So many kids

[Cooper30]

You gotta pick your cruise dates carefully if you don't want to be inundated with kids on a family cruise line. 

 

We were on Anthem 2/17-2/25.  It was pretty much all extended families, ours included. 

 

As mentioned a few times, it was school vacation week in quite a lot of the northeast.  Since our daughter in law is a school teacher, it was the only week we could realistically take them this winter.  We even paid more for the "privilege" of cruising during this week, and we'd do it all over again.  We knew going in that this was a cruise for our son, dil, and granddaughters, not us.

 

People were pleasant, and we had a great week.

 

 

 

[IAMGPW]

6 hours ago, TeeRick said:

@IAMGPW with all due respect - the newer of the RCCL ships have been built as floating amusement parks and you should expect them to be full of kids and families.  In my experience Celebrity has far fewer kids if you want a quieter ship.  

We were on the oasis. Maybe next time I’ll try one of smaller ships. It looks like Royal is always having the promotion that 14 and under are free. I have no issue with kids , I only have a problem with disrespectful kids .

 

[ticketsunlimited]

On 2/28/2024 at 5:20 PM, Engineroom Snipe said:

The words that strike fear into the hearts of adults who might want a more "tranquil, private moment cruise", booked that moment only to find after they booked that 'Royal' change the cruise to

 

'Kids Sail Free',

 

😱

The kids sale free was a Brilliant scheme by RCI.  It’s like giving crack to people to “hook em”

Once mommy and daddy give those kiddos a taste of cruising.  They are HOOKED.  Throw them a crown and anchor number and their lifers.

 

Cost the company a bunch of kids trips to the windjammer for minimal buffet meals.  VOILA HOOKED!!

 

 

[zebra36]

Royal is heavily marketing to families and kids will be part of that mix, with the new ships there will be many younger passengers. Also, homeschooling has grown quite a bit since covid so planning around traditional school breaks will be less effective.

[Engineroom Snipe]

2 minutes ago, zebra36 said:

Royal is heavily marketing to families and kids will be part of that mix, with the new ships there will be many younger passengers. Also, homeschooling has grown quite a bit since covid so planning around traditional school breaks will be less effective.

So many states have very different school years (or sessions). This makes it nearly impossible to say "the majority of schools are in or out of session". Planning a cruise during a specific time of year thinking there will be less children onboard is not as easy as it used to be.

 

While smaller ships with longer voyages tend to attract less children, larger ships in the future seem to be the trend for Royal as you noted.

[pyrateslife4me84]

3 hours ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

So many states have very different school years (or sessions). This makes it nearly impossible to say "the majority of schools are in or out of session". Planning a cruise during a specific time of year thinking there will be less children onboard is not as easy as it used to be.

 

While smaller ships with longer voyages tend to attract less children, larger ships in the future seem to be the trend for Royal as you noted.

As far as I can tell, the only month where kids are consistently in school is September after Labor Day. Every other month has school breaks somewhere. 

[edrussell]

You have to do your best and pick a sailing based on dates, ship, itinerary etc and then hope for the best.  Even weighing all of those factors you occasionally win and you occasionally lose.  

 

Best case do your research and pick a ship with a decent amount of adults only areas that you hope you will enjoy.  We just got off Wonder OTS (Feb 11-18) and there were definitely more kids than we expected but we did our research and knew Wonder had a great Solarium we hoped we would enjoy and boy did we!  We used the pool deck sparingly and that was enough for us.  Apart from that we frequent bars and the casino etc which are largely kid free.  

 

We don't mind the little buggers (our only child is grown and we now have grandkids) but we do acknowledge they can be a pain in the ___, especially so when parents don't parent.  That said RCCL is a family line so there is that.  You can always go the route of adult only lines, or roll the dice and hope.

 

[elcuchio24]

On 2/29/2024 at 9:46 AM, TeeRick said:

@IAMGPW with all due respect - the newer of the RCCL ships have been built as floating amusement parks and you should expect them to be full of kids and families.  In my experience Celebrity has far fewer kids if you want a quieter ship.  

100%. My kids love the big ships and have ZERO interest in smaller/midsize ships