March Cruise Safe From Spring Breakers?

[arby342]

Hi all. My cruise plans have suddenly been seriously constrained. Due to impeding contract negotiations at my company, I am not allowed to plan any vacation in 2009 after April 1. So that leaves the week of March 14 for our family. Spring Break.

 

Now, I think it's fairly obvious that Cozumel (and by extension, the Western Caribbean itinerary) would not be a good place to take my three young daughters during spring break. Beer bongs and wet t-shirts aren't the sorts of activities I had in mind.

 

My question is this: Is the Eastern Caribbean itinerary reasonably wholesome during the month of March? I don't want my girls exposed to a bunch of underage drinking and carousing (at least, not until they are willingly participating behind my back). I assume that spring breakers wouldn't be on the ship itself (too expensive, plus there must be at least one over-25 person in each cabin, right?). But what about places like St. Thomas, Nassau, St. Maarten?

 

And what about the departure ports - Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Port Canaveral? Are there issues getting in to the airport, from the airport to the port, etc?

 

Thanks in advance for your experience and advice!

[wrp96]

March is prime spring break time for college students. Please don't assume that they won't be on the ships. Even on Carnival as long as they are all 21 or older they can book a stateroom by themselves (only need a 25 year old if someone is under 21). Other cruiselines like RCCL and Princess only require someone in the cabin to be 21.

[sailinglisa]

In a word, No. You are not safe from spring breakers as March is high season for spring break.

[boulders]

We have cruised the 3rd week of March the past two years on RCCL. The only spring breakers we saw were with their parents. Most of them were under 18 :p Some of them were over 18, but they were still with parents. No wet t-shirt contests were seen. We cruised the Eastern Caribbean and the Southern Caribbean.

[ash4020]

As a college student (who doesn't do the spring break thing, but anyway...) I can tell you that most college students don't do more than a three day trip. So if you can do a five or seven day it might be better.

[crusinmama06]

Oh geesh, I just looked up the amount of spring breakers for that week specifically (you can google "Spring Break Dates") and come up with a site to tell you how many US colleges are off that week.

 

Anyway, for that week it says 2,130,258 spring breakers for March 16-March 20, 2009 :eek:

 

Now with that being said. You can cut down the odds of being on a spring break party boat by going on a more expensive newer ship.

[arby342]

To me, the term "Spring Breaker" means much more than a student on Spring Break. Obviously, there are going to be kids on Spring Break on the boat - including my three. I certainly don't have a problem with that. But I want to avoid the Spring Breakers - you know the type: rowdy, beer-chugging, shouting, marginally clothed, may upchuck on your shoes, lookin' for love or anything similar, sitting in the hot tub with a hangover and 37 friends, a red-bull in one hand and a bud light in the other, leaving a trail of empty cans, cigarette butts, and spent prophylactics in his wake.

 

We were in Destin, Florida over Columbus Day weekend last year while Florida was hosting LSU. The condo complex was overrun drunken, loud, rowdy college football fans. The complex was in shambles until Tuesday, when they all went back to class. That's the type of thing I want to avoid.

 

So its sounding like the consensus is, if I don't want that type of atmosphere, I shouldn't cruise in March. Bummer.

[crusinmama06]

So its sounding like the consensus is, if I don't want that type of atmosphere, I shouldn't cruise in March. Bummer.

 

No actually you CAN cruise in March, just choose a newer ship.

 

Look at it like this - I vacation on land during spring break. The hotel that we stay at (more expensive than most) had no rowdy college kids running around. The hotel next door had kids hanging off the balcony and rating the girls as they walked by. So we had a VERY different vacation experience than our neighbors.

 

I think the best way to do it is to read the reviews here at CC. Look at each ship's review from THIS year for the week in March you want. Some will say "drunken party, vomit in the elevators" :eek: and some will say "there were college kids onboard, but with the families, no issues"

 

If you go on a $399 pp 4 night bahama cruise in March, expect problems. ;)

[bqkali]

As a recent graduate, I can guarantee you that there will be Spring Breakers on the cruise. In fact this past year, my college had a senior class cruise over Spring Break (7 days on NCL Pearl the first week of March).

 

I can also assure you that most college students don't have money, so picking a more expensive ship/itinerary is a good way to avoid Spring Breakers. College students tend to pick a "younger" line like Carnival, Royal Caribbean, or NCL and wouldn't pick a more conservative line, such as HAL and might be unaware of less advertised lines like MSC. Most also would be uninterested in Disney. I know NCL/RCCL were popular at my school because they have less strict age rules (only need one person 21+ in cabin, while Carnival requires 25+ if there's anyone in the cabin under 21).

 

Other ways to avoid college students is to leave from somewhere off the beaten path. It is easy for students to get to LA, Florida, or NYC, but more expensive to leave from San Juan or other ports. I would also check into cruises that start and end in different locations (maybe full transit of Panama Canal?). Also, most schools only have 1 week off, so if you can, look for a longer cruise - students won't be able to skip classes easily in order to take a 10-14 day cruise, not to mention they won't be able to afford it!

[nothriver]

Peak for Spring Break in '09 will be mid April, the week Easter and Passover coincide. Here in Iowa most of our schools break the third week of March no matter what but a surprising number of schools follow the religious holiday schedule. So I'm thinking mid March will really be the beginning or Spring Break next year, where this year Easter was mid-March so mid March was the peak week for '08 Spring Break. Does that make sense?

 

My guess is that the college kids party all night and sleep until noon or early afternoon, so if you plan you port days to get out in the morning until early afternoon, really I think you'll be fine.

[sandytoes03]

To me, the term "Spring Breaker" means much more than a student on Spring Break. Obviously, there are going to be kids on Spring Break on the boat - including my three. I certainly don't have a problem with that. But I want to avoid the Spring Breakers - you know the type: rowdy, beer-chugging, shouting, marginally clothed, may upchuck on your shoes, lookin' for love or anything similar, sitting in the hot tub with a hangover and 37 friends, a red-bull in one hand and a bud light in the other, leaving a trail of empty cans, cigarette butts, and spent prophylactics in his wake.

 

We were in Destin, Florida over Columbus Day weekend last year while Florida was hosting LSU. The condo complex was overrun drunken, loud, rowdy college football fans. The complex was in shambles until Tuesday, when they all went back to class. That's the type of thing I want to avoid.

 

So its sounding like the consensus is, if I don't want that type of atmosphere, I shouldn't cruise in March. Bummer.

 

We've been on two spring break cruises, both 7 nights with RCCL, and never experienced what you are talking about. We've always thought spring was an excellent time to cruise. Don't give it up.

[ShelbysMom]

My experience is that college spring breaks are not usually tied to Easter, but many elementary-middle-high schools do still have spring break tied to Easter.

 

So March 2009 cruises you will definitely have college spring breakers, and April 2009 cruises (Easter is April 12) will have school-age (not college) kids on them the week before and the week after Easter. If Princess pricing is any indication, most schools are off the week after Easter, as that is when their prices are the highest for the surrounding weeks.

[Cindy]

We've cruised during Spring Break four times, and have never had large groups of college kids on the ship. There are plenty of children, but almost are with their family.

We have seen ships that have large college groups while we were in port, and they were older, smaller ships that were doing a three or four night cruise.

[SelectSys]

...I can also assure you that most college students don't have money, so picking a more expensive ship/itinerary is a good way to avoid Spring Breakers...

 

The universal rule - the more expensive the cruise, the fewer the spring breakers.

 

Also, 7+ day west coast cruises I think are less rowdy than those departing to the Caribbean. We did one spring break cruise from LA and it was almost all families (like us).

 

Good luck!

[DukeFamily]

I would say go for it. The only time we cruised during spring break, we cruised Celebrity out of FLL; Eastern Caribbean itinerary. It was perfectly fine - full of families who were on spring break together. We did not have bunches of college kids, but families. It was a great trip. Also, just to add, our friends cruised Princess, Western Caribbean this year out of Florida during spring break. No problem there, either. Just families enjoying a spring vacation together.

[arby342]

I appreciate what you guys are saying, but... throwing money at the problem isn't going to work because I don't have that strong of an arm! :D

 

Keep in mind that I'm doing plane tickets, two cabins, tips, and excursions for five people. We can't choose a longer cruise because the kids only have a week off, and we have to allow for travel time, so we have a hard limit of a 7-day cruise. And picking a luxury line or exotic itinerary is pretty much out because, well, I'm raising three kids on a single, five-figure income. Doing any cruise at all may be a bit of a stretch for us!

 

We initially wanted to do a Southern cruise, but we decided on an Eastern because of the very reason that was brought up - significant savings on the cost of five airline tickets.

 

Also - I just wanted to say that I really don't have anything against college kids, AT ALL. I think most college students are responsible, pleasant people, and the whole spring break thing is participated in by a minority, and probably the over-the-line behavior is practiced by an even smaller minority. I'm just being an overprotective Dad.

 

So thanks for all your advice. I'm still ruminating, but leaning towards calling the travel agent and asking her to whip us up an Eastern Caribbean trip.

[VikkiGarcia]

My family sailed the NCL Sun out of New Orleans a the height of spring break 2006. We were handed a paper upon boarding stating that they had hired two uniformed police officers to work this sailing and all the ships expectations ect. And how they were not going to put up with any trouble or your off the ship. I thought what have we gotten ourselves into.

Everything went really smooth. We did not see any groups goofing off during the day(they might have been sleeping) and everything was normal until we retired to our cabin around 12:30. If it got rowdy it must have been later, but I highly doupt it did because I saw the two officers all over the ship each evening. I think the ship staff loved having them there too, someone else to be the bad guy.

[Julienatul]

We always cruise in March, April and May and have never experienced the "spring break" attitude you are referring to on our ships or in port. Sure, there are always spring breakers on our cruise but never the loud, obnoxious drunk, wet t-shirt sporting ones and there are plenty of families with young children as well as older couples. We have cruised Carnival mostly but also RCCL and NCL. We always do a 5-day or more. I have heard from other friends the 3-4 day ones tend to be the party cruises. Eastern Carribean is very nice. We have also gone western, in Cozumel we just avoid the Carlos & Charlies and Senor frogs(prime bars for spring breakers) and opt for a beach excursion. We have never encountered any of the activities you are referring to in any of our ports. There is so much to do in every port, the spring breakers will all head to the nearest, cheapest bar so you can easily avoid them. Just ask on the ship what a family friendly beach or restaurant you can go to. You can also research before you go on the CC boards under ports of call.

 

Julie

[the4cannons]

We took the Spring Break cruise to Cozumel, Roatan and Belize City in March of 2006 with our 2 children ages 9 and 13 (at that time). We had no problems at all on the boat or in port. We received school calendars on Saturday and when I realized our kids had the same Spring Break, I booked a cruise on Sunday. This year we are spending Spring Break on a Mexican Riviera cruise! I thought the extra children on board were a bonus, lots of school age kids which made the Kids Crew more enjoyable for my children. Have a great time!

[MikeNKim]

I cruised during the Ontario, Canada spring break last year, 2nd week of March my kids where 18 and 15. We did western caribbean and they had a awesome time. There was alot of college kids drinking at Senor Frogs and Carlos and Charlies but that is great for them, we just didn't go in there. As for wet t-shirts....we must have missed that cause didn't see anything like that.

 

I was surprised as I had heard horror stories of spring break but would go again, no problem we had a absolute blast. Also ship was full of Canadians as apparently it was spring break country wide.

 

Kim

[sabbie]

I agree with most PP that the more expensive cruise or a cuise line that may be viewed as an older cruise line the better chance you have of not having excessive Spring Breakers . We went on a cruise in March on HAL and wouldn't have even known it was spring break. As for the shore excursions you might want to pay closer attention. We did a boat tour and beach break with HAL in St. Thomas that in the brochure sounded like a nice relaxing time but when we got on the boat we were with several other ships and lots of Spring Breakers set on drinking as much as possible. (free rum punch) "Spring Break 2005" is seared into my brain from hearing it screamed so many times in the hour and a half we were there. Two girls had to be loaded onto golf carts and driven back to their ship because the port guys were worried they would fall off the dock. We found out that the other cruise line billed this tour more of a party cruise, so the way each cruise line promotes a tour may be different. Pretty entertaining to watch but we were with my IL's and so kind of took the fun out of it.