Jump to content

On Harmony Now....Three Words......


Sascol
 Share

Recommended Posts

LOTS OF KIDS!

 

We travel in the fall. Mainly for two reasons:

 

1- The most important- it's our anniversary

2- To avoid cruising with lots of kids/families

 

While I am sure it is not even close to cruising in the summer months, there are SO many more kids on this ship than we are used to. Many of them American kids. Should they not be in school? The majority are well behaved but a few are making the occasional scene. Why so many kids on an October cruise? Like nothing we have ever seen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We don’t have fall break here in Houston. But I know that RC does a lot of kids sail free promos outside of typical school breaks, and a lot of parents don’t mind taking their kids out of school for vacation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We were on in Feb., not any school holiday and were amazed at the number of children on board. We couldn't enjoy a quiet meal in Coastal Kitchen for all the children. After cruising HOTS and Allure in the past year and Oasis a few years ago, we will not book on Oasis class ships again. Unlike most of our cruising friends, we do not care for this class ship Just too many people!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the 3rd week of February most schools are closed in the north east, the week of Presidents day.

But having said that I have been on late Sept. cruises and early October and I am always amazed that there are so many kids .. I suppose school is less important that it was for me and my kids...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Up until your kids where in High school we pulled them out for Oct or early November to cruise. Its much cheaper than summer months, generally lower hurricane risk. Since my kids didn't struggle in school it was never a issue.

 

Anytime you cruise with a "holiday" in the week its a great week for parents to pull them from school.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Schools are closed for Columbus Day so parents only took them out of school for 4 days, and I think its so wrong.

 

We are doing back to back with week two starting Saturday. It will be interesting to see if there is any change. This is not ruining anything but it is just not at all what we expected.

 

As a GOOD surprise, as we were researching this trip we came across many threads of everyone stating that the solarium was always overcrowded and miserable. We have not come across this yet. Even if we were to have gotten there at 11am today there would still have been plenty of seats. No issues at all and this is a sea day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When our kids were little, we had no issue pulling them out of school to go to Disney in May to avoid the crowds, and the heat. We had our two and my niece and nephew - (4, 6, 8, 9 yos so all in elementary school). Once they started in Junior high, we no longer thought it wise to pull them as they had much more to do. We also figured the last couple of weeks of school (mid may) in elementary school is when many kids get squirmy and schools tend to want them out doing things as like field trips or track and field days.

 

When you add in that some schools do year round (taking 3-4 week breaks each quarter instead of having all summer off) and then home schoolers, and you could get a large amount of kids just about any time of year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On Harmony 2 weeks ago and 600 kids. Most were not American I don't think and mostly younger than 15 or so. I think it's just the class of ship. You'll see a much higher percentage of non Americans and kids anytime of the year on Oasis Class.

Not so much with Voyager and Freedom classes

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You could use these three words.... FLOATING FUN PARK

 

With several water slides, an aquapark, ice skating, rock climbing, zip line, DreamWorks characters, carousel, two flowriders, as well as the usual sports court, gaming arcade and youth zone, how can you not expect kids at any time of the year?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You could use these three words.... FLOATING FUN PARK

 

With several water slides, an aquapark, ice skating, rock climbing, zip line, DreamWorks characters, carousel, two flowriders, as well as the usual sports court, gaming arcade and youth zone, how can you not expect kids at any time of the year?

 

You are right, and we did expect more kids than we usually see, but not anywhere near the level we are seeing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You could do a longer cruise and avoid the young ones some. We did a celebrity cruise, 11 days ending last Friday. Only saw about 10 passangers under the age of 14. A hand full of teens, and the rest adults!

 

This is actually what we usually do but we did want to give this class of ship a try. Part of the adventure I guess!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

LOTS OF KIDS!

 

We travel in the fall. Mainly for two reasons:

 

1- The most important- it's our anniversary

2- To avoid cruising with lots of kids/families

 

While I am sure it is not even close to cruising in the summer months, there are SO many more kids on this ship than we are used to. Many of them American kids. Should they not be in school? The majority are well behaved but a few are making the occasional scene. Why so many kids on an October cruise? Like nothing we have ever seen.

 

Who is the Activity Manager on board your sailing?

 

What I have found is that parents are less worried about taking their children out of school for a few days, when they want to....and this week since many school districts may have had no school on Columbus Day, it would only be 4 days out of school. Add to that the growing number of children who are homeschooled.

 

We cruise when we can, and often it is during weeks of school vacation and so be it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...