How "bad" are spring break cruises?

[BillOh]

They are really no different than any other cruise. Ships sail FULL on all sailings, so there are no more passengers that week than any other.

 

College kids have to be between 21 and 25 to sail alone....and they cannot afford more than 3-4 nighters. If you're doing a full week, you will have FAMILIES..not frat boys! No worries!

 

We sail mainly in the spring...good weather! We've NEVER had a problem with anything resembling nutsy, crazy partiers!

 

I would beg to differ, but the longer cruises see less issues. The 3-4 day cruises can be a bit worse, I usually try to avoid those cruises. But in the spirit of bad day on a cruise is better than a good day at work ..... I've come up to trashed pool decks in the morning when you want to swim, or drunks taking over things like Quest or some of the other participatory show.

[kontraxed]

A few years back we were taking a cruise out of NYC and I didn't want a bunch of school kids. I did my homework, found the perfectly timed cruise and booked it. Very few kids right? Nope. Who would have thought so many kids from Quebec would have spring break THAT week?

 

My overall experience leads me to be much more concerned with young, unsupervised children than with college kids. Seems their parents feel they're safe on a cruise ship and it's OK to let them run wild. That all being said, it's entirely hit or miss. I've been on ships with hundreds of children and never had an issue. Then I've been on ships with no kids but a bunch of old drunks. Which is worse?

[payitforward]

Last year we made the mistake of sailing out of Fort Lauderdale during spring break. While my experience wasn't as bad as some of the others posted, I did find that the college students took over the pools and made it difficult for others to relax. It was a huge challenge to get a drink at any of the bars near the pools. We stopped to help a girl who was inebriated, laying in the hallway. Late night room service took over two hours every time. Overall, we still had a great cruise, but we will try to avoid spring break in the future.

[impatientlywaiting]

We cruised the end of March on a week cruise out of Tampa with 1,000 college kids - WORST CRUISE EVER. I have never seen so many rude, ill behaved people. The crew couldn't control them. If I had been the captain I would have left them at the first port of call. On one tender boat ride they made half a dozen small children cry because they were screaming their school song. When asked by the parents and the tender crew to quiet down, they cussed them out and then got louder. The cabin attendants really hate it, too. Can you imagine 4 drunk dudes in one cabin - DISGUSTING. Needless to say, we'll never cruise during spring break again.

 

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[troykahack]

Glad Daytona Beach area no longer welcomes them and another college event that used to take place here. It only takes a few to ruin it for all.

[Moltar]

I will never do it again. We did a 5 night on Liberty and had half of U of FLA onboard. Never again. Ever. Never. Never ever, ever ever ever ever.

Edited November 7, 2016 by Moltar

[Capt_BJ]

during dd's soph year, she and I did a 5 day Liberty OTS cruise for her spring break out of Miami. She was anxious for the party party time and I agreed to grin and bear it ... our spring break dad daughter trips were running out soon. {'bama grad now ... graduated in 3.5 years with BA}

 

Turned out to be one of the quietest dullest cruises we've ever taken. Not long b4 we'd cruised on Freedom and she was in "the Crypt" until the wee hours every night. On LOTS the disco was dead by midnight .... there were college kids but they all seemed to be counting their dollars or were too young to drink on the ship .... and went to bed early! Why? DUNNO

 

As a previous poster mentioned "ya never know what you're gonna get" .....

 

she's done a half dozen RCL cruises since ... it didn't burst her bubble.

 

MAYBE it has to do with which school crowd you get hit with ....

Edited November 7, 2016 by Capt_BJ

[troykahack]

We were on MJ Memorial Day weekend this past May. Not Spring break but lots of College age folks. Pool bars were crowded and their shoes stunk. So bad they put them in the hallway when they retired for the night. They were calling it a Graduation Cruise. We just chose to go to other areas and made no big deal about it.

[Charger2008]

If you want to avoid spring break, be careful cruising end of Feb. and March. I live in Florida. I have 3 college age or just finished college kids. They all CRUISED for spring break. It is hit or miss with the schools targeting certain ships. My sons choose RCL to do their spring break cruises. This year we are taking my daughter on Navigator March 12. FSU is on break and I know she has plenty of friends cruising that ship.

 

It has become a right of passage so to speak for college kids. They will be on the ships but will there be 100 from each school or 2000? They go to the Islands to drink and party with a drinking age of 18. 25+ years ago they would go to Daytona, now they cruise.

 

So many people are commenting on this topic but they do not live in Florida and do not know that Florida, Georgia and North Carolina kids cruise for spring break. Lots of other schools too, but it is not as easy as when you can get in a car and drive to the port. I have lost count of the number of cruises my kids have taken for spring break with their friends... please know that the short cruises 3-5 days will be loaded with spring breakers. Some ships more that others. 7 days cruises are families cruising for spring break. Parents are usually on the ships... The shorter cruises give the kids a few days at home with family and a few days of Party time while they take a break from school.

 

The Fraternities and Sororities organize these trips with a 21 year old in each room so they can all get on the ship. The last 2 cruises my son did were over 2500 just from UF. His fraternity had over 200 in just his group all getting on the same ship. All the fraternities targeted the same ship. A 5 day out of Lauderdale booked the first week in March. Other schools in Florida do the same for their breaks during March. Here is a video on one of my sons spring break cruises.

 

 

Here is a break down of what schools have break when you are cruising. http://www.studentcity.com/plan-a-trip/overview/when-my-spring-break

 

You may be absolutely fine or you may end up with 2-3k kids from the same school and they take over the ship.

 

OMG, I would HATE HATE HATE being on that cruise that was shown in the video. I like to party sometimes too, but that is WAY beyond what I could tolerate. YIKES :eek:

[xpcdoojk]

I beg to differ with the previous posts.

 

My wife and I were on a 7-night cruise several years ago during spring break. It was basically "Animal House at Sea". The cruise line could care less, as one student drank more alcohol in one day than my wife and I drank the whole week, and Mommy and Daddy were paying for their cruise.

 

To be fair, there were 4 colleges/universities represented on board, and all the problems were caused by students from one university.

 

I agree we sailed 7 nights on the Oasis last February 2015, and there were very few spring breakers and practically no college age kids. After the cruise we got on a cruise for 5 nights on the Liberty of the Seas. There were literally more university of Florida students than the rest of the passengers. It was 8 deep at every bar all day long. The things I witnessed the kids doing on the ship and in the ports of Belize and Cozumel, I am willing to bet would have made most of their parents tell them they couldn't go. I will never go on a spring break cruise again. I think a 10 day during the same time frame would be fine, but any cruise 7 days or less, no way in heck would I go.

 

JC

[xpcdoojk]

Agree.

 

I think that is a first time in this forum.:D:eek::D

 

JC

[grand isle joe]

..............if you love the smell of vomit in the morning than a spring break cruise is for YOU!...........:cool:

[DiamondSuiteCruiser]

I will never ever do it again. Last year we did a 6 night with thousands of Florida State students. They were horrible. They took over the bars. They took over the pool. The took over the hot tubs. Hot tubs were mostly closed the whole trip due to drunk kids vomiting in it. We saw a lot of under age drinking. Kids sharing drink packages. Disgusting loud vulgar behavior in the MDR nightly (example: girls on there knees in front of a guy while he held a beer bottle in front of his private are and everyone yelling chug) I could go on and on. I have never been so happy to get off a ship. We did sit next to three nice young gentleman at the pool one day who were actually studying for the MCAT. They were from the University of Michigan. No surprise there.

This next cruise we are on a very expensive 8 night cruise.

 

We had pretty much the same experience on a short 5 nighter on the Navigator. It was our first and last time doing a short Spring break cruise. They drank so much, that the crew was doing a lot of carpet cleaning and mopping. The Captain left a bunch of them in Cozumel, for not getting back to the ship in time. I hope the OP's cruise goes better.

[ronandcarla]

Back in March 09 we were on the Navigator of the Seas for a 5 day cruise and we didn't realize we were on a Spring Break cruise until we arrived and onboard; anyway during the week the entire pool area was over taken by the college crowd and they had a wonderful time and very courteous to us older persons and the activities that took place poolside was quite eventful; and as to the dress codes for dining room nightly I would have to say you would have thought we were at a staged fashion show for the girls and guys were dressed beautifully, its a shame more of the older adults don't follow the same pattern.

 

As for us we wouldn't even hesitate to do another short cruise during the same time period.

[mcatmcat]

Not bad at all ( my opinion). If you really want to experience a bad spring break cruise book with Carnival

 

 

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[JamesEM]

Booked a 7 day Spring break cruise once, never did that again.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

The reality is that Spring Break extends over a long timeframe...since different states offer different time windows for this break from school.

 

Therefore...it is possible that cruises anywhere from early March through late April can be impacted.

 

In general, we have not experienced major issues...as long as parents take their responsibility as parents seriously...which is unfortunately not the case. In addition...college Spring Breakers don't always care about anyone else but themselves when it comes to vacationing anywhere.

 

Given those realities...know what to expect and book accordingly.

[davekathy]

I think that is a first time in this forum.:D:eek::D

 

JC

 

First time for everything. ;o)

[LeesSummitCruiser1]

Hi everyone!

 

I'm booked for a cruise in March...spring break season.

 

It's a five both out of Miami. I'm worried it will be overrun by college kids. I don't care about little kids because we have kids in our party...but I really don't want to deal with too rowdy of a crowd.

 

Have any of y'all had experience with these groups? This cruise is a little more pricey than others...I'm hoping more of the college bunch will be drawn to the 3/4 nighters on the older ships.

 

I used my phone to type this, excuse any typos please!

 

The vast majority of our cruises are spring break since we have kids. We have never had an issue. When are kids are older and won't be cruising with us we will cruise other times because of cost not because of issues.

[Marylandteachergirl]

Has anyone sailed on a spring break cruise that embarks from San Juan, PR? How is the airport then? I know it's a smaller airport. We have sailed Adventure over Thanksgiving, but never spring holidays.

[Clarea]

Has anyone sailed on a spring break cruise that embarks from San Juan, PR? How is the airport then? I know it's a smaller airport. We have sailed Adventure over Thanksgiving, but never spring holidays.

We have, once. My impression was that while there were still some spring breakers on board, it was not near the percentage as sailings we've done from Florida during that period. I'm thinking that the cost of the flight to San Juan may have been a deterrent.

[moonltnite]

The one RCL cruise I see that's definitely being targeted as a college spring break itinerary is http://inceptioncruise.com/.

 

It appears to be a 4 night cruise (March 13th - 17th) out of Miami to the Bahamas on Enchantment of the Seas. They note bands that will be part of the entertainment: Dada Life, 3LAU, Bassjackers, Brody Jenner, Danny Avila, MAKJ, Lil Jon, Quintino. I haven't heard of a single one of those!

 

They also talk about parties on the pool deck:

 

"What would a Spring Break floating music festival be without pool parties?

Pool deck parties are where things really heat up during Inception at Sea. You’re not going to want to miss a moment of the action that takes place atop the pool deck of the Enchantment of the Seas.

DANCE – DON’T WALK!

Get ready for top talent, drinks flowing, and the best dance moves you’ve ever seen. The pool deck is our favorite place to be, especially upon returning to the ship after a day in the Bahamas. Don’t miss it!

SUNRISE PARTIES

When you’re on a nonstop party cruise there’s no other way to end your night or start your day than out on the open waters at a sunrise party.

As mentioned, Inception at Sea features NONSTOP MUSIC. That’s right, there isn’t a single moment when you won’t be able to find a spot on the ship to party, night or day.

Sunrise parties are our favorite because they show us who really came to party! See you out there…"

 

I don't know how many slots they were given out of the total capacity, but on their pricing page it shows inside cabins for 3 or 4 and outside for 4 are sold out. Maybe they reserve the whole ship? If so - I can imagine the clean up before its next sailing would have to be rather massive!

 

We'll be on a cruise that week on Allure - so as others have mentioned - we're hoping that it's largely families vs any college kids, being a week long!

[kwazi07]

The one RCL cruise I see that's definitely being targeted as a college spring break itinerary is http://inceptioncruise.com/.

 

It appears to be a 4 night cruise (March 13th - 17th) out of Miami to the Bahamas on Enchantment of the Seas. They note bands that will be part of the entertainment: Dada Life, 3LAU, Bassjackers, Brody Jenner, Danny Avila, MAKJ, Lil Jon, Quintino. I haven't heard of a single one of those!

 

They also talk about parties on the pool deck:

 

 

 

I don't know how many slots they were given out of the total capacity, but on their pricing page it shows inside cabins for 3 or 4 and outside for 4 are sold out. Maybe they reserve the whole ship? If so - I can imagine the clean up before its next sailing would have to be rather massive!

 

We'll be on a cruise that week on Allure - so as others have mentioned - we're hoping that it's largely families vs any college kids, being a week long!

I saw that! I'm pretty sure they reserved the whole ship.

 

I also saw another cruise targeted for college kids on the NCL Sky.

 

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