When not to book

[Jon65retired]

DH and I are considering several cruises in the next couple of months. What dates should we not book so that we're not on a ship full of kids during spring break? Thanks in advance for your answers.

Linda

[paul929207]

Feb 1 to Apr 15. May 15 to Sept 10. This assumes you want a cruise a week or less that hits a US port. If you go to Europe, Asia, South America, etc. you can go anytime and have few kids.

[bjs323x]

You may also want to consider avoiding cruise lines that target young families like Carnival and of course Disney.

[cruznliz]

The longer the cruise, the less kids.:eek: Particularly stay away from the week before Easter and the week after Easter. Leaving from a foreign port is also a very good idea. Maybe one of the San Juan departures or a full Panama Canal cruise. Be creative with your planning. ;)

[Iamcruzin]

I have always found mid May to be a good time to sail in the Caribbean with few kids onboard. I have actually taken mine out of school for a week at this time of year. They don't enjoy the trip if there are too many kids either. Last year there were only 19 teens sailing on the Caribbean Princess the week we went. Mine would have made it 21 if we would have brought them. I don't think I saw 10 children the entire week.

[1 HappyCruiser]

Even mid May seems to be an OK time since not to many kids are out of school at that point.

During Thanksgiving we had 70+ kids of all ages on-board (10 day cruise) & you could hardly notice them.

[caribill]

Even mid May seems to be an OK time since not to many kids are out of school at that point.

During Thanksgiving we had 70+ kids of all ages on-board (10 day cruise) & you could hardly notice them.

Over Xmas we had about 550 kids under 18 on board and we could hardly notice them. A very nice surprise.

[Jon65retired]

Thanks everyone for the information.

[adk0425]

Do NOT go in mid-February. We went on a Valentine cruise on RCI last year, left on the 14th and there were 700 children on board! :-( It seems that the NE schools get a winter break and mid-February is it.

[BosoxI]

We were on the Crown over Thanksgiving with plenty of kids. They were not a problem at all. The snotty nosed 20 somethings were a different story

[Tatka]

Feb 1 to Apr 15. May 15 to Sept 10. This assumes you want a cruise a week or less that hits a US port. If you go to Europe, Asia, South America, etc. you can go anytime and have few kids.

 

School vacation in New England this year will be during the third week of April.

 

 

On the other hand Princess is very good with handling kids. We sailed twice during school vacation in hardly saw kids.