Sky 2/29 - 3/4 review and warning

[Aimeef12]

First of all DO NOT go on the sky in the month of March if you are not a spring break college kid looking to get trashed and party all day and night !!!

 

Thinking this was too early for spring break I didn't expect all the college kids, boy was I wrong. I'm 28 so it was manageable but I felt terrible for some of the older travelers, and families with children. I heard a lot of complaints and very unhappy people with the spring breakers. Some of the kids looked barely legal and guess what, a lot where !!!! 18-21 is allowed beer and wine and they definitely got there money's worth. You could barely get near the pool or hot tub's, and The bar lines were pretty long.

 

All over the pool deck there was games of flip cup, beer pong, and funnels and I'm glad they all had a great time buttttttt I wish I would have been aware of this before booking. Apparently there is a college spring break planning company that they all knew about because they where from all over the US.

 

The open bar for me was great, the cabin was decent, and the price was right. I enjoyed the ports. In Grand Bahamas island we went to Junkanoo beach, Nassau we visited Atlantis, Great Stirrup Cay was gorgeous!

 

All in all had a great time BUT be aware of spring breakers lol

 

Photo was at embarkation early on and this isn't even close to half of them !! Lol

 

 

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[shadowmeboy]

Sorry about being overwhelmed and inconvenienced with the college kids. I am glad you had a good time otherwise.

 

Every cruise has the chance of being bad. The DW and I did a weekend cruise on NCL a few years back. We left LA on a Friday and boy was that an all night party. We still had a good time, but were inconvenienced. Now we look when the cruise leaves, who might be on break, and how long the cruise is.

 

Keep those things in mind for next time.

[Markanddonna]

As you plan your next cruise, be sure to read these boards carefully, although sometime you can't really predict. We took a Jan. 31 cruise on the Getaway. Too early for many kids, right? They should all still be in school and won't start descending on Caribbean cruises until the breaks start in Feb.

 

There were MANY children on board because more and more parents just take their kids out of school for a week. Also, South American children are often still on their summer break so the ship had many families from Argentina and Brazil. Then, there are the quincentera cruises that are taken over by teenage girls and their families.

 

The rule is you can avoid families and the college crowd with longer (8 days+) cruises and sailing on ships that appeal to more mature passengers (over 55). The older ships in the mainline cruiselines tend to be the 3-5 days cruises which usually become party ships for college kids and large Florida family groups.

 

I wish there was a formula to figure out these things but I haven't seen it! We were on an 8 day Eastern Caribbean cruise in late November after Thanksgiving that must have had a super special for their gamblers because the casino was constantly packed to the gills and there were LOTS of young people. You just never know.

[detroitlions]

As you plan your next cruise, be sure to read these boards carefully, although sometime you can't really predict. We took a Jan. 31 cruise on the Getaway. Too early for many kids, right? They should all still be in school and won't start descending on Caribbean cruises until the breaks start in Feb.

 

There were MANY children on board because more and more parents just take their kids out of school for a week. Also, South American children are often still on their summer break so the ship had many families from Argentina and Brazil. Then, there are the quincentera cruises that are taken over by teenage girls and their families.

 

The rule is you can avoid families and the college crowd with longer (8 days+) cruises and sailing on ships that appeal to more mature passengers (over 55). The older ships in the mainline cruiselines tend to be the 3-5 days cruises which usually become party ships for college kids and large Florida family groups.

 

I wish there was a formula to figure out these things but I haven't seen it! We were on an 8 day Eastern Caribbean cruise in late November after Thanksgiving that must have had a super special for their gamblers because the casino was constantly packed to the gills and there were LOTS of young people. You just never know.

 

A lot of ships sail 8 days exp carnival. And they are filled with college and high school kids. I would think 9 or more days but the real way to do this is skip march and april and you wont be bothered by folks that are younger that you. I actually think the worse cruises are filled with 60 and older folks. I have been on a few cruises that were saturated with the elderly. BOOOORING. These ships were dead after 10.

[firefighter15]

I was also on this sailing with my wife and 3 young children (Ages 12,11,9). I agree NCL should have told me when i booked. I thought it was to early for spring break. I spoke with the people from CPC (college party cruise). He told me be thankful it was this cruise (500college kids) the one next week is 800 and the one the week following will have 1500 of the 2000 people will be college kids. Can you imagine running in to that as a older couple or family with young small children.

 

It was so bad we spent almost no time on deck, we had to go to the pool at 8am in the morning if we wanted to use it at all which sucked for my kids.

 

I will say that the private island was amazing but the food there wasnt as good as it had been in the past.

[WildcatRock]

We're on the 3/14 sailing (I'm 51 DW is 49) and are talking our youngest kiddo, who is 19. I've told him "What happens on the ship stays on the ship".......

[CruiseLoris]

Thank you for this post!! I was wavering between the Sky on 3/14 and the RC Majesty of the Seas. Paid a little more for the Majesty, but the spring breaker drunk fest was my deterrent! I feel Much better about the decision I made now!

 

 

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[mmills06]

Any chance you kept the dailies from your cruse and would be willing to share?

[firefighter15]

Any chance you kept the dailies from your cruse and would be willing to share?

 

 

Sorry I did not

[khaide612]

We're on the 3/14 sailing (I'm 51 DW is 49) and are talking our youngest kiddo, who is 19. I've told him "What happens on the ship stays on the ship".......

 

Much like with Vegas there are things that will come home with you. :)

[bruadhin]

Much like with Vegas there are things that will come home with you. :)

 

Looking at the picture of the pool, I'm pretty sure there will be plenty of that in various forms.

 

At least there are no 24 hour wedding chapels on a cruise ship.

[WildcatRock]

We knew we were cruising over Spring Break but the 1500 college student number is more than what I naively thought it would be. We're staying in an aft penthouse and I have a feeling I'll be spending A LOT of time enjoying the nice big balcony.

[memoak]

We're on the 3/14 sailing (I'm 51 DW is 49) and are talking our youngest kiddo, who is 19. I've told him "What happens on the ship stays on the ship".......

 

Our slogan is "What happens on the ship never happened"

[realcindylouwho]

Our slogan is "What happens on the ship never happened"

 

I like that better!

[Mandy412]

Is it bad that I'm so far from college years and spring break cruising sounds Ahmayzing?

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report.

[Aimeef12]

I was also on this sailing with my wife and 3 young children (Ages 12,11,9). I agree NCL should have told me when i booked. I thought it was to early for spring break. I spoke with the people from CPC (college party cruise). He told me be thankful it was this cruise (500college kids) the one next week is 800 and the one the week following will have 1500 of the 2000 people will be college kids. Can you imagine running in to that as a older couple or family with young small children.

 

It was so bad we spent almost no time on deck, we had to go to the pool at 8am in the morning if we wanted to use it at all which sucked for my kids.

 

I will say that the private island was amazing but the food there wasnt as good as it had been in the past.

 

i would have gone nuts for sure!!! im surprised there was only 500 it felt like so much more!!!

 

The food wasnt great on the ship i can get hamburgers and hot dogs anywhere i want lol i wasnt expecting much more from the private island

 

Sucks that they didnt warn anyone i felt bad for some of the young kids and the elderly couples :(

[Aimeef12]

Thank you for this post!! I was wavering between the Sky on 3/14 and the RC Majesty of the Seas. Paid a little more for the Majesty, but the spring breaker drunk fest was my deterrent! I feel Much better about the decision I made now!

 

 

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lol you dodged a bullet

[Disco Duck]

We had the misfortune of being in Cancun one Spring Break. We had kids trying to get into our room at all hours because their friends thought it would be funny to lock them out. When we got up in the morning there were kids everywhere on the beach. I never saw anything like it. I agree. Hotels/cruises should make sure you know this before they sell it to you.

 

 

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[DMH15]

We had the misfortune of being in Cancun one Spring Break. We had kids trying to get into our room at all hours because their friends thought it would be funny to lock them out. When we got up in the morning there were kids everywhere on the beach. I never saw anything like it. I agree. Hotels/cruises should make sure you know this before they sell it to you.

 

 

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Actually, GOOGLE is your friend. Everyone should research their own vacation choices. It is not the job of the cruise line, travel agent, big box store, online agency, etc. to inform you of the demographics of possible sailings.

[WildcatRock]

Actually, GOOGLE is your friend. Everyone should research their own vacation choices. It is not the job of the cruise line, travel agent, big box store, online agency, etc. to inform you of the demographics of possible sailings.

 

I agree. We booked the Sky for this coming week and knew it was Spring Break (it's our DS's college spring break - he's going with us). While I didn't expect 85% of the passengers to be college age kids, we still booked the cruise with full knowledge it was Spring Break. The challenge though is knowing when school spring breaks begin.

[quillwercruisers]

This may seem like a dumb question, but does the Mexican Riviera cruises get as many spring breakers as the Caribbean does? We were originally booked in Jan 2017, but because of the cancellations, we rescheduled to March. When I rescheduled, I didn't even think about spring break..

[Keith1010]

Thank you for your review.

Keith

[poeticlicensed]

I live in Florida and I'm a college professor, so I know a bit about spring break. Spring break starts EARLY, I mean some schools are on break starting at the end of February. There are also schools who run on alternative schedules, like quarters instead of semesters, so the bottom line is that there is no specific time in Feb/March/April to avoid college kids on cruises.

 

That said, college students gravitate to cheaper cruises that are shorter. 3 4 or 5 day. Add in unlimited booze and well, you get what you get. Check out the cruise line's policy for drinking. Some say 21, even if you travel to countries where drinking is legal at 18. If the policy is 21 and over on board, then the under 21s have to get off the ship to drink.

 

The best way to avoid spring breakers is to take a longer cruise on a line that costs more or doesn't market to spring breakers. Last year we took a 7 day Celebrity cruise smack during spring break (obviously because I was on break that week), and saw nary a classic spring breaker. Even though many k-12 schools were out also, there were only a handful of kids, period. I did see a few groups of what we call "bros", but they were so outnumbered by the rest of us, we barely even noticed them.

 

Bottom line, I would never take a short cruise in the spring, unless it's into May or before February.

[Michaelmcclovin]

Just got back from college spring break on this ship, and I will agree with everything said. Our group was very respectful to all other travelers but the atmosphere is just not one that would be enjoyable for most younger kids or older adults. I made a video of our trip if anyone wants to see what the ship was like: