spring break?

[victoriasmommy]

I want to avoid it.

is it the whole month of march?

beginning of april?

ty ty

[pappagene]

I want to avoid it.

is it the whole month of march?

beginning of april?

ty ty

 

Spring break, by the calendar http://www.tripsmarter.com/panamacity/springbreak/sbcalendar.htm

 

starts in late February and goes into early April.

 

Gene

[Sauer-kraut]

When I was at university it was around the 12th of March. When I was in grade school it was always at Eastertime, but I think that's changed because it is not P.C.

 

At work people want spring break time off and that is usually late March early April.

 

If you book at the END of April you should probably be okay, graduation time doesn't start until early May.

[garycarla]

Spring break times seem to be all over the place. Hard to say what weeks will have the most people onboard to trip over.

 

Pricing is a good indicator of when the cruiseline thinks they will be most busy

[elcuchio24]

As a rule of thumb, avoid mach andthe first two weeks of april. Shorter cruises usually attract more college kids, 7 day or longer less so but then again you have more families and little kids on those. End of April is no problem, and often cheap to boot.

[floinnc]

I booked our cruise 3rd week of March thinking Passover and Easter are in April and we'd miss spring break. WRONG! According to whose on the roll call for my cruise there will be zillions of kids and 2 of us-young seniors, no kids.

[victoriasmommy]

well we have plane tix that expire mid april...

 

Just off the Epic and there weren't any real lines...

want to take my 4 & 1 year old nephews & want it to be as great as it was nov 27th with my DD. Just a handful of kids at the aqua zone... So no trampling happening etc...

ncl.com is saying that 1st 2 weeks of march cost more than last 2... will give it a few weeks and see.

[Tyskie]

Spring break is rather late this year, so is Easter and Passover.

http://www.tripsmarter.com/panamacity/springbreak/sbcalendar2.htm

this lists most colleges/universities.

[newmexicoNita]

I want to avoid it.

is it the whole month of march?

beginning of april?

ty ty

 

Generally Spring break will be most of March and into the week after Easter. That being said, the first week of March will not be all that bad and the week after Easter won't either. The worst will probably be the week of Mar 13th and 20th. That is when many of the colleges will be out. Easter being late this year will mean Spring break may go on longer.

 

Nita

[cmdchiefthom]

I've cruised the first full week in April for years because our spring break is written in the teacher's contract in the School Corporation my wife and I teach in. I've found college kids not to be a problem that late in the season. As I recall when checking on the college spring break schedule for 2011, only one large community college in Northeastern Florida, and several small private colleges had spring break secheduled for that week. I really wouldn't worry about April,;) but its usually a different story in March.:eek:

[rok233]

According to the tripsmarter link posted above, here's the number of college students off for spring break each week (listed in order from highest to lowest):

 

March 14th-18th: 2.1 million

 

March 7th-11th: 1.7 million

 

March 21st-25th: 886,000

 

Feb 21st-25th: 334,000 (The majority this week will be Canadians. Most large groups of Canadian spring break/reading week go on all inclusives to the Caribbean or Cancun. This week should be just about free of spring breakers on cruises 7 nights or longer).

 

March 28th-April 1st: 295,000

 

Feb 28th-March 4th: 156,000

 

It looks like the first 3 full weeks of March should be avoided if you're anti spring breakers.:) Of course, this will vary greatly from ship to ship.

[nunuc2000]

According to the tripsmarter link posted above, here's the number of college students off for spring break each week (listed in order from highest to lowest):

 

March 14th-18th: 2.1 million

 

March 7th-11th: 1.7 million

 

March 21st-25th: 886,000

 

Feb 21st-25th: 334,000 (The majority this week will be Canadians. Most large groups of Canadian spring break/reading week go on all inclusives to the Caribbean or Cancun. This week should be just about free of spring breakers on cruises 7 nights or longer).

 

March 28th-April 1st: 295,000

 

Feb 28th-March 4th: 156,000

 

It looks like the first 3 full weeks of March should be avoided if you're anti spring breakers.:) Of course, this will vary greatly from ship to ship.

 

But even if there are a bunch of Canadians on board, it's an established fact that ALL Canadians are excessively polite anyway, so no worries there :p;)

[Crusin6]

Easter is late in 2011...so public schools usually have the week before off...and Catholic schools have the week after Easter off....and the prices are so much cheaper when you leave on Easter Sunday...like we are...with our kids:D..unless Passover is earlier then they will be also getting a few days off around Passover.

 

So it starts somewhere in mid March and goes until May 1 in 2011...accounting for colleges, high schools and grammar schools...public...private..and parochial....of course the pre k kids can miss school anytime and it is no big deal:D Then the colleges get out in mid May so if you want a decidedly older crowd...the third week of January would be good...as schools have exams and colleges start their Spring semesters around then.....but then you have to consider the homeschooled kids....which are growing in leaps and bounds...and their parents aren't paying tuition so they have money for educational cruises to the Mayan peninsula:D Of course every state and school system is different...and some get the 3rd week in February off as well. I even read on the boards recently that in Calif.....the kids are off until mid January.

 

There is always the middle of September...but then it is still hurricaine season.

 

I can't find anything wrong with the first week in May though

[hunterJay]

We did a cruise during college spring break (March 2009) and it really wasn't too bad. We wake up early (they don't), our daugher was in the kids club (they weren't) and we don't stay up late or go clubbing (when the kids club closed we were in our room - most the time). Lines for dining weren't too bad (we tend to eat at the earlier times). The only time I knew it was spring break was when they had to close one pool because some tool puked in it. And I noticed a few of the college girls checking me out (in my mind anyway).

So for our situation it wasn't a big deal (family with a younger child).

[mew1]

I must say NCL does the best job with the spring breakers, the cruise director staff, keeps them busy, I was afraid as I was traveling with my 70 year old mom, we hardly ran into them, YES they were at the pool and the bars, but we didn't spend much time in either place so NO problem. NCL offered special events they loved, and it kept them happy. Yes there were a few drunk ones, but even they were taken care of by staff. Go with a positive attitude or if you are really worried, go in May on, have fun no matter what.

 

I have read horror stories about Carnival and spring breakers.

mew1

[imnanny24]

We were on a Carnival cruise last March 28-April 3 and had no problems at all. We had our 2 teenage grandchildren with us and never even gave the fact that it was "spring break" a thought. There were a lot of families, but most of them were younger children - some teenagers and didn't notice any college age. Would not hesitate to go at the same time again. We were on the Dream and had no issues with lines, parties, rowdies, etc. Had a great time.

[perkythedog]

My sons spring break begins March 7, 2011. So we have cruised 3 years now during this week on NCL. Seriously, we have met nothing but the nicest, most respectable college kids on these cruises. Many of them are in to college hoops and they have a lot of fun. And many of them are traveling with their parents like my son does so they are usually pretty well behaved if they want another parent financed vacation in the future!!

[victoriasmommy]

thanks for the replies.. think we have decided on Feb.

DD is a timid little thing & a buncha bigger kids running around & she'll sit in the corner.

Yes she needs to get over it but was hoping to share the kiddie pool with a half dozen new friends (insteads dozens) just like we did on the Epic nov/dec.