Kids on cruises in January??

[ccsrn]

We always book the second week of Jan as this is the cheapest rates we have found. We go with our whole entire family so we have 10 children between us. The range from 6yo to 15 yo. They always come home with some best memories and still talk to the friends they have made while on board. The hardest time was on MSC as there were groups of children talking in different languages.

[dreaminofsun]

We have taken our kids out of school for family vacations 1 to 2 weeks every year. I think the experiences they have on vacation teach them way more than they would learn in school those weeks. I have never had a teacher have a problem with it, in fact my father in law is a teacher and he encourages travel. He teaches grade 8 and he never gives a student work to take with them on vacation nor does he make them "catch up" when they return.

Some of you have said your school's are "strict' about this? What does that mean? Will they kick your kid out if they miss too much time? Are we talking about a public school system or private?

[codypaints]

We sail out on the Dream on January 16th with 3 kids, ages 7, 5 & 2 yrs. We ALWAYS go at a time when we think there will be fewer kids onboard (2nd week in Dec, 2nd week in Jan) cause its not quite as crowded. Always plenty of ppl like us who dont mind taking our kids out of school. LOTS of time to be in school and learn school things, not enuff time to learn things OUTSIDE of school in my mind. My hubby is a farmer, so this is our vacation time.

[dreaminofsun]

We sail out on the Dream on January 16th with 3 kids, ages 7, 5 & 2 yrs. We ALWAYS go at a time when we think there will be fewer kids onboard (2nd week in Dec, 2nd week in Jan) cause its not quite as crowded. Always plenty of ppl like us who dont mind taking our kids out of school. LOTS of time to be in school and learn school things, not enuff time to learn things OUTSIDE of school in my mind. My hubby is a farmer, so this is our vacation time.

 

I couldn't agree more! I get so frustrated with the school system sometimes. My daughter is in grade 4 this year and has been getting a lot of homework. My kids are involved in many afterschool activities, which I think are important learning experiences too (Karate, swimming, skiing, etc.). We really only have 4 hours after school before bedtime and in order to fit in those activities, dinner, and a bath we have a limited time for homework. What frustrates me is that they waste so much time at school (watching movies is one way that bothers me). If they used their time effectively there would be no need for children to have homework!

[MamaParrotHead]

We cruised right AFTER Thanksgiving this year, and there was a small but decent amount of kids. Enough that the counsellor's weren't mobbed and the kids had nice, small play groups. My 6 and 10 year olds LOVED Camp, and the 4 YO too...so I know those age groups were covered. :)

 

We're sailing next January and I have no worries about it.

[sbhdmh]

We're just off the Independence of the Seas today (Jan 3-9 Western Caribbean). There were 600 kids on board birth through 17. My dd's age group (3-5 year olds) had 78 children on board for this sailing. Many if not most of the kids did not speak English, at least as a first language. There were loads of kids from South America as well as some from Europe. There were also a lot of Canadians - fewer Americans than I would have expected. AO staff said that each of the last 2 sailings (holiday) they had 1200 kids on board. My dd had a great time but I think the staff was wrung out after the craziness of the holiday sailings - maybe the following week would have been better in terms of not dealing with the post holiday stress. Really cold weather by the way. We got off in Fort Lauderdale this morning and needed our winter coats and gloves to walk from the ship into the terminal to get our luggage. 35 degrees with a really cold rain. Our guide in Belize told us we were there on the coldest day in 20 years. So much for a nice warm Caribbean cruise to break up the winter huh?

[Onessa]

. . Really cold weather by the way. We got off in Fort Lauderdale this morning and needed our winter coats and gloves to walk from the ship into the terminal to get our luggage. 35 degrees with a really cold rain. Our guide in Belize told us we were there on the coldest day in 20 years. So much for a nice warm Caribbean cruise to break up the winter huh?

 

29 in Green Bay right now (2:20PM) with predicted highs on Wed and Thurs of 34 and 39 degrees (F). Get out the suntan lotion! :D