Wow. Lots of kids.

[jeffdal]

I like kids.. I really do. But lots of really bad ones get on your nerves after seven days.

 

I thought I did my research after being on a Thanksgiving cruise. I searched for Spring breaks for Texas and surrounding states and saw I was in the clear but it was certainly spring break somewhere. Our 3/29 sailing had a reported number of 600 children.

 

I did meet some great families and kids but there were other kiddos that were not so great (like running and screaming types). The worst was a melt down in Club Fusion at 10:30p. I would have a melt down too if I was in there that late and eight years old. Another was a toddler running back and forth in front of our seats during a late MUTS showing.

 

I did see that the staff was somewhat responsive. There were a couple of loud kids in the Terrace Pool (adults only) and I overheard a woman find a deck attendant and he asked the children to leave.

Edited April 6, 2015 by jeffdal

[CI66774]

I like kids.. I really do. But lots of really bad ones get on your nerves after seven days.

 

I thought I did my research after being on a Thanksgiving cruise. I searched for Spring breaks for Texas and surrounding states and saw I was in the clear but it was certainly spring break somewhere. Our 3/29 sailing had a reported number of 600 children.

 

I did meet some great families and kids but there were other kiddos that were not so great (like running and screaming types). The worst was a melt down in Club Fusion at 10:30p. I would have a melt down too if I was in there that late and eight years old. Another was a toddler running back and forth in front of our seats during a late MUTS showing.

 

I did see that the staff was somewhat responsive. There were a couple of loud kids in the Terrace Pool (adults only) and I overheard a woman find a deck attendant and he asked the children to leave.

 

Yep. You picked a cruise smack dab in the middle of Spring Break for a large chunk of the country. Next time expand your search. :)

[shredie]

Yep. You picked a cruise smack dab in the middle of Spring Break for a large chunk of the country. Next time expand your search. :)

 

Most of California, in fact.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Spring break has just ended for the LA Unified School District (second biggest in the country) so I imagine for cruises out of the west coast ports, there were plenty of kids. Colleges have been staggering theirs over a couple of months for years (when we found ourselves in a busy Key West in March in 2001 after a cruise, that's what we were told). So if you're trying to avoid college kids (which are usually more rowdy; the OP got unlucky with being on a cruise with kids who weren't properly supervised by their parents), you need to keep that in mind. I'm not sure about younger kids in other parts of the country, but our school district has always taken off the week leading to Easter, back when I was a kid and nowadays that I have a kid who's a senior in high school (thank goodness).

[cpcanuck]

Yup! Spring Break timelines are not just one or two weeks in March - you can expect about 6-8 weeks of spring break cruises - probably starting towards the end of February for college age and right through until about mid April when the last of the spring breaks wrap up. It's a popular time for families!

[drgrinch]

I was on this cruise as well. Actually, although there were a lot of kids on board, I thought they were much better behaved than the ones I endured on a Thanksgiving Mexican Rivera cruise in 2013. Possibly this is due to the different parenting styles found in California vs. the South - Texas in particular. It is more pleasant to deal with a vacation crowd that understands what good manners are all about.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

I like kids.. I really do. But lots of really bad ones get on your nerves after seven days.

 

 

No, you're wrong about that.....it doesn't take take seven days.

1 is enough.

Try 10 day trips. They usually have less kids on them even during the dreaded season of spring break. Don't do B2B 7 day cruises either (usually advertized as a 14 day cruise) as there are are only a few true 14 day trips around.

[AZbeachboy]

It's that time of year.

[paul929207]

Our local schools (Greenville, SC) went back today after a week break

[Luvmyrotti]

Yup, we were on this cruise as well and witnessed some pretty bad behavior. Young ones (like 3 to 5 years) up until 11:00 in crooners and other entertainment spots with parents seemingly unconcerned about screaming/shrieking. The worst were the unruly groups of pre-teens and teens just turned loose to run rampant. There was a whole lot of bad parenting going on.

[MJSailors]

Here's a thought- the parents of the children who were behaving badly are responsible for parenting and training these children in manners and social behavior.

Why are children allowed to be in Crooners,especially at late evening hours?

The children were probably very tired and that contributes to "bad "behavior.

Parents need to consider what is beneficial for their children over their own desires for entertainment.

Just MHO.

[Hoosier-Cruiser]

We just got back from our Spring Break cruise on the Caribbean Princess. There were a lot of kids on board (240 between the ages of 8 and 12 alone). A lot of kids turned loose and doing whatever they wanted. Several issues with elevator buttons being messed, etc.

 

As MJSailors pointed out though, it comes down to the parenting. I had no issue letting my 10 and 14 year olds go off, because I know they knew what was acceptable and unacceptable. They also knew that the first report of unacceptable behavior and their leash would be attached and tightened. I did see a few kids in Crooners and other locations, but most were a bit older (8+), were with their parents and were well behaved.

[jeffdal]

Yup, we were on this cruise as well and witnessed some pretty bad behavior. Young ones (like 3 to 5 years) up until 11:00 in crooners and other entertainment spots with parents seemingly unconcerned about screaming/shrieking. The worst were the unruly groups of pre-teens and teens just turned loose to run rampant. There was a whole lot of bad parenting going on.

 

I was surprised by the roaming groups late at night too.

[golfb4cruzing]

And that's why we leave April 18 :):):):p:p:p

[jeffdal]

And that's why we leave April 18 :):):):p:p:p

 

Trust me.. next year it's October, February and April!

[Hawaiidan]

It's that time of year.

 

Your experience is the product of timing, but also in product selection

Princess, NCL, RCCL Celebrity,Disney, all are market to bring as many kids along.... The companies want Kids...All these lines, except have real deep discount fares to attract more families...and kids.

 

Avoid any ship that that has an advertised kids fare, Family deal, or brags about having kids programs... or family cabins

That is the other part of the problem

 

Finally the size of the ship....anything over 1500 is going to be too large.

By too large, ships 2000+ are going to have to draw on a much larger demographic.... The more passengers the more likely that you will meet a much larger cross-section of people...more people the more potential for encountering problem types

[chipmaster]

If you want to avoid kids some simple rules

1) Avoid the mass market lines, rule of thumb the more expensive and exclusive the cruise the fewer kids.

2) If you aren't rich enough to have your own private Yacht and have to sail the mainstream lines, avoid holidays; Thanksgiving, Last two weeks of Year, and pretty much the last two weeks of March thru the 1st week of April and ALL of the summer.

3) Take the longer two week plus cruise on the smaller ships...

 

:D

[Mommypig]

Also try more exotic itineraries. South America on the Golden had very few kids.

[Colo Cruiser]

I agree about taking longer cruises. :)

[Shake]

Never go on a cruise in March!! :eek:

[mith]

We did a 2 week Panama canal cruise the first week of December and there were about 8 people under the age of 22 and 9 well behaved service dogs.

 

Best cruise crowd ever!

[gcvt]

I agree about taking longer cruises. :)

 

Indeed. When we did Hawaii we saw very few children. Mostly just us old fogeys :D

[CI66774]

The great thing about being the parent of a very well-behaved child on a cruise with few kids is that people (crew and paxs alike) fawn all over them. I was on the Royal TA last year to the Baltics and several times a day people came up to me to tell me what an adorable and well-behaved child I had. My daughter liked to dance in the piazza along with the string quartets, etc., and I had soooo many people stop in the halls, elevator, Horizon Court, etc., to tell me how much they liked having her around. Paxs even approached her with gifts!!!! The cabin steward treated her like a princess, leaving bags of chocolate for her and making her towel animals, etc. I didn't detect anybody who was displeased with her presence (except for one couple who thought they owned the entire piazza floor when they danced). It was a wonderful trip with wonderful paxs who couldn't see to get enough of my daughter. I guess if you raise them right, hopefully (not always), they'll act right.

Edited April 6, 2015 by CI66774

[jeffdal]

Now I want an old fogey cruise.

[judyjudy56]

We were on the Ruby last week. There were quite a few kids onboard. For the most part, they were well behaved. There was a special event in club Fusion one night just for registered teens. When I walked by at almost midnight it was still going on. There was a group of maybe 10 kids outside that were kind of goofing off but nothing too bad. I commend the parents of the kids onboard for being good parents. The few bad apples didn't spoil our cruise one bit.