School Age Kids and Off Season?

[LuCruise]

Are there a lot of school age kids when you travel on RCL offseason (say mid April)? I know on Disney line, there would be kids for our kids to meet all year round but will they be "the only ones" as the kids club on a Royal Caribbean ship that time of year? (Or do many other families also take their kids out of school)

Edited December 17, 2014 by LuCruise

[rstout]

You will find other kids. Our kids are in year round schools so we vacation offseason, some parents home school and others take their kids out of school.

 

 

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[Havingfun2010]

Are there a lot of school age kids when you travel on RCL offseason (say mid April)? I know on Disney line, there would be kids for our kids to meet all year round but will they be "the only ones" as the kids club on a Royal Caribbean ship that time of year? (Or do many other families also take their kids out of school)

 

March/April is Spring Break. Depends on age of kids. Older kids have more risk of falling behind, and families are more inclined not to let them miss a week of school when in HS, preparing for finals, or year end testing etc.

[LuCruise]

March/April is Spring Break. Depends on age of kids. Older kids have more risk of falling behind, and families are more inclined not to let them miss a week of school when in HS, preparing for finals, or year end testing etc.

 

Guess I should specify that our kids are still young...DD would be in Grade 1 at 6.5 years and DS would be in grade 5 at 10 years (just about 11).

 

oh...would it be spring break? Thought I was picking an off-season. I know it's not Easter weekend that year.

[TXGalAJ]

I took my kids, ages 9 and 11, in early May of last year and there were about 120 kids of all ages registered in the kids' club. Most of the kids, like mine, went to private/alternative schedule schools or were homeschooled. It was a good amount of kids because mine had the chance to meet kids their own age but there wasn't an overwhelming amount of kids on the boat. When they had specific rock-climbing times for kids there wasn't usually a very long line.

 

We went in May because the prices were a lot lower. We sailed out of Galveston and here in Texas most of our schools have spring break in late March.

[LuCruise]

I took my kids, ages 9 and 11, in early May of last year and there were about 120 kids of all ages registered in the kids' club. Most of the kids, like mine, went to private/alternative schedule schools or were homeschooled. It was a good amount of kids because mine had the chance to meet kids their own age but there wasn't an overwhelming amount of kids on the boat. When they had specific rock-climbing times for kids there wasn't usually a very long line.

 

We went in May because the prices were a lot lower. We sailed out of Galveston and here in Texas most of our schools have spring break in late March.

 

Thanks. This makes me feel better than the previous post

April and May seem like good weather for Caribbean cruises and prices wouldn't be super high if not a holiday. Our kids are in regular school so they would miss a week, which we're ok while still in middle school.

[Debitoo]

We pulled my grandkids out of high school and jr. high this past September. There were just enough kids on board for them to have a blast. Would I do it again? No. Even though we had the school assignments for them do do the week we were gone, they still fell behind, especially the high schooler. End of semester is Friday and we have all our fingers and toes crossed that he passes. ;)

Edited December 17, 2014 by debitoo

[imjoyful2]

We homeschool our children and prefer to sail off season when there are hardly any kids. ;) Less rowdiness to deal with. Typically we go end of November after Thanksgiving into December. One time we went the end of January into February. We have always sailed on Explorer of the Seas with over 3,000 people with never more than about 60 kids. In fact our last sailing on the repositioning, there were maybe 30 kids, 6 of them mine. ;)

 

The kids will get a LOT more personalized attention when there aren't many on board. This last cruise, there were just enough kids for mine to befriend all of them and they hung out as a group, no cliques, etc. Worked out great!

[GTMoose]

We sailed on the Serenade out of New Orleans last February, and there were not a lot of kids. Just enough to where our daughter wasn't lonely in the kids club, but the kids that were there did get to know the kids club people a lot better. It was definitely an older ship. It's what I envisioned what a Holland America cruise was like! :D ;)

Edited December 18, 2014 by GTMoose

[maryjaden]

I have taken my children out of school each time we have cruised. They attend private school and are good students. We get what school work we can ahead of time. There is much they can learn while traveling, I try to always work in some education while on vacation.....doesn't always work....we're having too much fun..lol

[LuCruise]

Yes, I agree on the travel thing being a learning experience in itself. And for us, travelling offseason means lower prices (and not sure it's the same for a cruise, but for land trips, its less busy).

 

So sounds like it'll be ok for our kids...there will be other kids, but a smaller group, which is often a good thing. I want to ensure too that kids activities will be running (i.e. not cancelled due to not enough people)

Edited December 18, 2014 by LuCruise

[Coastalrap]

gubmint indoctrination centers don't like it when you take their youts out while the center is in session.

[vacation_junkie]

Are there a lot of school age kids when you travel on RCL offseason (say mid April)? I know on Disney line, there would be kids for our kids to meet all year round but will they be "the only ones" as the kids club on a Royal Caribbean ship that time of year? (Or do many other families also take their kids out of school)

 

We take our child (Who is an Honour Roll student) out of school every year in January for the past 11 years and some times in April as well to enjoy a family vacation.

 

We advise the teachers well in advance of our plans. They can choose to send work home to be done ahead of time...or to take along with..or he knows he has to catch up when we return. We have never had an issue. If we had...then we wouldn't have continued to pull him out of school.

 

We choose to travel in the off season with our child because we prefer less screaming kids on board. ;)

 

The least amount of kids his age group was about 7 and that was on Princess. The most was about 24 and that on Disney. (for our annual January sailings)

[dz9yvr]

It's amazing how people can find a way to rationalize almost anything. The kids belong in school when school is in session. Pulling them out of school for a vacation is absurd, there are plenty of vacation time during a school year for a family vacation.

[mollyeilis]

It's amazing how people can find a way to rationalize almost anything. The kids belong in school when school is in session. Pulling them out of school for a vacation is absurd, there are plenty of vacation time during a school year for a family vacation.

 

We never went on vacations when we were little (except for a few summer things), and we homeschool so it's totally moot for us, but.... I find it amusing when people think sooo much goes on inside a week of classroom time. Some classrooms are fast moving enough that you'll just totally miss everything and never catch up, but many classrooms aren't like that.

 

I also wonder how some people think they know exactly the sorts of jobs the parents have, what seniority they have, how long they have to request a vacation in advance, how many other school-aged-kid parents are at the job requesting vacation at the same time, and when the busy times of a person's job are.

 

In other words, not every parent CAN take the time for a vacation when the kids are off.

 

What parents do about vacation is between them, their kids, and their exact, specific school. Some schools are reasonable and rational about it; some others are, apparently, in Texas where it's nearly impossible to get a vacation excused.

[LuCruise]

It's amazing how people can find a way to rationalize almost anything. The kids belong in school when school is in session. Pulling them out of school for a vacation is absurd, there are plenty of vacation time during a school year for a family vacation.

 

Just to show you why people take their kids out of school (including us)

 

The costs is for one of Disney & Royal Caribbean's bigger ships - Interior smallest room, 7 day Easter Caribbean trip. Cost is for family of 4; with 2 adults and 2 kids.

 

Taxes are included. But the cost does not include ground transportation, trip insurance or flight cost (another $2000-$3000 for us....and even probably more at Christmas time)

 

Disney Fantasy

Dec 19, 2015 - $7130

April 09, 2016 = $4783

 

Allure of the Seas

Dec 20, 2015 - $5548

April 10, 2016 = $3598

 

March and Easter school breaks are similar mark ups.

 

July and August are too hot, more chance of rain and even hurricaine season.

 

So all of the above shows why we chose April vs Dec or other school breaks. One week out of school is worth this comprimose when our kids are still pre-high school. At that point, we wouldn't take them out. But it's a personal choice for every parent .

Edited December 19, 2014 by LuCruise

[dz9yvr]

Agreed, I can imagine lots of excuses for taking kids on vacation during the school year. Let me try to be clear about this, vacations are not as important as education and taking kids out of school for vacation sends the wrong message to the kids. Some people try to rationalize vacations as an "education experience". Most of the time this just isn't true. Taking your kids to art museums in Rome might be educational, going to Labadee isn't. Even if you kid survives missing a week of Chemistry, it sends the wrong message. Going on vacation instead of going to school shows the kids that pleasure is more important than the responsibility for going to school. All of these excuses are just like armpits, everyone has a couple.

[vacation_junkie]

It's amazing how people can find a way to rationalize almost anything. The kids belong in school when school is in session. Pulling them out of school for a vacation is absurd, there are plenty of vacation time during a school year for a family vacation.

 

Both DH & I are Dr's. Thats another reason why we pull our child out of school in the off season. We both run busy practices which means when people are off on holidays, sickness rises, injuries increase and in turn our offices are swamped and we are needed at that time!!!!

Edited December 19, 2014 by vacation_junkie

[imjoyful2]

Agreed, I can imagine lots of excuses for taking kids on vacation during the school year. Let me try to be clear about this, vacations are not as important as education and taking kids out of school for vacation sends the wrong message to the kids. Some people try to rationalize vacations as an "education experience". Most of the time this just isn't true. Taking your kids to art museums in Rome might be educational, going to Labadee isn't. Even if you kid survives missing a week of Chemistry, it sends the wrong message. Going on vacation instead of going to school shows the kids that pleasure is more important than the responsibility for going to school. All of these excuses are just like armpits, everyone has a couple.

 

Wow. Just, wow.

[Seven Cs]

We cruised B2B with Carnival in August. Our first week had lots of kids on board and DD had a blast. She joined in with all the night time parties that were going on. The second week there were a lot less children on board because most Schools had started back and she said the kids club was a lot less fun because very few children attended and so they mixed all ages into one area. She wanted to go to one of the nighttime (extra cost) parties again that second week because she had enjoyed it so much the first time round, but she was escorted back to our cabin less than half hour later because the party was cancelled due to lack of kids!

 

Coming from the UK with school holidays lasting until the beginning of September, we always took advantage of the slightly less crowded theme parks those last 2 weeks in August, but to be truthful, we would think twice about sailing again those weeks until DD is past the kids club/teen club stage because she has commented since that it was not much fun in the club the second week.

[lucymorgan]

It's amazing how people can find a way to rationalize almost anything. The kids belong in school when school is in session. Pulling them out of school for a vacation is absurd, there are plenty of vacation time during a school year for a family vacation.

 

We took our daughter out of school aged 11 (just before going to high school) for 9 weeks to do what we called an "Icon Tour". We travelled around the world and tried to see as many "icons" and/or important places of history as we could including the Golden Gate Bridge, the Grand Canyon, the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Smithsonian, Niagara Falls, La Sagrada Familia (Barcelona), Leaning Tower of Pisa, Coliseum, the Vatican, Pompeii, Santorini, Mykonos, the Parthenon, Westminster, London Bridge, Wielizcka, Auschwitz, Schindler's Factory and many many more. Her class tracked her travels day by day on a map of the world.

 

She has grown up with much more knowledge and understanding of the world than she would have had and has just been accepted to her course of choice at university. :)

 

Quite a few people in Australia home school their children whilst travelling around our great country too

[Markanddonna]

I think taking children out of school for such amazing educational opportunities is wonderful. We were on a TA with a delightful 16 year old who kept up with his tests and studies online (pretty expensive and unreliable option!) and he saw Rome, Spain, etc. There were maybe only a dozen kids onboard, most of them not school age.

 

As a retired teacher who taught in an upscale district, I learned to never question vacations during the school year. I also didn't appreciate being asked to give permission to vacation when I knew full well the decision was already made and I would be the bad guy if I disagreed. I've moved to thinking that I wouldn't hesitate to take my grandchildren on a trip/cruise that had a lot of educational value. No cruise in the Caribbean would qualify.

 

I can truly think of only one very bright student who had an educational trip and her parents had her journal and submit it to me (not my requirement). The typical cruising/Disney World child in my classroom often plateaued for several months. It was more emotional than for any other reason. They are thinking of the vacation for the week before, miss a week or two and then are somewhat confused and behind when they return for at least a week or two. It is hard for many children to switch off vacation mode.

 

So, parents, it really is all up to you. My kids saw a lot of our own country during the summer months. We love history and the amazing geography and geology that can be found all over the USA.

 

BTW- as a teacher who couldn't travel during the less expensive or "better" times, I totally understand the financial aspects of traveling. Now that I am retired, we can enjoy these bargain times. Also, I have never seen a child ruin another passenger's trip. 99% are very well behaved.

[LuCruise]

So if we go in April, it sounds like our kids won't be the only ones (although I suspect there won't be a ton of kids since it will be only a couple weeks after Easter and probably march break).

 

Still deciding but leaning towards taking them out...mostly for it costing less and better chance of good weather. I did look at July and if similar to 2015, the ship that we want is not sailing then. Plus it makes it awkward finding camp for a 1 week session.

[71Corvette]

We've typically cruised with our kids in the winter months and intentionally choose weeks that do not align with major school vacation weeks - typically early December when the deals are good. I suspect this is probably the time of year when fewest kids are on board (between Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks)

 

We've found there are some, but not a lot, of kids on board. When we bring our kids to adventure ocean there are usually a total of 40 kids in the club (all age groups). It's a smaller group to be sure, but the kids have always been able to make friends and have a great time in AO.

[dz9yvr]

We took our daughter out of school aged 11 (just before going to high school) for 9 weeks to do what we called an "Icon Tour". We travelled around the world and tried to see as many "icons" and/or important places of history as we could including the Golden Gate Bridge, the Grand Canyon, the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Smithsonian, Niagara Falls, La Sagrada Familia (Barcelona), Leaning Tower of Pisa, Coliseum, the Vatican, Pompeii, Santorini, Mykonos, the Parthenon, Westminster, London Bridge, Wielizcka, Auschwitz, Schindler's Factory and many many more. Her class tracked her travels day by day on a map of the world.

 

She has grown up with much more knowledge and understanding of the world than she would have had and has just been accepted to her course of choice at university. :)

 

Quite a few people in Australia home school their children whilst travelling around our great country too

 

I'm glad your daughter has benefited from all of your trips, but unless I'm mistaken Pompeii, Niagara Falls, the London Bridge, etc are there 12 months a year so that you don't need to go in the off season.