Christmas Cruise TOO many kids??

My husband and I just booked an 8 day cruise over Christmas on IOS. Im a bit worried now realizing how many kids are on vacation that week. Im not opposed to well behaved children but too often I have seen kids going wild unsupervised on cruises, and am rethinking my reservation. Anyone been on a Christmas cruise and what was your experience?? Thanks in advance!! :)

There certainly will be more children during that time frame than subsequent or prior weeks. How many and how well behaved is impossible to answer. "Well behaved" is also rather subjective. You run that same risk with any cruise including those with fewer children on board.

We have been on two Christmas cruises and enjoyed them both thoroughly and were I guess fortunate that most of the children were in our view well behaved. But as I said there is no guarantee of this with another Christmas cruise, or any cruise for that matter.

BTW, the IOS 8-night itinerary is one of our favorites.

My neighbor was on the Grandeur for Easter. She was spitting fire about so many children on the ship. Somehow it was a surprise because she wanted to get away from children. She is a teacher.

In her case the children were just too much.

My neighbor was on the Grandeur for Easter. She was spitting fire about so many children on the ship. Somehow it was a surprise because she wanted to get away from children. She is a teacher.

 

In her case the children were just too much.

While Christmas is also typically a time with a number of families cruising, in our experience the Easter / Spring Break time is far more "family heavy" and - along with the summer months - is one of the peak family cruise seasons.

My husband and I just booked an 8 day cruise over Christmas on IOS. Im a bit worried now realizing how many kids are on vacation that week. Im not opposed to well behaved children but too often I have seen kids going wild unsupervised on cruises, and am rethinking my reservation. Anyone been on a Christmas cruise and what was your experience?? Thanks in advance!! :)

Have taken 2 RCL/Clebrity Christmas cruises, each time the ship was infested by feral rats masquerading as children. :eek:

Never again at Xmas. But you may be okay. Suggest you think the absolute worse, and I hope that you may be pleasantly surprised.

Let's just say your level of tolerance will in all likelihood be tested! Do you folks have children or grandchildren of your own? If so, you understand how different they all can be and of course the parenting skills associated with them certainly adds to the outcome of how they act.

We've done several cruises, on several lines over Christmas.

Our experience has been there are many extended families, including an abundance of children of all ages, from babes in arms to early 20's.

The number of children is impossible to predict as is their behaviour. Just like adults, some good, some not so good, most O.K.

If the numbers of children is a concern, I would suggest a cruise when most school districts are in session, and cruises longer than a week. Any holiday cruise will probably have more children regardless of the length.

On a cruise the week before Christmas week, one of the wait staff mentioned that 950 kids were boarding next week! I think that is pretty typical for holiday weeks. If you're concerned about your tolerance for lots of kids, I would avoid those weeks...like we do!

Let's just say your level of tolerance will in all likelihood be tested! Do you folks have children or grandchildren of your own? If so, you understand how different they all can be and of course the parenting skills associated with them certainly adds to the outcome of how they act.

Yikes!! Yes we have 10 grandchildren and are "supposedly" escaping from them on this cruise :D I guess a cruise experience is always what you make it

This past Christmas, we cruised with HAL to Antarctica. There were a total of about 35 kids on the cruise. Two of them were mine. ;) The only Caribbean cruise I've been on that didn't have 700+ kids on was on RCCL in January. If you choose something other than the Caribbean, you are likely to get fewer kids.

Yikes!! Yes we have 10 grandchildren and are "supposedly" escaping from them on this cruise :D I guess a cruise experience is always what you make it

Appreciated your comment, and it pretty much says it all. Yes, there will be many families traveling with children of all ages. Sounds like you will be able to take it all in stride. Typically find on any ship, all kinds of behavior from both adults and children! ;)

If it is the sailing that leaves 12/20 you MIGHT not have that large of a group. I would think that not all school districts would be off that entire week, but close mid-week right before Christmas. Some parents may be unlikely to take kids out of school.

Now I am cruising the week just after Christmas and I am sure it is going to be full of kids.

We were on 2 Christmas cruises (we have no kids or grandkids) and yes there were lots of kids but I don't remember it being bad.

I hope not as we are going on the FOS for Christmas this year:)

My husband and I just booked an 8 day cruise over Christmas on IOS. Im a bit worried now realizing how many kids are on vacation that week. Im not opposed to well behaved children but too often I have seen kids going wild unsupervised on cruises, and am rethinking my reservation. Anyone been on a Christmas cruise and what was your experience?? Thanks in advance!! :)

If you want Christmas, you will have an abundance of children on the ship. If you could push it up to the first week of December and you will likely have almost no children on board.

We've cruised US T-Giving and also over Christmas many times. And in all cases we were cruised to get together with family (including kids) rather than attempting to escape them. We have never cruised the Caribbean so I cannot speak to a Caribbean holiday cruise. But we never had any issues with either "our" kids (family) or other people's kids on a holiday cruise -- at least not anything any more than I have encountered with obnoxious adults on those same cruises.

My neighbor was on the Grandeur for Easter. She was spitting fire about so many children on the ship. Somehow it was a surprise because she wanted to get away from children. She is a teacher.

 

In her case the children were just too much.

Lol! Child-free wife and I always cruise the week before Easter and Thanksgiving to avoid dealing with free-range children.

My husband and I just booked an 8 day cruise over Christmas on IOS. Im a bit worried now realizing how many kids are on vacation that week. Im not opposed to well behaved children but too often I have seen kids going wild unsupervised on cruises, and am rethinking my reservation. Anyone been on a Christmas cruise and what was your experience?? Thanks in advance!! :)

Are there not any adult only cruises? Hesse are quite popular in the UK. We have a teen daughter but have also been on a cruise without her, we didn't notice other people's kids at all, maybe we were just doing stuff where the kids weren't (we didn't need to be round the pool etc).

I would say it will be heaving with lots of understandably excited kids.

Are there any cruises without old people?

Aft Cabins Rule

we are actually doing a cruise with the grandparents, ourselves and the grandchildren over winter break. our kids are almost 13 and 11. I am hoping that there are more kids for my children to hang out with.

i know for a fact my children are very well behaved and don't act like rats.

my kids got excellent grades and earned this vacation.

if you are worried about kids on the boat over winter break- don't go. :)

Are there any cruises without old people?

 

 

Aft Cabins Rule

Lol :D

maybe some of these adults were born adults...maybe they were never kids...we could always just close down disneyland too.. hey im an older person so not yet old, well thats all relative.hahahah

I'm in my forties and I tripped over today. I didn't hurt myself but 3 teenage boys came running over to give me a hand. Apart from being extremely embarrassed and feeling really old myself, I did wonder why no adults came to help.

We were on Explorer quite a few years ago. There were 600 children on the cruise. My DH and I were by ourselves and it did not bother us at all.

My suggestion: Seabourn

I think as a parent and a person who has cruised with and without my kids. If you want to go on an adult's only type cruise RCCL shouldn't be your cruise line of choice. We went to Mexico and did it on Azamara, I was considered a child on this line, and I am 37.

I was always treated worse by older people/adults then I have seen children behave on all my cruises.

Children know to wait their turn, be polite (generally) and not push ahead and be demanding...

Adults however need reminding ALL THE TIME about such things.

If you want to take a trip during Christmas, I suggest you pick a different line.

Princess, Celebrity, and Azamara all had hardly any children on them. Azamara had NONE, and the other two lines didn't have more then 10 in all our cruises.

Carnival and RCCL are family type lines and that is fair. You can't complain about children when your on a line that promotes itself as a family type destination..

We were on Explorer quite a few years ago. There were 600 children on the cruise. My DH and I were by ourselves and it did not bother us at all.

I think that's the key. You just get on with your own holiday. I'm not sure how kids can be a pain, they don't really want to be in the same place as adults.