Easter break cruising with children

[katbid10]

I am in the process of booking an Easter vacation cruise for my family for 2007. I have heard mixed reviews about this time of year. My children will be 10 and 12 at that time. I am wondering if this is also the "Spring Break" time of year for the roudy college kids? I know there will be many families with children, as most have some time off school this week (April 1-8). Any thoughts?

[crusinmama06]

I can guarantee that this IS a spring break time for some colleges. We went to Disney World over Easter this past April. I didn't realize it would also be spring break until after I booked the rooms. It wasn't until I started trying to find flights to Orlando that I started noticing a huge problem. So I bought a guide book and it listed the busiest times for spring breakers in Florida...the two weeks surrounding Easter week was rank #1.

 

Next year we will be going on a cruise at the end of April through the first week of May...trying to avoid the problems we had this year.

[shellie100]

...Next year we will be going on a cruise at the end of April through the first week of May...trying to avoid the problems we had this year.

 

Michelle, our recent cruise was from April 29 to May 6. It was on the Grandeur and there were only 124 people on board under the age of 18! And from what I saw the majority of those kids appeared to be toddlers and preschoolers. It was funny because it seemed like every woman I met was pregnant and traveling with a toddler, like me. :D Anyway, if you are avoiding spring breakers and older kids, I think you've picked the right week!!!

 

Shellie

[miami]

I am in the process of booking an Easter vacation cruise for my family for 2007. I have heard mixed reviews about this time of year. My children will be 10 and 12 at that time. I am wondering if this is also the "Spring Break" time of year for the roudy college kids? I know there will be many families with children, as most have some time off school this week (April 1-8). Any thoughts?

 

A lot of colleges have spring break in mid March.

[crusinmama06]

Michelle, our recent cruise was from April 29 to May 6. It was on the Grandeur and there were only 124 people on board under the age of 18! And from what I saw the majority of those kids appeared to be toddlers and preschoolers. It was funny because it seemed like every woman I met was pregnant and traveling with a toddler, like me. :D Anyway, if you are avoiding spring breakers and older kids, I think you've picked the right week!!!

 

Shellie

 

Perfect! I have a toddler and a 6 year old. So that works for us too! :D Now let's just hope they don't shut down the adventures club for lack of kids enrolled. :eek:

[Cruisin' Chick]

About five years ago when we found ourselves amongst college spring breakers in Key West, an apologetic hotel employee explained to us that now colleges stagger spring break over four weeks or so. This way, it spreads out the craziness.

[FPP777]

Michelle, our recent cruise was from April 29 to May 6. It was on the Grandeur and there were only 124 people on board under the age of 18! And from what I saw the majority of those kids appeared to be toddlers and preschoolers. It was funny because it seemed like every woman I met was pregnant and traveling with a toddler, like me. :D Anyway, if you are avoiding spring breakers and older kids, I think you've picked the right week!!!

 

Shellie

 

How do you know the exact amount of people under the age 18?

[shellie100]

How do you know the exact amount of people under the age 18?

 

The mentioned it during the kids club orientation on the first evening.

 

On my previous cruise, a 10-day Panama Canal cruise on Celebrity, in early November, there were only 24 kids under the age of 18. They never closed the kids club, but sometimes there were only a couple of kids in there at a time, and never more than about 6 or 8. The teens had their own space in another area, so not sure how busy that area was, but I'm guessing not very!

[shellie100]

Perfect! I have a toddler and a 6 year old. So that works for us too! :D Now let's just hope they don't shut down the adventures club for lack of kids enrolled. :eek:

 

Michele, I didn't see that happen at all while we were on the Grandeur. However, I think they did alot of combining age groups for activities.

 

Shellie

[bangzoom6877]

I was on the Norwegian Dawn in 2004 during spring break (I teach high school so I was off that week). The ship was filled to capacity, mostly with families with children of all ages. We found this to be fine. No problems with rowdy college kids or anything. Plus you could get rowdy college kids in the summer too. I think they tend to go to places like Cancun or the Dominican Republic, since the trip costs less money (generally speaking) than a cruise and many include unlimited alcohol. Cruise tend to be more expensive, especially adding in the liquor factor. And on most ships the drinking age is 21, but outside the US they can drink at 18.

[cwf1018]

We went first week of April 2005 on the Disney cruise. Tons of kids, but not so many college age. I would assume that is based on the cruise line. Not sure what you would find elsewhere.

[Luvsdaislands]

My sons spring break is April 8-14, will the college spring break be over by then? Will alot of younger children be crusing at that time(my sons are 15 and 16)?

[crusinmama06]

My sons spring break is April 8-14, will the college spring break be over by then? Will alot of younger children be crusing at that time(my sons are 15 and 16)?

 

 

That exact week was Easter week THIS year so there were alot of kids cruising everywhere. I don't know where it falls next year.

[Luvsdaislands]

That exact week was Easter week THIS year so there were alot of kids cruising everywhere. I don't know where it falls next year.

 

SO I can expect a kid-packed cruise!!!!!??? :eek: :eek: :eek: No problemo since I am taking my sons. That IS Easter Week next year, their last day of school is April 5th, April 6th finish packing, haircuts, secure the house, April 7th very early morning flight to Ft. Lauderdale...hit the store for water, sodas, snacks all for the room, do some siteseeing, April 8th head to the Carnival Liberty EARLY!!!!!

 

My sons have already told me that I will not be seeing them except for dinner...maybe...hopefully it will be other single parents onboard that week.

 

Luvs

[where next?]

Doesn't the # of kids vary by cruise line as well? We've cruised NCL and Princess and PRincess does seem to have fewer quad cabins, therefore, fewer kids. Our kids have enjoyed the Princess cruises more and the number of kids was a good number, not HUGE! Then again, we are lucky that our APrill school vacation is actually the last week of April into May. The week before when Massachusetts and part of NH has vacation, the kids clubs had really big numbers. On our cruises, the numbers were always more manageable for the kids club.