Cruising during the school days?

Anyone experienced it? Is it less crowded than during peak times like summer time or school breaks?

Sorry I meant are there a noticeably less amount of kids in the cruise? Sorry for not elaborating

Generally yes, but school break schedules vary greatly by geographic area. Even if kids are in school in the homeport area, kids can be on vacation in other areas and fly or drive with their families to the debarkation port. Many parents are also willing to pull their kids out of school for a cruise.

So at any given time of the year YMMV, but holiday (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter) weeks will generally have more kids onboard,. as will any summer cruise.

Many parents are also willing to pull their kids out of school for a cruise.

All of our cruises have been when kids are in school. (Mid January, early May, middle of October, end of November after Thanksgiving, and the first week or so in December) There are always kids on board but never a lot of them. They’ve always been well behaved. I would assume when schools are on break there are many more kids but I don’t care to find out for myself. Plus, I’ve found we can get better rates when school is in.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Another way to have less little darlings aboard is to sail on longer cruises during the school year. Usually, there are less kids on a 13 day sailing then a 3 or 4 day one.

Also, check school terms in the departing port State, they may differ than your home State.

When our kids where younger we would pull them from school to cruise, until high school, then that had to stop. There are always kids, especially younger kids on every sailing. Not to many teenagers. Just as many babies and toddlers.

Sorry I meant are there a noticeably less amount of kids in the cruise? Sorry for not elaborating

Yes. That's when I try to cruise. I've been cruising in September and a week or two before spring break (last week in Feb or first week in March).There are still some who have small kids....or who pull their kids out of school to save money. But we're talking a few hundred kids where when I cruised in July it was a thousand. I'm trying the last week of August this year and hoping for similar results.

We always cruise during times when school is in session. There is always some kids around but never is any areas over run with them and I don't recall every being annoyed by unruly children. That could be why no matter what ship I am on it does not feel all that crowded.

Generally yes, but school break schedules vary greatly by geographic area. Even if kids are in school in the homeport area, kids can be on vacation in other areas and fly or drive with their families to the debarkation port. Many parents are also willing to pull their kids out of school for a cruise.

We learned that lesson last year when we cruised in April. We weren't thinking about the possibility of spring break falling on that week when we booked it, then later saw spring break around here was in March, so we thought we were in the clear. Well, after boarding, quickly learned that in some other states, especially northern states, it was spring break that week, I swear atleast half the passengers on board were under 17.

So, for our cruise this year, we went in Early May, and there was just a handful or so of kids on board and they were barely even noticeable.

I learned my lesson this year sailing in June for the first time (I generally like late April and late September for my birthday) but sailing to Alaska wasn’t available then. Obviously there were a ton of kids on board, but I wasn’t prepared for the major increase of overall kids and large herds of families traveling in general, airports, restaurants, etc.

I love kids, but the volume in June was overwhelming for a single, no kids lifestyle dweller like me. I swore I would never sail (possibly even vacation in general) in the summer months again!! [emoji15]

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

October last year - 14 days Panama Canal from Galveston - I'm pretty sure less that 10 kids on board...

Sent from my SM-G950U using Forums mobile app

Our group sailing in October on the Magic will have nine kids ranging from 2 to 17.

I work for a school system in North Georgia. We have a "modified" or "balanced" school calendar here. Our year starts on August 1, we have week long breaks in Sept, Nov, Feb and April. Two weeks off for Christmas and out for summer at Memorial Day. Hubby and I love it as we can cruise in September and February. We tried one in July this year and it was just stifling hot! We going next June to Alaska and assume we will not have issues with heat up there! LOL

Yes, it's less crowded and there are less kids on board. Don't get me wrong, it's pretty much always "crowded" but I think the ships usually aren't filled to max capacity since there are fewer families. I.e. More cabins with two people instead of 3 or 4.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

We primarily cruise in the fall while school is in for majority of kids and yes there is a significant difference in how many kids are onboard, our first cruise had 14 under 18 ( and our son was one of them )

While we don’t cruise fall to avoid kids , if your trying to avoid them I highly suggest before thanksgiving or after as those cruises have always been low # s in my experience [emoji106]

Sorry I meant are there a noticeably less amount of kids in the cruise? Sorry for not elaborating

Most definitely! We cruised a b2b on the Vista the end of May, the first week was grey hairs like me, averaging 55-75, the 2nd week averaged 25-40 with a lot of kids!

Had fun both weeks, but it was a noticeable, different feel on the ship!;)

I'm trying the last week of August this year and hoping for similar results.

Anytime there is a Holiday you will also gets lots of kids.

Well, after boarding, quickly learned that in some other states, especially northern states, it was spring break that week, I swear at least half the passengers on board were under 17.