More kids on X

[Bootstrap77]

Has anyone been on a recent X cruise with the promo “kids sail free”? We have noticed more kids on celebrity in recent years, the amount of families with young kids  growing and wondered if this promo has increased the amount of them by a lot. We have cruised with X for 10 years. 

[Luvcrusn]

I really think is depends on the time of year, itinerary and length of the cruise. We generally don't sail during school holidays and choose longer itineraries and don't see many children. However there was a thread recently about a sailing from Southampton UK that complained about a cruise that had many and wasn't equipped to handle them. I looked but can't find it now.

[Bootstrap77]

Appreciate that. Thanks for trying to find it. 

[the_dylaness]

We do sail X with our young kids (8 and 4) but the KSF promo has nothing to do with our choice of times.

[Bootstrap77]

I’m curious do you usually just sail during school breaks or take them out. We try to book when most families wouldn’t but it seems like more and more parents are taking the kids out of school at various times 

[davekathy]

8 minutes ago, Luvcrusn said:

I really think is depends on the time of year, itinerary and length of the cruise. We generally don't sail during school holidays and choose longer itineraries and don't see many children. However there was a thread recently about a sailing from Southampton UK that complained about a cruise that had many and wasn't equipped to handle them. I looked but can't find it now.

Agree. We just did a 14 night cruise on the Summit (8 to 22 September 2019) and heard there were less than 5 kids on the cruise. We saw none. Nice. 

[Bootstrap77]

We aren’t in a position to take a cruise longer than 10 days (give or take a day) but I have been told longer cruises have less families

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I was recently on the Equinox for two 7-night B2B cruises.  I was amazed at the number of young children on board.  Nothing to do with the school calendar--most of the kids I saw were not school age.

[morfred]

As a former teacher parents were constantly taking their children out of school for family vacations and cruises. When asked, they explained that airfare and cruise prices were too expensive on school vacation weeks. Invariably the ones who missed school were the ones that needed it the most.

[Bootstrap77]

18 minutes ago, morfred said:

As a former teacher parents were constantly taking their children out of school for family vacations and cruises. When asked, they explained that airfare and cruise prices were too expensive on school vacation weeks. Invariably the ones who missed school were the ones that needed it the most.

thanks for the info. Appreciate your insight. 

[Mike981]

33 minutes ago, morfred said:

 

Invariably the ones who missed school were the ones that needed it the most.

 

 

Thank you for your input. How were you able to come up with this conclusion?

 

[DebInAntigua]

I cringe every time I see this promo come back. We’re cruising next month and really hope we won’t see many kids onboard. I wish X would stop doing this promotion but I guess it’s to attract younger demographics than DH and me. 

[Luvcrusn]

7 minutes ago, DebInAntigua said:

I cringe every time I see this promo come back. We’re cruising next month and really hope we won’t see many kids onboard. I wish X would stop doing this promotion but I guess it’s to attract younger demographics than DH and me. 

It is indicative of an identity crisis.  X advertises itself as a "Modern Luxury" line and has this promo for "Kids Sail Free" yet offers little for young children and teens. I love the children in our family and enjoy traveling with them, yet would never choose X when sailing with them, there are other lines that offer so much more  for them.

[morfred]

1 hour ago, Mike981 said:

 

Thank you for your input. How were you able to come up with this conclusion?

 

It was more of a disappointment with the parents. After all the hard work that I had done with students that needed more help or who had fallen behind the parents would have no regard for the work that needed to be done and would take them out of school promising that they would "catch up" when in fact a week off was the last thing that the child could afford. Parents were the eventual reason that I retired at 65yo not my love of teaching. Sorry/not sorry for getting off topic.

[PhoenixCruiser]

What exactly draws parents traveling with children to Celebrity?

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[Oville]

2 hours ago, DebInAntigua said:

I cringe every time I see this promo come back. We’re cruising next month and really hope we won’t see many kids onboard. I wish X would stop doing this promotion but I guess it’s to attract younger demographics than DH and me. 

We’re on the same cruise and not the least bit worried. I would think November 8th isn’t very appealing for a family getaway to the Caribbean, but of course I could be wrong.

[gretan]

1 hour ago, PhoenixCruiser said:

What exactly draws parents traveling with children to Celebrity?

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DH and I have been on over 30 cruises in the last 20 years.  We are Elite with Celebrity, but have not cruised with them since adopting our son 7 years ago.  Land trips to Hawaii and Mexico are now our preferred vacation.  

 

Regarding cruises in general we feel other lines (like Royal and Princess) have more to offer children.  But we are cruising Celebrity again this Thanksgiving on a 9 day Silhouette cruise.  It was the itinerary to So Caribbean, 9 days vs 7 days and a decent price that made our decision.  While the ship doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of a RC ship, they do have a kids club and a pool, so our 7 year old will be in heaven.  He has become quite the traveler and this will be his 5th cruise.  Like Mom and Dad he thinks a day on a cruise ship is better than a day at home!

 

Hope this helps shed some insight into a parent’s decision to cruise Celebrity.

[chemmo]

Recently off Equinox, we saw two babies and one toddler once during the full cruise...

 

I would also add that we cruised on RC Oasis during January and there were very few children on board, just a few families with under fives...

 

Re the post about a Southampton Cruise, I am fairly sure there was bad weather, pools shut, decks closed off resulting in lots of adults and children sharing the same inside space. I am also fairly sure it was during U.K. Summer school holidays.

 

We did have one Summit cruise over Easter that did have more children on board, really not a problem. Those we saw in the MDR were behaving well, poolside was busy on sea days so we enjoyed the Solarium, the only time we saw several together was some sort of supervised treasure hunt. The presence of the children didn’t particularly impact on our cruising pleasure.

 

 

[dkjretired]

Sailing for 25 years with Celebrity and don't see any change in the number of kids.  As a matter of fact, our last cruise which was the end of summer had less kids than I have seen on summer cruises in the past.    The kids sail free promotion was short lived. 

Edited October 17, 2019 by dkjretired

[hcat]

9 hours ago, DebInAntigua said:

I cringe every time I see this promo come back. We’re cruising next month and really hope we won’t see many kids onboard. I wish X would stop doing this promotion but I guess it’s to attract younger demographics than DH and me. 

 

I don't think there will be that many children on the Nov 15th ABC 9  night on EDGE. (see you soon!)

 

We avoid school holidays as much as we can.  A small number of children on board..usually young ones does not bother us but larger numbers obviously do have an impact...One cruise we took  on Royal C out of Miami at Easter vacation time was a nightmare with  many unsupervised children running amok..never again!.

 

  Sometimes  on X , we've had more than expected.  The main neg for us was having children using the  outdoor hot tubs as kiddie pools, or teens hogging them all day!  Sometimes parents  let kiddies stay up late and they are scurrying on the dance floor which can be a bit annoying. Or they seat them  up front in the theater where some become restless.....but they are guests too! 

 

The new promotion is great for families but with less for children to do, they will be more visible  than on Royal. Celebrity also has a family swim hour in the Solarium on some itins...usually around dinner hrs..so avoid  that if you are not into that,

 

 You can also book AQ class which limits staterooms  to 2 per cabin. That  makes for quiet hallways ( usually) & cuts down on children in BLU,  although they are welcome and always well behaved!

Edited October 17, 2019 by hcat

[EatonDoolittle]

7 hours ago, Oville said:

We’re on the same cruise and not the least bit worried. I would think November 8th isn’t very appealing for a family getaway to the Caribbean, but of course I could be wrong.

 

I like to start the winter sailing season with an early Nov date for the same reason - usually a few hundred dollars cheaper, and no kids.

I was very surprised last year (on another line, bit still..) to find the ship loaded with kids.

 

Apparently, many schools are off for veterans day. Who knew? 

[Bootstrap77]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

 

I don't think there will be that many children on the Nov 15th ABC 9  night on EDGE. (see you soon!)

 

We avoid school holidays as much as we can.  A small number of children on board..usually young ones does not bother us but larger numbers obviously do have an impact...One cruise we took  on Royal C out of Miami at Easter vacation time was a nightmare with  many unsupervised children running amok..never again!.

 

  Sometimes  on X , we've had more than expected.  The main neg for us was having children using the  outdoor hot tubs as kiddie pools, or teens hogging them all day!  Sometimes parents  let kiddies stay up late and they are scurrying on the dance floor which can be a bit annoying. Or they seat them  up front in the theater where some become restless.....but they are guests too! 

 

The new promotion is great for families but with less for children to do, they will be more visible  than on Royal. Celebrity also has a family swim hour in the Solarium on some itins...usually around dinner hrs..so avoid  that if you are not into that,

 

 You can also book AQ class which limits staterooms  to 2 per cabin. That  makes for quiet hallways ( usually) & cuts down on children in BLU,  although they are welcome and always well behaved!

Thanks! Appreciate your insight. 

[Mike981]

9 hours ago, morfred said:

It was more of a disappointment with the parents.

 

Oh I think you and I could talk about this for hours. My wife has run a very successful in-home daycare for 25 years and the decline in parenting is, sad.

[Fouremco]

7 hours ago, PhoenixCruiser said:

What exactly draws parents traveling with children to Celebrity?

Probably the same things that draws people not travelling with children to Celebrity.

[dkjretired]

8 hours ago, PhoenixCruiser said:

What exactly draws parents traveling with children to Celebrity?

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They have excellent children’s programs

 

 

Edited October 17, 2019 by dkjretired