How bad are spring break cruises?

[kwazi07]

The title says it all. Our cruise we are consideing is the last week of March. It is a five night Brillinance cruise.

[leaveitallbehind]

How bad are they? Not at all, they would be great just like any other cruise. :) But if you mean in terms of a higher number of children and spring break crowds, you can count on a that being significant.

Edited October 8, 2014 by leaveitallbehind

[bouhunter]

We sailed out of San Juan the past two spring breaks and had no issues with rowdy kids or anything like that.

[Toddcan]

Everyone has a different tolerance for, and definition of "bad".

 

Our last 2 cruises were during March (Spring) break, and there were most certainly a larger than average crowd of college groups onboard. It was evident to me that a good number of them had the drink packages.

 

But.. it didn't really bother us too much other than a few relatively minor incidents where the hot tubs were full a good portion of the days. Sure, they were loud, and the main pool deck's were more active than normal, but we stuck to the Solarium, which was just fine - they didn't go there for the most part.

 

So.. yes, there will be a higher % of drunk college kids. (as opposed to drunk adults?). I found the minor disruptive behaviour is when they congregate since many of them are in large groups.

 

In the end, I still cruise at that time

[kwazi07]

How bad are they? Not at all, they would be great just like any other cruise. :) But if you mean in terms of a higher number of children and spring break crowds, you can count on a that being significant.

I don't mind kids, just the rowdy college students. I'm hoping that since it is a five night versus a 3 it could be ok.

[jkrislc]

I've done two Spring Break cruises and really didn't notice any difference unlike holiday cruises. Spring Breaks are so spread out that they range the entire month of March into the first week of April. As an example, my Spring Break is different than my nieces' Soring Break and my son's is different from both mine and his cousins and we are all in the same area, just different school districts.

 

While there may be a few more kids/families, it won't be anything like a holiday cruise.

[leaveitallbehind]

I don't mind kids, just the rowdy college students. I'm hoping that since it is a five night versus a 3 it could be ok.

 

While there likely would be less of the college crowd on a 5-night v a 3/4-night, there still could be a number on board. There really is no way to predict for sure other than it would be possible to have some if your sailing week coincides with any of the college's spring break week.

[CRUISEBOY305]

I wouldn't say it would be bad but definitely expect a few rowdy college crowds. Enjoy whatever you decide to do. :D

[JasonV1]

7 days are a lot better than 3-5 days simply because the (often) increased costs keeps college students away.

 

If you really want to avoid the spring break crowd, but still want to cruise the Caribbean, do a southern route out of San Juan; few college students can afford the extra expense of the ticket to SJU. The southern cruises are usually a little cheaper, which helps make up for the added airfare costs.

 

FWIW, I was on Allure this past spring break (wife is a teacher) and I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

 

You can also get an idea of how bad it might be by checking college spring break dates (handy site), or spring break dates for (non-college) schools near the port you are leaving from. Obviously if you are going when Florida elementary schools are on spring break you are more likely to encounter more kids then say when North Carolina is out.

 

If you want to see what absolute chaos can be like, take the Carnival 3 day cruise to nowhere out of Charleston, WV. What a mad house (only did it to make Platinum ahead of loyalty program changes, although I don't really sail Carnival any more at this time).

 

The title says it all. Our cruise we are consideing is the last week of March. It is a five night Brillinance cruise.

[silentbob007]

I've done a couple of five-nighters during spring break ... there were a much greater proportion of college students than the 7+ night cruises I've taken the same time.

 

Personally, I rarely had a problem with the college kids, though this was before the drink package ... and I rarely spend any time on the sun deck or in the hot tub. If that is where you live on a cruise, you will feel the difference. Otherwise, I found shows and the MDR to be less bust. :)

[CRUISEBOY305]

7 days are a lot better than 3-5 days simply because the (often) increased costs keeps college students away.

 

If you really want to avoid the spring break crowd, but still want to cruise the Caribbean, do a southern route out of San Juan; few college students can afford the extra expense of the ticket to SJU. The southern cruises are usually a little cheaper, which helps make up for the added airfare costs.

 

FWIW, I was on Allure this past spring break (wife is a teacher) and I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

 

You can also get an idea of how bad it might be by checking college spring break dates (handy site), or spring break dates for (non-college) schools near the port you are leaving from. Obviously if you are going when Florida elementary schools are on spring break you are more likely to encounter more kids then say when North Carolina is out.

 

If you want to see what absolute chaos can be like, take the Carnival 3 day cruise to nowhere out of Charleston, WV. What a mad house (only did it to make Platinum ahead of loyalty program changes, although I don't really sail Carnival any more at this time).

 

Great advise. Thanks for shairing the link :D

[orville99]

The good news is that by the last week in March, college spring breaks are winding down - so the college crowd should be smaller. The bad news is that the last week in March is when the majority of Florida's K-12 schools have their spring break - so there may be a higher population of teens/tweens on board.

[nbsjcruiser]

The title says it all. Our cruise we are consideing is the last week of March. It is a five night Brillinance cruise.

 

It really depends. If you pick a short cruise of 3 or 4 days out of Miami then you could find yourself in some trouble. Witness the NCL Sky from March

[YOUTUBE]PG8Zb3PhxfQ[/YOUTUBE]

 

The Brilliance does 4 and 5 day cruises out of Tampa. It looks like you said you're doing a 5 day on it. It will be more expensive than a 3 day on the Majesty or Sky or some other such ship so I think you'd be fine. Go for it! We've done cruises on March break for years but its always been on the bigger ships and for 7 days or longer. We've never had an issue.

Edited October 8, 2014 by nbsjcruiser

[BillOh]

We sailed out of San Juan the past two spring breaks and had no issues with rowdy kids or anything like that.

 

Few Spring breakers fly all they way to San Juan and take 7 day cruises. Since we are on the RC section of this forum I assume we are talking about Royal and I haven't' seen any 3, 4, or 5 day cruises out of San Juan lately.

 

That said, I usually avoid spring break. I once did take a 3 day on Majesty during spring break and it wasn't horrible, if you don't the fact that the partiers left the pool deck trashed over night and it still looked like a war zone the next morning.

[CRUISEBOY305]

It really depends. If you pick a short cruise of 3 or 4 days out of Miami then you could find yourself in some trouble. Witness the NCL Sky from March

[YOUTUBE]PG8Zb3PhxfQ[/YOUTUBE]

 

The Brilliance does 4 and 5 day cruises out of Tampa. It looks like you said you're doing a 5 day on it. It will be more expensive than a 3 day on the Majesty or Sky or some other such ship so I think you'd be fine. Go for it! We've done cruises on March break for years but its always been on the bigger ships and for 7 days or longer. We've never had an issue.

 

WOW....that guy seemed pretty trashed :eek::eek::eek:

[bouhunter]

Few Spring breakers fly all they way to San Juan and take 7 day cruises. .

 

Yes I know that................:rolleyes: Sorry I posted.:rolleyes:

[jd10367]

We did a spring break cruise not knowing it was spring break. 6 college kids got kicked off the ship in Cozamel. We didn't know this until our table mates told us. The belly flop contest lasted over 2hrs. Instead of the 20 min when no one wants to do it. The quest all the college kids were bare as naked during the changing of the clothes. It wasn't bad. Lol. It was actually kind of fun, but we don't do nightclubs or the stuff they would all be at. The pool was packed though.

[matj2000]

We do Spring Break every year.

The passengers are usually much better looking those weeks.

And the Average age falls alot.

A great time to go.....

[Toddcan]

We do Spring Break every year.

 

The passengers are usually much better looking those weeks.

 

And the Average age falls alot.

 

A great time to go.....

 

 

Great point.

 

It really is :cool:

[Fat Paul]

We are booked for mid April. I looked up the dates for spring break and was relieved to find no colleges with spring break at the time of our sailing.

[Cindy]

I was an educator before I retired, so we cruised at Spring Break 8 years in a row, always on a 7-night cruise, and always from Galveston. Were the ships more crowded and the cruises more expensive than at off times? Yes, but we still enjoyed ourselves immensely and made some friends we still do things with!

 

The crowds on our SB cruises were families with school-age children, not college kids. We only had a problem once, and that was when our break coincided with Holy Week. There were HUGE numbers of cruisers from Mexico who ignored their teens all week. Their behavior was bad enough as to be dangerous, and we had to get security involved.

 

For the most part, the children and parents we met on-board were delightful! It's a great time in the Caribbean weather wise, too! While a Spring Break cruise wouldn't be my first choice now that I have more freedom, I wouldn't hesitate to go if that's what my schedule allowed.

[cathykb]

The shorter the cruise, the younger the crowd, and the more partying. Spring break would not discourage us from cruising. We did a 4 nighter on Majesty out of Miami (2 50/60s couples) in March during the height of spring break a few years ago and had a wonderful time. I did get some strange looks from shopkeepers when I told them I was on Spring Break!

 

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[Janet524]

We avoid them like the plague.

[jstraw20]

It really depends. If you pick a short cruise of 3 or 4 days out of Miami then you could find yourself in some trouble. Witness the NCL Sky from March

PG8Zb3PhxfQ

 

Wow, I was about to post something about how I've never had a problem cruising during Spring Break season but after seeing that I may have to reconsider my position...

 

Those have to be the most patient, low key security guys I've ever seen!

[F27TW]

It really depends. If you pick a short cruise of 3 or 4 days out of Miami then you could find yourself in some trouble. Witness the NCL Sky from March

[YOUTUBE]PG8Zb3PhxfQ[/YOUTUBE]

 

.

 

 

I LOVE when he just starts splashing the Security guys ... and splashing .. and splashing .. and splashing ... they just stand around doing nothing .. THEN he dives over the rail INTO the pool ... ROFL!

 

The T-Shirt on the other kid that says "Don't Forget Your Balls" ... well, I think that sums up the Spring Break short cruise experience pretty well too!!

 

Fantastic vid !!