I will NEVER.....

[Jocia]

cruise between Mid-May and Labor Day, there are just too many kids. I'll also never cruise during the week of season finales. I missed 24, Lost, AND Desperate Housewives!! I must have been NUTS to cruise then, thank God for VCR's & TiVo!!

 

Dana

[springtxbill]

Wish I could cruise in October as most of yours have been to get the lower rates.

[flashdog_1]

So tell us about the Caribbean Princess in May. Write us a little review.

[patches05]

I wish I had the option to vacation during the "off-season"! I am a teacher and in my school district we are not able to take more than two days off in a row without a doctor's note. It does not matter if a teacher has five days saved up or 50. It seems like there are some great deals on last minute cruises. Oh well, I suppose I can take advantage when I retire! :)

[MrsBoo]

FYI - you'd better add Christmas to your "don't sail during" time.;)

[hockey072]

I swear kids come straight from the devil. How dare they take a vacation the same time as us.

[clackey]

I swear kids come straight from the devil. How dare they take a vacation the same time as us.

Have you tried a little Bar-B-Q sauce on them? Honest, they're not half bad!!:D

[Folgy]

FYI - you'd better add Christmas to your "don't sail during" time.;)

 

You can almost add anytime to 'do not sail time'. Parents yank their kids out of school like a Pezz dispenser.

 

I just bite the bullet and cruise the itinerary and ship I like. :D

[LARGIN]

It seems the longer the cruise, the less number of kids...

[MrsBoo]

You can almost add anytime to 'do not sail time'. Parents yank their kids out of school like a Pezz dispenser.

 

I just bite the bullet and cruise the itinerary and ship I like. :D

 

 

Parts of California have year-round school, whereby there are always 1/4 of the students on break, no "yanking" required.

[Folgy]

That just reaffirms ' there is no good sail time *sigh*

[Jocia]

So tell us about the Caribbean Princess in May. Write us a little review.

The CP is a beautiful ship. It's also a BIG ship. I only gained 2lbs on my cruse because my room was forward and everything happened aft. I wouldn't recommend this ship to older people or those who have difficulty walking there's a lot of ground to cover on this ship. I would not get a double inside again, Carnival has spoiled me on that one. Bathrooms were tiny too, you can sit on the toliet, take a shower, and brush your teeth at the same time. (I wish I was kidding!!!) The hallways going to rooms were also small, two people could not walk side-by-side down them. The public areas of the ship were gorgeous! The pool areas, especially the Movies Under the Stars, were great, clean, lots, and lots of space to sit. The dining room food was ok, I had better on Carnival. But the buffett food was wonderful, always had a large variety going on with lots of choices, different themes some days too, last day was sushi. I'd say this is a good ship for families with older kids and couples. Didn't run across many singles on this one, and I was with a singles group!!! :-)

 

Dana

[Krazy Kruizers]

Now that we are retired, we can choose when we want to cruise.

 

And we won't cruise in the summer in the Caribbean.

Won't cruise at Christmas any more or spring break (unless it is one of those long cruises that the majority of the kids don't want to be on).

[Cotton]

I know everybody doesn't have the freedom to cruise whenever they want to, but since retirement, I always choose my cruise dates for times I KNOW most kids of all ages will be back in school.

 

The first week in September has been perfect. Most kids are just getting back into a school routine, and parents are hesitant to take them out of classes so early in the school year.:)

[Gabsabunch42]

Wow, I sense a lot of stress in this thread lol. I was going to cruise in September this year (have not cruised in 4 years), because the rates at that time were really good. But, since my youngest is 14, pulling her out of school was not worth the stress of having to catch up, so we changed our cruise to August. I have to tell you, it was a huge jump in rate. We were going to splurge in September and go ahead and get 2 interior cabins for the 4 of us. Well, when we decided (guilt won out!) and opted for August instead, we went back to one room and it was still going to cost us more. At that point, we were like, what the he**, and decided that if we were going to change, we might as well go for a balcony room lol.. So here we sit with a month to go and much much poorer.

 

So I have to say, I totally understand how a family would not be able to afford to cruise in the summer. This is why people are pulling their children out of school I suppose.

 

I don't mind kids that are well-behaved, but it doesn't appear to be the norm anymore:( . But if I didn't have a teenager, I certainly would cruise in the Fall.

[famoussd]

Desparate Housewives sucks. If Sex & the City were still on, nobody would be watching Desparate Housewives..

[michmike]

on the bright side, kids tend to weigh less than adults, so it's much easier to throw a disruptive one overboard.. scruff of the neck, seat of the pants.. a quick snatch and grab and the annoying party is shark bait.. *S*

[Happy ks]

As much as I enjoy a few TV shows, I don't think I would plan my life around them! May seems to be a perfect time to cruise, the weather is great, school is still in session, the cruise rates are down. If only I didn't have these dreaded kids to hold me back ;) , you can bet I would be cruising, rather than watching TV!

[Juliadlf]

Mid May to Labor Day is when "kids" SHOULD be taking their vacations and parents SHOULDN'T be pulling them out of school during the regular school term.There are good deals in the summer for families. And there is the breaks during the year as well.

 

On the other hand....

there are alot of preschool age children out there so you won't ever have

a child free cruise. :rolleyes:

[Nliedel]

Mid May to Labor Day is when "kids" SHOULD be taking their vacations and parents SHOULDN'T be pulling them out of school during the regular school term.There are good deals in the summer for families. And there is the breaks during the year as well.

 

On the other hand....

there are alot of preschool age children out there so you won't ever have

a child free cruise. :rolleyes:

 

I am not picking on you per se but I am at a loss as to why people think they can tell me what I should and should not be doing as a parent without knowing our family situation and constraints on vacation time?

[Juliadlf]

I am not picking on you per se but I am at a loss as to why people think they can tell me what I should and should not be doing as a parent without knowing our family situation and constraints on vacation time?

 

As I stated, I knew I'd get flamed........:p

[mrg0433]

When our kids were in school, they used to get school vacation the week of President's Birthday in February. We always took them out of school for the following week as well. I think that is a great time to cruise and visit Florida or sunny California. My children always got their homework assignments before our vacation every year. Our eldest son won a scholarship for being top student at his university a few years ago, so I guess missing one week of school every February worked out for all of our family.

 

Next Thanksgiving we are taking our young grandsons from LA with us on a cruise from NY to the Caribbean. Looking forward to another generation of vacation memories. In other words, don't travel over holidays if you don't like kids.

 

Mary

Plymouth, MA

[Gabsabunch42]

As much as I enjoy a few TV shows, I don't think I would plan my life around them! May seems to be a perfect time to cruise, the weather is great, school is still in session, the cruise rates are down. If only I didn't have these dreaded kids to hold me back ;) , you can bet I would be cruising, rather than watching TV!

Me neither. Thank goodness for Tivo lol

[geoherb]

My DH is switching careers to be a teacher at community college. Our cruises will be planned around his breaks. Previously, we took a lot of cruises the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We were able to get some great deals. Last year, though, I couldn't get off from work until the week of Christmas. The kids on our Celebrity cruise were well behaved. I did not notice any that were out of hand.

 

The fewest number of kids out of all our cruises was on our cruise to New England and Canada in October 2002. Anyone wanting to avoid children should check out that itinerary.

[Jocia]

When I said kids, I wasn't referring to the little ones. Those weren't that bad, thank GOD I know some can be little monsters. I'm referring to the newly graduated high school senior kids. If I EVER danced on a bar, my mother for damn sure wouldn't be rooting me on!!!

 

Dana