Kids on Seaside in June?

[JamieLogical]

My SO and I are looking for a cruise to do in June. We have thus far only sailed with Norwegian and know that the number of kids on board skyrockets in the summer months and over major Holidays. We avoided this for the most part last June by doing a Canada & New England sailing, but we are considering the Seaside in the Caribbean for this year. Will the ship be overrun with kids or are there fewer kids on MSC sailings in general than lines like NCL, RCCL, and Carnival?

[Two Wheels Only]

We sailed in early June and there were plenty of kids (more than I expected, tbh) but they weren't a problem. Between the clubs and activities plus the adult-only (16+) pool, I believe that adults can enjoy Seaside during the summer months. Fewer than Carnival, NCL, RCCL, etc. but there were kids.

 

However, I was a bit surprised at how many unsupervised kids there were. It could be a cultural thing but parents and kids seemed to do their own thing in different areas of the ship. For the most part, everyone behaved but there were a few kids who needed discipline...err, supervision...

Edited January 30, 2019 by Two Wheels Only

[Nymich]

There will be tons of kids.  That's just the way it is in the summer.

[RealNorwegianCruiser]

There will be People onboard.

 

Old and Young. Fat, skinny, smart, dumb. People.

[Babybooface]

June is summer holidays in the USA so leaving from Miami I guess there will be a lot of kids on board.

[JamieLogical]

I certainly assume there will be SOME kids, I was just hoping someone who has sailed on both MSC and NCL at different times of year could tell me how the volume of kids compares.

[RealNorwegianCruiser]

Good advice: If you want to avoid kids, choose an adult only cruise line - not a mainstream cruise line with promotions like "kids sails 4 free".. .

 

Problem solved. 

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, RealNorwegianCruiser said:

Good advice: If you want to avoid kids, choose an adult only cruise line - not a mainstream cruise line with promotions like "kids sails 4 free".. .

 

Problem solved. 

 

Unfortunately, until Virgin is up and running, the adults only cruise lines seem to generally cater to a much older clientele. We are still in our 30's and want to have action, entertainment, and a fun atmosphere on board. Also, the adults only lines tend to be FAR more expensive and formal than we prefer.

[helenb]

If you want a more upscale experience with fewer kids (there will still be some kids) then go with Yacht Club on MSC. 

[Arzeena]

14 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

My SO and I are looking for a cruise to do in June. We have thus far only sailed with Norwegian and know that the number of kids on board skyrockets in the summer months and over major Holidays. We avoided this for the most part last June by doing a Canada & New England sailing, but we are considering the Seaside in the Caribbean for this year. Will the ship be overrun with kids or are there fewer kids on MSC sailings in general than lines like NCL, RCCL, and Carnival?

MSC is very kid friendly as far as I have seen.  Summer time will probably have lots. But the Seaside is huge and I think it will be OK. After traveling with 1800 kids (90% of who were teens) once on the NCL Dawn, I am acclimatized! LOL!

We are booked on June 22, which one are you thinking of?

[Arzeena]

5 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

I certainly assume there will be SOME kids, I was just hoping someone who has sailed on both MSC and NCL at different times of year could tell me how the volume of kids compares.

 

I have sailed both.

About the same volume.

Edited January 30, 2019 by Arzeena

[RealNorwegianCruiser]

4 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Unfortunately, until Virgin is up and running, the adults only cruise lines seem to generally cater to a much older clientele. We are still in our 30's and want to have action, entertainment, and a fun atmosphere on board. Also, the adults only lines tend to be FAR more expensive and formal than we prefer.

 

Then be prepared for KIDS!  

 

Families like our little family likes "kids cruise free".. 

 

And yes, our kind also choose yacht club:)

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, Arzeena said:

MSC is very kid friendly as far as I have seen.  Summer time will probably have lots. But the Seaside is huge and I think it will be OK. After traveling with 1800 kids (90% of who were teens) once on the NCL Dawn, I am acclimatized! LOL!

We are booked on June 22, which one are you thinking of?

 

We were looking at the other itinerary (Jamaica, Mexico, Cayman Islands), because we are going to the Virgin Islands on the NCL Bliss next week and we are looking at another Virgin Islands cruise in December! So that would be too much Virgin Islands. 😛

 

[cparker01]

We sailed on both Seaside and NCL Epic. My thoughts are the seaside is so big and most of the kids pools are located away from the adult pool and main pool. We stayed in an aft suite on deck 15. Perfect suite, no noise, roomy and killer balcony. Location would be good for couples with no kids. Your tucked away by the panoramic elevator which takes you straight down to the adult pool or straight up to the main pool. We never really saw many kids near the atrium, lounges only at the two pools geared for families. Seaside is beautiful and one just really should try it out!

Also if you do Yacht Club or an Aurea suite there's a private sundeck for each. We only could go to the Aurea sundeck because of the experience that came with our aft suite. It was a great place as theres 2 hot tubs, a bar, lots of loungers and several private sitting areas with nice sofas and chairs to have a drink or read a book as its real quite.

[dexddd]

Uh oh, another opting for MSC vs NCL?  Been on one MSC during summer and similar to any NCL with kids during summer.

 

That being said, MSC newer ship seemed to spread people out much better like DCL.  MSC newer ships have indoor pool as well so pools not as jam packed like NCL.

[cparker01]

If kids and family's aren't your thing maybe focus on a ship and iternery that doesn't have all the kids stuff. I think sometimes the trip details send you to the cruise line you end up booking on. We are booked for NCL on the Dawn to the Greek isles. I wanted to book MSC Musica which has great perks and is 1500$ cheaper and both being older smaller ships. But I was worried about the amount of English speaking travelers on MSC so went with NCL instead. We are also booked on MSC Bellissima this May, booked because of new ship and killer price for the yatch club $4,800 for the 4 of us!

[floridian1]

2 hours ago, dexddd said:

 MSC newer ships have indoor pool as well so pools not as jam packed like NCL.

We loved NCL before their prices skyrocketed. One of the biggest issues with NCL was the lack of pools period. Never understood that.

[JamieLogical]

7 minutes ago, floridian1 said:

We loved NCL before their prices skyrocketed. One of the biggest issues with NCL was the lack of pools period. Never understood that.

 

 

I am actually not a pool person. Will occasionally get in a hot tub. I do like the idea of the ship having plenty of pools though, because it likely keeps OTHER areas of the ship less crowded. We were on the NCL Gem in June of last year to New England & Canada. It was unseasonably cold and there was only one day when pool/sundeck were really utilized. All of the indoor spaces were SO CROWDED because of that!

[Rosebud5t]

I've only cruised NCL once, in February on the Epic, so I can't give a true comparison.  However, I cruised on MSC Seaside in June and found that regardless of how many kids were onboard, it wasn't really noticeable because there are SO many areas of the ship.  In face one day when we were exploring the ship and found the jungle pool area my sister actually said "so THIS is where all the kids are."  For that matter, I found that there were never any areas that were truly crowded.  I had the Aurea package, so I spent a lot of time on the private Aurea deck also, and while it's not adults-only, there were very few kids there - maybe because there's not a pool up there, only hot tubs.  If someone were looking for a "fewer kids" experience without booking an adults-only cruise, I would certainly not hesitate to recommend MSC Seaside.  

[HeavySeaman]

I going to be on a Seaside cruise around that time and so will my kids. My kids get pretty excited about being on a ship and have a good time and can be loud. But they are always supervised with us, but you probably wouldn't like me either because I get pretty excited and have a good time and probably louder than the kids. I can't say I understand people who don't like kids. Try to talk to them and be nice and maybe you'll be surprised.

[JamieLogical]

36 minutes ago, HeavySeaman said:

I going to be on a Seaside cruise around that time and so will my kids. My kids get pretty excited about being on a ship and have a good time and can be loud. But they are always supervised with us, but you probably wouldn't like me either because I get pretty excited and have a good time and probably louder than the kids. I can't say I understand people who don't like kids. Try to talk to them and be nice and maybe you'll be surprised.

 

Oh I get loud and like to have a good time too. I just do it in appropriate places at appropriate times, and that seems to be what kids lack. The ability to gauge the appropriateness of their behavior/loudness. I'll give you a couple of examples from my cruise last week on the Bliss.

 

• We went to a gameshow-style activity in the Atrium one evening. There was a live band and the audience was split into two teams. The objective was to listen to the first few notes the band played, and then have people run up to the microphones, name the song, and start singing it as quickly as possible. You then got bonus points if your side had the most people up front and singing. It was loud and crazy and hysterical and fun. Kids and adults all participated together and we had a great time.
• The Bliss has a large observation lounge at the front of Deck 15. It has pretty fancy decor. It has a lot of large, comfy chairs, couches, and even chaise lounges spread throughout. It's very quiet and serene and has lovely views. They have a light buffet set up and coffee/tea as well as a full bar at the front. It is the PERFECT place to sit and read in peace, away from the hustle and bustle of the pool deck. A handful of times while I was there, kids would *run* through laughing and talking loudly, disturbing the serenity. And on one particularly frustrating occasion, a mother was there with her toddler who was screaming and crying and yelping for a good 30 minutes or so. There are PLENTY of places on the ship where that would have been more appropriate.
• Another favorite hang-out of ours on some of NCL's ships is the District Brew House. It is a laid back bar with a craft brew house vibe. It's usually pretty quiet except in the late evenings when there is usually live piano music and a sing-along style show. There is NOTHING there for children. No food, no toys, no play area, nothing. Yet several times people would bring in their young children, even babies in strollers. Again, just not appropriate.
• We did the go kart track and played laser tag twice. Of course there were some kids (that me the height requirements) doing those activities and that is to be perfectly expected. We play laser tag in our home town a lot and there is always a pretty even mix of kids and adults and we have no issues with that at all.

[JamieLogical]

Oh, I thought of another frustrating example from our Bliss sailing last week. On the Bliss, the Manhattan Room is the "formal" main dining room. There are two other more casual MDRs, as well as The Local (which is included pub-style food), and the buffet. We decided to dress up and go to the Manhattan Room for a quiet, romantic dinner. We were seated next to a table of twelve: five adults and seven children. The children ranged in age from maybe 2 or 3 (a toddler) to maybe 11 or 12? All five of the adults sat at one end of the table, drinking their wine and completely ignoring the children. All seven of the kids were at the other end of the table with the oldest closest to the adults and and toddler at the far end by herself with maybe a 4-5 year old next to her? The younger kids were loud and obnoxious the whole time. Wish I was as good at ignoring them as the adults in their party seemed to be! Again, another example of kids being in a completely inappropriate setting and not having the decorum to behave in accordance with their environment.

[alpal1993]

On 1/30/2019 at 7:50 AM, RealNorwegianCruiser said:

Good advice: If you want to avoid kids, choose an adult only cruise line - not a mainstream cruise line with promotions like "kids sails 4 free".. .

 

Problem solved. 

I cruised on HAL on a Southern Australia cruise this past January.There had to be at least 500 children on board.They did take up the entire pool under the retractable roof.Leaving the back pool for adults.It was so windy and cold that the pool was mostly empty.I wasn't going in any of the pools so didn't effect me at all

 

[RealNorwegianCruiser]

3 hours ago, alpal1993 said:

I cruised on HAL on a Southern Australia cruise this past January.There had to be at least 500 children on board.They did take up the entire pool under the retractable roof.Leaving the back pool for adults.It was so windy and cold that the pool was mostly empty.I wasn't going in any of the pools so didn't effect me at all

 

 

In other words: If people wants to avoid kids, dont choose mainstream cruise lines..

[kiminey65]

I cruised Seaside last June 9. It is summer vacation for many parts of the world. I booked the date simply because it was the week of my mother's 75th birthday. Although I love kids, mine are adults so I am not necessarily at that stage in my life right now. I did see quite a lot of kids on my sailing, but barely.... That tells me they were well behaved, I wasn't in the kid-friendly areas other than to walk from point A to point B, orrr they weren't in the adult friendly areas that I frequented (deck 7 South beach pool and the Spa). The children I encountered in Ipanema restaurant were well behaved.

 

I wouldn't hesitate to book that date again. Prices were great and so was airfare. It was a little off season (early)