How many kids should we expect on 8/28 Zuiderdam?

[dexter]

Do you think there will be many kids (13 and below) on the 8/28 Zuiderdam cruise. I am hoping that school is back in in most of the country. I love kids as long as they are well behaved and they don't get in my way of having fun on our cruise. Parents, if you are bringing your kids please make them behave and don't let them run up and down the hall and for goodness sake...keep them out of the aft (adult) pool. Thank you for your consideration.

[viennacruiser]

Schools in Northrn Virginia and New York start after Labor Day

[ekerr19]

Our kids don't start school til 9/7/04...

Hope this helps.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Always remember that some parents don't care when school begins and if their child (children) miss any days. This goes for anytime of the school year.

And a lot of parents are home schooling their children. We have several parents in our neighborhood who are not sending their children to either a public school or a private school. So they take vacations when it pleases them.

[MandyGirl]

If it helps any... many public schools in Texas started in mid-August or earlier. I've been back in school since Aug 6 and been having my 150+ kiddos since August 16. But I agree... the home-schooling rate is definitely increasing, and fortunately, those families can take vacation at traditionally off-peak times.

[kryos]

Do you think there will be many kids (13 and below) on the 8/28 Zuiderdam cruise. I am hoping that school is back in in most of the country. I love kids as long as they are well behaved and they don't get in my way of having fun on our cruise. Parents, if you are bringing your kids please make them behave and don't let them run up and down the hall and for goodness sake...keep them out of the aft (adult) pool. Thank you for your consideration.
I would imagine tons. Also, as someone else has said here, there are a lot of parents who don't mind pulling their kids out of school for family vacations, so as long as the weather is warm, anytime can be family vacation time.

I'm preparing myself for hundreds of kids. I'm just hoping they are of the well-behaved, mannerly sort. At least to me, those kinds of kids are a joy to be around ... and can actually make a cruise fun.

Blue skies ...

--rita

[elmorejj]

Does anyone know if HAL has a maximum number or percentage of kids on any one cruise? I know Princess used to have a max of 200 on a cruise. Don`t know what it is now they are part of the Carnival family. Would love to know about HAL.....jean :cool:

[Ziggy7]

the week of 7/31 there were 880 kids
the week of 8/7 there were 440 kids
the week of 8/14 there were 400 kids

[srpilo]

Holy Cow...880 Kids ?

Thats not a cruise.. Thats Summer Camp !


Srpilo :D

[peaches from georgia]

I don't care what HAL does on the Vista ships during the summer and vacations, but I hope there is going to be a strict plan to limit the # of kids on the older smaller ships. Sure as anything once these families start sailing HAL on the Vistas they are going to move to the other ships/itineraries and the attraction of cruising with HAL is going to be gone for many adults, dare I say most of us.

400 is too many kids, but 880 is ludicrous. :eek:

[Jacqueline]

Most kids in the south, and even a few states in the NE (massachusettes) start the week before Labor day. But plenty of schools start later in Sept. We start Sept 8.
I would expect a lot of kids that week. Most New Yorkers travel then- the kids are out of camp and have a week or two off before school starts.

[Ziggy7]

the numbers sound really high but we didnt think there were many kids on our 2 weeks, we never saw more that 20 at anyone time. Which is a very small amout for 440 & 400 kids on one ship!

[elmorejj]

Evidently they don`t have a maximum. That many kids on a cruise that I was on would make me jump ship at the first port!!! We will be sailing over the Holidays and I hope to goodness we aren`t overloaded with kids! Its a 10 day cruise so hope that makes a difference.....jean :cool:

[lknick]

Call ships services and they will give you an exact number broken down by age group.

[dexter]

Holy Cow...that is NOT good news. First the news about the air conditioning and now we may have a plethora of kiddies. We had over 900 kids on a cruise last year and it was absolute hell. I'm glad we have cat. S...we'll just stay in there all day.

[Lois R]

The schools opened back up here 2 weeks ago......early for some, regular time for others, like many have said, just depends on what part of the country you are living in.....when I was a kid we always went back to school right after Labor Day (but of course that was MANY years ago:eek: )

[dexter]

Schools began here the first week of August.

[michmike]

We've decided to bring paint guns on our next cruise so that we can SPLAT any offending parties, be they out of control kids, their clueless, self-absorbed parents, dress code offenders, pool chair hogs, boorish dinner partners or drink pushing wait staff. Sadly we will only be able to bring one change of clothes and a swim suit as the rest of the luggage will be filled with spare paint pellets (well OK, I WILL make room for my contraband gin as well).

If that first wake up call isn't adequate we can always throw the little darlins overboard.. along WITH those parents that had the audacity to inflict them on us? *S*

Forget carpe diem.. I say carpe the offending parties

[Krazy Kruizers]

880 kids!!!

That is far too many for our liking. That's one of the reasons we gave up Princess. We were on the Grand Princess in 2000 - over 600 kids on board - Easter.

[gizmo]

michmike,

The skeet shooters from the "Blender Group" would love it!!:D

[twinds]

dexter,
We'll be on the Zuiderdam 8/28. Somewhere on these boards, the count of 180 was mentioned. Since the Zuiderdam holds 1,848 passengers (BASED ON DOUBLE OCCUPANCY), the ratio will be well below 10 to 1.
We usually cruise the last week of August (leading into Labor Day weekend) because #1. Considerable savings, #2. Lower amount of children onboard, #3. With the lower amount of children, my girls (11 & 14) are provided more one-on-one attention at Club HAL, thus providing them a greater incentive to attend Club HAL programs, #4. Being self employed, it provides me a full 10 days off with only locking up the office for 5 days.
We sailed the Zaandam last week of August 2000, and amount of children onbaord dropped from 300 to 80 in just one week. The same drop occured on the Maasdam last week of August 2002.

[Searanger]

This is silly!!!! With approximately 200 extra bunks available in the cabins with 3rd's and 4th's doesn't someone besides me think the odds of having 880 kids on one sailing impossible. That would mean out of 900 cabins.....there would have to be in the area of 600 of them with single parents...Oh come on!!!!

I think 180 to 200 kids might be more inline on these types of ships (Vista Class). Even RCI Voyager class ships couldn't hold up to these numbers.

My humble opinion!

[twinds]

Perhaps it was 400 kids, and 400 adults acting like kids!

[ASM]

I don't know how many were onboard last Aug with us but they were not a problem. Either well-behaved or invisible, I guess. School started here first week in Aug and in neighboring county last week.

[RevNeal]

So many kids ... so many opportunities for target practice. Or ... bate for Shark trolling behind he ship. :D

[peaches from georgia]

This is silly!!!! With approximately 200 extra bunks available in the cabins with 3rd's and 4th's doesn't someone besides me think the odds of having 880 kids on one sailing impossible. That would mean out of 900 cabins.....there would have to be in the area of 600 of them with single parents...Oh come on!!!!

I think 180 to 200 kids might be more inline on these types of ships (Vista Class). Even RCI Voyager class ships couldn't hold up to these numbers.

My humble opinion!
It is very plausible that there are way more than 180-200 kids on a ship during vacations. Many parents book a separate 2nd cabin for the kids. So instead of 1800 adults with 200 kids onboard in 3rd or 4th bunks in the parents' cabin, you really have way less than 1800 adults on the ship and a much higher actual # of kids and the % of kids/total pax is much greater, too. :(

[Ziggy7]

It is very plausible that there are way more than 180-200 kids on a ship during vacations. Many parents book a separate 2nd cabin for the kids. So instead of 1800 adults with 200 kids onboard in 3rd or 4th bunks in the parents' cabin, you really have way less than 1800 adults on the ship and a much higher actual # of kids and the % of kids/total pax is much greater, too. :(
Thank you Peaches!
Those were not my estimates, those numbers were told to us by the cruise director, so I would think he would know the truth.

[ekerr19]

We had over 450 last August on our Zui sailing. It was the last week in August. We noticed them... it was hard not to. They completely took over the hot tubs and pool area. :(

Many teens roved in packs - hanging out in the stairwells (which we always use) we noticed some teens drinking - were told by ship security that parents were buying 17-18 yr. olds drinks, go figure.

[jfishe]

OK... I gotta say it... as the parent of a 16 year old (who would be imprisoned and fed water and bread if he acted inappropriately... in any situation ) I've seen PLENTY of adults act just as terrible, if not more so, than some kids I know. Just a friendly little thought... sometimes, it's not always the kids we need to worry about !!

[Roz]

South of the Mason Dixon line, kids start back to school in the heat and humidity of the 2nd and 3rd weeks of August. In Yankeeland, kids traditionally don't go back to school until after Labor Day.

If you could find out the origins of the passenger onboard, you might be able to statistically calculate how many of the little ankle biters await you.

Roz

[Jewelfine]

Hey Dexter
I posted on the Roll Call board that when we booked about 1 month ago for the 8/28 cruise - we were told there were 180 kids booked - 45 9-12 range

We were told that the Zuiderdam was built to attract the family market - I guess they are looking to compete with RCCL
180 kids isn't much I think - at Christmas we were on the Brilliance of the Seas and there were 400 kids - didn't see many as we were without my step daughter so we did more adult things - we also hung out at the adult only pool - although that didn't stop some kids from coming in

see you on the weekend! whoo hoo

[Jacqueline]

We had about 200 in the teen group ALONE on our 13 night European cruise.
But I would expect more in the 9-12 group on a Carribean trip than a European one.
No need to guess- call do as lknicj said and you can have the facts. I agree that many kids have their own *beds* on cabins and are not in bunks.

[CaptData]

In Canada, some schools open this week and the rest after Labour Day weekend. My grandchild goes on the 7 Sep.

[michmike]

Afraid my buddy and I may be guilty of this at times. But hey life is FAR too short to take it very seriously. Wives claim that they come along primarily to provide adult supervision. Hate to think what my bill would be at Diamonds International if they ever saw shopping as their primary function. *L*

[Jewelfine]

Just found out this cruise is sold out - so who knows now?

See you there!

[twinds]

michmike,
In all honesty, there have been one or two occasions when I have had a "Juvenile Moment". In my younger/single days, I can remember crashing on the pool deck (formal night/formal wear), only to wake up several hours later and having people wandering around in swimsuits (11:00am)! My wife always claims that marriage saved me. I will be under adult supervision this time (one wife / two daughters).

[iluvcruzin]

Normally I take Land vacations the last week of August to Florida. It's usually a slow time of the summer. I wouldn't say you won't have a small amount but I don't think it will be as large as mid summer.

For Roz - your anaology is incorrect. I live on the Mason-Dixon Line. Both sides of the river generally start the 3rd or 4th week of August. That's Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana. It varies by school district. Some rural areas in Kentucky where the buses can't reach during the snowy season start the earliest.

[Druke I]

Many of the public schools in this part of NorCA started this week.

Used to always be the 1st Tuesday after Labor Day, but no more, as they now often have a Spring Ski break, and need to make up the days somewhere.

Michael

[Deep68]

We were on the 08/21 cruise and someone told me there were less than 250 kids. This number was not a problem, I am childless and do not really like to be around noisy kids or teenagers !
No kids running in the dining room or drunk teenagers or kids screaming in the show!
However I will say that during sea days we did spend the time on our balcony so I cannot comment on how things were by the pool