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Still On Harmony...Three Different Words


Sascol
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There are all kinds of reasons you might see school age kids at a time you did not expect and I find the judgemental tone of some posters here pretty off base (assuming that all the kids they are seeing are being pulled out of school AND assuming that is bad and insisting it is some new fangled idea---ALL strike me as odd):

 

--some people do pull kids from school. I have grown kids of my own now and my parents pulled me every year growing up---my mom did not have enough seniority to get a vacation week when school was out until she finally snagged one when I was a junior in highschool. Our only chance to travel as a family was to take me out of school.

 

--there is huge regional variation in when schools have vacation breaks and many places are moving to year round schedules with more shorter breaks throughout the year and no long summer vacation; add in other countries' schedules and there are always going to be kids out

 

--lots of people homeschool, which allows them the flexibility to travel in low season and study in high season

 

--More and more online schools allow for the same type of flexibility as homeschooling

Edited by xxHadleyxx
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Hi mate, doing a B2B in December on Harmony. How did they transition you from one cruise to the next? Did you stay on board or did you have to get off for a while? Any complementary lunch ?? Any heads up would be appreciated. Cheers!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

It was very well organized. Met in the Schooner Bar at about 9:30. Got off the ship with our passports to get new cruise cards and go through customs. We were back on the ship within 30 minutes and later we had a special, very good lunch in the dining room set up for us. Between 10 and about 11:30 you mostly have the ship to yourselves. It's very nice.

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We have sailed Oasis and Allure both several times (4 each). Many times we wondered where is everybody. For whatever reason it seemed wherever we went on the Harmony it was always crowded. Just a general question. Has anyone else who has sailed the Harmony felt that way? We sailed the weeks of 9/23 and 9/30.

 

I have done Oasis, Allure and a whole bunch of others several times and I have never felt a ship to be more crowded and chaotic as I did on Harmony. I don’t know why and couldn’t agree with you more.

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The days of planning a cruise and thinking that there won't be a lot of children on board, especially an Oasis class is diminishing by reason of the yearly school schedules; I work for and also visit Disney World and in my opinion its always quite busy, but for us we're good with that.

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There are all kinds of reasons you might see school age kids at a time you did not expect and I find the judgemental tone of some posters here pretty off base (assuming that all the kids they are seeing are being pulled out of school AND assuming that is bad and insisting it is some new fangled idea---ALL strike me as odd):

 

--some people do pull kids from school. I have grown kids of my own now and my parents pulled me every year growing up---my mom did not have enough seniority to get a vacation week when school was out until she finally snagged one when I was a junior in highschool. Our only chance to travel as a family was to take me out of school.

 

--there is huge regional variation in when schools have vacation breaks and many places are moving to year round schedules with more shorter breaks throughout the year and no long summer vacation; add in other countries' schedules and there are always going to be kids out

 

--lots of people homeschool, which allows them the flexibility to travel in low season and study in high season

 

--More and more online schools allow for the same type of flexibility as homeschooling

 

Well said. Many different reasons why you can see school age kids. My kids started school mid August and had a week break last week. Unfortounately no cruise. :(

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FAR FEWER KIDS!

 

Second week of a B2B. Hard to say how many less kids but I'd guess maybe 1/3 fewer.

 

Still a lot more than we originally thought we'd see when we booked this. As many have said it is because of the features of the ship (anticipated and factored into our decision) and I guess many U.S. parents have no issues taking kids out of school for a vacation (not anticipated and not factored into our decision). This would not have happened in my wildest dreams as a child!

 

Actally a lot of school districts have changed their structure and had all of last week off, and even more will be on this new schedule next year. That's probably why the increase. More and more districts are trying to get 1st Semester to finish before the winter break with second semester after winter break to summer. This resulted in the second semester being way longer. As such they are moving to an earlier return in the fall but with a whole week off instead of current/previous 4 day weekends.

Edited by Spurschick
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Last week was Columbus Day so many kids had off at least one day so families decide just to take the whole week. My kids are off the 30th and 31st, not for Halloween but teacher in service days. It's the end of the marking period for conferences, report card prep, etc. We take our kids out for vacation including cruises. We are doing it in April of '18. They are good students and get mostly A's.

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We are on Allure b2b and last week there were more than 800 kids. This week there are still many but not as many as last week. I was wondering as well if parents pull them out of school. There were many school age kids.

We purposely book after school starts so this was not expected. Even as I type there are so many kids running around outside our cabin that the floor is shaking.

 

 

Many states are doing year round schooling now. I have friends in Arizona and their kids do it so there is vacationing all throughout the year with more breaks.

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Parents take kids out during October due to the price difference. If you CAN take the kids out and save substantially, then why not? We took our youngest out for the Oct 7th Harmony cruise. Glad to hear the 2nd week went really well for you.

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