Am I the only one that didn't know not to book a March cruise?

[WetToes]

Live and learn! ;)

[Nvtitan89]

In Canada spring break can run anywhere from mid February to early April for the universities/colleges and they seem to be really spread out as to when they take it each year. School age kids tend to have their spring breaks between mid March to early April.

 

By the sounds of things it seems like spring break in the US is more concentrated in all of March??? We were thinking of booking an 8 night cruise out of FLL for March 2, 2014 - would this be a wise choice if we want to avoid the 20 something partiers?:confused:

 

Peak weeks are the second and third weeks of March. Being an 8 night cruise it will be fine. I would think most spring breakers are on 3-6 night short cruises. We have seen virtually no abnormal behavior on 7 night RC or Celebrity cruises in March. Not that it would be a problem if I saw young people having fun spring breaks!

[EVALUATOR]

I did have a 19 yo with me and stupid me....of course she was on break....I just didn't think about that everyone else was on break too. She was just as horrified as I was by the behavior of the kids on this boat. It truly would break your heart if you are a parent to see kids acting like this. We have always seen families on cruises....never thought there would be almost a full ship of college kids traveling without their families!

 

You probably should scratch that Panama City all inclusive off next March's list of potential alternatives.:)

[JT1962]

We were on RCI's Navigator of the Seas last week on a 7 night cruise from New Orleans and there was a mix of adults, college age and families. It seemed to be that half of those on the ship were from Arkansas. We didn't observe any real issues other than some of the college kids in the Solarium with their boom boxes playing. I can't comment on the late night activities since we were usually in bed by 11:00 or so every night.

 

I think the other posters here are correct in that the shorter the cruise, the more of a party atmosphere there will be just due to the cheaper prices.

[reallyitsmema]

In Canada spring break can run anywhere from mid February to early April for the universities/colleges and they seem to be really spread out as to when they take it each year. School age kids tend to have their spring breaks between mid March to early April.

 

By the sounds of things it seems like spring break in the US is more concentrated in all of March??? We were thinking of booking an 8 night cruise out of FLL for March 2, 2014 - would this be a wise choice if we want to avoid the 20 something partiers?:confused:

If you do some googling, you can find out the numbers of kids on spring break for specific weeks and from specific schools. The site I look at is a TA so I can not tell you the name per rules of cruise critic.

 

March 2 is one of the early weeks so probably less than 500k on break. An 8 night cruise will also have fewer kids because they only get a week so they would have to miss class to take that one. High weeks of spring break have close to 2 million kids on break.:eek:

[gopher_grad]

I knew about not cruising in March but we're booked for a 7 day on FOS on May 12th. Does anyone know if we're just squeaking in before the students of all ages are out for the summer?

[kruzerci]

I knew about not cruising in March but we're booked for a 7 day on FOS on May 12th. Does anyone know if we're just squeaking in before the students of all ages are out for the summer?

 

We did the May 13 Freedom cruise last year and there were almost no kids onboard. It was mostly a middle aged or older crowd.

[EVALUATOR]

We did the May 13 Freedom cruise last year and there were almost no kids onboard. It was mostly a middle aged or older crowd.

 

Ah, such variety.

 

Kids, middle aged, older crowd.

 

And a 52 year could be any of the three.:D

[gopher_grad]

We did the May 13 Freedom cruise last year and there were almost no kids onboard. It was mostly a middle aged or older crowd.

 

Great! Thank you, Kruzerci. Nothing at all against kids, I'm not too far removed from being one myself. Just don't want to be overtaken by them :-) I just remember during the first cruise we took (last week of Feb) the lady that emceed the karaoke said she always used her vacation time in March to avoid the Spring Breakers.

[reallyitsmema]

Great! Thank you, Kruzerci. Nothing at all against kids, I'm not too far removed from being one myself. Just don't want to be overtaken by them :-) I just remember during the first cruise we took (last week of Feb) the lady that emceed the karaoke said she always used her vacation time in March to avoid the Spring Breakers.

I would think that you won't have too many kids. Florida public schools get out early but not sure how early. I know the university my son goes to gets out on May 9th but they are always one of the early ones. I think you will be fine.

[allthatjazz]

In Canada spring break can run anywhere from mid February to early April for the universities/colleges and they seem to be really spread out as to when they take it each year. School age kids tend to have their spring breaks between mid March to early April.

 

By the sounds of things it seems like spring break in the US is more concentrated in all of March??? We were thinking of booking an 8 night cruise out of FLL for March 2, 2014 - would this be a wise choice if we want to avoid the 20 something partiers?:confused:

 

We booked 3/1/14 out of FLL on Indy, I'm not worried about spring breakers. It's all what you make of your vacation. I think you would be fine:)

[cjdixon4]

Wow....just back from a 4 night Bahamas cruise and at 52 years old, I had to be the oldest person on this ship! It was full of drunk 20 year olds. Is it just the shorter cruises that are this wild? Not sure I would ever book a March cruise again!

 

Many people around your age group (me included) have taken the "shorty" cruises. They aren't necessarily synonymous with 20-somethings who can't hold their liquor. For many, it's due to budget restraints, or limited availability of time. You, unfortunately chose Spring Break for college students. That time of year is notorious for foolishness on both cruises and land-based vacations. At least now you know first-hand to avoid March sailings!

[LiseD]

Majority of spring breakers on our ship were from GA schools....most wearing sorority and fraternity letters. With all this said....we did still have a lot of fun....we just learned where to go to avoid the crowds of kids. We also hooked up with another mother-daughter and spent a lot of fun time with them.

[cjdixon4]

You probably should scratch that Panama City all inclusive off next March's list of potential alternatives.:)

 

YEP!!! Along with Miami Beach, Cancun, South Padre Island TX, etc. etc...LOL

[reallyitsmema]

According to the site I look at, there were 1.8 million kids on spring break the week you sailed. I see at least 4 Georgia schools:

 

Georgia Institute of Technology

Georgia Southern University

Georgia Southwestern State University

Georgia State University

 

Emory and University of Georgia were off the week prior to yours.

[jmjmann76]

My first cruise was in early March (it was MY spring break--I was a non-traditional college student in my early thirties). It was on Carnival, and it was only 5 days, but we really did not notice too many "spring-breakers." We had a great time anyway...I guess it really is the luck of the draw. Sorry you were overwhelmed by them.

[LiseD]

I think like many said....it was the length of the cruise that might have made this cruise "worse" than others. It was only 4 nights...went Monday to Friday out of Port Canaveral. So it fit the spring break schedule, price and was drivable from GA. As I said above, we still had a great time and made the best of it. Thankfully our room was quiet, but I heard some horror stories from some of the other "older" guests. We also ended up with a great dinner group.....others had to asked to be moved to other tables, etc We never went to the pool area....just too wild...but the front of the ship was great...nice seats with a good view. We also loved the Viking Lounge...it was always really quiet and a great place to hang out.

 

We have been on many cruises but never in March, so really just had no idea we might be on the "party ship". I kept saying it was Dayton Beach on the ocean! :)

[sail2sea]

It really varies. I have been pretty lucky with my spring break time cruises. Two on Royal, one on Carnival. All were just fine.

[jrljel]

I thought that Royal had some sort of age restriction in place to avoid the "Spring Break/Carnival Crowd" where you had to be 25 to be in a cabin without an "adult." Not sure of where or how I remember that, but does anyone else? If so, then I don't know many college aged kids who are still in college at 25.

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

Just like the OP, we cruised once in March......just once! Our anniversary is in July, also too many kids. Since our retirement we are able to enjoy longer cruisers with less kids on board.

 

***

[kruzerci]

I thought that Royal had some sort of age restriction in place to avoid the "Spring Break/Carnival Crowd" where you had to be 25 to be in a cabin without an "adult." Not sure of where or how I remember that, but does anyone else? If so, then I don't know many college aged kids who are still in college at 25.

 

No, somebody has to be 21, as it should be IMO.

[smoosh21]

Book the end of March and most of April and it will be elementary to high school.

Presidents day week also has a lot of schools on Winter break

[smoosh21]

We did a cruise to Alaska last July and there were TONS of kids on the ship. At least they were young kids though, not drunken Spring Breakers. ;) Our next cruise is a 16-night transatlantic next April leaving out of Ft. Lauderdale. I'm actually kind of looking forward to the fact that means there'll likely be very few young kids on it since it's such a long cruise and is during the school year. I'll be 50 by the time we cruise and figure there's a good chance I'll be one of the younger cruisers. My BFF that I'm cruising with will be 38, so at least I won't be THE youngest guest. LOL

On our TA in 2011 there were several 20-somethings on the cruise. The cabins were so cheap, it cost less than airfare to Spain. They were going to be spending months backpacking across the continent, so they had all the time to spare.

[Alexat2]

Not so much a factor on the ship, more in the ports: In Europe, all the schools take their school trips in April... so avoid that too if you want to see the sites.

 

Lydia