Would a 3/7/25 cruise on the Escape be during spring break?

[cruiservictor]

Not having any children (or grandchildren), I need advice from those who do.  I am looking at booking back to back cruises on the Escape during her brief residency in New York next winter.

 

We definitely are considering the 12-night Caribbean cruise that departs on Sunday, February 23, and returns Friday, March 7.

 

The cruise right before it is an 8-night Florida/Bahamas voyage that departs on Saturday, February 15.  Since Monday, February 17 is Presidents' Day and most/all schools will be closed that week, that eliminates that cruise.

 

The cruise right after the 12-day is the same Florida/Bahamas route and this one leaves Friday, March 7 and returns Saturday, March 15.

 

So what I need advice on is whether this March 7 cruise would be during spring break, or is it a little too early for that.  I know spring break can be at different times in different parts of the country, but I would like your thoughts anyway.  And for what it is worth, Passover and Easter are very late next year - Saturday, April 12 (at sundown) for Passover and Sunday, April 20 for Easter.

 

Thanks in advance for any information you can provide.

[shof515]

every city/state and sometimes county does spring break on different dates . here in NYC, president day week is called mid winter break and spring break is in middle of April

[www3traveler]

Spring Break is usually from President's Day in February through the Sunday after Easter.  With Easter being on the 20th of April and the end of the school year beginning in mid May, Spring Break will probably wind down in late March or early April.

 

Since you are looking at a 12 Day, there may not be a lot of kids on your cruise.  Most parents probably will not want to take their kids out of school for more than a week.  Keep in mind that more and more people are homeschooling their kids these days.

 

As as solo Senior Citizen type passenger, I would be comfortable in booking either one of your 12 Day cruises.

 

Enjoy

[cruiservictor]

5 minutes ago, www3traveler said:

Spring Break is usually from President's Day in February through the Sunday after Easter.  With Easter being on the 20th of April and the end of the school year beginning in mid May, Spring Break will probably wind down in late March or early April.

 

Since you are looking at a 12 Day, there may not be a lot of kids on your cruise.  Most parents probably will not want to take their kids out of school for more than a week.  Keep in mind that more and more people are homeschooling their kids these days.

 

As as solo Senior Citizen type passenger, I would be comfortable in booking either one of your 12 Day cruises.

 

Enjoy

Thank you.  However, the 12 day cruise is the one in the middle of the 8 day cruises.  The first 8 day cruise is out because of Presidents' Day week.  What I am wondering is if the March 7 eight night cruise will be during spring break.

[www3traveler]

Just now, cruiservictor said:

Thank you.  However, the 12 day cruise is the one in the middle of the 8 day cruises.  The first 8 day cruise is out because of Presidents' Day week.  What I am wondering is if the March 7 eight night cruise will be during spring break.

Yes, it would

[9tee2Sea]

google spring break 2025. you should have your answer

[nordicacres]

Our Spring Break is always either the first or second week of March. We don’t have a 2024-2025 district calendar yet. I personally wouldn’t count on there being less kids on a 12 day cruise during that timeframe. 

[OBSESSIVEWORLDTRAVELER]

Spring break for colleges start late February and once you include all grade levels including college it ends mid to late April.

[omahabob]

Depends on what your concern is. I don't care about school districts. Kids usually just mean a bit more noise. But drunk college students? That's another story. Most colleges have spring break from the first through the third week of March, with most in the first two weeks. That's far more important to us, so I plan around that period.

[gizfish]

Since mid winter break which happens during presidents week is only three weeks before the second cruise in your btb, the odds of spring break for school age kids being that week are quite slim, especially since the spring holidays are in April.  As others have said, college spring break is another story.  But since NCL doesn't allow under 21 to travel without parents or guardians, the odds of a cruise being a college spring break booze debacle are slim unless there are a bunch of masters and doctorate level students on board.  And obviously they can't afford a cruise or the drink package gratuities since they are paying for their higher education lol.

[www3traveler]

5 hours ago, gizfish said:

Since mid winter break which happens during presidents week is only three weeks before the second cruise in your btb, the odds of spring break for school age kids being that week are quite slim, especially since the spring holidays are in April.  As others have said, college spring break is another story.  But since NCL doesn't allow under 21 to travel without parents or guardians, the odds of a cruise being a college spring break booze debacle are slim unless there are a bunch of masters and doctorate level students on board.  And obviously they can't afford a cruise or the drink package gratuities since they are paying for their higher education lol.

Very wrong--- A very drunk 20 year old college student jumped overboard from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship a few days ago and has yet to be found.

[mjkacmom]

11 hours ago, OBSESSIVEWORLDTRAVELER said:

Spring break for colleges start late February and once you include all grade levels including college it ends mid to late April.

The majority of public school spring breaks are later in march/April in the northeast, colleges are mostly in march. https://en.as.com/latest_news/when-is-spring-break-2024-complete-list-of-dates-for-us-colleges-and-universities-n/#:~:text=In 2024%2C the majority of,also check out the following.

[mjkacmom]

7 hours ago, gizfish said:

Since mid winter break which happens during presidents week is only three weeks before the second cruise in your btb, the odds of spring break for school age kids being that week are quite slim, especially since the spring holidays are in April.  As others have said, college spring break is another story.  But since NCL doesn't allow under 21 to travel without parents or guardians, the odds of a cruise being a college spring break booze debacle are slim unless there are a bunch of masters and doctorate level students on board.  And obviously they can't afford a cruise or the drink package gratuities since they are paying for their higher education lol.

Most college students turn 21 during their junior year, so they have 2 years of being legal in undergrad.

[kristens]

Spring break next year for most New York schools is in April.

[OBSESSIVEWORLDTRAVELER]

2 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

The majority of public school spring breaks are later in march/April in the northeast, colleges are mostly in march. https://en.as.com/latest_news/when-is-spring-break-2024-complete-list-of-dates-for-us-colleges-and-universities-n/#:~:text=In 2024%2C the majority of,also check out the following.

Is there something factually wrong with my post? I was giving a range that can be applied to any year. For example Villanova University Spring Break 2022 started February 28. Hence my starts late February comment. Easter 2025 is on April 20. Hence my ends mid to late April comment. Your comment is accurate as well. Just trying to determine if there's something incorrect with what I said.

[SeaShark]

9 minutes ago, OBSESSIVEWORLDTRAVELER said:

Is there something factually wrong with my post? I was giving a range that can be applied to any year. For example Villanova University Spring Break 2022 started February 28. Hence my starts late February comment. Easter 2025 is on April 20. Hence my ends mid to late April comment. Your comment is accurate as well. Just trying to determine if there's something incorrect with what I said.

 

Factually, no, nothing wrong with your post. However, the OP asked a simple, straight-forward question, which was answered by post #5 in the thread. Asked. Answered. Simple. In typical CC fashion, the thread then veers off into point/counter-point discussion that is nothing but a distraction. We are already 16 posts into a thread just to answer a simple yes/no question. 

[mjkacmom]

1 hour ago, OBSESSIVEWORLDTRAVELER said:

Is there something factually wrong with my post? I was giving a range that can be applied to any year. For example Villanova University Spring Break 2022 started February 28. Hence my starts late February comment. Easter 2025 is on April 20. Hence my ends mid to late April comment. Your comment is accurate as well. Just trying to determine if there's something incorrect with what I said.

No, there is a range, I believe the majority are in march thought. This list just shows the most popular weeks, and what state the colleges are in. My kids have had spring break all of the weeks in march (6 different universities). I’d assume most college students would prefer to drive to the port, so location can make a difference.

[OBSESSIVEWORLDTRAVELER]

1 hour ago, SeaShark said:

 

Factually, no, nothing wrong with your post. However, the OP asked a simple, straight-forward question, which was answered by post #5 in the thread. Asked. Answered. Simple. In typical CC fashion, the thread then veers off into point/counter-point discussion that is nothing but a distraction. We are already 16 posts into a thread just to answer a simple yes/no question. 

The "simple" solution would have been for the thread to have been locked at post #5 to prevent anymore "distracting" comments.

[stinkyharriet]

My sister & I just booked the 8 day 2/15-2/23.  We are aware that NYC schools have off that week but we can’t do the longer cruises.  We loved the Escape when we sailed on her last year and decided we will just deal with the kids.  Probably book the Vibe.

 

I have tried to search for a web site that lists all public school district calendars for the country (or at least the eastern half of the country) but the only thing I came up with was a paid service meant for travel agents.  

[mjkacmom]

22 minutes ago, stinkyharriet said:

My sister & I just booked the 8 day 2/15-2/23.  We are aware that NYC schools have off that week but we can’t do the longer cruises.  We loved the Escape when we sailed on her last year and decided we will just deal with the kids.  Probably book the Vibe.

 

I have tried to search for a web site that lists all public school district calendars for the country (or at least the eastern half of the country) but the only thing I came up with was a paid service meant for travel agents.  

It’s not just NYC schools, lots of NJ schools are off, and NE schools.

[smilegirl07]

Ours was around those dates in 2024, but for 2025 it starts from the March 14th through the 23rd 2025(school calendar for next year just got published).  it really depends on the state and school district as well.  Oh, I am sorry, when we say "we(ours)" I mean TX 😆 and most southern states have spring break off around the same time(AK, AL, KS, GA, FL, MS, LA, etc).  We also call it the ski week.  When I was living in CA, we got our ski week around the 3rd week of Feb(or around president's day weekend) and then got actual spring break around first week~2nd week of April.

 

Since you are leaving toward the end of Feb and get back after the first week of March, I think you will be OK, missing all those "days off for kids" before and after but who knows....   hope I helped a little!

 

Hope you have an awesome time cruising!

[cruiservictor]

Thanks to everyone who took time to reply. I think we are going to book the March 7th cruise as the second of the back to backs, and hope for the best. 
 

Thanks again. 

[david_sobe]

For some schools it is spring break that early.  When I was in college we had our spring break the second week of March and I could not understand why they called it spring break when it was still winter.   But the second week of March will be spring break for some.  It hits its peak mid march and runs to April.

I used to live on south beach and you are aware exactly when spring break is.  I avoid all cruises in March and April. 

[Grandmafreddie]

If you book the spa and vibe you will avoid kids and always have a lounge.

[tomk3212]

Quick answer; yes, 3/7/2025 is during the 'Spring Break' period.

 

History Lesson: way back in the 50's & the 60's at most colleges in the US, 'Spring Break' was actually 'Easter Break' & took place either the week before or week of the Easter holiday & was a 2 week period.  Many college students from the Northern US colleges would drive to Florida to escape the cold winter weather. This obviously created gigantic problems for the cities & towns in Florida having to cope with a massive influx of college students during this 2 week period. (college students didn't cruise back then!!) Also the dates of Easter change from year to year complicating the problem. 

 

Somehow the state of Florida was able to persuade a number of Northern US colleges to change their 'Easter Break' to 'Spring Break' & schedule it after President's Day and NOT during Easter.  Thus the 'influx' of college students was spread out over a 6-8. week period instead of 2 weeks.  Over time even elementary & secondary schools in the US changed 'Easter Break' to 'Spring Break'.  So this is why cruise ships sailing from US ports are so darn crowded from late February through mid-late April.