Children on Spring Transatlantic Cruises

[gfkcruiser]

We have done 3 April TA's to Europe (London and Dublin) on Celebrity.  There were very few children.  For those who have sailed RC TA's, do find that there are very few children, even on the mega ships?  We will be on the Odyssey.

 

Thanks

[kwokpot]

29 minutes ago, gfkcruiser said:

We have done 3 April TA's to Europe (London and Dublin) on Celebrity.  There were very few children.  For those who have sailed RC TA's, do find that there are very few children, even on the mega ships?  We will be on the Odyssey.

 

Thanks

There are really no children to speak of on any kind of TA, either West bound or East bound. 

[dodgestang]

With the surge and ability for distance learning the amount of kid on TA may change.  Even though my kids are back in school 5 days a week (have been since early October) their school allows/support other students who don't/can't come to class.  We've already had some of the class dial in from Key West on vacation.

 

I know I wouldn't have a problem with booking up a TA into a European trip maybe the week before a major holiday with my kids at this point, using the wifi and having them do school part of the day :).

Edited February 17, 2021 by dodgestang

[taglovestocruise]

2 hours ago, gfkcruiser said:

We have done 3 April TA's to Europe (London and Dublin) on Celebrity.  There were very few children.  For those who have sailed RC TA's, do find that there are very few children, even on the mega ships?  We will be on the Odyssey.

 

Thanks

We have done 4 TA'S on Oasis Class.  Last TA on Symphony there were less than a dozen under 16.  I would guess they sail with 1200 fewer kids.  Makes for a great TA. We are just about to book the Odyssey TA for April 2022, it sails the day after Allure heads back to Barcelona. I love Oasis Class, wife wants to try Odyessey. I think Odyssey is a tad to small but it will win out... Happy wife happy life.. 

[Mapleleafforever]

Hey, is Odyssey ready yet??

[gfkcruiser]

44 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

We have done 4 TA'S on Oasis Class.  Last TA on Symphony there were less than a dozen under 16.  I would guess they sail with 1200 fewer kids.  Makes for a great TA. We are just about to book the Odyssey TA for April 2022, it sails the day after Allure heads back to Barcelona. I love Oasis Class, wife wants to try Odyessey. I think Odyssey is a tad to small but it will win out... Happy wife happy life.. 

We have booked the Odyssey for 4/22.  Have never been on Odyssey or any of the larger ships.  I thought it was very large but only a bit larger than Celebrity S class that we usually sail.  Last RC ship we sailed was Brilliance in Aug, 2019.  

[kwokpot]

44 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

I think Odyssey is a tad to small but it will win out... Happy wife happy life.. 

Interesting comment since the only larger ship class is Oasis. Even MSC's Meraviglia Class is basically the same as Royal's Quantum Class. 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

1 hour ago, gfkcruiser said:

We have booked the Odyssey for 4/22.  Have never been on Odyssey or any of the larger ships.  I thought it was very large but only a bit larger than Celebrity S class that we usually sail.  Last RC ship we sailed was Brilliance in Aug, 2019.  

have never seen many kids on any TA, Celebrity or RCL 
S Class, 3,000 passengers 

odyssey is 4,300 passengers 
I hope it doesn’t  feel much larger, 1,300 more passengers is a lot of people 

we are book on the Odyssey for Oct 2021 TA , maybe 

Edited February 17, 2021 by Airbalancer

[taglovestocruise]

1 hour ago, kwokpot said:

Interesting comment since the only larger ship class is Oasis. Even MSC's Meraviglia Class is basically the same as Royal's Quantum Class. 

We have done 4 Oasis Class, have a TA booked for Oct.  on Harmony. We love sea days and Oasis Class is by far my favorite. happy cruising

[rimmit]

I have done 4 TAs with my kids.   Ages as low as 13 months.   On these cruises we have had anywhere from 6-29 children ages 0-18 years of age.   There are practically no kids on TAs.  We have done 3 on RCI and 1 on NCL.  Virtually no kids on either line.

Edited February 17, 2021 by rimmit

[Norwich Cruiser]

We’ve never had more than about a dozen children on any of our transatlantic cruises and prefer them on Oasis class.

[Milwaukee Eight]

Something wrong with kids on a cruise?  I mean, Royal is geared towards family vacations and each new ship rollout shows that trend. 
 

M8

[ipeeinthepool]

17 hours ago, dodgestang said:

With the surge and ability for distance learning the amount of kid on TA may change.  Even though my kids are back in school 5 days a week (have been since early October) their school allows/support other students who don't/can't come to class.  We've already had some of the class dial in from Key West on vacation.

 

I know I wouldn't have a problem with booking up a TA into a European trip maybe the week before a major holiday with my kids at this point, using the wifi and having them do school part of the day :).

 

You should also consider the time difference if your kids need to call into school during a TA.

[Mapleleafforever]

14 hours ago, Airbalancer said:

have never seen many kids on any TA, Celebrity or RCL 
S Class, 3,000 passengers 

odyssey is 4,300 passengers 
I hope it doesn’t  feel much larger, 1,300 more passengers is a lot of people 

we are book on the Odyssey for Oct 2021 TA , maybe 

The good news is ships will be sailing at a reduced capacity for awhile. We're on Odyssey in Feb 2022 but are more concerned with the ship even being completed by then. 

Edited February 18, 2021 by Mapleleafforever

[Mapleleafforever]

18 hours ago, dodgestang said:

With the surge and ability for distance learning the amount of kid on TA may change.  Even though my kids are back in school 5 days a week (have been since early October) their school allows/support other students who don't/can't come to class.  We've already had some of the class dial in from Key West on vacation.

 

I know I wouldn't have a problem with booking up a TA into a European trip maybe the week before a major holiday with my kids at this point, using the wifi and having them do school part of the day :).

With more virtual learning options being available I can see parents having a lot more flexibility with dates and itineraries. A very exciting prospect. 

[rimmit]

57 minutes ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

You should also consider the time difference if your kids need to call into school during a TA.

Yes.  We just had to have our kids recently just miss school for 2 days when we were in Hawaii due to Hawaii being 5 hours behind the East coast and they are sleeping when it’s 9AM EDT and 4AM in Hawaii.  The TA is tempting because it puts them a couple hours ahead based on where you are in the Atlantic Ocean, so they will easily be awake for a virtual class if the teacher has one that day.

[Iamcruzin]

2 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Something wrong with kids on a cruise?  I mean, Royal is geared towards family vacations and each new ship rollout shows that trend. 
 

M8

That's what I was thinking. We didn't sail on Royal for years because we thought there would be too many kids given all of the activities that would attract families. I was thinking Disney at sea. I was very surprised that we really didn't have an issue on a June Anthem cruise. The only time we encountered kids was when we went to the Dog House for a hotdog. The ship was well designed with the kids activities Aft and Adult area Forward.    We had more issues with children on Princess who's demographic is much older.

Edited February 18, 2021 by Iamcruzin

[Milwaukee Eight]

11 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

That's what I was thinking. We didn't sail on Royal for years because we thought there would be too many kids given all of the activities that would attract families. I was thinking Disney at sea. I was very surprised that we really didn't have an issue on a June Anthem cruise. The only time we encountered kids was when we went to the Dog House for a hotdog. The ship was well designed with the kids activities Aft and Adult area Forward.    We had more issues with children on Princess who's demographic is much older.

Kid issues?  Please explain?

[Iamcruzin]

20 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Kid issues?  Please explain?

On Princess they were running around the pool during the day and at night they ran through the halls, played in the elevators and over all just unruly. We always sailed while school was in session. I can't imagine what it would be like when school was out.  We didn't see any of this on Anthem which holds more passengers than any Princess ship we were on. The activities kept them busy. I assumed it would be worse on Royal Caribbean but I was surprised that it was better.

Edited February 18, 2021 by Iamcruzin

[Milwaukee Eight]

1 minute ago, Iamcruzin said:

On Princess they were running around the pool during the day and at night they ran through the halls, played in the elevators and over all just unruly. We always sailed while school was in session. I can't imagine what it would be like when school was out.  We didn't see any of this on Anthem which holds more passengers than any Princess ship we were on. They activities kept them busy. I assumed it would be worse on Royal Caribbean but I was surprised that it was better.

Ok. Honestly, I can’t say we’ve ever encountered kids that in anyway disrupted our cruise. Kids are kids but deserve to be with their families and vacation together.  We all were kids once and we learn from our experiences to hopefully grow up better adults. 
 

Having said this, we have seen, witnessesed, been annoyed by, disrupting entitlement thinking adults onboard who obviously never learned anything while they were a kid. Give me the kids. 
 

M8

[Mapleleafforever]

2 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Ok. Honestly, I can’t say we’ve ever encountered kids that in anyway disrupted our cruise. Kids are kids but deserve to be with their families and vacation together.  We all were kids once and we learn from our experiences to hopefully grow up better adults. 
 

Having said this, we have seen, witnessesed, been annoyed by, disrupting entitlement thinking adults onboard who obviously never learned anything while they were a kid. Give me the kids. 
 

M8

Hear hear. 

[ATC cruiser]

I wouldn’t rely on the ships internet for e-learning.

[crewsweeper]

Look at when TAs occur: Usually spring time after spring break and before early starters begin summer vacation.  Or in fall long after schools start back and before holiday breaks.

Plus they tend to be longer cruises. Longer cruises are more expensive and have few children as a rule.

As to distance learning.  Internet speeds are notoriously slow versus those on land.  And cutting across multiple time zones would be disruptive to "regular" school hours.

Additionally, the pandemic is finding that students don't pay attention and don't learn as well via on line learning.

 

[dandee2]

I would never (not anymore) bring children on  a transat, especially with the new rules by RCC concerning the cruise contract. Unless you have ironclad insurance.

https://www.*****.com/2021/02/16/royal-caribbean-adds-covid-19-cruise-contract-all-passengers?fbclid=IwAR1qA7liz2QHCRquxt_HhotqUpAvXXcj7HrW-BVfha-Pzrq5rrGzXFY994w

 

[rimmit]

4 hours ago, crewsweeper said:

Additionally, the pandemic is finding that students don't pay attention and don't learn as well via on line learning.

 

I don’t think it took the pandemic to figure that out.