Thanksgiving Week: Lots of Kids???

[tispwisp]

We are in the process of booking the Explorer of the Seas for Thanksgiving week in 2006. We are curious in hearing from other cruisers that have cruised during Thanksgiving if their ship had a lot of children on board?

[brn2crz]

Yes..There are a lot of kids...Especially on any 5 - 7 Caribbean route..

[justaknucklehead]

tons of kids

[jwlane]

cruised during Thanksgiving

 

We were talking with the Rhapsody AO staff the week after Thanksgiving in '03, and they were very glad there were only 50-60 kids on that cruise vs. the previous week---600+.

[whit53]

I was on the Mariner for Thanksgiving week and yes tons of children. I do have to say though they were not a problem. If I remember correctly there were about 900 kids and you would never know it.Jan

[Cruiser_Guy]

We are thinking about that cruise on the Explorer also!!! Do you have any children?

[tispwisp]

Cruiser Guy -

 

No, we don't have kids. I am desperately trying to get in two cruises next year around my vacation time! We already have the Coral Princess booked and really wanted to try a Voyager class ship. We chose the Explorer because I really wanted to go cave tubing in Belize!

 

We took our first cruise on the Golden Princess during Spring Break and there were tons of kids, but they didn't seem to be out of control.

 

Do you have kids?

[LEtue]

There didn't seem to be more than any other week on the Jewel last Thanksgiving but I'm expecting more on the Navigator this year. From what I have heard not only do the Voyager Class ships have more passengers but they draw more large family groups for the holiday sailings and school vacation periods......

[just4kixx]

I can verify that... just got off the Navigator on Saturday. There were 800+ kids on board, over 500 were between the ages of 12 & 17.

 

Although we are not a late night group, I can say thankfully say that I didn't see any obvious misbehavior on our sailing.

 

We are also booked on a Thanksgiving cruise, and expect the amount of kids to be comparable.

 

A~:)

[CGAGE]

The year that we cruised the week of Thanksgiving was one of our best vacations ever...but we told ourselves we wouldn't cruise that week again due to so many kids on board. Nobody got too out of control...but there was just too many compared to other cruises we've been on.

[Rosieo]

We did cruise Thanksgiving week a few years ago and TONS of kids out of control. I have never seen anything like it and I am a teacher! They were holding up elevators, laying in the halls late at night, to the point where you would have to walk over them, throwing food at the pool and not once did I see a parent or crew member step in. This was a few years back and hopefully RCCL crew now has enough guts to say something when they see something happen.

[Rosieo]

Oh I must not forget the parents, they must also control thier own children of any age!

[debgirl]

My in-laws always cruise around Thanksgiving. The only thing is they are in their 80's, cruise the 10 day cruise on HAL and they never complain about kids on board. Says there are very many kids at all.

[debandbill]

I noticed that you definitely want to cruise a Voyager class ship and that usually means a 7 dayer but if you book a little longer cruise over Thanksgiving it will cut down on the kid factor. Our 10 and 11 day Brilliance cruises were really nice...we enjoyed the holiday and there were not a lot of kids/teens as most don't have a long enough holiday break.

[BigDawgRonAZ]

Sailed the Voyager in 2003 over Thanksgiving week with my kids....had roughly 1200 kids on board for our sailing...that should tell you something!! lol

[beachguy]

(This is beachchick)

 

Wow. I didn't realize that so many kids had a whole week off for Thanksgiving. I thought there would be fewer on a 7 day cruise during Thanksgiving compared to Christmas/New Year, but it sounds like it's a pretty popular kid week. Oh well, we'll just cruise another time.

 

beachchick

[crugirl]

We were on the Jewel for Thanksgiving last year too. Although there were kids on board they really didn't bother us. We hung out in the beautiful solarium where no kids are allowed. This year we'll be on the Sun Princess over the Holiday.

[PhinsAndGills]

I must follow school breaks not because I have kids, but because I'm a teacher! So we're booked for the Mariner the week of Thanksgiving. I took a summer cruise for my honeymoon and had a LARGE group (about 30 or so) of 13-17 year old girls running crazy on a quinceares (spelling?). They were a minor annoyance but provided good laughs when they would parade like peacocks around the centrum, stopping to take each others pictures very a'la Vouge-model style, with a parade of 13-17 year old boys following them around with their tounges hanging out. It was like a hormone parade throughout the ship. More funny than annoying. The biggest annoyance was that they were ALL on our deck, staying in the cabins surrounding us. The squeels and giggles at all hours got old. But I discovered that "SHHHHHHH" works in most any language.

 

Many schools DON'T have a full week off, but many parents take their kids out for just a few days as opposed to a full week of school. I always have about 2 or 3 missing during "shortened" weeks, especially around the winter holidays.

 

I guess I don't mind the kdis, just as long as they are under control and not allowed to run crazy, just like everyone else. As posted in another thread, I'd rather sit at a table full of well-behaved kids than a table of drunken / rude / or inconsiderate adults.

[Onessa]

Our daughter has 3.5 days off for Thanksgiving. We always do some sort of vacation over Thanksgiving. No matter where we go (cruise or land) there are lots of other kids. This year we are doing a Hawaiian cruise on NCL.

[Cruising89143]

Did Thanksgiving once and will not do it again. Tons of kids on board.

[Cindy]

I'm a principal, so I'm tied into school breaks for my vacations. Our last 2 cruises had tons of kids on them, but I never saw any that were behaving badly. We choose late dining and stick to the adult pools, and the children don't interfere with our enjoyment of the cruise at all.