Are there many children on November sailings?

[Lawman079]

Hi all,

 

I will be taking my daughter on her first cruise in November 2018 on the Getaway. She will be 4 at the time of sailing. I am concerned that since schools are not out, there will not be many children for her to play with at Splash Academy. What happens if she is the only one there in her age group? Sailing is November 11 through 18. Does anyone have experience with this? Thank you!

[anonmom]

We have generally sailed over MLK weekend, so I'm guessing there have been more kids than on a week that has no days off, but nothing like a spring break or Christmas week.

 

In the end, it all depends on chemistry. If she clicks with the kids and counselors who are at Splash Academy that week she will love to go there. If not, you will have to spend more time with her to make the experience special for her.

 

Our daughter was 4 on her first cruise, 5 on her second. She had fun at Splash Academy, but most looked forward to swimming with her father and me.

 

We are going on our honeymoon cruise on Saturday, so it will just be the two of us, but we know that we "owe" her a cruise, so we'll be planning something for next year where we take one of her cousins or one of her besties.

 

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[Lawman079]

Thank you for the information! I look forward to introducing her to cruising, and just wanted to be prepared for anything!

[casofilia]

My guess would be that there will be few children on the ship. BUT those that are there will get really special attention in that case. We have been on cruises when there have been single figure children and they looked as if they were having a ball.

[negn]

I’ve been surprised at the number of children on non holiday time cruises. I think a lot of parents take them out of school due to cheaper fares and less crowding. Don’t think you have to worried that she will be alone

[newmexicoNita]

Hi all,

 

I will be taking my daughter on her first cruise in November 2018 on the Getaway. She will be 4 at the time of sailing. I am concerned that since schools are not out, there will not be many children for her to play with at Splash Academy. What happens if she is the only one there in her age group? Sailing is November 11 through 18. Does anyone have experience with this? Thank you!

We sailed on the Pearl last month; there were not a lot of kids, nothing like the Breakaway last April but there were plenty and kids love to go to Splash Academy. They always meet other little ones. Heck, our great granddaughter went with us when she was just turning 4: there were just a few kids that sailing but she had a blast and even got married to a little boy who had just turned 5. Of course she never say him again: the shortest marriage in history I am guessing. :hearteyes: I think she will enjoy her first cruise more if it isn't over run with kids. Our April cruise had 2254 kids on it.

[Peachypooh]

We sailed on the Pearl last month; there were not a lot of kids, nothing like the Breakaway last April but there were plenty and kids love to go to Splash Academy. They always meet other little ones. Heck, our great granddaughter went with us when she was just turning 4: there were just a few kids that sailing but she had a blast and even got married to a little boy who had just turned 5. Of course she never say him again: the shortest marriage in history I am guessing. :hearteyes: I think she will enjoy her first cruise more if it isn't over run with kids. Our April cruise had 2254 kids on it.

 

I guess I would rather have my child be on a cruise where they are one of only a handful rather than on a cruise with 2254 kids on it! More attention and less chaos especially for the OP's 4 year old.

[Nebr.cruiser]

We just got off the Getaway, cruising the week after Thanksgiving--Nov. 26. I was amazed at how many kids were on board of all ages. I had imagined there would be very few, since it was after the Thanksgiving break. They were no problem, just a lot of kids.

 

We usually cruise in early December for at least two weeks; there are usually very few children then. Partly because of the two week time frame. I also think there will be more kids on Norwegian than on some other lines since it has more of a family vibe.

[frisbeewife]

There are always kids on board, no matter when it is. Either parents take them out of school, or they are home schooled and can go anytime. The only variable is how MANY kids there are, and like Peachypooh said, you're probably better off with fewer kids than with more. But don't worry about your 4 year old being alone - won't happen!

[jdvmd]

I guess I would rather have my child be on a cruise where they are one of only a handful rather than on a cruise with 2254 kids on it! More attention and less chaos especially for the OP's 4 year old.

Completely agree.

[Jaco5NC]

We usually sail in October during the school week with our kids. There are always numerous kids on board. Your child will definitely find some playmates!!

 

 

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[kelib]

I was also on last weeks cruise, and we were told by the Solo Host that there were about 300 kids on board as opposed to over 1,000 the week of Thanksgiving. Even though there were kids of all ages, I noticed far more in the pre-school age (they had a cute little Pirate parade around the ship one night for the pre-school age kids)

[Lawman079]

Thank you all for the insight!

[david_sobe]

I normally cruise during non peak months when schools are in full force (early February). There are always plenty of kids. No problem there :o

[cruisinreunion]

We were on the 12 day Jade repo cruise this past oct/nov and there were kids of all ages which surprised me because the previous year we did an almost identical RCCL repo cruise and there were few kids

I think there will always be some kids no matter when you go. The kids I saw were having a great time. Kids camps provided some great attention and fun to the smaller group

[GirlWriter]

When we took our then-5-year-old on a Baltic cruise, there were a total of 9 children onboard. It was often the case that when we dropped him off at Kids' Club, there were no other children there. I thought he would not want to stay, but he did, and he always had a blast. Usually a handful of the other children would trickle in, but whether they did or not, my son had a ball and always complained when we picked him up at 10 o'clock at night to come back to the room to sleep for a bit. :D