2-Week Cruises (South American Itinerary) - How many kids?

[pettums]

We have two 11 year olds and I know that the extent to which they enjoy cruises is mainly a function of whether there are other kids on board.

 

We are thinking of taking a 2-week cruise from San Antonio to Buenos Aires for the last two weeks of February on the Norwegian Star. 

 

I realize there are not going to  be as many kids as there are for one-week cruises in the Caribbean. What I am wondering about is whether there are any kids really at all on board, and if so whether there will be any whose first language is likely to be English.

 

8+ kids in the 8-14 age range who speak English would likely be a huge success. 0 kids in the 8-14 age range who speak English is likely to lead to sadness.  So I am trying to project the possibility of the two outcomes! 

 

 

 

 

[kitkat343]

call Norwegian.  Some people have occasionally been successful asking how many other children will be an a given cruise.  Others are told that info can’t be released.  It all depends on which phone operator you get.  

 

Do you have a lot of sea days?  Would your kids like the main pool?  We sailed on the star to the baltics, and it’s not a ship with an enormous amount of things for kids besides the kids club. My son was happy, since he loved the kids club and there were only 2 sea days.  

Edited January 31, 2019 by kitkat343

[Essiesmom]

You might also go to the roll call for that cruise and see if there are any others sailing with kids.  EM

[OzCanuck]

A data point for you. We sailed on the NCL Sun in the reverse direction the first two weeks of January three years ago with our then 4 yr old. There about 30 kids on board. About 29 of them didn’t speak English. 

 

[RSLeesburg]

Yes.  Our friends took that cruise with two other families two years ago over Christmas.  They had 6 or 7 kids between them, and they were only children who spoke English - and they had the same - about 25-30 kids.   

 

But, this is on our bucket list too!  

[cb at sea]

The longer the cruise, the fewer the kids....

 

[Reina del Mar]

We did a 'Round the Horn'Princess cruise in January 2018..I didn't notice any children at all...maybe they were kept entertained in Children's club or maybe there weren't any ! Sorry I can't be more helpful.

[pettums]

Can I just thank everyone so much for their responses. I anticipate at the moment there will be zero-English speaking kids. My kids have been told to anticipate zero-English speaking kids. I have shown the pictures of the Star and the kids clubs and tried to get them to imagine how cool it would be to have all that kid-friendly stuff to themselves! 

 

If any other English-speaking kids turn up it will be a bonus but I think that expectations are set in the right place. 

 

Of course in the ideal world my children will meet lots of non-english speaking kids and use the Google translate app to reduce language as a barrier to make glamorous international connections but I have been on MSC cruises and know this just doesn't happen! 

[RSLeesburg]

On 6/10/2019 at 12:28 PM, pettums said:

Can I just thank everyone so much for their responses. I anticipate at the moment there will be zero-English speaking kids. My kids have been told to anticipate zero-English speaking kids. I have shown the pictures of the Star and the kids clubs and tried to get them to imagine how cool it would be to have all that kid-friendly stuff to themselves! 

 

If any other English-speaking kids turn up it will be a bonus but I think that expectations are set in the right place. 

 

Of course in the ideal world my children will meet lots of non-english speaking kids and use the Google translate app to reduce language as a barrier to make glamorous international connections but I have been on MSC cruises and know this just doesn't happen! 

Let us know how the cruise goes!  We just booked this cruise on Celebrity over Christmas 2020.  Our son will be 11, and he also rates his cruises based on friends he makes in the kids club...

[CruiseDigits]

On 3/15/2019 at 7:56 PM, cb at sea said:

The longer the cruise, the fewer the kids....

 

 

+1.

 

Long cruise + middle of school year = almost no kids

 

We homeschool so have tons of flexibility with our travel dates.  Our personal experience has been that there is a dramatic drop in the number of other families with kids if we go during the middle of the school year.  And more favorable pricing.