Freedom: When is it Adult Time?

[Pumbaamd]

The Freedom is being advertised for family's. That's cool and great marketing for RCL. However, those of us in our 50's, who wanna cruise with the minimal amount of children on board and enjoy the "waterpark" and other extra's with no kid's runnin' 'round us and kid's runnin' elsewhere on the ship . . . when is the best time of the year to book the Freedom (or one of her new sister ships)?

P.S. Don't get us wrong. 'Nuthin against kids, we were all there at one time."

[babyjmomma]

To me best time to book kid free cruise is right after school starts. But of course that September October time is hurricane stricken..but I have only cruised during hurricane season, so I dont know any better!

[FitzLA]

This is why I am booked on the Oct 1 '06 Freedom Sailing. I love all the kids in my life, Nephew etc, but It is always nice to have a kid free sailing. Not that there will be no kids on that date, but far less than summer.

 

Lets take a poll. How many parents take kids out of school to go on vacation in October?

[Cuizer2]

I was on the NCL Star Oct 8 - 16 and was surprised at the number of school aged children on board. So I asked a few parents and found out some schools start early (August) and have a fall break in October, a winter break around Christmas and a spring break around Easter.

 

Just for the record, the kids of all ages, were very well behaved. On the Freedom of the Seas you are never going to find an all adult mix of passengers. I would be surprised if there is ever less than 200 school aged children on the Freedom of the Seas. There are other cruise lines with much less chance of finding anyone under 25 (HAL, Celebrity, Crystal, Seabourn, Radisson, Silversea ...) during school time. If you want to avoid school aged children, try one of the lines that school aged children are less likely to be on. Royal Caribbean attracts families, and families have school aged children.

[PTarbay]

Traditionally a good time with not many children would be the week after the thanksgiving break.The kids have just gone back to school so most parents don't take them out then.Another bonus to this time is the weather is good and the price is fairly low and it is right after hurricane season.

[CruisinDawn]

I would think the last week prior to the end of a quarter. Such as the week before the week before christmas. Perfect timing :D and inexpensive for that reason, lack of intrest so close to the holiday.

 

I found it strange and even asked the question to our Meet & Mingle group that most don't have children. I am serious, those that talk online all the time don't have any kids!!! This will be our first time taking our daughter out of school for a cruise but I do believe and hope most parents give it an extra amount of thought before they do.

 

Have fun planning your cruise. This is a ship I can't miss.

 

BonVoyage

Dawna

[CruisinDawn]

This is why I am booked on the Oct 1 '06 Freedom Sailing. I love all the kids in my life, Nephew etc, but It is always nice to have a kid free sailing. Not that there will be no kids on that date, but far less than summer.

 

Lets take a poll. How many parents take kids out of school to go on vacation in October?

 

Fitz, we will try to leave ya some food, hehe.

 

Agree 1st week in Oct is good. After that you have the schools that are starting to have the new "Fall Break" 12th-24th or so. Our school district just lost ours after a 3 year trial and now we get a week for Thanksgiving.

 

BonVoyage

Dawna

[FitzLA]

Fitz, we will try to leave ya some food, hehe.

 

Agree 1st week in Oct is good. After that you have the schools that are starting to have the new "Fall Break" 12th-24th or so. Our school district just lost ours after a 3 year trial and now we get a week for Thanksgiving.

 

BonVoyage

Dawna

 

You better leave me some food. I keep trying to get my sister who is a teacher to take time off and come with me with my nephew who will be almost 2 by then, but she will not. Me Sad!

[PappaSiera]

I've found that not only is the week immediately after Thanksgiving appear to be the most "Adult Friendly" (The kids just had a long weekend, and the Christmass, I mean "Winer Holiday" break is coming up, so most parents don't take their kids out of school then), but are also the cheepest. Price is a good indication on when there is a school holiday week.

[FitzLA]

I've found that not only is the week immediately after Thanksgiving appear to be the most "Adult Friendly" (The kids just had a long weekend, and the Christmass, I mean "Winer Holiday" break is coming up, so most parents don't take their kids out of school then), but are also the cheepest. Price is a good indication on when there is a school holiday week.

 

My Freedom cruise on Oct. 1 '06 was dirt cheap (in comparison to other Freedom cruise dates). We only paid $969 pp for a E1 Balcony. Maybe that is a good indication that school is in. However, the same category cabin on our cruise has since jumped to $1,169 pp. Glad I booked 15 months in advance. Sorry to all those who are paying more for the same thing now. And I even got my aft corner on deck 7. can you tell I am way too excited?

[dafoester]

My sister and her husband are taking their eight yr. old daughter out of school next week to go on the Radiance,we are leaving on sunday.This will be the last year of taking her out of school for vacations though,she will be in fourth grade next year and as we all know it gets tougher.That is why when we cruise next year it will be in the summer, or over Thanksgiving week so she would only miss 2 1/2 days.

[Nliedel]

Try to go when school is in session and don't let the kids that are on board bother you. For the most part the kids are well behaved. Please note tho that RCI does work hard to promote cruising as a family vacation. Many families, mine included, take RCI cruises because it really does offer so much for our familes and there will be no cruise they offer that does not include children and you will see them.

 

We did pull our kids out in October and will do it again. It was an amazing experience for the boys and it is the time of year Gene is allowed to take off work. They have a lot of projects in the summer so he can't take off then and the late fall and winter he is in gear up for the summer projects so he is allowed to take his vacation in either September or October. I wish he could be a little more flexible but he is low man on the totem pole, even after almost 5 years.

[JOHNNYBEGOOD]

We always cruise in February. For what ever reason there never seems to be many kids on board at this time of the year. There are always those few that take their kids out of school but it is just a few.

 

The biggest reason we go in February is due to the fact that it is freezing here and it is nice to get warm for a week in the middle of winter. Down side is that it seems to be the most expensive time of year to book a cruise.

[ChoosinCruisin]

Geeez, its hard to catch the quick reply icon when it moves across the page like that!

 

anyway, after the Thanksgiving sailing and before the Christmas sailing is an awesome time for Non Kid sailings.

 

Smooth Sailings All

[It'sRC4ME]

I have also cruised in May and found that with spring break over and summer vacation just around the corner, there were no kids on board. This was on Enchantment in 2002.

[kenandlaura06]

We are cruising in July for our honeymoon and know that there will be lots of kids on the ship, but are hoping that the adult areas of the ship (like the Solarium) will be kept that way so we can have some adult time once in awhile. We know, however, that Royal Caribbean markets towards families--and many of the things that attracted us to Freedom are designed to attract families--my fiance can't wait to try the flowrider!

[cruzelovr]

Traditionally a good time with not many children would be the week after the thanksgiving break.The kids have just gone back to school so most parents don't take them out then.Another bonus to this time is the weather is good and the price is fairly low and it is right after hurricane season.

 

You'll find a lot of Canadian children on these cruises between American Thanksgiving and Christmas. We have thanksgiving in mid-October up here and those post US-Thanksgiving prices with no hurricanes are great deals for us. Also a great time to travel to Disney-Universal, etc. Less lines, crowds and the like.

[steve20832]

Go to your school system website and that should tell you when kiddies are not in school. Keep in mind spring breaks will be most of March and April. January and February as well as May are mostly adults. Also September through the 1st two weeks of December are also mostly adults.

[twinmom38]

we are going in jamuary 07, ( wow.. a long time from now), but figured it is right after the kids return from a 2 week Christmas break. Not as many are likely to e out of school. And the Caribbean is lovely that timee of year. Also, it is the dead of winter where we are, so it will be a nice change!!

 

have a great time !!!

[PelicanBill]

Watch out for this: We have been taking our child out of school the second week of October for vacation because they have a teacher training day along with Columbus day - so we miss only 4 days. NYC area schools had 3 days off that weekend so our Voyager cruise was not overrun but had a fair number of children aboard.

 

In our years going to Disneyworld, we found the lowest times for families with children were: First 2 weeks of December, last 3 weeks of January.

 

And don't forget that September through January is vacation time for the stroller set. Lots of babies and toddlers and strollers!

[caviargal]

My recommendations are early December and late January. I have had good luck with both, and the rates for early Dec are generally the lowest of the year.

[kellygirl719]

Myself and DH have been going the 2nd week in January for a few years now and noticed that there haven't been a lot of kids at all, I think because it's right after the Holidays....