In March Is Osterdam Full Of Spring Breakers???

[ginagirl]

DH and I love Holland America, and have recommended it to my son and his wife (30 year old teachers) who will be cruising in March. We were wondering if anyone has sailed the Osterdam out of San Diego during Spring Break in March; and if so, was it full of spring breakers? My feeling and hope was that out of all the ships cruising from San Diego during March, the Osterdam would be the one with the least amount of Spring Breakers. Any advice would be truly appreciated.:)

[kakalina]

I would plan on lots of kids. Anytime there are school holidays the ships fill up with the little, um, darlings. :D

[jhannah]

I agree. The Mexican Riviera is a very popular spring break destination. I'd imagine there would be more "partiers" than on an Alaskan cruise, for example.

[peaches from georgia]

With spring breaks being at different times in various school districts in various states and then Easter holidays you almost can't cruise between mid-Feb and mid-April without running into a lot of kids on 7 day cruises. We never look at anything during that time period except 10 day and preferably 14 day beginning in April. And a b2b doesn't solve the problem because you really are just taking 2 7-day cruises with most b2b's.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Expect children!! Agree with everyone.

[duck tune]

I agree that spring break happens at different times for everyone and year round school is common as well so not all children are off at the same time. I teach in a college whose spring break coinincides with the grade school and high school schedule. DH and I have cruised on my spring break from San Diego a couple of times. You should expect children on any cruise but in our experience there wasn't a overbearing number on HAL.

[ekerr19]

We didn't have many last March....

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I agree with Laura, for a full 7 day cruise in March it really is not full of that many kids. It is not like Thanksgiving or Christmas where it is an exact date. Many Spring breaks vary from last week of Feb. to early April. We were on March 17th and did not find it to have any more kids than going early February the year before. HAL is not the first option that families with kids or teenagers think to go.

[midgecruiser]

I cruised on the Oosterdam the week after Lisa (March 24) of this year and did not find it to be all that crowded with kids. I like to dance so spent some time in the Northern Lights (disco) and didn't even find many college students. The few that were there where great fun by the way. Good fun kids...but just a small group of maybe ten. However, the week before Christmas 2006 was a night mare. WAY too many kids. Will not do that again. I would be concerned if you wanted to book Carnival or Royal Caribbean but you should be fine with HAL.

Wendy

[ginagirl]

Thank you all so much for your kind responses. I feel a lot more confident after hearing of your experiences in March on the Osterdam. :)

[duck tune]

Thank you all so much for your kind responses. I feel a lot more confident after hearing of your experiences in March on the Osterdam. :)

I forgot to mention in my post that DH and I were on the Oosterdam March 2006 and very few kids, just as we were on the Ryndam this March and not many then either. Have fun!

[Cruisinetta]

YES!

[DedeM]

I'm sure there are, but if you serve them extra crispy they're delicious.

[Susie51]

March 2007 on Diamond Princess there were A LOT of College students on spring break. They took over the hot tubs. I hope HAL is better for you.

[Cruisinetta]

I did the Oosterdam during spring break and it was a disaster. I could walk out on my balcony any time of the day or night and see fruit flying off the top of the ship. The teens took over the atrium at night and owned the pools and spas during the day. It was a miserable cruise for me. By the end of the cruise all the sports equipment had been thrown off the ship as well. I went on the Oosterdam in mid April this past year and the staff had told me that the same thing happened just before my cruise. There was no sports equipment again. I recommend you wait until April or just avoid cruising during March unless you like being around all those teens. Good luck.

[twinkletoes4445]

Here's a website that tells you when the college spring breaks are and how many kids will be out & about. If we cruise or vacation during that time, we do it before President's Day (that week), or wait until mid-April. Our kids were almost always out for spring spring break in mid-March (grade school thru college).

Someone posted a review of their cruise (I think it was the Noordam) over last President's Day week, and the ship was a total zoo. If we had kids that age, we'd probably be right there with them, but we don't, so we try to do our best to avoid those particular times. But sometimes you just can't avoid a particular time because of your job, so if that's the only time I could cruise, I'd probably do it and just hope for the best. It does seem like it's hit and miss a lot. We were on the Zuiderdam this year (we left on 2/10) and I don't think there were more than 20 kids (from babies to early 20's). We're in our 50's and we were the youngest on the ship! It was awesome...it was quiet, and exactly what we were looking for.


http://www.tripsmarter.com/panamacity/springbreak/sbcalendar.htm

[ginagirl]

Unfortunately, since my son and his wife are both teachers, this is a time when they are both off from school here in Arizona. So we will hope for the best. From reading everyone's kind posts, it's obvious that they have a 50/50 chance of not finding sports equipment flying off the ship.:eek: That's one story that simply amazes!!!!!

[ginagirl]

Thanx so much for providing me with that website. My son now knows that it will be hit or miss, and I have no doubt they will make the best of it no matter what.

[twinkletoes4445]

Thanx so much for providing me with that website. My son now knows that it will be hit or miss, and I have no doubt they will make the best of it no matter what.

That's about he can do. :) When our kids were in school, we traveled when they were out of school (along with everyone else), and sometimes we had interesting experiences, and other times nothing much happened. It was either deal with things as they came up, or not vacation at all.

I am sure they will have a great time. :)

[hammybee]

Spring breakers come in all sizes. HAL does not attract the college spring break crowd as much as Princess due to minimum age requirements, sometimes higher 3rd/4th pax rates and reputation.

HAL, like all others, does attract families, during school breaks. I think those who can drive to the ship are more likely to travel with kids. SD County Unified School District has Spring break 3/17-21. Given the proxcimity to all of So. California/multiple school districts, most of March is family cruising season.