Anyone back from a Holiday Sailing Please Comment re Kids/Crowds

[Want2Cruise 701]

We booked a X cruise for next Christmas but there was a thread about lots of unruly kids. There were only 700 which is nothing for a holiday sailing but is making me second guess my decision. We are thinking maybe RC now or a Carnival since there maybe more activities to occupy children. We have only one 10yr old who is very quiet and shy so I'm more concerned about others. We did a FOS sprink break cruise and while lots of kids/families it didn't bother us. Wasn't our best cruise for other reasons. How would this compare to winter break?

 

We are thinking:

 

Allure - Xmas

Oasis - New Years

Adventure - Xmas

Carnival Breeze - Xmas

 

Allure is 2,500 more and Oasis is 3,500 more than Celebrity. Is it really worth it?

 

Would love to hear all your comments please.

[A&L_Ont]

There will be lots of kids, and more on the bigger ships.

 

Different cruise line, but an example of kids on holidays sailings. Island Princess, Panama Canal over a combined Christmas/New Year's sailing. There were close to 600 kids on a ship that holds almost 2,000. We sailed on her the week after and there were only 4 other children my sons age of 4 1/2. There were only a few other kids on board including teens, perhaps between 50-75. At 40 I was one of the younger ones and my in-laws in their 60s considered themselves to be young as well.

 

If you don't want kids do not go over the holidays, or school breaks. Choose your cruise line carefully as it will also make a big difference.

[bchalker]

We booked a X cruise for next Christmas but there was a thread about lots of unruly kids. There were only 700 which is nothing for a holiday sailing but is making me second guess my decision. We are thinking maybe RC now or a Carnival since there maybe more activities to occupy children. We have only one 10yr old who is very quiet and shy so I'm more concerned about others. We did a FOS sprink break cruise and while lots of kids/families it didn't bother us. Wasn't our best cruise for other reasons. How would this compare to winter break?

 

We are thinking:

 

Allure - Xmas LOTS OF KIDS

Oasis - New Years LOTS OF KIDS

Adventure - Xmas LOTS OF KIDS

Carnival Breeze - Xmas LOTS OF KIDS

 

Allure is 2,500 more and Oasis is 3,500 more than Celebrity. Is it really worth it?

 

Would love to hear all your comments please.

 

All of the above LOTS OF KIDS

[mjm325]

we just got off the Legend Holiday sailing (11 night over Christmas and NYE). At adventure ocean I asked how many children in my daughter's age group (3-5 year olds) and there were only 15. My guess is because it was a longer cruise and higher premium that there were less kids. There were a lot of teenagers that I noticed, but the under 10 group... not very many. hope that helps =)

[Want2Cruise 701]

I don't necessarily mind all the kids. I know it's a holiday sailing so I'm expecting them. I just don't want them to be unruly and breaking rules constantly. The X thread stated that kids were running up and down the halls, babies in pools with diapers when not allowed, children in the adult only area etc. The list goes on....

 

Our FOS Easter spring break cruise was filled with families. DH and I both agreed that it didn't bother us since they were, for the most part, behaved and we didn't see any of the above at all.

 

If Christmas/New Years is going to be a different scenario than we will avoid it.

 

Thanks.

[Ourusualbeach]

We were on the Liberty for the 21'st and the 26'th sailings with our 2 children. On both cruises there were Appx 1200 kids on board. Other than there being a lot by the pool deck and in the H2O zone as well as back by the flowrider we did not notice them very much. Yes they were there but not unruly. We typically sail at Christmas and March break so I guess we are used to it but I felt that the kids in general on this trip were less intrusive on the Liberty than they were on the Jewel, Monarch and Majesty perhaps as there is more to keep them occupied.

[fgc15527]

We sailed on the 2013 Christmas Cruise on Oasis. There were a lot of kids but because the ship is so large and people are spread out everywhere we never felt there were crowds of any sort. We were a group of 14 that included six teenagers and they said that the only large groups of kids were found at night on the sports deck and by the teen lounge and these kids were just talking in groups.

Edited January 5, 2014 by fgc15527

[DreamingBig1]

We booked a X cruise for next Christmas but there was a thread about lots of unruly kids. There were only 700 which is nothing for a holiday sailing but is making me second guess my decision. We are thinking maybe RC now or a Carnival since there maybe more activities to occupy children. We have only one 10yr old who is very quiet and shy so I'm more concerned about others. We did a FOS sprink break cruise and while lots of kids/families it didn't bother us. Wasn't our best cruise for other reasons. How would this compare to winter break?

 

We are thinking:

 

Allure - Xmas

Oasis - New Years

Adventure - Xmas

Carnival Breeze - Xmas

 

Allure is 2,500 more and Oasis is 3,500 more than Celebrity. Is it really worth it?

 

Would love to hear all your comments please.

 

Celebrity has next to nothing for children, teenagers and young adults. I can see unruliness completely happening on those ships. Its very refined, and unapologetically adult oriented. No promenades, no rock climbing wall and putt putt, etc etc. This is counterintuitive, but you may want to go on a huge RC ship instead just for the holiday, because everything falls into its zone on those.

[Seaside2358]

We were on the Christmas and New Years 10 day cruise on Grandeur. There are some comments on that rollcall thread Dec. 24. Personally I witnessed several incidences of teens fighting in the Windjammer, throwing ice on the decks of the pooldeck, etc. I don't mind kids at all if they are well behaved and monitored by their parents. Met many very nice teens also. Someone else posted of their child being bullied which is really sad.

 

We booked again for New Years next year leaving on Dec. 27 on Grandeur.

 

Deb

[BURLINGTON66]

I just posted an Oasis NYE cruise review. There were lots of kids, but no more than a previous summer cruise we did on the Carnival Magic (Med). There are always isolated incidents, for the most part they were well behaved. Carnival would probably be best bet if you want to ensure the most kids, we have previously shied away from Celebrity as we wanted to be on a family friendly cruise with the most options for the kids. As they are getting older we will probably give X a go. The extra cost of Oasis and Allure is for the ship, if that does not matter you might try Carnival, same itinerary (I think) and fairly comparable cruise demographics.

[setsail]

I don't necessarily mind all the kids. I know it's a holiday sailing so I'm expecting them. I just don't want them to be unruly and breaking rules constantly.

 

Thanks.

 

No one can answer that for a cruise that has not happened yet:rolleyes:

 

Unless you are asking for someone to classify all kids one way or the other

 

O&A will have 1800+ each week but for your holiday cruise they will all be little lambs:p

Edited January 5, 2014 by setsail

[bwest the man]

A lot of kids however we noticed on the Independence that most were at least 10 or older, and there were several bad kids but thats to be expected with that many over 1100.

 

Bottom line if you don't want to deal with kids don't cruise during the holidays or a mass market line.

[hansolosmom]

Here's my take FWIW

We did Celebrity Refelction this summer in the Med, the ship was pretty much at capacity. There were tons of kids, including our teen boys (15 & 17) I have never felt so crowded on a ship. There was a group of Tweens which took over the hideaway area & used it as their space for the week & lots of running in the halls. I was surprised, I guess because it's supposed to be an upscale line. The problem IMO is the activities they offer for the kids. My 15yo usually loves to go to the rooms & I think he went twice. I know some kids love their rooms, but my son didn't. There's also not a lot of other stuff for them to do i.e. rockwall, flow rider etc. so the kids tend to congregate in the non-kid areas.

 

On the other hand we did the first Nickelodeon cruise on Freedom. Obviously tons of kids, which we expected. But it never seemed like there were so many kids because of all the activities going on - rockwall, flow rider, ice skating etc. I think RC does a good job keeping the kids occupied.

 

So one thing is, you never really know how many kids there will be - never in a million years would I have expected that many kids on Celebrity in the Med.

The other thing is, if there are going to be lots, I'd rather be on RC with the variety of activities to keep them occupied.

[missingyou]

Just returned from 11 day holiday cruise on the Legend. Cruise was over both Xmas and New Years. Ship was full but did not feel crowded. I will be honest, we did not really notice the kids or teens that much. We saw them yes, but they were actually well behaved in my opinion. This was our second Holiday Cruise. the other was on the Enchantment in 2006 over New Years, and we found those children to be well behaved as well.

[Want2Cruise 701]

I appreciate all the feedback. It seems we will cancel Celebrity since it looks like people seem to favor RC or Carnival over the holidays for families.

[wahlct]

I just got off Allure today. I've never seen so many strollers in my life. Be prepared for basically no rules what so ever. Kids were all over the Solarium, in the casino, in bars late at night. Having said that, I would never take my kids on X. The ship and staff were fantastic, but many parents felt the rules didn't apply to them.

[cb at sea]

No matter how many kids, the ships will have the same number of people....they sail full, whether it's kids or adults!

 

We generally sail around spring break times...we've never been bothered by kids....except around the pool, we seldom noticed them! Only once did a father attempt to bring his child to the Solarium pool, where we adults pointed out the "No Kids" sign...he left and took the child with him....