For those who have cruised during Thanksgiving...

[Bobug]

...please tell me your experiences. We have been on 17 cruises & they have all except one been in Feb. We are going on the Splendor with family that have never cruised before. Some questions I have :

What was your experience with the weather during this month?

Were there tons of kids? I am so worried about rude, unsupervised, bratty kids. Even though I am taking my 2 granddaughters I can assure you they will behave or we will be in the room...LOL. They are very young.

Thank you for any replies or help you can give me!

[KORTAM]

We did a thanksgiving cruise a couple years back and the number of kids was huge. Way more than normal. It was RC not Carnival but can't believe there wouldn't be any different.

[lottsomom]

Cruise 2 years in a row on Thanksgiving, too many kids. They take over the elevators all the time just sitting and riding up and down all night. We don't do Thanksgiving cruises anymore!!

[Bobug]

Oh no!!! I was afraid of this :( My daughter is a teacher so other than Summer (which I am sure has lots of kids also) & this cruise is to go with her & her hubby & my granddaughters so I guess we will have to suck it up & deal with it. I am just hoping the new cruisers going with us can deal with it also.

Anymore Thanksgiving cruisers?

[#1TravelMom]

We do back to back cruises Thanksgiving week and the following week every year. Thanksgiving week is PACKED with kids. We also cruise in the summer but the number if kids is so much higher over Thanksgiving. We've done every major cruise line and the crowd of kids is consistent. We make the best if it knowing the following week has an extremely low number if kids. Our DD has a great time both weeks. We are very tolerant and have learned what to expect.

[Cruise Envy]

We did it in 2010 on the Fantasy and are doing it again on the Pride this year (my birthday is that week).

 

In 2010, there were close to 700 children on the ship. You saw alot of kids in the pool and the hot tubs, but I didn't find them obnoxious. I kind of liked that they ran more movie choices on the TV that week as well. The weather wasn't hot but we still swam at our destinations (Bahamas) although it was cool, not cold water. I did really enjoy that it wasn't scorching hot. We had our kids who were 10 and 14 at the time with us.

 

The only thing I remember being annoyed at was the large section they reserved every night to bring kids from Camp Carnival to the shows. First world problems, right?

[jbhcw]

We've done two Thanksgiving cruises...one on the Pride and one with Hal....for some reason I really don't remember a lot of kids...am sure they were there...I do remember them in the show room...but I think they performed or something..and it was really cute:)

 

I personally think Thanksgiving is a great time to cruise..weather is nice..and you will see a lot of families....what scares me is our upcoming late June cruise with our two grandsons...expecting a ship overrun with kiddos:eek:

[sjcruiser]

We cruises on Royal over Thanksgiving, and it was less children onboard that in the summer months. You did notice them from hanging on the steps, or riding the elevators for fun. Royal decorated the ship for Christmas after the late dinner seating, so when you woke up that Friday, most of the decorations were up, and a three story tree was on the Royal Promenade. The weather sailing out of NY was cold, but we did stay on deck for most of the sailaway while going under the Verrazano Bridge. We were inside for the next two days until the weather warmed up along the Carolina Coast, and was the same upon the return trip. IMHO, I would rather sail over Thanksgiving, than another holiday, or in the summer.

[Warm Breezes]

We have cruised over Thanksgiving 3 times on CCL Inspiration, NCL Jewel, and CCL Destiny. The weather has always been great. I'm sure there were more kids than the offseason but to be honest I don't recall an over abundance of them and we were not bothered by them (of course I had 2 of my own:D).

[ryansmith18]

My wife and I were on a Thanksgiving cruise for our honeymoon.

 

 

Now we've made the decision to not have kids.

[OCruisers]

My wife and I were on a Thanksgiving cruise for our honeymoon.

Now we've made the decision to not have kids.

 

Funny Above! :D

 

We sailed on Carnival Fantasy over Thanksgiving a couple of years ago.

The children on the ship were mostly well behaved ... but there were LOTS of them.

LuLu

[Tapi]

Weather was awesome.

 

We've traveled on the Liberty twice, first time over Thanksgiving. The Thanksgiving sailing was MUCH more crowded and a bit chaotic. Longer lines for everything; buffet, to get on and on the ship at ports of call, for debarkation, etc. Definitely many more kids although I didn't notice worse behavior. We couldn't get reservations for the Steakhouse for the entire week.

 

Our non-Thanksgiving cruise was much more toned down. More people quietly enjoying their vacation. Lines were non-existent. We were able to make Steakhouse reservations with no problems.

 

Both enjoyable cruises but the non Thanksgiving cruise was much more relaxed.

 

 

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Edited June 11, 2014 by Tapi

[sunkey1]

We have gotten into a routine of cruising that week as both kids have that week off, now that one is in college, getting them together on spring break is impossible. Personally I have never experienced the problems on a Thanksgiving cruise that we did on our one recent spring break cruise. In November the weather has most often been beautiful, yes there are more kids than during a "school week", but we've never had a major problem because of it. Our kids love to cruise then BECAUSE there are more kids onboard, thus more friends for them to hang out with. They love meeting new kids from all over, my son went to the (California) high school graduation of a girl he met on a cruise, we live in Georgia. My kids also made met friends from as far away as Spain and Australia. My vote is go for it - realizing that there will be more kids than on a non holiday cruise but as you are taking kids yourself you should be in just the right frame of mind to deal with those onboard. As far as rude or unruly kids go, I see just as many at wal mart anytime I go there as I ever do on a ship and it doesn't stop me from going to wal mart :).

[SadieN]

The turkey in the MDR is the same minimally processed one served at other times. The buffet was carving whole turkeys. So the buffet is the only place to get dark meat.

 

Avoid the pumpkin pie at all costs. Jello instant cheesecake has a better consistency.

[scottsgal]

We've sailed over Thanksgiving on Carnival, NCL, Royal and Princess. Yes there are tons of kids but we've never seen a lot of obnoxious behavior. Princess had the least amount of kids by far and that was the cruise my kids said was their worst one so far - they were very bored. They said the teen clubs were much better on the other lines.

 

Thanksgiving draws a lot of generational families which is nice to see and everyone is there to have a good time. We've had beautiful weather during Thanksgiving week - warm enough to swim at the islands. Only 1 cruise we had rain out of 6 Thanksgiving cruises. We'd sail Thanksgiving week again for sure if we had to.

Edited June 11, 2014 by scottsgal

[OCruisers]

The turkey in the MDR is the same minimally processed one served at other times. The buffet was carving whole turkeys. So the buffet is the only place to get dark meat.

Avoid the pumpkin pie at all costs. Jello instant cheesecake has a better consistency.

 

Agree with you! That turkey in the MDR was horrible. It was served rolled up with gross mashed potatoes and something else inside. Then covered with a tasteless gravy.

Everyone was talking about how bad it was. :(

LuLu

[jackparts]

We , family of ten, have cruised over Thanksgiving the last 6 years, Disney and NCL. This year we will try the Glory. Disneywas the best, full of kids, but NEVER felt overrun. NCL turkey was terrible. Loved that on Disney, the waitstaff welcomed us for the dinner, thanking us for sharing. Of course, without the casino revenue, $$$$ were higher. NCL did have a more relaxed way regarding kids.

[ashmac8]

I have cruised the last two years over Thanksgiving. Both were out of Baltimore. It was just my son and I (he was 5 on one cruise and 6 on the other). Schools in my county are closed that week so it is a good time to go for us. There were lots of kids on board but I don't recall any issues with out of control behavior. You will see some family groups travelling together which looks like fun!

 

We are going again this Thanksgiving and my husband is going to be able to join us. This one is out of NYC.

 

The weather is a little chilly on the way down so its more of a relaxing cruise from the east coast the first few days rather than fun in the sun. But we've had a great time each year. We do as much or as little as we want and enjoy the time away from work/school.

 

One of my favorite times of the year to cruise and we don't have to negotiate which family gets Thanksgiving as we are gone!

 

Good Luck!

[CruisinKibble]

I have cruised Thanksgiving week and the week after - both out of Galveston. I consider myself very lucky in that there were a lot of kids but the ship was not overrun by them. MOST were at least decenctly behaved and there were only a few roving packs of misbehaving kids.

 

Based on these two experiences I would do it again out of Galveston. Florida? No way.

[CruzinPenny]

We did our 1st cruise as a Thanksgiving cruise on the Dream in 2012. The cruise director said that there were 1400+ kids aboard.:eek: Quite honestly, we never noticed them much. When they said how many kids were on, we were quite surprised. We occasionally saw them in the elevators and Camp Carnival did block off a small section of the Encore main show theater for the kids. Maybe we were just lucky with well behaved kids onboard. :D

 

Good Luck,

Penny

[StaceySteveDMB]

This year will be our third TG cruise in a row and we love them! Of course there are a ton of kids, our two being amongst them, but there are also plenty of places on the ships for adults to get away if they want. Our first year the weather was perfect, however, our first two days last year were sailing in rough seas and even missed out first port. We are hoping the weather cooperates this year, but either way I know we will have a great time and you will too.

 

 

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[rwilk1129]

Weather is good. Way too many large groups with kids. Won't do it again.

[Cruise-Crazy]

I have been on two Thanksgiving cruises, both on Carnival.

Yes, there were a LOT of kids, unruly at times but it didn't bothered me all that much.

 

The one that went down to Panama had some pretty bad weather coming back to Miami. For about a day and a half we had constant 55+ mph winds. Most of the outside decks were closed and it was hard to walk a straight line at times. The MDR was only about half full those night, lots of folks in their cabin.

 

The other one was also western Caribbean, great weather.

[mommom of 7]

DON'T order the Turkey from the DR, it is pressed lunch meat.

Get your turkey & dressing fix at the Lido the best we have ever had.

It is on the carving station & the days are different so you must just watch for it. Have it for lunch one day also.

Char

[momonthego17]

My family (DH, 2 DDs and Myself) has cruised Tday week twice (see reviews link in signature) and we thought it was great! More kids around but not crazy crowded.

I would suggest a Southern itinerary. Our first Tday cruise went to St. Martin, St. Lucia and St. Kitts. Weather was great, warm with just one rain sprinkle on St Martin. On our second Tday cruise we had lots of rain on Roatan, water was very choppy in Grand Cayman and it was a bit cool in Cozumel. Hanging out on our balcony wasn't as comfortable as I would have liked due to cooler temps.

 

Have a wonderful cruise!