Lesson Learned

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

It depends. We definitely have a Fall Break here. One of my workmates was looking at a cruise in October for it too. (Not T-giving, which they still have but that's only like Wed-Fri off mostly?)

 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

[Josher61]

I taught public school for 32 years - no vacations in October! There might be a long weekend, but the first real break is Thanksgiving in November. I think you should be safe! :)

 

This is what I always thought as well....but as below...

 

It depends. We definitely have a Fall Break here. One of my workmates was looking at a cruise in October for it too. (Not T-giving, which they still have but that's only like Wed-Fri off mostly?)

 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

 

This Fall Break thing is exactly what I recall reading somewhere on a thread. And that's what got me wondering about the week of Oct 13...it seems it might coincide. Oh well, can't be a bad cruise...perhaps just a "busy with kids" one :)

 

Appreciate the responses....now that you have me thinking about it I should go google it I suppose!

[lrowe70]

School breaks happen nearly all year though we've had luck with the end of January. On our Splendor cruise a few years back there were a total of about 80 kids on board(most of them under the age of 5).

 

We also did a July cruise on Celebrity to Alaska, which had a very small number of kids. We've also gone on small ship/luxury lines as well as longer than 7 day cruises which never have many kids(one 2 week July cruise to the Med. had 2 children total)

 

If you do have to travel during school breaks you may want to check out a line or schedule that isn't known for kids, partying and families.

[2 cruzen]

it's not that you are old or that time of year... It's that some parents can not control their kids. We travel in the off season and it's a crap shoot.

Security on the ship could help, but also a crap shoot.

We need to teach the parents that it's a cruise ship and not their personal baby sitter. I understand they are on vacation, but being a good parent has no days off...:d

i can hear the flaming already!!! Bring it on!!!:eek:

 

no flame here...parents need to parent.

[Plant]

We generally cruise in the late spring (before school is out) and in the late fall (near Thanksgiving). When there are older children "doing their thing" I've found that if I announce "Grandma coming through" they move, or quiet down :)!

I may be "old", but I do remember being a teen and I try to give them a little slack. I would have loved to have cruised when I was in my teen's :D!

[BeckyUK97]

We have a fall break at the end of Sept. and will be cruising then on the Conquest. I don't think many other people have breaks at that time because we don't usually run into many other children on our trips at that time. We will be traveling with our 9 and 7 year old girls but don't expect to see them running loudly around the ship. If they aren't in Camp Carnival they will be with us, being respectful to other cruisers :)

[thesanders08]

Don't worry my husband (27) and I (26) we cruise in November to stay away from kids. I love kids, but I am on vacation to relax. I do not want to have to put up with out of control kids/young teens.

[Jimmy Geegitz]

We also try to book when school is IN session.

[irishnyc]

This is what I always thought as well....but as below...

 

 

 

This Fall Break thing is exactly what I recall reading somewhere on a thread. And that's what got me wondering about the week of Oct 13...it seems it might coincide. Oh well, can't be a bad cruise...perhaps just a "busy with kids" one :)

 

Appreciate the responses....now that you have me thinking about it I should go google it I suppose!

 

 

NYC schools have quite a few vacation days in October, in case you're looking to cruise from there. There's Columbus Day, which is the same day as Canadian Thanksgiving, I think, then there are a few Jewish holidays in October that public schools (and Jewish schools) will be closed for. If the religious holidays and Columbus day fall close enough to each other, you may find parents pulling their kids out for vacation because they may only miss one or two school days.

[cruizinisthebest]

Sounds like January is a very good time for you to cruise! :D

 

LuLu

~~~~

 

Exactly. Glad you got the lesson. :rolleyes: we prefer to cruise during the summer, where passengers usually don't mind kids being on the ship. Too bad there's no time of the year to avoid loud adults. Those I myself can do without.

[CruiseAM]

I scheduled our next cruise at the end of January 2014 for this very reason. Holidays are over and the little ones are back in school! We have never done a January cruise. Can those of you that have taken a January, Western Caribbean cruise, was the weather warm??

[Josher61]

I did a western once a number of years ago out of Galveston on the Conquest at the tail end of Jan or first week of Feb if I recall. Wasnt overly warm or cool either in Glaveston but once on our way it was just great weather for the cruise.

[gusandgidgetsmom]

We generally cruise in October as the prices are lower and weather a little cooler. I own a business that serves 4 counties in one state and 4 in another. My business caters to 2-18 y.o. Each county has it's own unique schedule. In October there are 3 different breaks. Three counties have a week off for Fall--each a different week and 3 have a few days off with the other 2 counties not breaking at all. We have found that we have less children on our cruises than in the summer, but still there are times where we see more than we expected. The rude, noisy, out of control children can be found any where. I think perhaps it is because you are in a confined area that you notice it more. You have one small city stuck under one floating roof. If the parents would step up and be good parents you would not notice these kids, but they don't. I honestly don't mind children as you can tell my my vocation, but I do mind rude inadequate parenting. I honestly do not think it is Carnival's or any cruise lines place to have to become the parent of these children for a week. Don't have a solution for it, but wish I did.

So while you will have less children than the June cruise you may still run into them during most months. Believe me, a few really out of control children can seem like a herd!

[BettyPC]

I like January & Feb. Doing an August 31 this year. Hope it will be nice & relaxing!

[Socref124]

Usually I cruise in January.... this cruise was the first cruise at the end of June and all the kids are off school. Now don't get me wrong, I like kids, but I did find the volume on the ship much louder than it is when I usually cruise.

 

Likely some of the noise came from a group of seven 12-14 year olds playing smack down with the plastic cups in the Lido dining area or ten 12-14 year olds sitting in the middle of the open floor area at the aft elevators at 11 p.m. or possibly it was the steeplechase races that happened at regular intervals past our cabin door long after we were in bed (I know we're old 54 and 66) by midnight with the audience cheering on their favourite racer to win.

 

I know it couldn't be from the musical duo outside the casino who's decibel level was so high that you had to stand on the furthest side of the room to understand the words they were singing or in the Amber Palace you could feel the floor move with the bass of the music nor will I mention the upper Golden Dining room over the Any Time Dining where people were moving in and out frequently and we had to have the wait staff yell into our ears.

 

Must be me....... getting old........ as much as I love Carnival, I'm going back or old people's cruising time in January........... see you then Carnival Splendor!

 

LOL, we did a spring break cruise for the first time this year so we could cruise with our son and his family. March is a lot different than Feb, May or Oct when we normally cruise.:D

[rrraydon]

Any place that has kids I steer clear of.. sorry, that's just me.. I can only tolerate my own kids.. all others annoy the heck out me. With that being said, I have only had 1 cruise where I saw out of control little brats running all of the place. Now, out of control obnoxious adults acting like idiots...yeah, I've seen by far more of those!

[cruzn buckeye]

One year a few years ago, my adult daughter and I booked a cruise in April, forgetting about spring breaks...:rolleyes: . We knew we were in trouble when we were waiting to board and the room was full of small kids running everywhere. i love love love kids, have two granddaughters, now in their early twenties, and a brand new grandson. BUT, I don't like to be on a cruise with so many running around and misbehaving. I do blame much of this on the parents, but also feel that security, while not having to be their babysitters, should be making sure the parents are doing their jobs keeping them in control. Who cares if they get mad, it's the rules and they should be enforced. It is ridiculous when you can't get on an elevator because it is full of kids pushing buttons to stop on every floor and then closing the door when it opens. Yep, those parents paid for their cruise and they are going to enjoy it... but guess what... the rest of us paid for ours too.

I don't cruise other lines so am just curious... how do the cruiselines handle these situations? Does security ignore it, or do they enforce the rules onboard for safety and comfort of the guests?

[cruzn buckeye]

 

Then of course there are those parents who think nothing of taking their children out of school for a week, something a responsible parent teaching responsible values to their children shouldn't do. Those are the ones not parenting their children on the ship. .

 

I am a grandparent of two girls, now young adults. Their mother(my daughter) and I took them out of school for a week to enjoy their first cruise when they were 9 and 11 years old. One granddaughter had been asking me since she was 3 years old, when I could take them on the big boat. I would never cruise during summertime. Too many kids and I couldn't afford the rates. But I wanted to keep my promise to her. We got their school assignments before we left and they completed them before we left for vacation. This was something we made them understand that had to be done or they could not go. It did not affect their grades or put them behind at all.

We are very responsible parents and taught them very responsible values. They had the time of their lives and to this day, still remember so many things about this trip with grandma and mom.

These girls were "parented" on the ship and behaved very respectfully. It all depends on the parenting onboard, and if the parents can't do their jobs, the security onboard should have a talk with the parents.

[craftykitty]

We did have a good time and we did relax, but I just found the noise to be louder than most of our other cruises. It was not only the kids but even the entertainment was louder (likely because of so many people). Although I did find the tween girls were had the most attitude.

 

Also I haven't any problem with dealing directly with unruly kids and lasting out the stare downs afterwards (or their parents should they want to voice their mis-directed opinions for that matter). I do agree security should be keeping the halls and elevators clear from noise and congregations whether it is kids or adults acting like kids.

[dallen10]

I usually skip cruising during the summer months as well. Why pay EXTRA for the problems you mentioned? Makes no sense to me. I'm with Char, and will cruise during the Fall and Winter Months. GREAT time to cruise.

 

"SKY"

 

So true!! We like to limit the kids if possible. January is our favorite time to cruise. November & December are also great, but early in the month, not the holidays.

[Lady N Red]

I think all children should cruise on Disney.. :D

[KPfromCT]

There are so many schooling alternatives these days that you can't ever be 100% sure how many children on board. We went on a cruise in late October a few years ago a the the ship was mobbed with "tweens". Seems they were all on "fall break". I had never heard of fall break until then.

 

Some schools have year around schooling now with more breaks throughout the year. Then there is the increasingly popular home schooled children and in the past couple of years, online school has become popular. They never even leave the home and as long as their assignment are completed on time, they don't have to actually be present anywhere.

 

Then of course there are those parents who think nothing of taking their children out of school for a week, something a responsible parent teaching responsible values to their children shouldn't do. Those are the ones not parenting their children on the ship.

 

We still try to cruise in the spring or fall to increase the odds a bit but we just never know.

 

Judge much?:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Who are YOU to judge parents that way? Each parent knows their child best. If they are good students and the school is OK with it, and the assignments/work can be made up, there is absolutely NO reason NOT to do it. In the long run, time spent with family is just as, if not more, important than missing one week of school. Some people......:mad:

[B&JHall]

We can deal with the kids. What bugs us is when a parent brings the kids onto the Serenity Deck. It's supposed to be a kid free zone.

[cruizinisthebest]

We can deal with the kids. What bugs us is when a parent brings the kids onto the Serenity Deck. It's supposed to be a kid free zone.

 

That's annoying. Lol. There's a ton of other places for them to go. Yours is a legitimate gripe. Other posts on here...meh not so much. Kids having fun on vacation just like the adults or cruising while school is in session doesn't equate to being bad parents not watching their kids or irresponsible parents. I've never run across this herd of out of control kids people speak of. I've seen kids having fun on vacation. What I have witnessed; however were plenty of loud and often drunk adults that feel entitled to do whatever, because they are on vacation. Kids are still learning and are imnature. The adults have no excuse.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

[katiel53]

LOL, doesnt sound like you got too much rest on your cruise!! :mad:

I hope the rest of it went ok!

 

If you dont mind...may I ask a sort of related question to some of the other posters? I usually vacation off season as well, avoid the crowds. On a ship of course, no such thing but I generally sail off "child peak" season like you. I am flexible but this fall a friend may join me and the only available week for them is Oct 13. I thought this would be a "safe" week but I read on a thread somewhere that I can no longer find...this may be a vacation week for some kids in the States??:eek: Does anyone know?

 

Sorry, don't mean to hijack!

 

 

I believe in FL that Polk county schools are closed the week you are sailing and there could be other counties with vacation at that time. I think Orange County CA would be off that week, but I don't know that that many people fly from CA to take an East coast cruise at that time.

 

Perhaps you can google school vacations October 2013 and get more info.