Cruising during school vacations

[Snowbird]

My apologies if this has previously been discussed. We're considering a Caribbean cruise sometime during the 2007 Christmas holiday period. We'd do a minimum 10-day cruise, but more likely 14 days. What has been your experience during that timeframe regarding the number of kids on-board? I'm afraid the ship would be overrun since it's a school holiday period, but on the other hand, I'm thinking the extra length for a 10- to 14-day cruise might eliminate many family vacations. Is it predominantly the 7-day cruises during that time that have lots of kids?

 

If you have kids, please don't take this personally. Since we no longer have kids at home, we simply prefer our cruises not to be populated with lots of little ones.

[chrysalis]

My apologies if this has previously been discussed. We're considering a Caribbean cruise sometime during the 2007 Christmas holiday period. We'd do a minimum 10-day cruise, but more likely 14 days. What has been your experience during that timeframe regarding the number of kids on-board? I'm afraid the ship would be overrun since it's a school holiday period, but on the other hand, I'm thinking the extra length for a 10- to 14-day cruise might eliminate many family vacations. Is it predominantly the 7-day cruises during that time that have lots of kids?

 

If you have kids, please don't take this personally. Since we no longer have kids at home, we simply prefer our cruises not to be populated with lots of little ones.

 

not to hijack your question....but what Princess ship can you do a 14 night cruise on in Dec 2007 other than flying to Barbados to get on the Sea?

 

...and yes, the longer the cruise, the smaller numbers of children (over the Christmas period, I am not sure 10 days is alot different than a 7 day cruise in terms of numbers of children)

[Toto2Kansas]

Just returned from the Sea Princess 14 day sailing RT Fort Lauderdale. We left on December 9th and returned on the 23rd. The first week of the cruise there were very few children onboard with us. After one week, we switched out the passengers in Barbados and picked up the Christmas sailing group. OMG! We walked out of our cabin the following morning and there were kids of all ages everywhere. Tiny tots all aglow. Babies in strollers, toddlers, young teens, old teens, you name it. Crying babies, fussy little ones, teens sitting on the stairs and floors of the elevator entrances. Parents letting their little ones run wild in the buffet line and parents getting very cranky right from the start trying to control the little tikes.

So, don't think just becuase it is a 14 day sailing there won't be a shipload of kids onboard. I knew there would be more over Christmas, but never realized just how many more would be sailing with us on that last week.

Much of this will depend on the dates and area you plan to sail also. Exotic cruises will bring less families and small children then say cruises in the Caribbean areas because of the cost of flights for children.

[LARGIN]

I have found that Christmas is much more enjoyable staying home with the family than on any ship. Way too many undiscliplined kiddies on the high seas during the holiday season..

[Julia’s Journey’s]

Just returned from the Sea Princess 14 day sailing RT Fort Lauderdale. We left on December 9th and returned on the 23rd. The first week of the cruise there were very few children onboard with us. After one week, we switched out the passengers in Barbados and picked up the Christmas sailing group. OMG! We walked out of our cabin the following morning and there were kids of all ages everywhere. Tiny tots all aglow. Babies in strollers, toddlers, young teens, old teens, you name it. Crying babies, fussy little ones, teens sitting on the stairs and floors of the elevator entrances. Parents letting their little ones run wild in the buffet line and parents getting very cranky right from the start trying to control the little tikes.

So, don't think just becuase it is a 14 day sailing there won't be a shipload of kids onboard. I knew there would be more over Christmas, but never realized just how many more would be sailing with us on that last week.

Much of this will depend on the dates and area you plan to sail also. Exotic cruises will bring less families and small children then say cruises in the Caribbean areas because of the cost of flights for children.

 

Sounds quite hectic, we haven't even experienced that on Disney during the summer vacations:D :D

[ibfern]

Hi Snowbird,

 

I am a slave to school vacations because I am a teacher, but I love a little break from kids to balence my spirit (although I love kids). I recently booked two back to back Panama Canal cruises on the Island Princess starting Dec 15, 2007 and ending January 5th, Acapulco to San Juan and back. I think there might be less kids on a cruise like this, although who knows? I just got back from a Mexican Riv cruise over Christmas, there were a lot of kids on board but for the most part they were delightful!

 

Amelia

 

My apologies if this has previously been discussed. We're considering a Caribbean cruise sometime during the 2007 Christmas holiday period. We'd do a minimum 10-day cruise, but more likely 14 days. What has been your experience during that timeframe regarding the number of kids on-board? I'm afraid the ship would be overrun since it's a school holiday period, but on the other hand, I'm thinking the extra length for a 10- to 14-day cruise might eliminate many family vacations. Is it predominantly the 7-day cruises during that time that have lots of kids?

 

If you have kids, please don't take this personally. Since we no longer have kids at home, we simply prefer our cruises not to be populated with lots of little ones.

[Toto2Kansas]

Sounds quite hectic, we haven't even experienced that on Disney during the summer vacations:D :D

 

Julia, I think the big difference between Princess and Disney is that Disney is set up for kids of all ages, to keep them occupied and busy, where Princess is not. They have their kids program, but aside from that, the younger kids seem to get bored. Princess also has very strict age limits for their kids programs and the smaller ones (who are not potty trained) are not welcomed with out the parents there. (not sure how Disney handles this as we have never actually sailed on a Disney ship).

 

We found the first few days in the second leg seemed to be pretty quiet in the kid department, but after that, parents patience was wearing thin and children were not happy campers as they were when they first boarded. It didn't ruin our sailing by any means with the little ones onboard, although it might have been very bothersome to others.

I felt terrible for the cabins down the hall from us. There was a baby, less than a year old, in one of the cabins there and that baby screamed long into the night most nights. We were in a mini at the end of the hall, so no noise inside our cabin we could hear from it. But I felt so sorry for whoever was next door, or even two doors down from that cabin. I am sure sleep must have been totally impossible for them as the screaming could be heard all the was down the hallway each evening and afternoon at nap time.

 

Vacations for little ones that small, can end up being a nitemare for the parents and children if the child does not deal well in strange surroundings.

[DrivesLikeMario]

I totally agree with Toto. We took the Coral Princess 10 night Panama Canal cruise during what I thought was the week BEFORE Easter break. Not!!

 

OMG, I have never seen so many kids totally out of control! There were well over 500 kids onboard according to the camp counselors. Finally, on the last night, crew members started walking around with "Security" on their yellow vests. The ship was returned to a quiet, calm, well-behaved place again.

 

After this cruise, Princess started having the "Security Patrol" on their ships during peak seasons to control the kids that some parents seem to be too busy to take care of. It seems to have made a big difference.

[Toto2Kansas]

We tried to enjoy a lovely 'under the stars' sterling steakhouse dinner on the Sea a couple of weeks ago. They only move it outside twice during the two week cruise. MUTS was turned up so loud that it was close to impossible to even have a conversation, plus the hot tub was full of pre-teens sreaming and yelling right under where we sat. Half way through the meal the 'wet kids' decided they wanted to run through the Sterling Steakhouse dripping wet, so they did. It was only a few days later that we noticed the youth security out by the pool in the evening and the Princess Patter had a warning on the front page that children were to be supervised at all times in the pools. Wish they would have done something that evening as it sure did about ruin our dinner conversation with these two destractions. MUTS and screaming children.

Tried the second night under the stars and it was much nicer. No kids yelling and screaming in the hot tubs and MUTS was turned down to a dull roar. Definitely much nicer the second visit.

[Ula]

We did a Thanksgiving Cruise this year on Princess. There were over 600 kids. Never had a problem. And we are two old farts that never had kids. We are on the high scale of noticing kids out of control.

I did book a mini just in case and went in prepared for the worst. We were very surprised on how good every one was. I heard stories from past cruises.

All the kids were good, they did not trip us, mug us or knock on our doors at night. Only time we noticed them was in line for Pizza. They can consume more pizza than we can.

This makes me wonder that some just do not like the vision of any kid on a cruise. Or we just walked in prepared for the worst and were happy that we had the best.

[rebeccalouise]

There are going to lots of kids on any cruise between Dec22-January 3rd respectively. Longer cruises will have fewer children but since Christmas cruises book fast- even the longer ones around the holidays will have kids.

I steer clear of this time of year if you can avoid it. prices are also very high.

[bjkTX]

Take a cruise during school vacation time - or - take a 2 week driving trip with my mother-in-law...gas up the car!

[flynrph]

I've done cruises over the holidays. Yeah, more kids, but not a big deal. And I kinda like seeing all ages, gives it more of a family feel, not to mention the ship won't fold up the sidewalks at 10pm! As a thought, often times the first week of January is not as loaded with kids as some schools are back in class. This is the time when I have cruised, the wife is in the school business so I am a slave to her time off.

Off topic, Hey IBFERN! Nice to see you posting again. Hope your cruise was good. I leave tomorrow! (Yes, the boys are going with us!) mdb

[ibfern]

I've done cruises over the holidays. Yeah, more kids, but not a big deal. And I kinda like seeing all ages, gives it more of a family feel, not to mention the ship won't fold up the sidewalks at 10pm! As a thought, often times the first week of January is not as loaded with kids as some schools are back in class. This is the time when I have cruised, the wife is in the school business so I am a slave to her time off.

Off topic, Hey IBFERN! Nice to see you posting again. Hope your cruise was good. I leave tomorrow! (Yes, the boys are going with us!) mdb

 

Hey Flynrph!

 

The cruise was awesome, bring a nice bottle of wine to your ship's Matre'd and he will treat you wonderful. Have a great cruise, I wish I was goin so I could meet the whole family.

 

Amellia

[willysgrandma]

We made a mistake a few years ago of taking a trip the second week of June, thinking we'd beat the kids out of school by a week.

 

Unfortunately, the only kids we beat out of school were the NY kids - all the other states had their kids out already. And the kids were out of control as the ship was not geared with enough things for teens to do.

 

We now only cruise during school months, usually September - November. I'd rather risk a sailing with a hurricane than on a ship overrun with unsupervised kids again.

[Cruisin' Chick]

We made a mistake a few years ago of taking a trip the second week of June, thinking we'd beat the kids out of school by a week.

 

Unfortunately, the only kids we beat out of school were the NY kids - all the other states had their kids out already. And the kids were out of control as the ship was not geared with enough things for teens to do.

 

We now only cruise during school months, usually September - November. I'd rather risk a sailing with a hurricane than on a ship overrun with unsupervised kids again.

 

The Los Angeles School District (second biggest in the country) is in session until late June.

[Cruisin' Chick]

We had never had a problem with kids (even before becoming parents -- and I was definitely not into kids) on any of our cruises, except for the last one. That was a holiday cruise but that wasn't the reason, nor was it the number of kids. The troublemakers were an extended family onboard. The parents decided that it was okay not to supervise their kids. They went off to the casino while the kids (who didn't participate in the kids program according to our daughter) ran while even at early hours of the night. The staff, including the captain, were told over and over again, but didn't do anything. The youth security were frustrated that their hands were tied (one of them told us that he even told to one of the fathers who said, "I'm on vacation.")

[CruisenOne]

We usually cruise at Christmas/New Years (Not this year:( ) though.

 

Have had very few problems with young ones; parents are a different story.

 

Chrysalis -- Check out the Royal Princess for Christmas/New Years

in December, 07; FLL/FLL

[mauiedin87]

About kids on cruises... We used to have to cruise during school holidays. My husband taught at the college level. Now that we're retired, we will hopefully NEVER EVER have to dodge 500 unruly, totally out of control kids as we did on Celebrity's Infinity Panama Canal Cruise over Christmas break a few years ago. It was so bad that after the numerous passenger complaints they started "unloading" some families along the way. It helped some, but by then many of us had learned our lesson and we've never gone back on Celebrity since.:mad:

[Wendi&Max]

You might be safer booking a higher end cruiseline that doesn't cater much to kids. It will probably cost more, but it sounds like you'll have a better chance at a peaceful vacation. Look for cruises that don't offer much in the way of kid's programs (I think you can call ahead and ask how many children are booked as well).

[Julia’s Journey’s]

Take a cruise during school vacation time - or - take a 2 week driving trip with my mother-in-law...gas up the car!

 

The cruise wins for me:D :D :D

[Julia’s Journey’s]

You might be safer booking a higher end cruiseline that doesn't cater much to kids. It will probably cost more, but it sounds like you'll have a better chance at a peaceful vacation. Look for cruises that don't offer much in the way of kid's programs (I think you can call ahead and ask how many children are booked as well).

 

You can call ahead, they ask for your booking number and most times will tell you how many kids and the age break up.

I called on friday and there are only 7 kids on our cruise with 4 being in our party.:D

 

I am very sensitive to noise which my kids are aware of and they know I don't accept bad behaviour, I have had a bigger problem with noise drunk unruley adults around the pool on our last Carnival cruise and haven't cruised with them since, not to say I never will but it wont be may line of choise:D

[tequilasunrise]

I've got to say, it makes more sense that there will be lots more kids during school breaks, since families and people who work with kids (like school employees) are subject to this being when they can go. The higher prices during many of these times reflect that Princess knows that too (lions and tigers and spring break prices, OH MY!).

 

If I didn't have kids to consider, and especially if I were older and preferred a quiet atmosphere, I would avoid these times all together. Try the Caribbean in January or February, Alaska in May or September, Mediterranean in early June, etc. Save some money...and do try for 10-14 day trips, for less kids. 7 days is more economical if you have a family.

[Kruuzin]

The Los Angeles School District (second biggest in the country) is in session until late June.

 

The kids in Mass. are out at about the same time, maybe the week before

[2boyzmom]

We did our first "prime time" President's week cruise last year. Yes- the pools were packed with kids- but luckily since this was a big time family cruise- the bars and casinos were empty :) We dropped the boys off at "kids camp" (ages 4 and 6) and partied like newlyweds :)