Do you cruise during School Breaks?

[luckyprincess]

I am trying to see if I have a pre-conceived notion of cruising during spring break, or winter break. The cruises always seem to be cheaper, but I'm so afraid of annoying, rowdy, obnoxious behavior! I'm only in my early thirties and my bf in his late twenties, but I know enough college friends to imagine..... Also, we have no kids - I realize there will be kids aboard, but is it a deal breaker for you?

[printingchick]

I didn't vote because there was no "it depends". If I'm on a cruise with adult friends/family, I avoid school vacations. The prices are high and there are too many kids on board. However, I do sometimes cruise with my children, and those times I have to cruise during school breaks. I generally go over February break (week of President's Day) because not all schools close for that week. Spring break is a lot worse for crowds and fare inflation.

[olemissreb]

I am cruising during Spring Break next year because DH and I are taking our kids on their first cruise. Prices were higher than if we had been able to wait a week or two.

 

Other times, it just depends on where we are in our life. Do we want to cruise and see very few kids because our kids have taken us to the brink? Or do we just want to get away, but it doesn't really matter where we are or who else is there just that we are together?

 

April will be the first time I've cruised during Spring Break. The other 3 cruises were while school was in session. Although on the last cruise, while there were kids, but we rarely saw them. The first 2 cruises, I think there were kids, but since it was pre-kids for us I don't think we even noticed them.:)

[Happy ks]

I had to vote "I have no choice" because I work at a school. But, now that our kids are nearly grown we are starting to cruise at other times of the year, I am allowed to take non-work days so I use those.

 

I have always found the prices to be much higher at school break times, not cheaper as the OP states. We are cruising at Christmas, the same itinerary is around $500 more per person than at many other times of the year. Next year we are cruising after Spring Break and our fare is $360 less per person than the 2 weeks prior. Deals are not to be found in summer, either.

[retnuh281]

I am trying to see if I have a pre-conceived notion of cruising during spring break, or winter break. The cruises always seem to be cheaper, but I'm so afraid of annoying, rowdy, obnoxious behavior! I'm only in my early thirties and my bf in his late twenties, but I know enough college friends to imagine..... Also, we have no kids - I realize there will be kids aboard, but is it a deal breaker for you?

 

Where are you seeing the cheaper cruises? Out of Galveston they are much higher during Spring Break. Ft lauderdale as well.

There are tons of kids but for the most part you won't be doing the same activities as them so it really shouldn't be that big a deal. If you are wanting the rock climbing or Flo rider you better get there early LOL.

If you stay with the 7 day cruises during this time there is less of the college party crowd. The shorter cruises tend to have more college age crowds.

Personally, if I could cruise any time other than spring break I would. But we have three more years of spring breaks, so........

[Rala]

I do not cruise during school breaks, but not because of the kids. As the above poster states the rates are usually higher during school breaks, so I look for the "bargain" prices!

[Bobal]

I am trying to see if I have a pre-conceived notion of cruising during spring break, or winter break. The cruises always seem to be cheaper,

 

Cheaper - you must be joking:eek: I only cruise during school holidays as I do so with my kids but once they've flown the nest (only a couple of years to go) I will cruise at any other time than school holidays because any other time is cheaper and less crowded.

 

We cruised on Explorer at Easter with hundreds of kids and never saw any problem behaviour.

 

Some of the rudest people I've seen on cruises have not been kids. Another poll might be what is the rudest age group you've encountered - now that would give some interesting results ;)

[East Bay Skiers]

I do not cruise during school breaks, but not because of the kids. As the above poster states the rates are usually higher during school breaks, so I look for the "bargain" prices!

 

 

Agree 100%.

[robmab]

I must be in the minority here, but honestly, other people's kids don't bother me. I think if you let things bother you, they will. If you go into the cruise with a mindset of "I hope there are no kids on board," then you are probably going to be hypersensitive to the behavior of the kids (who are probably going to be well-behaved for the most part, but they are, in fact KIDS!). If you go into it thinking "There will be kids on board, but they won't bother me," you will probably have a much better experience.

 

These are BIG ships. There will not be kids everywhere. They will be at the pool -- that's where you will see them the most. But you can always use the "adults only" pool if you choose. There might be some kids on the sport court -- however, they don't mind shooting hoops with an adult. Heck, they'll probably even play a game of HORSE with you...just ask my DH. They might be riding up and down in the escalators...big deal. Take the stairs.

 

If they're keeping you up at night, call Guest Relations and it'll be taken care of. Otherwise, let them enjoy their cruise. They're just kids...not monsters.

[cruisinisforme]

I did it twice and would never do it again, its full of kids and on our last cruise there was a wondeful ice cream fight out in the hallway that even after calling carnival security didnt get cleaned up for hours...so nope..i avoid it at all costs

[twoputt.plusone]

did it once with the grandkids and never again in this lifetime! What a nightmare!!! :eek:

 

2P.P1

[francesam]

We have no choice,DH is a lollipop man (school crossing executive ) and it's frowned on to have holidays in term time. Dh is a stickler for the rules. We are both retired and i'm on pins in case we are the only oldies on the med cruise on Aug

[DonnaK]

I must be in the minority here, but honestly, other people's kids don't bother me. I think if you let things bother you, they will. If you go into the cruise with a mindset of "I hope there are no kids on board," then you are probably going to be hypersensitive to the behavior of the kids (who are probably going to be well-behaved for the most part, but they are, in fact KIDS!). If you go into it thinking "There will be kids on board, but they won't bother me," you will probably have a much better experience.

 

These are BIG ships. There will not be kids everywhere. They will be at the pool -- that's where you will see them the most. But you can always use the "adults only" pool if you choose. There might be some kids on the sport court -- however, they don't mind shooting hoops with an adult. Heck, they'll probably even play a game of HORSE with you...just ask my DH. They might be riding up and down in the escalators...big deal. Take the stairs.

 

If they're keeping you up at night, call Guest Relations and it'll be taken care of. Otherwise, let them enjoy their cruise. They're just kids...not monsters.

 

 

This is a great post, and I'm totally with you! We always cruise during the summer and the kids don't bother us at all. There's plenty of space on the larger ships and there's plenty to keep them positively occupied onboard. I have to say that even when there's been nearly 1000 kids, they are hardly visible.

[retnuh281]

Have you ever noticed on a cruise that you tend to see the same people over and over? This is the "birds of a feather" mentality. You will see people that have the same interests as you. If your interests are riding the elevator at mid night, playing on the sports court or rock climbing then you WILL see kids. If you are like me and enjoy the restaurants, casino, champagne and Boleros bar then we will run into each other over and over again.

When I took my first cruise I was under the assumption that only retired people take cruises. I was wrong of course, and found that I don't keep the same hours of most retirees, and thus never even noticed the ages of most people on board.

See you in the Schooner bar!!

[nikinakinoo]

Hi all

Im from the UK and was wondering if your schools have holidays in October time. I will be going on FOS 24th oct 2010 this week is school holidays in the UK (well for my DD anyway). I was just hoping for a few more children on this sailing

Thanks

[d&a Delaware]

We cruise at school break times (mostly Spring break) because Allen is a middle school administrator/teacher. The only time we were bothered by unruly kids was on our first cruise, on Costa. On our Spring Break cruises on Celebrity and RCCL we have not been bothered by kids (and there have been a lot on board), perhaps because of the excellent cruise line programs for kids, or because we do late seating and frequent places (adult pools, gym, bars, our own balcony) where there are fewer kids. As long as we are limited by an academic calendar, however, we aren't able to take advantage of some of those real cruise bargains:(.

 

David

[RetireeWannabee]

No kids. We travel shoulder seasons by choice.

[RetireeWannabee]

Hi all

Im from the UK and was wondering if your schools have holidays in October time. I will be going on FOS 24th oct 2010 this week is school holidays in the UK (well for my DD anyway). I was just hoping for a few more children on this sailing

Thanks

Some schools do have "Fall Break" (tho that didn't exist when I was in school!) and there are also year-round schools whose break times I won't even guess at.

[dual]

I'll do either - I have taken my children out of school twice before for a weeks break because the fares are so much cheaper. I know its frowned upon - but some of the price differences for a family of 5 run into over £1500 difference - for the exact same holiday.

 

However this is my first cruise so I have no idea how many children to expect on Liberty of the seas - and plus Im not going with my children Im going with my mum.

 

My cruise is Thanksgiving week - do US schools break up for a week over Thanksgiving?

 

Plus I dont mind having children around even if their not mine - some of the things I see them get up too make my day. Children just want to have fun.

 

I know some older children (teenagers) can be very rude - swearing etc which I dont like to hear and often I have asked older children around me to curb thier language around my younger son.

 

But such is life - we were ALL children at one time or another - Ive never met a person who was born an adult yet :p

[KKeeganS]

As an "adult" college student, we've taken a few cruises during my spring break because...I desperately needed it.

 

The prices were definitely more expensive than our usual late summer/early autumn trips, but not outrageous. My break tends to be at the end of March, the far end of the "spring break" season. We have no kids, we're not crazy college-age partiers, and I had no problems cruising at that time of year. We tend to be up and out early, I spent a lot of time in the solarium so we didn't see many kids or crazy antics. I would definitely do it again if there was an itinerary we wanted to do - one of the trips we did because no ships sailed to Belize in the months we normally cruised.

 

My one complaint is...it's not as hot as in the dead of summer and the ocean temps were cool (to me).

[HHFamily]

We cruise during summer break so that my nephew can join us. My son is homeschooled, so he can have class anywhere. We didn't really notice a lot of kids outside of the kids club activities on our two previous cruises but maybe it's because we didn't spend time up on the pool deck during the day?

[luckyprincess]

Great feedback so far, thank you!! I could swear the prices for the Liberty that week were pretty good a little bit ago - maybe because I'm a NJ resident? Anyhow - I don't think kids are monsters - I certainly hope I didn't give that impression!:confused: I like kids, I just dislike obnoxious, unruly kids, lol! I love to see them excited and playing - I think its cute. But an ice cream fight? Not okay! I was at SeaWorld recently and in a restaurant and a little girl was making a continuous, high pitched "EEEEEE" noise for- I kid you not - at least 5 minutes STRAIGHT. The father looked at her and just shook his head and the mom laughed. Finally, some rude man yelled "shut your damn kid up" and the little girl cried. It wasn't really her fault - her folks should have told her to not be so disruptive, you know? I have witnessed some awful kid behavior, but it isn't the norm. But to the one poster, I am definetly on the sports deck and on the rock wall and I'll be on the flowrider! Not sure why you don't equate those with active twenty and thirty year olds? I like to drink and gamble, too, but I love sports and activity:)

[robmab]

But to the one poster, I am definetly on the sports deck and on the rock wall and I'll be on the flowrider! Not sure why you don't equate those with active twenty and thirty year olds? I like to drink and gamble, too, but I love sports and activity:)

 

I don't think that poster was suggesting that some 20- and 30-year-olds don't like those activities. I think she was saying, in essence, "to each his own..." My 30-something husband spends MOST of his time on the sports deck and there are plenty of others in his age group (both male and female) that do the same. You will likely see some kids there, too, but they'll just be there having fun...same as you.

 

My guess is that you will see just as many unruly, obnoxious adults as you see unruly, obnoxious kids (if not more). All of the really annoying incidents I've experienced on cruise ships have involved adults...not kids. (Though I wasn't around for the ice cream fight...agree that would've made me pretty angry.)

[Bobal]

a little girl was making a continuous, high pitched "EEEEEE" noise for- I kid you not - at least 5 minutes STRAIGHT. The father looked at her and just shook his head and the mom laughed. Finally, some rude man yelled "shut your damn kid up" and the little girl cried.

 

Some rude man? Some hero more like :D - I'm surprised he didn't receive a round of applause ;)

[luckyprincess]

I don't think that poster was suggesting that some 20- and 30-year-olds don't like those activities. I think she was saying, in essence, "to each his own..." My 30-something husband spends MOST of his time on the sports deck and there are plenty of others in his age group (both male and female) that do the same. You will likely see some kids there, too, but they'll just be there having fun...same as you.

 

My guess is that you will see just as many unruly, obnoxious adults as you see unruly, obnoxious kids (if not more). All of the really annoying incidents I've experienced on cruise ships have involved adults...not kids. (Though I wasn't around for the ice cream fight...agree that would've made me pretty angry.)

Ture, definetly have seen those adults!!:eek: little kids can be annoying (in instances like the one described) but its more the drunk college kids that I find so obnoxious. Yes, drunk non-college folks are too, but I've found - during college and now with my friends that age - that it gets a little worse with that crowd.... And no, I'm not knocking ALL college kids or ALL children or ALL adults that like to drink - just the exceptions that we've been talking about. :)