Beyond on Thanksgiving - full of kids?

[janelledocb]

Dear Cruisers,

 

Please note that we like kids in general but would like to minimize our exposure to happily screaming kids while on vacation 🙂

 

I came down with Covid last week so I am not on the Equinox right now 😭 but that's okay as we have booked the Beyond for Thanksgiving Cruise starting Nov.20 in the Caribbean.  Hubby is concerned that since it's a new ship and not our usual S-Class, that it will be full of kids.  We can't go off-season the rest of the year due to work so it's either this or the Reflection and we were thinking we would try the Edge class for the first time since we have only been on S-Class.  

 

Probably no way to know but I am thinking yes, there will be more kids since it is Beyond and Thanksgiving but we will have plenty of spots to hide on Beyond and more kids will be on a Royal Caribbean cruise.  I wish we could afford a suite to have access to the Retreat but we are saving our funds for that for our 50ths coming up!  What are your thoughts on level of kids we might encounter on the Thanksgiving Beyond cruise?

 

Thanks!  Janelle and Byron

 

 

 

[m8zenblue]

We have cruised X a few times on Thanksgiving.

Nothing special, not very many children, there is nothing for kids to do on X.

[cruisestitch]

Kids Club is usually very popular during all school breaks.  I would expect some kids on either of those cruises.

[wrk2cruise]

7 day sailings over Thanksgiving will have kids.

[Mrs_Tiki]

We were on Apex for Thanksgiving 2021, so the ship was still at less than half capacity, but there were definitely lots of  families with kids.  Probably not as many as on Royal, but they were there.  Happily, almost all were very well-behaved.

 

I did want to specifically address your comment about The Retreat.  I inferred that you thought that being in The Retreat would allow you to separate from families and kids.  That was what we thought, but that was certainly not the case on our Thanksgiving cruise or March 2022 Edge cruise during Spring Break.

 

Even though the ships were well below capacity for both sailings, The Retreat was fully booked, probably due to Move Up bids. On both cruises, Luminae seemed to be bursting at the seams with multigenerational groups, and I suspect that this was a combination of families with kids booked in suites and grandparents in suites paying the upcharge to have non-suite guests  join them for dinner.

Like you, I have nothing against kids, but am looking for a more adult vacation experience.  Did it ruin my cruises to have kids in The Retreat areas with me?  No way, but it just wasn’t what I expected.

 

 

 

[janelledocb]

Thank you for your comments everyone.  We will discuss this some more and make sure we are okay with sailing during Thanksgiving considering the potential for extra kids on board.  Hubby was thinking that schools aren't out the entire week but it seems they are.  And from what Mrs. Tiki says, the Retreat probably wouldn't help much, if at all.  For our 50th, we will make sure to sail when it is not a holiday so we can truly relax and enjoy the Retreat!

I just got a new supervisor so I was hesitant to ask for time off but may look into doing so to allow us to sail non-peak times OR we will just bring some good noise-cancelling headphones with us if we stick to the Thanksgiving cruise 😆

[Jim_Iain]

I've cruised a number of times during Thanksgiving (I was born on Turkey Day so hit it every 6-7 years).    Number of kids are generally 2x to 3x that of a normal cruise and are in larger numbers on shorter cruises 5-7 vs longer cruises.  

 

May just be my observation but normally I find that extended families and families with children frequent cruises when school is out and during Spring Break.   You will generally also find many more College Age guests and some that enjoy to party hearty.

[Loracpin2]

4 hours ago, janelledocb said:

Please note that "we like kids in general" but would like to minimize our exposure to happily screaming kids while on vacation

 

"we will just bring some good noise-cancelling headphones with us if we stick to the Thanksgiving cruise" 

 

Perhaps a vacation in a cabin in the woods might be a better suitable environment!

[Aldo7777]

You have probably experienced holidays with your children yourself ? If well behaved 

almost human , did you hide your kids on holidays ? 
 

[islabahia]

1 hour ago, Aldo7777 said:

You have probably experienced holidays with your children yourself ? If well behaved 

almost human , did you hide your kids on holidays ? 
 

Why are you trolling the Celebrity boards?  Why not move on?

[cruising sister]

5 hours ago, janelledocb said:

Thank you for your comments everyone.  We will discuss this some more and make sure we are okay with sailing during Thanksgiving considering the potential for extra kids on board.  Hubby was thinking that schools aren't out the entire week but it seems they are.  And from what Mrs. Tiki says, the Retreat probably wouldn't help much, if at all.  For our 50th, we will make sure to sail when it is not a holiday so we can truly relax and enjoy the Retreat!

I just got a new supervisor so I was hesitant to ask for time off but may look into doing so to allow us to sail non-peak times OR we will just bring some good noise-cancelling headphones with us if we stick to the Thanksgiving cruise 😆

I know what you mean so don’t let other peoples  comments bother you. I love kids, heck I am a pediatrician but not so much on vacation. I did travel with mine but I made sure they were well behaved and did not put them in places they would not be successful. I just got off the Infinity and there were some kids in the Retreat but they were very good and not a bother at all. 

[Oville]

2 hours ago, Loracpin2 said:

Perhaps a vacation in a cabin in the woods might be a better suitable environment!

Huh?  My guess is you were not trying to be nasty but…

[Loracpin2]

58 minutes ago, Oville said:

Huh?  My guess is you were not trying to be nasty but…

Yes, I was not trying to be nasty. My comment was a Grandmother's (of 8 grandchildren) reaction to the OP's two comments I quoted and bolded. 

[Jim_Iain]

I think kids sometimes get a bad rap due to the actions of irresponsible parents that allow their children go wild as they ignore them.    I was particular thinking about the reports of Generation X on her well written live post.   I've seen many well behaved children and adults but unfortunately have seen some very bad behavior by both children as well as adults.

 

I recall on my last cruise that a couple came into Murano with a 6 months old and I moaned to myself.   He whimpered a couple times and his parents immediately got up and removed him from the room until he fell back asleep.    The next night we were in Tuscan and guess who was at the next table.   Again...  They were the perfect parents and we actually had fun chatting with them.    I'm telling this to show the I often make assumption about all children while there are equally as many well mannered adults and children that I often overlook.

[cdn_tbird]

20 hours ago, janelledocb said:

Dear Cruisers,

 

Please note that we like kids in general but would like to minimize our exposure to happily screaming kids while on vacation 🙂

 

I came down with Covid last week so I am not on the Equinox right now 😭 but that's okay as we have booked the Beyond for Thanksgiving Cruise starting Nov.20 in the Caribbean.  Hubby is concerned that since it's a new ship and not our usual S-Class, that it will be full of kids.  We can't go off-season the rest of the year due to work so it's either this or the Reflection and we were thinking we would try the Edge class for the first time since we have only been on S-Class.  

 

Probably no way to know but I am thinking yes, there will be more kids since it is Beyond and Thanksgiving but we will have plenty of spots to hide on Beyond and more kids will be on a Royal Caribbean cruise.  I wish we could afford a suite to have access to the Retreat but we are saving our funds for that for our 50ths coming up!  What are your thoughts on level of kids we might encounter on the Thanksgiving Beyond cruise?

 

Thanks!  Janelle and Byron

 

 

 

As others have stated, any cruise that happens during a school break will more than likely have a greater number of kids on it and given that Celebrity is consciously going after a younger demographic that will only mean there will be even more kids in the future. That said, does it really matter how many kids are onboard since even a handful of screaming kids could spoil your hard earned vacation. If "minimal kids" is high on your list of priorities, then perhaps an adults only line would be a better fit for this vacation.

 

Celebrity offers a wonderful product and personally my children actually preferred it to the RCCL and MSC cruises they've been on enjoying the swimming pool, basketball court, and arcade, but then as my DW likes to say "they're old souls".

 

Regardless of what you decide, I hope you have a wonderful time and enjoy it to the fullest.

[davy jones]

My rules of thumb is school holidays or vacations = more children and schools in session = less children.

 

Of course, it's a generalizations and individual sailings may vary.

 

[TeeRick]

OP you already know the answer.  Thanksgiving and Christmas are family holiday periods.  Yes there will be more kids.

[m8zenblue]

I don't mind children on cruises.

It's the parents/guardians that upset me that don't or won't look after them, and its not exclusive to cruises, Walmart, anyplace.

 

 

[BeeMinor]

We've sailed over Thanksgiving a couple times in the past. The 10-day cruise we took on Equinox had basically no visible children, but the 7-night cruise on Summit had lots of families, especially with teens. If you're trying to minimize kids and could take just a little PTO, I'd go for the 9-night Infinity sailing that comes in the Monday after Thanksgiving. It's also usually way cheaper to fly on the Monday after the holiday than on the Saturday/Sunday. 

[cruising sister]

1 hour ago, BeeMinor said:

We've sailed over Thanksgiving a couple times in the past. The 10-day cruise we took on Equinox had basically no visible children, but the 7-night cruise on Summit had lots of families, especially with teens. If you're trying to minimize kids and could take just a little PTO, I'd go for the 9-night Infinity sailing that comes in the Monday after Thanksgiving. It's also usually way cheaper to fly on the Monday after the holiday than on the Saturday/Sunday. 

Just off the Infinity. They need lots of work done before I would go on her again. We flew Thanksgiving day last November for a cruise and got great prices and airport was empty. 

[hcat]

3 hours ago, TeeRick said:

OP you already know the answer.  Thanksgiving and Christmas are family holiday periods.  Yes there will be more kids.

That's correct...but you can enjoy your balcony, the solarium  during non family swim hrs and perhaps book a pvt area at the pool . 

 

The kiddos will be in the hot tubs,  outdoor pools , in restaurants and  at the shows, etc.. its family vacation week,  probably not what you wanted to hear...

[Aldo7777]

On 7/5/2022 at 1:01 AM, islabahia said:

Why are you trolling the Celebrity boards?  Why not move on?

Because I’m a Celebrity sailor who is getting p!ssed off with the moaning stuff from the “entitled” ones ! 
came here for post covid info and all you see is “ME ME ME” yeah you’re right should’ve stayed clear as sometimes encounter this @holes on the ship and that’s worse ! 
happy sailing - you don’t know the meaning 

[Aldo7777]

On 7/5/2022 at 9:17 PM, m8zenblue said:

I don't mind children on cruises.

It's the parents/guardians that upset me that don't or won't look after them, and its not exclusive to cruises, Walmart, anyplace.

 

 

Walmart ??

[Aldo7777]

8 minutes ago, Aldo7777 said:

Walmart ??

 

8 minutes ago, Aldo7777 said:

Walmart ??

 

8 minutes ago, Aldo7777 said:

Walmart ??

 

Edited July 6, 2022 by Aldo7777

[Aldo7777]

1 hour ago, HMR74 said:

Just curious as I did not see the date of this particular cruise in any post (as I quickly ran thru the posts) but what was the date--I assume recently , but I hate to assume.

 

I am concerned even before this that the "vibe" on E class is different that the vibe on S  class, and while I like Reflection,  which will be revolutionized before the 2023 Med season, next years Reflection  itineraries were not as desireable to me as Beyond or others by X, and I went into the Beyond 2023 sailings open eyed on higher prices (which are now much higher).

 

Being optimistic, (and formerly in restaurant business) I will attribute most problems to a new ship and still messed up crew staffing, however, I have 6 months before final payments are due.

 

So I have time to process and evaluate all this being able to see reviews coming.

 

I already had a back up plan for a land based trip tied to the post cruise Italy stay which adds Greece and Israel.

 

The X CEO Med 2022  Cruise on Beyond has yet to occur, I beleve. She should be made aware of the problems. Hard to fix problems you do not know about and sometimes the customer is best at pointing out the problems.

That said, I heard complaints about APEX internet and I wrote management -----and mgt "assured me"  that it will be fine, thus I feel real assurred, lol; Can't wait till Starlink internet is available onboard.

 

As to the Captain, the person in charge is responsible for the entire shindig,  so somehow this needs to get to Capt Kate  now , before LLP  is there. If Kate does not know about the problems then whats missing is some sort of communication format so she or he can see if something is happening thats out of the norm expected.

 

Unless there is an expectation thats its ok for a certain number of guests to dine with wires in  the still frozen fish. It's like the 5 second rule for food thats fallen on the floor.

 

edit: btw, what gets measured gets done in any business. Everybody in the chain of command should have to sign off on something  that goes wrong (of magnitude of the type like wire in food) , to make people accountable. Yes, we know 9,000 full meals are served on a typical day on a 3,000 person ship. on certain things there needs to be zero tolerance for errors.

 

On 7/5/2022 at 9:17 PM, m8zenblue said:

I don't mind children on cruises.

It's the parents/guardians that upset me that don't or won't look after them, and its not exclusive to cruises, Walmart, anyplace.