Which ship for less kids on the Feb. (Pres. Day week) break - Zuiderdam or Star Princ

[Ocruise]

Hi all. We are planning our Feb. cruise and since I teach, the only week I can go is the February break (President's Day week). It's just my husband & me & we would like to steer ourselves on a ship with less kids. We are down to the Star Princess or the Zuiderdam.

I know Princess usually puts a limit of 300 children per sailing, but I don't know if that will apply for that holiday week.

We have never traveled on a Feb. break & I have read some reviews that say there are HUGE amounts of kids on board. We have traveled mostly in the summer months (when a lot of families travel) but have never felt overwhelmed by the # of kids on board (we have even sailed Disney on a 4th of July cruise & not felt bombarded by kids!)

We like both itineraries equally. We have sailed Princess & loved it, have never sailed Holland America before gut have heard wonderful things about their line.

Any advice would be appreciated,

Marina

6/03 ~ Celebrity - Horizon ~ Bermuda
7/03 ~ Carnival - Paradise ~ Exotic West. Carrib.
7/04 ~ Disney - Wonder ~ Bahamas
7/04 ~ RCCL - Explorer ~ West. Carrib.
8/04 ~ Princess - Golden ~ Southern Carrib.

[jhannah]

It was a February when we sailed the Zuiderdam, and I don't recall there being an inordinate number of children. I don't think Presidents' Day is really that big a holiday travel time for most folks. You should be fine.

[doone]

We sailed with the kids on the Veendam about 3 years ago on February school vacation week, we had about 80 kids onboard. My friend sailed the same week on Princess' Golden, she said there were about 600 kids. I'd go HAL if I were you based on that comparison. Just note, the Zuiderdam is being marketed for families so you may have more kids onboard the Zuiderdam than another HAL ship.

[RuthC]

I'll reiterate what doone said: there will be more children on the Zuiderdam than other HAL ships that week. This is partly a function of size (the Zuiderdam being larger), but also a function of demographic.
If you want fewer children---and must cruise school vacation week---then you might want to look at non-Vista class ships.

[Jemima]

Feb. breaks? There are breaks throughout the year depending on the area of the country and the schood district. Here most of the schools are on or just finished their fall breaks which vary from a couple of days to a couple of weeks.