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Real talk: 3 day weekend cruises


LMaxwell
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Is it a bad idea to take my young son on the Victory for a Fri-Monday cruise? Last week experienced some guest behavior issues that weren't adequately handled on Royal Caribbean. I know bad behavior can happen anywhere, but budget-wise and time wise I may be able to sneak in one more boys trip if I take the lowest priced weekend in October.

 

Is this just begging for disaster?

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We have been on a more than a few three and four nighter on both Carnival and RCCL, and although the crowds in general are a little louder on the three nighter, we have never seen any major problems but we tend to avoid the crowds.

 

I noticed the lower prices for the end of October, and to be honest, we have been thinking about sneaking one in too based on the good deals.

However, I have found though that the Miami crowd seems to party a little heartier than other ports close by, in particular Port Canaveral. But Liberty does not do a Fri-Mon.

 

You know your son better than any of us, but depending on his age, I might skip it.

 

What I may just do is hit up the Bahama Paradise Grand Classica again for a two nighter.

We did the Grand Celebration last month and had a very good time. Two nights just falls short though.

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We have been on a more than a few three and four nighter on both Carnival and RCCL, and although the crowds in general are a little louder on the three nighter, we have never seen any major problems but we tend to avoid the crowds.

 

I noticed the lower prices for the end of October, and to be honest, we have been thinking about sneaking one in too based on the good deals.

However, I have found though that the Miami crowd seems to party a little heartier than other ports close by, in particular Port Canaveral. But Liberty does not do a Fri-Mon.

 

You know your son better than any of us, but depending on his age, I might skip it.

 

What I may just do is hit up the Bahama Paradise Grand Classica again for a two nighter.

We did the Grand Celebration last month and had a very good time. Two nights just falls short though.

 

Just an FYI, Liberty is changing to Friday - Monday cruises in 2019. I don’t know the exact date off the top of my head, but you can find it on Carnival’s website. Of course that doesn’t help for a cruise next month.

 

Also, Conquest will be replacing Victory in Miami in 2020 for the weekend cruises when Victory goes into dry dock to be “sunshined”.

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Is it a bad idea to take my young son on the Victory for a Fri-Monday cruise? Last week experienced some guest behavior issues that weren't adequately handled on Royal Caribbean. I know bad behavior can happen anywhere, but budget-wise and time wise I may be able to sneak in one more boys trip if I take the lowest priced weekend in October.

 

Is this just begging for disaster?

 

 

Hi

 

I don't see your concern.

 

I live in a town the size of that ship. If there were to be an incident at the local bar, am I going to be involved, of course not! Even if you are there, you just leave.

 

As CB at sea suggests, you don't have to join THAT party. There are too many other people having a good time without going overboard. :)

 

Why let the unlikely spoil your fun time with your son. I'm going to be going on one those shorter cruises (4day) on the Victory in early Nov. myself. :cool:

 

have a great cruise

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Things happen. I was on a RCL cruise and a drunker than a shunk older man sat down next to me in the theater holding a glass of wine. It was too late to move, the event started, and i was in the front middle of a row, ... but I should have.

 

He poured the wine down the front of my shirt and never knew he did it, not even when I tried to tell him

 

So, sometimes you do wind up with bad behavior, but oct will be fewer kids than summer. Id still go, why stay home because something MIGHT happen.

 

We all seen plenty of bad behavior ... though the funny thing is most of what Ive seen is from seniors.

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Hi

 

I don't see your concern.

 

I live in a town the size of that ship. If there were to be an incident at the local bar, am I going to be involved, of course not! Even if you are there, you just leave.

 

As CB at sea suggests, you don't have to join THAT party. There are too many other people having a good time without going overboard. :)

 

Why let the unlikely spoil your fun time with your son. I'm going to be going on one those shorter cruises (4day) on the Victory in early Nov. myself. :cool:

 

have a great cruise

 

 

I've done the 4 day victory cruises. 4 day crowd is different than a weekend crowd.

 

On last weeks cruise on Royal Caribbean had smokers in non-smoking pool section twice; staff did nothing. Basically we were chased out of the family pool area. One night really loud neighbors until 4AM. Just wanted a fun weekend to hang out with my son. Weather was great, ship was nice, and I don't have to go to all night parties, those that want to that's cool. I just don't want to have rogue party animals impact our time; we won't impact theirs. I'm concerned a super cheap weekend cruise would be awful.

 

To those that mentioned Bahamas Paradise; I sailed the Grand Classica in July. It was a good experience. But I don't feel like it was significantly cheaper than a 3 night on RCI/NCL/Carnival. If it was half the price or less for the 2 night I'd go back.

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If you experienced guest behavior issues on Royal Caribbean that you found as too inappropriate for your son, you should not take him on a 3 night weekend cruise.

 

In general, the lower the price, the poorer the onboard demographic.

 

my second most disruptive drunk episode was also on RCL. We meet in the game/card room which was quite large, 2 rooms put together and had two tables of bridge going when about 9 rowdy people trooped in with their drinks. The worst was the oldest female, older than me even, and both tables of bridge just slowly one by one people said i quit and walked out.

 

wouldnt have done any good to complain as by the time RCL could have gotten there, the games were destroyed.

 

sometimes you just run into rude drunken people who need to keep jumpng up and down and sloushing their drinks. doesnt matter how long the cruise is even. just bad luck to me when it affects you.

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You run a greater risk of parties but depending on your plans and how you spend your days you can avoid it. My youngest is 14 and of us own accord puts himself to bed at home by 930 and on a cruise never stays out after 11/12. He likes his sleep way too much.

 

So if you have early dinner, do the family shows or movies etc and are in the room by 10, it shouldn’t be that rowdy.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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I have never witnessed a really bad "drunken" scene; every once in a while my SO and I look at each other and say, "Drink package!", but that happens in day-to-day life also. If you could do a Thursday-Sunday cruise, I believe you would be fine on the Liberty, as I do believe the port tends to make a difference in the crowd. How old is your son? If he is young enough, he wouldn't notice drunken behavior (though you would).

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Is it a bad idea to take my young son on the Victory for a Fri-Monday cruise? Last week experienced some guest behavior issues that weren't adequately handled on Royal Caribbean. I know bad behavior can happen anywhere, but budget-wise and time wise I may be able to sneak in one more boys trip if I take the lowest priced weekend in October.

 

Is this just begging for disaster?

I would not do it.

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Is it a bad idea to take my young son on the Victory for a Fri-Monday cruise? Last week experienced some guest behavior issues that weren't adequately handled on Royal Caribbean. I know bad behavior can happen anywhere, but budget-wise and time wise I may be able to sneak in one more boys trip if I take the lowest priced weekend in October.

 

Is this just begging for disaster?

How much time were you planning to spend in the bars or casino with your young son? The thing with party cruises is you need to go to the party, the party doesn't come to you.

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It really depends on you. Yes, expect bachelor/bachelorette parties. We have only experienced clearly drunk but happy revelers. We roll our eyes and move on. If things were getting ugly in any way - it's a big ship, move on. But we have never experienced that. Some people would be offended or uncomfortable just being around drunk people. Your son probably just wants to hang with you and will take his lead from you. If you are not bothered by the presence of drunk people he probably won't even notice (depending on his age, you didn't tell us that).

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How much time were you planning to spend in the bars or casino with your young son? The thing with party cruises is you need to go to the party, the party doesn't come to you.

 

The problem is when the party comes to us and it’s not what we are looking for :')

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We've been on about 8 3-day booze cruises. I'd say 2 of those were way too rowdy. The rest were just fun.

 

Agreed! We have taken our kids on several 3 dayers. They are all grown now and go on 3 dayers themselves! You don't have to participate in any activity that you don't want to. GO and have fun!

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My husband and I have gone on many 3 or 4-day weekend cruises and haven't witnessed any terrible behavior except for one Norwegian cruise where a group of people thought it would be fun to yell in the hallway half the night. Depending on the time of year, there can be lots of children. I'm sure there is drunken stuff going on but we tend to be in the quieter areas and go to bed early so we don't see it.

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I'd go but plan your days around the potential issues.

 

Hit the pool in the early morning before the revelers have made it up; avoid in the afternoon where there will be more pool side drinking and rowdiness.

 

Go for early dining (if available).

 

Plan for a long, active, exhausting port day adventure.

 

If you find the atmosphere around the ship is just a little too much in the evening, stay in the cabin and rent one of the new release movies for $5.

 

Spend some time in the library - they have a huge selection of family board games.

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