Spring Breakers from San Juan

[macdon9876]

Several years ago my wife and I took a 5-day cruise from Florida in the middle of March. In Canada this is the typical timeframe for public school spring breaks, but not university breaks. We didn’t realize that mid-March IS high season for American college spring breaks. We had a good cruise but the ship was definitely overrun with college kids.

 

We are now looking at a southern cruise from San Juan, during that same mid-March school break period in 2023. This would be a 7-day cruise. It would be a family cruise with our own kids and extended family.

 

Can anyone comment on how heavy the college spring break crowd is on ships from San Juan? We’re looking at Norwegian Epic if that matters.

 

Thanks for any comments!

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 hour ago, macdon9876 said:

Several years ago my wife and I took a 5-day cruise from Florida in the middle of March. In Canada this is the typical timeframe for public school spring breaks, but not university breaks. We didn’t realize that mid-March IS high season for American college spring breaks. We had a good cruise but the ship was definitely overrun with college kids.

 

We are now looking at a southern cruise from San Juan, during that same mid-March school break period in 2023. This would be a 7-day cruise. It would be a family cruise with our own kids and extended family.

 

Can anyone comment on how heavy the college spring break crowd is on ships from San Juan? We’re looking at Norwegian Epic if that matters.

 

Thanks for any comments!

Collegiate spring break has no universal time span other than to say it happens in Spring. Different institutions use different “terms” associated with their academic calendars including semesters, trimesters, quarters, etc. This means any particular college may be on “spring break” between/during “terms” (with some maintaining the “old time” span of days either side of Easter while others do it dead center in the middle of the spring semester (or other “term” version.

As for San Juan departures, remember that you’re talking about college kids. Airfare from the mainland would certainly cut into the “beer budget.” 

[DirtyDawg]

You are definitely better off sailing out of San Juan vs Florida or any other U.S. mainland port.  We did a March break cruise out of Florida several years ago on Celebrity and there was a tonne of college kids even on that cruise. Royal Caribbean sails out of Barbados which would cut into Spring Breakers beer budget even more! Something to think aboot!

[CruiserBruce]

A 5 day cruise from Florida is far more likely to be a "booze cruise" than a 7 day from San Juan. I agree with the comments on the definition of Spring Break. I think Florida usually publicly plans for a 3 week window for Spring Break.

[Essiesmom]

2 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Collegiate spring break has no universal time span other than to say it happens in Spring. Different institutions use different “terms” associated with their academic calendars including semesters, trimesters, quarters, etc. This means any particular college may be on “spring break” between/during “terms” (with some maintaining the “old time” span of days either side of Easter while others do it dead center in the middle of the spring semester (or other “term” version.

As for San Juan departures, remember that you’re talking about college kids. Airfare from the mainland would certainly cut into the “beer budget.” 

Ah, but remember there are colleges in Puerto Rico, too.  And spring break might be a good time for a Quinceanera celebration..   EM

 

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 hour ago, Essiesmom said:

Ah, but remember there are colleges in Puerto Rico, too.  And spring break might be a good time for a Quinceanera celebration..   EM

 

Excellent points.

[slidergirl]

Our property management team now refers to the entire month of March as 'Spring Break."   

As for puerto Rico - my now-ex and I did a week at the old Westin rio Mar  - turns out it was a Puerto Rican spring break.  The resort was filled with what seemed 50% Puerto Ricans, 49% New Jersey (from the accent), and 1% Utahns (us). 

i have heard cruisers in the past write on CC that sprng break cruises out of San juan had a lot of local passengers.  

[happy cruzer]

More than anything, the price of the cruise determines if it will turn into a problem.  Discounted cruises lead to the problems.  We had a problem on a holiday cruise that was heavily discounted out of PR and out of Mexico.  If prices are high (air and/or cruise) then you will probably be ok.

[rkacruiser]

22 minutes ago, happy cruzer said:

More than anything, the price of the cruise determines if it will turn into a problem.  Discounted cruises lead to the problems.  We had a problem on a holiday cruise that was heavily discounted out of PR and out of Mexico.  If prices are high (air and/or cruise) then you will probably be ok.

 

The nationalities of the guests may also have an influence on one's experience.  My Mother and I sailed on a Christmas Panama Canal cruise from San Juan on the original Royal Princess.  There were many guests of a certain nationality who caused the Maitre d' to recommend that our preferred second sitting dining be changed to first sitting.  (That nationality insisted on second sitting.)  Their actions on the ship in some venues justified his recommendation.  

 

I must say, however, that is the only cruise that I have experienced where the nationality of so many guests made any difference in my cruise experience.  

[GTO-Girl]

19 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

The nationalities of the guests may also have an influence on one's experience.  My Mother and I sailed on a Christmas Panama Canal cruise from San Juan on the original Royal Princess.  There were many guests of a certain nationality who caused the Maitre d' to recommend that our preferred second sitting dining be changed to first sitting.  (That nationality insisted on second sitting.)  Their actions on the ship in some venues justified his recommendation.  

 

I must say, however, that is the only cruise that I have experienced where the nationality of so many guests made any difference in my cruise experience.  

We sailed from San Juan once.  It was some kind of school holiday (we didn’t know) and because the ship wasn’t full they highly discounted the price for those locally.  
 

Let me just say I will never sail from SJ ever again!!  

[rkacruiser]

16 minutes ago, GTO-Girl said:

Let me just say I will never sail from SJ ever again!!  

 

I won't go that far.  I find whether sailing into or from San Juan an interesting experience.  Particularly docking; sometimes the wind conditions are such that it is very challenging for the Captain to get the ship at the dock.  

[Ashland]

We just did a B2B out of San Juan in March and I can tell you it wasn't college kids that over ran Explorer.

[GTO-Girl]

53 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I won't go that far.  I find whether sailing into or from San Juan an interesting experience.  Particularly docking; sometimes the wind conditions are such that it is very challenging for the Captain to get the ship at the dock.  

I love San Juan as a port stop!!!  
 

But I will never leave on a cruise ship from there ever again….

[navybankerteacher]

There seem to be a lot of not-so-veiled comments about the passenger mix on cruises leaving from San Juan.  I only experienced one: Celebrity Millenium, down to Aruba and Curaçao, - and there were a fair number of “locals” on board - probably the result of last minute sales of unbooked space - which would obviously be more attractive to “locals” than to folks who would have to pay air fare as well.

 

But I found the passenger compatibility  to be comparable to that on a couple of NCL sailings from Manhattan - which had been obviously marketed to a lot of New Jersey and metropolitan NYC “locals”

[macdon9876]

Thanks all for the comments. Lots to consider.

 

During our spring break cruise on Indy a few years ago, my wife and I made the most of it and enjoyed ourselves, but also decided that we would likely avoid March cruises in the future.

 

This one is being considered only because our school March Break is the most convenient time for everyone in our party. However, with a bunch of cousins (kids) in the mix, our worry is that the college kids would take over the pools and rec areas, etc. That was certainly what happened on Indy… the pools were packed solid with the students.

 

I appreciate the replies! 

[Flatbush Flyer]

43 minutes ago, macdon9876 said:

Thanks all for the comments. Lots to consider.

 

During our spring break cruise on Indy a few years ago, my wife and I made the most of it and enjoyed ourselves, but also decided that we would likely avoid March cruises in the future.

 

This one is being considered only because our school March Break is the most convenient time for everyone in our party. However, with a bunch of cousins (kids) in the mix, our worry is that the college kids would take over the pools and rec areas, etc. That was certainly what happened on Indy… the pools were packed solid with the students.

 

I appreciate the replies! 

How about trying a different industry segment (premium or luxury)? The college kids will be few and far between.

[CPT Trips]

OP 

Here are spring break dates . . . https://www.inertiatours.com/when-is-spring-break-2023/
 

To several posters . . . Matthew 7:1…

[HxFx]

Cruising from San Juan is great if you like ports not often offered by cruises that leave from mainland U.S. We had a great time on our Celebrity Summit cruise in 2018 (early December). We just signed up for a Celebrity cruise out of SJ in April and will be going to mostly new ports (and only one sea day!) Hopefully most spring breaks will be finished by then (it was the latest we could get from there without a repositioning).

 

[cruizergal70]

On 6/17/2022 at 2:01 AM, BruceMuzz said:

Sailing out of San Juan at the very beginning or very end of the winter season can be an especially big challenge.

Early Winter and late Winter cruises out of San Juan are very difficult to fill.

So the cruise lines put advertisements in the local papers, offering fares like US$100 for a 7 day balcony cabin cruise.

At prices like that, the locals cannot afford to stay home.

They are booked into cabins where Europeans and North Americans have paid about 10 times what they have paid. It doesn’t take long for that information to get around the ship.

The Puerto Ricans tend to cruise with very big family and neighborhood groups. They tend to get rather noisy at times, upsetting their fellow cruisers.

Other groups of people don't sail in large family and neighborhood group? Then why do cruises offer group rates?

 

No other groups have gotten loud on cruises?