I was a MSC cheerleader, not after sailing during Easter Week.

[JamieLogical]

3 hours ago, peder said:

 

School districts stagger breaks throughout the entire Jan-Apr period.
 

And also, more and more parents will take their kids out of school without worrying about missed days.

 

While it's true that a lot of schools have a February Break, usually around Presidents' Day, you can definitely count on more concentration of breaks around Easter for grade schools at least. Now, if you are trying to avoid college Spring breaks, that is much more challenging as those are all over the place!

[kernie968]

The outside buffet was open, but the food bins were mostly empty. I don't know if they couldn't keep up with the demand or just letting the food run out, but they had a long line of people waiting .

[capriccio]

12 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

Now, if you are trying to avoid college Spring breaks, that is much more challenging as those are all over the place!

So true but as someone who lives just up the beach from Fort Lauderdale, here in south Florida spring break season is the entire month of March with the highest number in the middle of the month. 

 

We will not drive anywhere near the beach in March.  We learned that during our first year here when it took forever to get down A1A (the beach road that separates the beach from the hotels and restaurants) because of jaywalking beach goers.  Once they got to the beach, in some areas it was standing room only!

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, capriccio said:

So true but as someone who lives just up the beach from Fort Lauderdale, here in south Florida spring break season is the entire month of March with the highest number in the middle of the month. 

 

We will not drive anywhere near the beach in March.  We learned that during our first year here when it took forever to get down A1A (the beach road that separates the beach from the hotels and restaurants) because of jaywalking beach goers.  Once they got to the beach, in some areas it was standing room only!

 

Right, college spring breaks can be pretty much the entire month of March and into early April. It the public grade school breaks that are a little more consistent and predictable.

[exm]

LI, NY has spring break on 4/22-4/26. Yes, we'll be on the cruise. Let kids be kids. I'll be having my drinks and enjoy the break. Cheers.

[JamieLogical]

19 minutes ago, exm said:

LI, NY has spring break on 4/22-4/26. Yes, we'll be on the cruise. Let kids be kids. I'll be having my drinks and enjoy the break. Cheers.

 

Wow, that is crazy late for a spring break.

[gizfish]

2 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Wow, that is crazy late for a spring break.

It has to do with the timing of Easter and Passover.  Most schools had Thursday and Friday before easter off and then have Passover week off.

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Always disappointing when you pay a lot of money to go on a cruise. They can get jammed packed sadly. 

 

However i have to say, do your research.....even us across the pond we know not to cruise if you can help it during spring break or major US Holidays from the US.

 

As for the pools yeah i agree with you there. Hate the small pools, standing room only. Just been on MSC world Europa from Barcelona and the main pool was huge, biggest and best at sea. Even inside pool was big and deep.

 

The buffet is a buffet, will get packed and is a free for all. But to only be closed for 1 hour isnt really a hardship.....🤔

 

As for hand cleaning, same on royal and all other cruises. Not enforced at all now. Even on our cruise last week on Europa, hardly any one washed their hands even though there was a lady stood there with a bottle of hand wash.....

 

I take my daughter out of school and in the uk we get a fine of £120 to take her out, however its much cheaper cruise prices and less children outside of school holidays. But that is dependent on my daughters school attendance, behaviour and work effort. She knows that and works very hard at school, carrot and stick work hard and she gets rewarded with a cruise holiday. 

[miched]

On 4/11/2024 at 9:28 PM, MsTabbyKats said:

I'm on the Meraviglia right now.  The comedian was joking about all the kids on  board last week, and what a zoo it was....1600 under 18!

I don’t know what kind of zoo the comedian is referring to as all the zoos that I have been to are organized and under control with the animals confined in  pens,  or cages. 🤷‍♂️

 

It appears to be more of a jungle where the animals are running wild.  
 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

 

 

Edited April 15 by miched