Costa During Spring Break

[cruisy]

Has anyone been on this line during spring break? We are booking Costa hoping that since it's a little less easy to find info about, maybe there might not be as many spring breakers on it. Don't get me wrong, we are bringing three kids ourselves. I just don't want my little ones in the middle of a girls gone wild movie. I want to show my kids how different a "funship" like Carnival is, as they have only done HAL and RCI. Thanks to a review, I learned that Carnival was a little "too fun" in March. (As for the "European influence", my kids have seen topless beach volleyball in Zaandvort, and the business ladies of Nice taking it all of for a lunchtime tan.) This is different than a bunch of teens and young adults trying to "get lucky" on a one week cruise. Any info?

[bethcollins]

We were on the Costa Med. during spring break this past April. Because of Costa's policy of counting up to age 17 at the child's rate, there were swarms of teens on board. Since I was bringing a teen myself, I had no problem with this. My 15 year old had a great time and would love to do Costa agian. There were some problems with underage drinking, etc. but I didn't think it was any worse than any other cruise I've done over spring break. Feel free to post any other questions you may have.

 

Beth

[rocktheboat]

I was also on the Costa Med during spring break. It was full of adults who could care less what there teens were doing. Teens ran wild all night long.

Trashed the pizza place one night, kicked in the glass on the disco door another night, Ripped the wall paper off the walls of the back lift. Signs clearly stated no children in the hot tubs, they were full of children. Adult only pool was also over run by children. Prank phone calls at 4am. When the front desk was called about this we were told that they knew all about the out of control teens and were doing their best to control them.

 

Think twice before booking this cruise line if children are still only $99.00. A cap needs to be put on how many children are on board. Princess does this.

 

 

I have been on many cruises, all during school holidays and never saw anything like this. The parents did there own thing and allowed their teens to do their own thing.

 

The only saving grace this year is that spring break is different in almost every state. NYC's spring break is not until April 24.

[hadleys9538]

We did the Costa Atlantica over Spring break this year. We've been on 7 cruises thus far. Our 16-year-old son who has been on cruises to the Caribbean and Hawaii, as well as having travelled to Europe and Belize, said it was one of his favorite vacations. There weren't that many kids on board frankly, but the group of about 15 or so teens got extremely close and had a great time together. He is still in contact with most of those kids, and they were literally from all over the world. We took our 8-year-old (who thinks she's a teenager) and she had a ball as well. She had no interest in the kids program, but most of the other smaller children did, so they were kept out of the way. It's funny -- Lots of kids running around actually gets on her nerves as well, but that wasn't a problem here. She and I participated in line dance lessons, aerobics, etcetera, while her amused father looked on. The toga party was a hoot -- We all took part in that, and it was great fun! My son's posse took part in the talent show, as did our daughter. It was just great fun, very different from the other cruises. Food and service were great. Pasta was true Italian pasta. I would highly recommend it. If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask. We took the Western Caribbean run, and those ports were really fun. --Cheryl :)

[bethcollins]

Rocktheboat--I have to say that I am somewhat offended by your post. As a parent of a teen on that sailing, I can tell you that not ALL parents and ALL teens had the attitude you described. The young men who were causing a lot of the problems were older (18-20) so I don't think that capping the amount of kids would have affected some of what you experienced. My son met a lot of kids that he stays in touch with still. I met a lot of very nice people on board also, all of whom very much cared what their teens were doing. Your generalizations make the ship sound like a nightmare--I had a very different take on it.

[Ta421sBtrHalf]

We were on the Atlantica for spring break and it was wonderful! The children and teens were well behaved. The teens usually had get togethers by the pool in the evening that were organized by the line. It looked like they had plenty to do without getting in trouble.

[rocktheboat]

bethcollins,

The out of control teens I'd say were between 14 and 17. The older group we saw all over the ship sitting nicely in one lounge or another. The younger group ran wild. They were yelled at more than once by our room steward when they tipped over her cart. I'm not saying it was your child, but do you know were your child was every min. When moms away ALL children will play. I would never say not mine if they were not with me 24 hours. It's very easy to blame others.

 

Sorry, but I don't think teenagers should be allowed to have the run of the ship. Your taking a family vacation, keep the family together.

 

You can take as much offence as you want. You don't know what your child/ or any other child was doing when he/they was away from their parents.

[CruisinMatt]

I was on Mediterranea in late march this year and I found that there were more pre-teens and younger than there were teens to college age. Most were well behaved and fun to watch, especially the Britney and Paris Hilton clones! :D

[cruisy]

Thanks for the info so far...

 

I don't mind the younger kids, as I mentioned, I am bringing mine. I was really just worried about college-aged kids booking four to a room and behaving "smutty", (like on MTV Spring Break, or towns like Fort Lauderdale that get crazy). I have read that Carnival has been like that during Spring Break. We are going this week, because the kids are already taking a week off for a Western Carib. on RCI.

[Ta421sBtrHalf]

Thanks for the info so far...

 

I don't mind the younger kids, as I mentioned, I am bringing mine. I was really just worried about college-aged kids booking four to a room and behaving "smutty", (like on MTV Spring Break, or towns like Fort Lauderdale that get crazy).

 

Fort Lauderdale is certainly not Ft. Liquordale any more. That went by the wayside in the late 80's. I often kid my husband about that. As soon as he got too old for that scene it stopped. I blamed (now thank) him.

[hadleys9538]

Every teen we saw on board during our Spring break cruise was there with their family. There were no college kids or unaccompanied teens on board whatsoever. --Cheryl

[bethcollins]

I don't think that anywhere in my post did I say "NOT MY CHILD", I simply pointed out that I as a parent very much care how my children behave. If at any time I had seen inappropriate behavior from either of them, they would have paid the consequences. I can tell you with 100% certaintly that my sons did not "have run of the ship". No, I was not with them every moment, but I made frequent unannounced checks to see what they were up to. They had curfews that they had to respect, they had to be at dinner every night, and port days were spent together as a family. Perhaps, rocktheboat, you should reconsider sailing during school breaks. Your apparent hostility towards parents and children would seem to point to that as being a good idea.

[Hei1980]

Just when is the dreaded Spring Break? We are cruising on Costa, April 3 until April 17.

[hadleys9538]

Spring dates vary depending on school, but the biggest date (and the ones where you will see the prices higher due to demand) is the last week of March -- In other words, the week ending prior to your cruise. I think that is actually one of the last weeks of Spring break anywhere, so you should be okay. However, I want to reiterate that we were on the Atlantica during peak Spring break week, and the kids acted as as decently or better than their adult counterparts. I agree with Beth also, if it is such an issue for people, and they don't have kids and have to travel during that week, book at another time. --Cheryl:)

[Hei1980]

Good to know and thank you for the information. We love children, love seeing families traveling together, enjoying each other on holiday.

We cannot always pick our dates of travel, frankly, did not think of Spring Break when we booked.

My husband must use the elevators and we all know what a playpen the elevators become when you have a lot of children around. And who can blame them, it is fun!

I do wish families with young children would arrange to have early seating instead of late. Costa's dining room "late seating" is truly late, we love it, but hate seeing children falling asleep in their soup or acting up because of the late hour (not their fault).

That said, I hope someday soon to have our four-year-old grandchildren cruise with us. No matter what, I will insist they stay out of the Hot Tubs. Nothing gets me out of the hot tub faster than having a young one enter the tub with Mom and Dad.

[rocktheboat]

I would not reconsider when I cruise and I have no hostility towards children only toward the parents who allow their children to run wild and could care less so long as their children don't annoy them.

 

The issue is not if you don't like children than don't cruise during school breaks, the issue is parents who don't control their children. I always cruise during winter and spring break, this is the first time I have ever come across teens that were so out of control.

 

I wrote a review of this cruise and about the out of control teens, how come it took you 6 months to decide the teens were not wild. You say you knew the older teens were out of control, does it really matter what age they were. The bottom line here is they were out of control, doesn't matter if they were 15-18 or 13-15. Before the cruise there were plenty of people with teens posting here, after I said the teens were out of control not one parent posted anything here which leads me to think they knew what went on.

 

hadleys,

My children are adults and I don't mind children on my cruise in fact I think it's great that parents take their children. I cruise over winter and spring break because my wife works for the Bd of ED and that's when she gets vacation. I heard from people that were on the Atlantica that week that the children were great, not so on the Med. Did they ruin my cruise, no they didn't. Did It annoy me that they pranked the room phone and banged on doors till early morning, yes it did. Would it have annoyed you. Did they do this to their parents room, I'd bet they didn't. Their parents spent a nice relaxing week away from their children while we had to put up with their out of control children. I'm sorry but something is wrong when parents go to bed knowing their children are still roaming the ship.

[bethcollins]

Although many of my early post were deleted when the board was updated, you will find that my first post still on points out that I had heard there were complaints about the teens, yet I had experienced none. At least make some attempt to get your facts straight. Once again, you seem to be extremely hostile. Perhaps a word to the board moderators is in order.

[cruisy]

Wow, I really wasn't looking to start something. I just wanted to make sure the ship wouldn't look like we were on a floating frat party (complete with togas - hah!)

[bethcollins]

LOl, you're right cruisy. Hope you have a great time no matter what cruise you choose.

[ILov2cruise]

I was not going to reply to this post but I couldn't help myself.

 

 

I was also on this cruise, Costa Mediterrenea April 4. I would have to agree with alot of what rock the boat had to say, but my complaint was more with the food lol.

BETH

What I don't understand is why you're so mad at the way he feels. You knew where your child was, does that mean all parents knew or cared where and what their child was doing. You said in a above post that you heard that there were problems with some of the teens so why get so angry when someone else talks about it. Seems like you knew/heard there were teen problems and you made sure your child was not with these teens. Why take offence if your child was not part of this.

 

Now if you really want to debate something lets talk about the food. :)

[CruisinMatt]

I'll debate about the food - what was so bad about it??? I was on the Med in march and I thought the food was fantastic, however, I never ate in the buffet. We had breakfast in our cabin, lunch in the dining room or in the cabin and dinner always in the dining room. A few afternoons we had ice cream or a few slices of pizza.

[cruisy]

Lets see: Carnival purchases Costa and HAL. Costa and HAL's food now crappy, Carnival's now supposed to be the best of all cruiselines. Don't you think this must be intentional? Keep the loyal customers from Costa and HAL, but make the parent cruiseline better. After all, they are the competition.

[hadleys9538]

Rock the Boat - Even though I have children myself, I really can't stand a lot of out-of-control kids (or adults for that matter) running around taking over everything. I do agree with you -- I would try to not let it ruin my cruise, but I probably would complain if something weren't done. The hijinx you describe is pretty ridiculous and I would definitely find it beyond irritating. That said, we're taking our second Spring break cruise in March on the Vision of the Seas (Mexican Riviera), and I definitely hope we don't run into anything like that. It is interesting to note that I initially tried to book the Diamond Princess that week, and was unable to because they had met their "quota of under-18 passengers allowed onboard." I thought that was pretty interesting and have to admit not a bad idea. -- Cheryl

[margeg]

Good to know and thank you for the information. We love children, love seeing families traveling together, enjoying each other on holiday.

We cannot always pick our dates of travel, frankly, did not think of Spring Break when we booked.

My husband must use the elevators and we all know what a playpen the elevators become when you have a lot of children around. And who can blame them, it is fun!

I do wish families with young children would arrange to have early seating instead of late. Costa's dining room "late seating" is truly late, we love it, but hate seeing children falling asleep in their soup or acting up because of the late hour (not their fault).

That said, I hope someday soon to have our four-year-old grandchildren cruise with us. No matter what, I will insist they stay out of the Hot Tubs. Nothing gets me out of the hot tub faster than having a young one enter the tub with Mom and Dad.

Lots of kids are off school during April (spring & Easter vacations) We went on the Princess Celebrity the second week of June thinking that it was too early for the kids to be out. WRONG! They were all over the place. Could not get in the pool at all. Wall to wall kids. We are going on the Atlantica January 23. At the risk of sounding like an old crab, we picked the date because we hope everyone will be in school

[Silver Anniv]

Lots of kids are off school during April (spring & Easter vacations) We went on the Princess Celebrity the second week of June thinking that it was too early for the kids to be out. WRONG! They were all over the place. Could not get in the pool at all. Wall to wall kids. We are going on the Atlantica January 23. At the risk of sounding like an old crab, we picked the date because we hope everyone will be in school

Margeg

We too took a cruise (in late Feb) hoping not a lot of kids, we were trying to get a break from our own.

And there wasn't alot of kids, I think they told us around 200, but there was a lot of europeans on board (more than 50/50) and the kids were mostly european, I believe they were on break, but we had no problems and the majority were considerate and under control.

 

We were always able to find somewhere to go that was quite.

 

Have a great cruise.