnival Paradise.

I was a total of twenty eight days on the Regal Princess b/b last year and there were only three days when kids acted up. The next day, the Princess Patter would have an extra warning for parents to control their kids.

I am looking with some interest at the Arcadia, an adults only ship, somewhat because there will be no kids but mostly because it leaves from one of my most favorite islands in the world:Barbadoes.

To answer the question at the beginning of this thread, I would say any large, recently built, cruise ship with less than a thousand kids is O.K. especially a Princess ship.

[roe2ship]

I am on the Cribbean Princess cruise 10/22/05 and just called to see how many children. There are 177 different ages the most in the 4-12 yrs.(116), Is that a large number compared to others who have cruised the caribbean?

We recently had 178 on the same ship and did not notice any of them around. That is definitely not a large number of kids. You should be fine.

[Liner]

We've traveled on many cruises with lots of kids. You hardly ever see them since they are in their kid programs. The only time you may see them is when they are singing their 'pirate' songs! They are soooo cute! Have fun!!

[kryos]

There was one kid who would dive on top of people on one cruise(Paradise) I went on and he was one kid too many.

Ummmmm, if I had been one of this kid's "victims" I would have maybe gotten a bunch of the other passengers together who had been "dived on" by this little terror, and maybe all of us take a flying leap onto the kid's parents. See how they like it. Betcha that diving crap would stop real quick.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[not Cozumel again cruiser]

We always took our children when we traveled and it is educational for them. They know geography and understand a bit about different cultures and languages. If you have to take them out of school you can take work along or have them keep a diary. Af child can look at a map but if they fly to europe or sail to Hawaii they understand the size of the earth. even on a cruise ship- much can be learned -its even better than home-schooling!

[powers64]

I always end up with my kids missing a few days of school. I plan the vacations around the easter or winter breaks, but they usually miss a few days before or after the break. I send a letter to the school weeks in advance so the teacher can prepare a packet for my children of what will be covered while we are away. I am amazed at what i can accomplish in one hour with my daughter and son as compared to an 8 hour day in school with all the distractions. As long as they are completing the required work and understanding it, and then going back to school right on track with the rest of the class, there are no problems. The school has never frowned upon this or sent "generalized" letters mentioning it, and i know that so many parents do it. I have never felt guilty about it, and the time spent with my children is priceless. This year the airfare was so high-about 700 each way on the sunday i wanted to return, but 3 days later it was 49 each way, can you believe the drastic price difference? So that was the reason right there that they missed 3 days of school this spring. Most important, it has never affected their grades, if it did, i would never do it again. And as for the kids on the ship, when my kids were with me i was glad other children were there for them. My second cruise is just the hubby and I, I guess I will wait and see how i feel about lots of kids around when we are trying to "be alone and remantic" for the first time in 20 years. Never had a trip without the kids, but am ready for one now. have a nice weekend everyone!!!

[Cruisin' Chick]

"When you take your kids out of school for a vacation, they are truant, end of story. You think you can justify it by thinking it is educational. You must be delusional. You are not taking your kids on vacation for them, you are taking them for YOU. I have two children and I would have never entertained the thought of taking them out of school for a vacation."

 

 

We have an interesting discussion about this on the Family Board. There are many reasons parents have for taking cruises other than at summertime:

1. as stated above, their kids are on a year-track and have their time off during the year

2. as stated above, some kids are homeschooled

3. summer and holiday cruises tend to be more expensive and some families can't otherwise afford cruises

4. some people have a job that requires them to take vacations when convenient for the company

 

So don't assume a kid was taken out of school just because you spot them onboard in October or May. BTW, from reading some other posts, it seems some school systems take off a week in October for some sort of teachers' convention.

[Jimbo in Ma.]

That's the great thing about these boards, everyone has different opinions! But the phrase "DELUSIONAL" seems a bit strong< in my opinion!!!!

[Girlsnightout]

I am on the Cribbean Princess cruise 10/22/05 and just called to see how many children. There are 177 different ages the most in the 4-12 yrs.(116), Is that a large number compared to others who have cruised the caribbean?

 

That's a very, very small number of children. September, October, November, December (except Christmas) and January are great times to cruise if you don't want a lot of kids onboard. I've never been on a cruiseship with fewer than 500 children onboard, but then again, I plan it that way, the more the merrier!

[Girlsnightout]

We cruised in April on the Voyager and were told there were 900 children on board.QUOTE]

 

Was that the week of April 16th? That's a school vacation week for most of New England plus NY and NJ, and ships like the Voyager are kid magnets. Best to choose a smaller ship, or Celebrity, HAL and definitely avoid spring break!

[Girlsnightout]

There is one more reason why we are pulling our kids out of school besides the education on different cultures. We are renewing our vows after 20 years of marriage, so for our kids to witness our love for each other to me is PRICELESS!

 

I would debate you on the educational value of a caribbean cruise...but I still wish you a very happy anniversary and hope you and your family have a great time...it certainly is less expensive to cruise in October vs. say, Presidents week or spring break, (which is what we normally do, I won't take my kids out of school), so I think the biggest benefit is fiscal rather than educational.

 

Have fun.

[CL-JW]

We had over 350 on our last cruise and (approx 10%) and we had no problems.

[Gaynors]

Jimbo in Ma. - 1st I would invite you to join us over on the rollcall boards.

 

2nd I'm glad to here you will be traveling with children so far you are the first on our sailing that has "admitted" to bringing children! :eek:

 

3rd I'm part of large group (I guess it has kind of turned into a family reunion of sorts) and in our group we have 7 of the 177 children!!! :eek: Our kids range from 1-9 years of age so they would be a little young for your kids - maybe the 9 year olds could meet though! My kids are 2 and 4 and are so exicited... already.... :D

 

Just my 2 cents - I think taking children out schools for vacation can be very educational (think of all the nationalities of people they will meet on the cruise, and the wonderful experiencies of the islands)!! This is coming from someone who was taken out of school for cruises when I was much younger!!! :rolleyes:

[Jimbo in Ma.]

I am a 100% with you, thanks Gaynors for the logical assessment, money has nothing to do with cruising the end of October. For us it was celebrating our 20th on 10/26/2005 with our children. The educational part of the cruise is an added bonus! I will look for that rollcall!