President's week out of NY

[Peachypooh]

Has anyone taken a cruise out of NY during President's week? What is

the demographic? I am assuming mostly families. That's OK with me

since we will be a multi generational family group.

[g683002]

We were on the Bliss that week in 2020, which sailed from NY right before COVID shutdown. It was a lot of families, which was fine. However, I want to share that the ship was 108% capacity that week due to all those families taking advantage of a winter break week off of schools in the North East. That made it harder to do activities onboard and get reservations for specialty restaurants/go karts.

[Mlake09]

We cruise this week most years because I’m a teacher and it’s my vacation week. It is typically over 100% capacity due to all the kids. Last year it was packed, and I assume this year will be as well. If you go into it knowing that the crowds will be larger than normal, lines longer, etc, you can still have a great time. If you’re hoping for quiet time or space to spread out in restaurants, shows, buffet, etc, you may want to look at another week if you have any flexibility.

 

Once I retire I will never sail during the school vacation weeks, as our experience on the non-school break cruises has been much more peaceful! That being said, a cruise is a cruise! 

[Treasure Hunter]

We are on the February 18 cruise on the Getaway out of NY. We have a two bedroom family suite in the Haven (5 of us) . This cruise has had multiple port changes so starting off a little wacky. Last time I was on this ship  they had removed the lounges around the Haven pool in order to put over flow tables from the restaurant out there. This makes it uncomfortable to watch kids in the pool . While people are trying to eat. I expect the ship to be hopping. I think pre covid that vacation week had 1500 kids. 

[AwesomO]

I'll be sailing out of NY that week in February with my family (as Im also a local teacher with the week off). On our sailing, a lot of the cabin categories were showing sold out when I checked about a week ago, and prices have really jumped. I expect a very full ship. 

[All-ready2cruise]

I bet that would be uncomfortable.  So, you didnt' have the option to request a different table?  Unfortunate.  I'm on the GA in April, unlikely in the Haven (I cruise solo), but would def. ask for a different location, that would drive me crazy....wear a bathing suit lol. 

[psac]

3 hours ago, All-ready2cruise said:

I bet that would be uncomfortable.  So, you didnt' have the option to request a different table?  Unfortunate.  I'm on the GA in April, unlikely in the Haven (I cruise solo), but would def. ask for a different location, that would drive me crazy....wear a bathing suit lol. 

I think both the Getaway and Breakaway have permanently put the tables out in the pool area for overflow and also for the “outdoor” (real for Getaway, but indoor for Breakaway, unless the roof is open) experience for dining. Last October on the Breakaway we ate breakfast at the “outdoor” tables every morning just for a pleasant different experience than eating inside the Haven restaurant which we were doing for dinner most of the trip.  

[Peachypooh]

16 hours ago, Treasure Hunter said:

We are on the February 18 cruise on the Getaway out of NY. We have a two bedroom family suite in the Haven (5 of us) . This cruise has had multiple port changes so starting off a little wacky. Last time I was on this ship  they had removed the lounges around the Haven pool in order to put over flow tables from the restaurant out there. This makes it uncomfortable to watch kids in the pool . While people are trying to eat. I expect the ship to be hopping. I think pre covid that vacation week had 1500 kids. 

1500 kids....so about half the ship. We have 5 adults and 2 children sailing. 

[cruiseny4life]

I haven't sailed during President's Week, but I did sail on the Getaway out of NYC during Easter week, 2022 which is a huge kids out of school time for the tri-state area. I was a charter school administrator at the time, so that's why we booked then. Plus, I don't really mind kids (except toddlers). 

 

Our sailing was one of the first to sail at over 100% capacity since the restart. 

 

Demographic:  You're right. There will be a lot of families. We did have a lot of couples. Most of them seemed to be like us: educators who were enjoying a week away from school with our significant others.

 

Entertainment: we didn't go to any entertainment, however we saw the lines. And, they were long to get into the shows! Some people waited for two hours, pre-show, just to score a seat. Others showed up too late and didn't get seats. 

 

Food: I tried the buffet one time and didn't like it. When I did try it, there were long lines, tables were hard to get, and people were just being people crowded in one place. 

We did really want to try Shanghai Noodle Bar, however it was open only for dinner (this was rectified on our Sept. Getaway sailing). The host told us it would be a two hour wait for dinner. We obviously did not have Shanghai on this sailing. It's really, very good, so I'd recommend you try it out if you can get there early, try lunch (if available as it was in Sept.), or are ok waiting in lines. 

 

Embarkation: it was a pure joke. Some people waited eight hours, but this will hopefully not be an issue for you given Bermuda's travel authorization is over and COVID testing is over. 

 

Main Pool: we wandered through the main pool deck a couple times, saw the mass of humanity, and were instantly grateful we had booked the Haven. You wouldn't catch me on the main pool deck with those crowds.

 

Thermal Suite: the first sea day was extremely busy. Like, wait ten minutes for one lounger to open up. The pool had a ton of people in it. We decided to come back at a different time, and on subsequent days, had no issues in the thermal suite. It was a pleasant experience after that first sea day. I think they may have sold some day passes as the sea day was supposed to be a Norfolk day which was canceled due to the extremely long embarkation.

 

End result - we enjoyed our sailing. It was truly fantastic and we would do it again. Of course we'd pick a slightly less busy week, but we were on a ship, had a ton of included food, and got to see Bermuda. 

 

Here's my review: 

You'll have a fine time too! 

 

[Treasure Hunter]

Yes our booking has my husband and I full freight, my daughter as third in the room and the two kids free. Some of the cabins are like clown cars.