Sailing April,11....Kids?

[prfctmrtini]

Wife and I are planning to sail on Noordam for a 10 day carib. cruise. The ship sails on April,11 and I'm wondering because that's spring break will there be many children or because it's a 10 day cruise will it be mostly adults.:confused:

[peaches from georgia]

I would say maybe a few more than normal for a 10 day, but not many school or college age kids. First, because it is a 10 day and most holiday vacations are for a week and it's the 7 day cruises that are loaded with kids. And secondly because your cruise starts in the middle of the week after Easter Sunday and continues through the following week. Most spring/Easter breaks that I know of are over by that time.

 

I wouldn't hesitate to book it and we don't do school vacation cruises. :D

[newmexicoNita]

Peaches is probably about right: the longer the cruise, the less kids, especially during the school year, but now the bad news: schools are changing spring breaks all over the place. I don't think, if I wanted to pretty much avoid kids I would cruise anytime in March or April. We took a cruise this past April, it started the day before Easter (yes, that is a little different than what you were doing) much to our shock there were 500 plus kids sailing. We talked to various families; many said their school systems had changed spring break just this year.

 

Expect to see more than normal, but even then there shouldn't be enough to cause havic and kids can be fun. NMNita

[jhannah]

I don't think there will be many kids on this cruise due to its timing.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Count on more kids regardless if it is 7 or 10 day cruise around a holiday.

 

We were suprised by the number of children on our 10 day Mexican Riviera cruise last November over Thanskgiving - more than we have seen in a long time - over a couple hundred!!

[Jemima]

Also remember that some fall or spring breaks are now longer than one week and may be as long as the Christmas/winter break usually is. This is especially so with schools which have an extended school year or are year round or a modified year round.

[kryos]

I don't think, if I wanted to pretty much avoid kids I would cruise anytime in March or April. We took a cruise this past April, it started the day before Easter (yes, that is a little different than what you were doing) much to our shock there were 500 plus kids sailing. We talked to various families; many said their school systems had changed spring break just this year.

 

Expect to see more than normal, but even then there shouldn't be enough to cause havic and kids can be fun. NMNita

Maybe regular school systems might not be on spring break that entire period, but there could be a lot of colleges on break. Even though the Noordam is ten-day cruises, you could still get the East Coast kids whose parents find it cheaper to take the kids on a ten-day cruise rather than fly eveyone to Florida for a seven-day one. I think you have just as much potential for a lot of kids on a ten-day cruise going out of New York as you do on a seven-day cruise out of Florida. The price would work out about the same for the family if they lived in the Northeast part of the country and could drive to the pier, rather than fly.

 

I'm with you ... I'd stay away from this period of time if I wanted to avoid kids. True, I am cruising next April to Europe, but since that's an 18-day cruise, terminating in Venice, I doubt very much there will be very many kids on it. The return airfare alone would be a killer for most families.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Sueseb]

We were on the Zaandam last Easter week (only time we could go since one of the group is a teacher). There were children aboard but absolutely no problem and we are "seniors."

I also disagree that it might be spring break for colleges since they usually get out for the summer in early May and the break is much earlier.