Less kids on an August cruise?

[fuddrules]

It's like going to Disney World.... you know that there are going to be tons of kids but every Floridian knows to steer-clear during the summer months and holiday weekends....It's the same concept...... and this is coming from a Momma of 2... .

 

It's not exactly the same concept. There is only 1 Disney World. Disneyland doesn't even compare.

 

There are many cruise lines to compare some of which will have very few children on board. Some of which will have many children on board (i.e. Carnival).

 

A mid-August cruise on Carnival will have lots-o-kiddos. If that works for someone, great. If that doesn't work for someone and one primary concern is to be on a cruise that isn't kid dominated, a mid-August cruise on Carnival is not a good choice.

Edited July 15, 2015 by fuddrules

[Bert64]

We start school after labor day and have booked a cruise in late August with the kids to take advantage of better pricing, since in other part of the country, school had started already.

 

Actually thinking about doing the last week in August again in 2016, but they're trying to move the school start date up a week :cool:

[amyj23]

On any given cruise year-round there are lots of kids. As home schooling becomes more prevalent and vacations are flexible, as more and more parents schedule vacations during normal school weeks and take their kids out of school just for that, there will always be a large number of kids on cruise ships. It is true that in summer, the number of kids cruising jumps up to 1000-1500 on nearly every ship. The count goes down some during normal school weeks. In addition, the week of Thanksgiving, Christmas, NYE, Winter break, Spring break, and Easter are all high-count times for kids on cruise ships.

 

If you want to cruise without kids, try a cruise line other than Carnival or try to convince Carnival to start sailing Adult-only cruises.

 

Good Luck...and Bon Voyage!

 

Most of the cruising we've done has been in November and there are not a lot of children on board at all. I generally don't like children, and I wasn't bothered by any on those cruises. We're doing a 14 day in November and look forward to a low number of children. But we're also going on a ship with an adults only pool so that helps... I'll never forget cruising in May and there being children snorkeling in the hot tub while I was trying to relax. That and children running up and down hallways. And jumping and screaming in the room next door. I'll never cruise during a school break AGAIN.

[cruiserNC]

Usually you can tell by the price of the cruises whether a bunch of children will be sailing. The prices usually drop off significantly the last week of August and go up significantly the 2nd week of June.

 

 

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[tmg698]

We were on Liberty last year left on Aug 22 on 8 day cruise an employee on the ship told us that that was the first week since June to have less than 1200 kids.

[N2Mischief]

I have found the longer the cruise the fewer the kids. I think the least number was on our Hawaii cruise. There were 19 people under 18 years old on the ship. There was a lot of grey hair, oxygen tanks, and motorized scooters. I think it was the same with the Panama Canal cruise.

 

I LOVE kids about 8 and under and 15 and above. There is that age group in-between that I find a bit difficult! lol

[stargate fan]

I have found the longer the cruise the fewer the kids. I think the least number was on our Hawaii cruise. There were 19 people under 18 years old on the ship. There was a lot of grey hair, oxygen tanks, and motorized scooters. I think it was the same with the Panama Canal cruise.

 

I LOVE kids about 8 and under and 15 and above. There is that age group in-between that I find a bit difficult! lol

 

We sailed Legend's first repo leg, 13 days Tampa to Long Beach and sailed through the Panama Canal. The CD told us the average age on the ship was 70. (We were 53 and 54 at sailing.) I've never seen so few walkers and scooters than on this cruise. The passengers were a spry, hopping, celebrating bunch. We had an absolute blast! Best cruise to date.

As for children, there were hardly any at all, even though we sailed in August.

[JCJR]

One way to tell in the summer is check the prices of the cruise one week before and after. Usually the rate drops when less kids.

 

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[CruiseHealing]

Most of the southern states will be back in school by mid-August. But the rest of the U.S. is still going strong on summer vacation.

 

Since we live in Florida and watch the attendance at Disney, I can guess your ship will have a good population of kids.

 

We have a self-imposed cruise Blackout Periods during the following times (this means we will not start a cruise if the embark date is on or after a blackout period begins. It is OK to end a cruise after a blackout period begins)

 

Mid-March to Mid-April (Spring Break)

June 1st to Mid-September (GA & FL Schools begin summer vacation around June 1st)

December 20th to the first week in January (Christmas and New Years Eve)

 

These blackout periods are also when rates are the highest!

[tbbtravels]

So many are home schooled now it's hard to predict - I always see lots of kids on the 4 and 5 day trips and summer cruises. I book longer like 7 8 days and repo/journeys. They have less kids. My theory is - longer cruise = less kids

 

The March repo cruise I did this year had like 10 kids total. Yeah, less than 10. 900 + platinum guests and almost 100 diamond guests. I like kids but I cruise for serenity. :D

 

Kids screaming getting on the slide or sitting next to a crying baby in the MDR is not serenity to me. Getting knocks at my door when the kids run off or getting into an elevator with all the buttons pushed - so not fun to me.

I am old and the sunsets make me smile. Nice food makes me smile. Comedians make me laugh. Screaming kids - other peoples kids - make me cringe.

[bargainsniper]

I believe if you re-read the responses, the consensus of opinion is that there will be lots of children on August cruises.

 

I just got back from my 5-day on the Fascination August 15-20th.

 

I would estimate less than 10% of the pax onboard were children. And when I say children I mean individuals who don't look like they can drive yet.

 

I base that on my head count of children at our muster drill. Also the fact that I only saw 5 children at my late dinner seating. I took a couple of photos for my review of the lido deck on sea days as a gauge of number of kids. Not that many at all. The most I ever counted in the pool at once was 8 I think. If there were more than 10% kids onboard, they did a great job of hiding them somewhere.

 

There were far fewer children onboard than I thought there would be based on reading this thread. And there were no hordes running wild through the ships either. Everyone was pretty well-behaved.

 

We docked at Nassau the same day as Splendor. That ship apparently had a lot of kids (according to some people on my excursion).

[Sparky2]

I have been reading about summer cruises with over 1000 kids on board. Usually we cruise in May but couldn't this year. So we scheduled one for Aug. 9-16 without even thinking about the kids/teen population. In our area, school starts the 17th....what are the chances the kid population will be lower at this time? Has anyone cruised mid-August and had experience with this?

 

In Michigan, public schools starts the day after Labor Day.

[pbsteve]

That's ideal family vacation time for kids in my area, summer camps have ended but school starts the last week of august or first week of september. Let's parents only take a week off and still not worry about kids getting into trouble when parents are at work all day.

[DebJ14]

If doing a late summer cruise we try to go over Labor Day to ensure that most of them will be back in school. Unfortunately, this year Labor Day is very late so pretty much any August cruise will still have lots of kids.

[ladygal4.4]

We went mid-Sept last year, and there were still plenty of kids on board. Camp Carnival seemed pretty full. But the bigger boats do help with this issue, so the Dream/Breeze will have more room for you to spread out. My husband likes the quiet places, and he has no troubles finding them

 

 

Carnival Dream, Fantasy, and Liberty. Next up? The SUNSHINE!!!!

[DKane]

Just got back from our cruise on Monday and it seemed as if there were more kids than adults onboard. Cruised over Thanksgiving week and there weren't as many kids as last week. Just my perception - don't have facts.

[YankeeFan4Ever]

My wife and I prefer to sail when kids are in school. We cruise twice a year and tend to book after September 15 for our Fall cruises and mid April for our Spring cruises.

 

Happy cruising! :)