Crowds on holiday cruises

[Tee & Chilli]

Are crowds on holiday cruises similar to sailing during the summer months? I usually sail when kids are in school and avoid June, July and August. I've never sailed during Thanksgiving or Christmas and I'm hoping someone can tell me what to expect.

[Clarea]

Lots of kiddies on Christmas cruises.

[js]

Are crowds on holiday cruises similar to sailing during the summer months? I usually sail when kids are in school and avoid June, July and August. I've never sailed during Thanksgiving or Christmas and I'm hoping someone can tell me what to expect.

 

 

I would expect crowds with a full sailing. We only sail during summer and holidays so yes its crowded. Sailing Indy over NYE. Cannot wait!

[riclop]

Are crowds on holiday cruises similar to sailing during the summer months? I usually sail when kids are in school and avoid June, July and August. I've never sailed during Thanksgiving or Christmas and I'm hoping someone can tell me what to expect.

 

Lots of kids and drunks, we avoid it.

[Firefighterhoop]

I did Christmas/New Years a few times now and yes there were a lot of Kids/Families on board. (Which can be expected because almost all of them are out of school).

 

I would say if you weren't looking for a lot of families, either do a longer cruise that starts or extends beyond what most breaks would, or make sure it is on a larger ship with plenty of solarium space.

[goldiep]

Did Tahiti at Thanksgiving. Only saw one child onboard.

[hollon]

We went on a christmas cruise and yes there were kids, but honestly they stayed in the kids club or if they were around the ship they were all pretty much behaved. I would go again, we didn't see too many drucks, etc, it wasn't like a spring break cruise.

[pseudoware]

Are crowds on holiday cruises similar to sailing during the summer months?

 

I'd say yes, in general. Did Panama Canal and SF<->Hawaii during Christmas/New Years.

 

Sent from my LG-D850 using Tapatalk

[GrooveInWhichWeMove]

I did my first holiday (Christmas) cruise last year. There didn't seem to be an excessive number of kids, although the ship in general did feel full. It was a Holland America ship, though, so that might explain the lack of children/younger people in general.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I don't think I've been on a cruise in which the ship wasn't full. So I think how full the ship seems would be more based on the ratio of passengers to area.

 

My last three cruises have been two week holiday ones that included Christmas and New Years Eve. Since we had a school-aged kid, we could only go when she's on break...and that's how it is for many families.

 

If someone is adverse to being on a ship with many kids, then they should select a cruise when kids tend to be in school. But if the kids' program is well run, they will want to participate and won't be "overrunning" the ship.

[Keith1010]

In general there are a lot of families on the Holiday cruises but our experience is far less than in the summer months.

 

Keith

[#1TravelMom]

Thanksgiving is CROWDED! We have been on 50+ cruises. 15 of them have been Thanksgiving week. We have been on Princess, Carnival, NCL, and RCCL - all have felt much more crowded Thanksgiving week. We usually do back to back Thanksgiving week and the week after. All the cabins are usually fully booked both weeks. But, the capacity is much higher Thanksgiving week.

 

That being said - we will continue to cruise every Thanksgiving as it is the easiest time for our DD to miss school. We are very patient and know what to expect. We know the pools will be more crowded as well as buffet lines and show seating. We love cruising and have a fabulous time no matter what!

[spookwife]

Are crowds on holiday cruises similar to sailing during the summer months? I usually sail when kids are in school and avoid June, July and August. I've never sailed during Thanksgiving or Christmas and I'm hoping someone can tell me what to expect.

 

 

worse. multi generational groups usually with at least one stroller and at least one ECV/wheelchair. these groups travel in packs so public spaces get VERY crowded

 

I will NEVER do another holiday sailing again. at least during the summer holidays the kids get entertainment in the clubs. on the holiday ones I think the 'family' aspect is far more emphasized with Gramma wanting to be around the little darlings 24/7

[Doug S]

worse. multi generational groups usually with at least one stroller and at least one ECV/wheelchair. these groups travel in packs so public spaces get VERY crowded

 

I will NEVER do another holiday sailing again. at least during the summer holidays the kids get entertainment in the clubs. on the holiday ones I think the 'family' aspect is far more emphasized with Gramma wanting to be around the little darlings 24/7

 

Kinda agree with this one. We did a New Years cruise a few years back, and it wasn't so much the number of kids that I found less appealing, but the number of big groups/families that stuck to themselves or would monopolize a bar or area by the pool. They would tend to act like they were the only ones in the place and I did feel steamrolled a few times. Not the friendly crowd out of Galveston I was used to. Same ship, same port I'd been on multiple times, but far different, less social crowd.

 

We decided after that one that we'd much rather go on a cruise in early December and another in maybe February, and still not pay as much as we did for a single Holiday Cruise. I know many love them, but for my taste, if holiday cruises were all that was available to me, I would not cruise at all.

[geoherb]

When I book a Christmas cruise, I make sure it's on a ship that has adults only areas. The only time we ended up being annoyed by too many children was on the Sun Princess. On that ship, the adults only pool was right beside the family pool.

[Shorex]

When we book holiday cruises, they are long enough to overlap the start of school and sail parts of the world far away from North America. Next Christmas/New Year's off the coast of Africa we don't expect many kids.

[CaveDiving]

..We usually do back to back Thanksgiving week and the week after. All the cabins are usually fully booked both weeks. But, the capacity is much higher Thanksgiving week...

 

Could you please do me a favor and translate this into English.

 

Thanks.

 

Scott & Karen

[JimAOk1945]

Yes, it will be crowded with families. We've seen large, multi-generational family groups on a couple of cruises. However, last Christmas we were on a Panama Canal Partial Transit and saw very few children.

 

As you can see, we have another Christmas cruise scheduled. We enjoy being on a ship on Christmas day.

Edited October 28, 2015 by JimAOk1945

[sacnaillady]

Kinda agree with this one. We did a New Years cruise a few years back, and it wasn't so much the number of kids that I found less appealing, but the number of big groups/families that stuck to themselves or would monopolize a bar or area by the pool. They would tend to act like they were the only ones in the place and I did feel steamrolled a few times. Not the friendly crowd out of Galveston I was used to. Same ship, same port I'd been on multiple times, but far different, less social crowd.

 

We decided after that one that we'd much rather go on a cruise in early December and another in maybe February, and still not pay as much as we did for a single Holiday Cruise. I know many love them, but for my taste, if holiday cruises were all that was available to me, I would not cruise at all.

 

 

This was experience on a NYE cruise last year. There were large groups traveling in packs and taking areas over. Their kids and teens running amok and no one paying attention or caring. The adults would take over bars and proceed to get hammered. There were also groups of small children taking over the dance floor and jumped off the stage over and over again in the atrium during adult cocktail hour and after dinner. These children were encouraged by the parents and grandparents who thought their little darlings would be appreciated by everyone else. I've never had such rudeness on any cruise I've ever been on. Never again.

[Putterdude]

We have done two Christmas Cruises and each time we say never again. The ship's are filled to the gunwales, every bed, sofa bed, berth that drops from ceilings and walls, cots and cribs are filled. Lots of families with children and sadly the parents tend to let the children run wild while they party. It's our least favourite time to cruise however, I know people people have done the every year for years.

[rmurray847]

Could you please do me a favor and translate this into English.

 

Thanks.

 

Scott & Karen

 

Oh, let me try. I'm guessing here, of course, since I didn't make the original comment, but Thanksgiving week, the cabins are more likely to include two adults and one or more children. Week after Thanksgiving, more cabins with only 2 adults. Both are "full" (as in, cabins all booked), but not so many bodies on board.

[Jane2357]

We cruised once for New Year's - a 7 night caribbean on Celebrity. It was what we call a "one and done" - as in NEVER again. The ship was at full capacity and was over run with very large families full of over entitled teens, tween, and younger. WORST CRUISE EVER!

 

They would have one person stand in a line in the buffet - only to then let cut in 20 people when they got closer to the front. Teens in wet bathing suits laying stretched out in the buffet - when seating was at a premium. Two huge families almost got into a fight over seat saving in the theater.

 

One family tried to bring their children to the adult solarium and we had them removed. I've never seen so many rude people and unsupervised children. We would never cruise over a holiday again. Nothing worth that aggravation.

[zqvol]

IMO the issue is not the number of people but the number of people between 12 and 18. These are the ones that make the ships seem crowded and their numbers are way up at holiday times and during the summer.