Weeks to avoid - spring break

[dcgrumpy]

17 hours ago, chet the jet said:

What about Thankgiving time. Will be going on a cruise next year at this time with a group of about 80

 

We were on Allure the week before Thanksgiving. There were 120 teens onboard. The following week  (Thanksgiving week) there were over 700 teens. 

 

The week before we went there were over 600 teens onboard. I had no idea that was a big vacation week. I actually may have picked that week since I was traveling with 3 teens who like meeting other kids onboard. 

[cb at sea]

Every school system is on a different schedule....so basically all of spring will have more kids than normal, especially shorter cruises.  The overall number of total passengers doesn't change...there simply may be more kids.  It's certainly not a "frat house" atmosphere...just more families.

 

We like spring cruises...and don't have small kids.  Since they aren't mine, I ignore them!  It's really not the zoo you are imagining!

[mjkacmom]

It looks like you want to avoid the college crowd. Stay away from cheap, short, and leaving from Florida.

http://www.statravel.com/spring-break-dates.htm

 

[danoconnl]

So we've taken a cruise 4 out of the last 5 years in march because my wife went back to work and is a school teacher.  1st year we barely noticed the college kids.  Other years they were more visible.  If you are offended by kids having a good time you're not going to have fun.  I didn't see a lot of bad behaviour and found the people watching to be quite fun.  

We were on Navigator last year and it felt alot more crowded than it did on the Freedom class ships we had been on before.  This year we are back to Indpendence/Freedom class.  But I don't know if it's just the difference between the two ships or not.  You are going on a cruise and you should be able to have a great time.  It's not Animal House as far as I was concerned.

Also this year we are doing only a 4 day cruise, so that may mean more kids, but it's Thur-Mon which may mean less kids.  so who knows.

 

Dan

[ilovetotravel1977]

Some Canadian university breaks are the second and third week of February.

[Upper Deck Dad]

We're looking at a 10 day Southern Caribbean out of San Juan end of March into 1st week of April 2020.  Easter is April 12th that year.  Ship holds around 4000+ 

 

I know there no way of knowing but should we expect a lot of spring breakers on this cruise or is it too long?

 Easter is April 12th in 2020.  

[Clarea]

2 minutes ago, Upper Deck Dad said:

We're looking at a 10 day Southern Caribbean out of San Juan end of March into 1st week of April 2020.  Easter is April 12th that year.  Ship holds around 4000+ 

 

I know there no way of knowing but should we expect a lot of spring breakers on this cruise or is it too long?

 Easter is April 12th in 2020.  

 

Because of the length of the cruise, I would expect fewer college age guests.  However, being the week before Easter, you may get more younger children.

[cruiseguy1016]

37 minutes ago, Upper Deck Dad said:

We're looking at a 10 day Southern Caribbean out of San Juan end of March into 1st week of April 2020.  Easter is April 12th that year.  Ship holds around 4000+ 

 

I know there no way of knowing but should we expect a lot of spring breakers on this cruise or is it too long?

 Easter is April 12th in 2020.  

 

We have found that there are less kids (families and college age) sailing out of San Juan than out of the Florida ports. The cost of flights to/from San Juan is usually higher than flights to Florida. People tend to buy the cheaper flights to Florida and sail from one of the Florida ports. We almost always cruise in March. We have cruised out of San Juan many times and have never felt the ship was overrun by kids, either younger or college age.

[Milwaukee Eight]

What’s wrong with kids. Weren’t we all kids once.  That’s one thing I notice cruising, seems many, especially top tier cruisers, despise those kiddos on a cruise. They have that dreaded stare.  Why do so many look down upon cruising families???  

 

Families are a big market for Royal. 

[ONECRUISER]

50 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

What’s wrong with kids. Weren’t we all kids once.  That’s one thing I notice cruising, seems many, especially top tier cruisers, despise those kiddos on a cruise. They have that dreaded stare.  Why do so many look down upon cruising families???  

 

Families are a big market for Royal. 

Yeah it's changed on Royal over the years. My first cruise 30+ yrs ago my wife/me were 22, bet there was only 3 people younger then us. All over 18. But back then no one could afford to cruise, even I had to charge mine. Disney World was the cheaper choice, now opposite... Kids are rare on the Royal cruises I take, maybe 10-20 and was only about 50 over Thanksgiving so they are there...

[jdg623]

On 12/5/2018 at 8:23 AM, cb at sea said:

 

We like spring cruises...and don't have small kids.  Since they aren't mine, I ignore them!  It's really not the zoo you are imagining!

 

We do the same! We've done the Oasis several times in April (going again in 2019) and never felt overwhelmed by kids. Maybe b/c it's such a big ship. We do tend to avoid the main pool and kids club areas but we've never let families/kids interfere with our enjoyment of our cruise.

[tawaik]

Cruising again in April and found a Spring Break schedule for colleges.  

Check here https://www.studentcity.com/when-is-my-spring-break

 

Hope this helps. 

[mugtech]

21 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

What’s wrong with kids. Weren’t we all kids once.  That’s one thing I notice cruising, seems many, especially top tier cruisers, despise those kiddos on a cruise. They have that dreaded stare.  Why do so many look down upon cruising families???  

 

Families are a big market for Royal. 

Because nonstockholders are not interested in families being a big market for Royal.  Many cruise to get away from everyday life and distractions,  they may be happy to be grandparents but don't want to pay to be with other people's children.  Many children are on cruises as 3rd and 4th cabin members, so they make the ship that much more crowded.  Yes, we were all children once, but I took my first cruise at age 57.

[Milwaukee Eight]

59 minutes ago, mugtech said:

Because nonstockholders are not interested in families being a big market for Royal.  Many cruise to get away from everyday life and distractions,  they may be happy to be grandparents but don't want to pay to be with other people's children.  Many children are on cruises as 3rd and 4th cabin members, so they make the ship that much more crowded.  Yes, we were all children once, but I took my first cruise at age 57.

Well, I afraid this is something you need to learn to deal with on many popular cruises. Think of the bright side, fewer top tiers (some of which are more needy than kids). 

[gatour]

On 12/5/2018 at 8:20 AM, dcgrumpy said:

We were on Allure the week before Thanksgiving. There were 120 teens onboard. The following week  (Thanksgiving week) there were over 700 teens. 

 

The week before we went there were over 600 teens onboard. I had no idea that was a big vacation week. I actually may have picked that week since I was traveling with 3 teens who like meeting other kids onboard. 

The week before you cruise may have been related to Veteran's day.

 

To the original poster, I recommend May.  That is when we normally cruise light on kids and the heat in general is not stiffling hot yet.

[dcgrumpy]

On 12/23/2018 at 9:42 AM, gatour said:

The week before you cruise may have been related to Veteran's day.

 

To the original poster, I recommend May.  That is when we normally cruise light on kids and the heat in general is not stiffling hot yet.

Our cruise was the week of Veterans' Day. It was 11/11-11/18. 

[cruiser123!]

Our spring break is the second week of March.  We have cruised out of Honolulu and San Juan and we’re one of the only families with school age children.   I suspect that will be a lot different this year out if NYC.  Maybe try longer trips?  Parents may be more resistant to having kids miss school     

[GUEST71919]

My rule of thumb is if you travel from mid April on you are safe (very few school systems and colleges have spring break beyond that point, with March being the most important month to avoid). 🙅🏼‍♀️

 

Lynn

Edited December 25, 2018 by 2Beeze

[mugtech]

5 hours ago, 2Beeze said:

My rule of thumb is if you travel from mid April on you are safe (very few school systems and colleges have spring break beyond that point, with March being the most important month to avoid). 🙅🏼‍♀️

 

Lynn

Agree, prefer to wait until May.  In 2019 sailing after April 15 could include Easter week.

[GUEST71919]

4 hours ago, mugtech said:

Agree, prefer to wait until May.  In 2019 sailing after April 15 could include Easter week.

There is a website that shows the date of spring break every year for colleges (seems to track with other school levels as well). They don’t seem to move the schedule around a accommodate holidays, but certainly May is a “definitely safe”! 😬 FYI, that website is at studentcity.com.  Even in college I did my best to avoid loud, drunk 19-year-olds 😂

[Milwaukee Eight]

If you stay in Full Suites (Grand or higher), Spring Break is a wonderful time to sail as you will have the SL/CK pretty much to just Suite Guests.  We loved it. 

[bakersdozen12]

On 12/4/2018 at 1:33 PM, Ashland said:

Just sailed (B2B) out of San Juan on Freedom in Sept....One of the worst cruises we've taken...Completely over run by locals and apparently according to posts I'm just reading it happened early in November too. First time for us to cruise in September for this itinerary. I think I would much rather take my chances earlier in the season since the March/April cruises we've taken from there were completely different (better). Check out the several posts on CC about Freedom and I think you'll be surprised at the several complaints some have and are having now.

 

“Completely over run by locals...”.  Do you have something against Puerto Ricans? 

[GUEST71919]

6 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

If you stay in Full Suites (Grand or higher), Spring Break is a wonderful time to sail as you will have the SL/CK pretty much to just Suite Guests.  We loved it. 

Hmmmm new concept! I guess it would depend on which ship too...

 

Lynn

[Milwaukee Eight]

4 minutes ago, 2Beeze said:

Hmmmm new concept! I guess it would depend on which ship too...

 

Lynn

Yes. Applies to Oasis Class. 

[GUEST71919]

4 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Yes. Applies to Oasis Class. 

I didn’t mean that difference 😊 I was actually thinking of the NCL Havens and some other instances it may work out as an advantage. At least it’s a different way to think about it.