Kids during Christmas vacation

[JudithLynne]

My husband and I are interested in booking a Mexico cruise on the Rotterdam from Dec. 22 - Jan 3. One concern we have is the number of kids on board as it is Christmas vacation time. How much of a problem is it?

 

Judith

[hal lover]

I've been on many Christmas cruise's and honestly the little children are well behaved. The "tweens" are a different story. Their parent's let them run and be free. It's not the "tweens" fault as I see it, it's the parent's. On our last Christmas cruise, I swore I would never do one again. Now before I get flamed on this, let me make it clear that I adore children and tweens, but I feel that the parent's should set rule's on how to behave on a cruise line like HAL. If they do not want to set rule's and let their darling's disrupt the other passenger's, then perhaps CCL would be a good option.:rolleyes:

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have been on several cruises over Thanksgiving and Christmas -- yes there will be a lot of children.

We have given up on Christmas cruises -- far too many children who took over everything.

[bplazo]

As much as I would like to cruise over the holiday I would never cruises when school is out on break. We have done the first week of December which was nice.

[CowPrincess]

We did a 10-day Thanksgiving cruise, and it was FULL of kids. Every triple and quad cabin was full. Won't make that mistake again. I can't imagine how bad Christmas would be.

[6rugrats]

The absolute worst behavior I've ever seen on a cruise was on HAL, and it was by older adults, not children.

 

If you don't want to cruise with a lot of children, I would not cruise over Christmas.

[fitters]

We did the Mexican cruise on the Oosterdam during Christmas....never again. Way too many kids running around. There were almost 400 kids on board and HAL is only equipped and use to under 100 at a time. What does that tell ya? ;)

[TracieABD]

Most elementary through high school aged kids that are educated in the US are back in school by the 7th of January. Many begin their vacations as early as the 19th of Decemeber.

 

In Charlotte, many of our public school students will be on break from December 22 through January 3. I know that every school district has different measures, but this might be a pretty good indicator for when you do or do not want to be on a cruise.

 

Our university is out from December 16th through January 17th. Once again, I am suppying these dates a measure and not an absolute!:)

[hensghan]

Have done two Christmas cruises. One on HAL; one on Royal Caribbean. Will never do a 3rd. Ships are seriously overcrowded and children and tweens run rampant. Just a personal opinion based on one individual's observations.

[brewster007]

I guess we must be the exception. We have been on two Christmas cruises, one with Costa and one with MSC. While there were kids on the cruises we never really noticed them. In fact I remember being on the Costa cruise wondering where were all the kids. Then on Christmas eve the ship had santa hand out a little gift to each child at the atrium and thought where did all the kids come from. It was really neat to see their excitement. I mean that what makes Christmas - kids as it is so exciting for them. Also when we went back to the cabin there was an individual size Christmas cake waiting for each person. Yes at times it was a little noisy but overall it did not bother us and we enjoyed someone else cooking Christmas dinner. In fact we are booked on the very cruise you are wondering about. With lots of port days we are sure we will find plenty of time away from the noise, if it is bad. By the way we have no kids as we are what you would call DINKS.

 

Brewster

[Berk987]

Eurodam - Nov 2008 (our kids age 7M, 2Y, 4Y, 4Y.

Westerdam - Nov 2009 (same kids, one year older)

Nieuw Amsterdam - Dec 2010 (same kids, one year older)

 

They not all mine kids (whew). 2 are mine and 2 are my sister's. we travel annually and this will be our third cruise together. we elected to go prior to thanksgiving and this year Dec 5th before xmas break.

 

We like kids (well behaved ones) and cannot fathom being on vacation with hundreds of others, hence we chose HAL instead of Disney or Carnival. Eventually as the kids get older and we can't pull them out of school we may have to travel during school breaks. I dread this thought but it will become a reality soon enough. I'm still in denial about this. Hopefully we can continue to cruise as we do for another year or two.

 

Whenever we're on, there are only about 35-40 kids. We love that. Means we have 10% of the kid population and our kids are very well behaved. If not, then they are whisked to the room by DH and he orders room service.

In the two cruises to date, this has only happened twice and those incidents were when my DS was 2.

 

Sorry to go on and on.

[Toots]

Like some of the other posters, we said "never again sailing over Christmas" after our RCL Empress cruise from San Juan to the islands. We can put up with a few unruly kids, but what bothered us the most was teenage drinking that was out of control. Either they brought alcohol on board or they were served at the bars when they should not have been. Screaming kids taking over the pools and hot tubs, running the halls at all hours, etc. Where were the parents?? We enjoy kids, but not when parents shirk all responsibility and let them run wild. For safety reasons alone, we would not have allowed our kids to behave that way. We saw some well-behaved kids watching the unruly ones with big eyes, probably thinking, why can't I get away with that?

 

On the "plus" side, the Empress was nicely decorated and there were several Christmas programs in the theater and sing-alongs in the center stairway. The only way we would do a holiday cruise again would be for longer than two weeks, where chances are that it's mostly adults.

[tamsocal]

My husband and I are interested in booking a Mexico cruise on the Rotterdam from Dec. 22 - Jan 3. One concern we have is the number of kids on board as it is Christmas vacation time. How much of a problem is it?

 

Judith

 

We have 3 kids ourselves-- but never vacation on peak time school /holiday breaks. Too many kids for us. I am barely tolerant of mis behaving children at the park for a brief period of time. We have frequently left the park due to some other mommy telling Johnny "don't do that" "don't do that""if you don't stop we are going home" Johnny keeps doing it and I think to myself if you & Johnny don't leave--> we are leaving as I won't have my kids watch another kid not respect his parents or listen.

you might have a few less kids going since it looks like the cruise you are thinking of is a 13 or14d cruise-- but likely will still have kids-- we are cruising for 2 weeks this fall w/ kids-- was told there are 21 minors on our cruise-- but this doesnt include the 5d portion & the 7 day portion

[GeriatricNurse]

My husband and I are interested in booking a Mexico cruise on the Rotterdam from Dec. 22 - Jan 3. One concern we have is the number of kids on board as it is Christmas vacation time. How much of a problem is it?

 

Judith

 

Big problem, especially during ANY school breaks!!! I would strongly advise booking a cruise any time other than a school break!:)

[terigo]

When my kids were young, and then teenagers.... we only sailed at holiday times so they would have plenty of other kids to hang around with....

 

Now my kids are grown... we only sail when no children are out of school.

[luvs2travl]

You will have many families cruising with their kids at that time of year, especially to Mexico and/or the Caribbean. If kids don't bother you, than go ahead. If you are amongst those that prefer to cruise with less children on board, then you are totally picking the wrong time of year for a cruise.

 

Holidays such as Spring Break/Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas/New Years and of course, June, July and August will always be peak times for families cruising with their kids.

 

We have done one Christmas cruise and said "Never again!" It was NOT on HAL, I want to make that point, but never-the-less, the children absolutely took over the ship and nothing was done to curtail them, either. It probably ranked as our least-favaorite cruise ever.

[dtiger]

I would avoid this time of year. Some of the parents just let their kids run wild and if you're looking for a relaxing cruise this would not be the time.

[Liv4cruzin]

I try to avoid holiday cruises; but this year it couldn't be avoided (since this will be the last year of sailings to Antarctica). So, I find myself on the Christmas/New Years sailing on the Veendam. I'm HOPING that this exotic, extended itinerary won't appeal to many families. Am I only fooling myself???

[fort langley]

Further to other posts, we are also booked on this cruise ( wife / grandson / self )

During our spring break cruise aboard Oosterdam 2010 we found the additional children aboard provided a welcome vibrancy to the cruise and hope it will be replicated over the Christmas holiday period.

There was no apparent misbehaviour from children, who all appeared to be enjoying the cruise experience, as did we and our Grandson aged 11.

[babygirl722]

My husband and I are interested in booking a Mexico cruise on the Rotterdam from Dec. 22 - Jan 3. One concern we have is the number of kids on board as it is Christmas vacation time. How much of a problem is it?

 

Judith

 

I'm quite sure you count can on plenty of kids but with that said, HAL will have much fewer than any other line.

[BBoomer]

My husband and I are interested in booking a Mexico cruise on the Rotterdam from Dec. 22 - Jan 3. One concern we have is the number of kids on board as it is Christmas vacation time. How much of a problem is it?

 

Judith

 

Ditto to the fact that parents are at fault not the kids. The time you are looking at is not a good time. We have been on three x-mas cruises with different cruise lines: HAL, RCL and Princess and the same bad parents seem to be on them since the tween are out of control. Here is a sampling of incidences that we encountered.

 

Putting cookies in your door slot so your card would not fit. Thank good for viedo camaras in the hall so security fixed that problem.

 

Kids turning the TV volume up full blast before they left their cabin. Got security up the second and third night and that problem got fixed.

 

Kids got caught taking do not distrub signs off doors. Thanks again to viedo camera.

 

Kids taking luggage tags off of luggage the night before departure. No solution to this just check your luggage late after you night cap about midnight when kids are asleep or passed out.

 

You just got to think that there are fixes to everything just enjoy your time and if something happens find a soluiton and go back to enjoying your vacation. Security is great just work with them and you might even get future cruise credits without asking for them

[luvs2travl]

I try to avoid holiday cruises; but this year it couldn't be avoided (since this will be the last year of sailings to Antarctica). So, I find myself on the Christmas/New Years sailing on the Veendam. I'm HOPING that this exotic, extended itinerary won't appeal to many families. Am I only fooling myself???

 

 

I would think you are correct in assuming that this itinerary would not hold nearly the appeal for families with small/teenage children as would one to Mexico or the Caribbean. The cost as well would be prohibitive. As you get closer to sailing, HAL can tell you how many children in the various age groups will be on board.

 

This sounds like a fabulous cruise and I know you will have many wonderful memories to share once you return.

 

Smooth Sailing! :)

[luvs2travl]

Ditto to the fact that parents are at fault not the kids. The time you are looking at is not a good time. We have been on three x-mas cruises with different cruise lines: HAL, RCL and Princess and the same bad parents seem to be on them since the tween are out of control. Here is a sampling of incidences that we encountered.

 

Putting cookies in your door slot so your card would not fit. Thank good for viedo camaras in the hall so security fixed that problem.

 

Kids turning the TV volume up full blast before they left their cabin. Got security up the second and third night and that problem got fixed.

 

Kids got caught taking do not distrub signs off doors. Thanks again to viedo camera.

 

Kids taking luggage tags off of luggage the night before departure. No solution to this just check your luggage late after you night cap about midnight when kids are asleep or passed out.

 

You just got to think that there are fixes to everything just enjoy your time and if something happens find a soluiton and go back to enjoying your vacation. Security is great just work with them and you might even get future cruise credits without asking for them

 

Sounds like you were on our Christmas cruise last year on NCL. Calls to security went unanswered for the late-night relay races down the halls & up the stairs. Our cabin was located just off the hall-way from an elevator bank & stairwell. Great location, we thought! NOT!!!

 

We had ordered breakfast room service on two occasions - never delivered. Reason? The room service order tags were taken off our door handle.

 

I could go on, but you get the point. Our entire family agreed that we would never, EVER cruise at Christmas, or on NCL again.

[BBoomer]

Sounds like you were on our Christmas cruise last year on NCL. Calls to security went unanswered for the late-night relay races down the halls & up the stairs. Our cabin was located just off the hall-way from an elevator bank & stairwell. Great location, we thought! NOT!!!

 

We had ordered breakfast room service on two occasions - never delivered. Reason? The room service order tags were taken off our door handle.

 

I could go on, but you get the point. Our entire family agreed that we would never, EVER cruise at Christmas, or on NCL again.

 

It is not a NCL fault. I assume they were doing the best with what they had to deal with. You just gotta stay on top of it. Just go down to the front desk and ask for someone to monitor the cameras. I was very surprised at what the cruise lines gives you when you appear not to asking for something. It a good approach as we have got many future credits using it. Just don't demand something be done, just say you want help and you think it is the kids in cabin xxxx. This works wonders.

[bplazo]

The cruiselines need to start monitoring their ships more and put off the parents and the misbehaving kids (there is a thread on the RCCL boards about a captain that did this). I think that if parents knew they would be kicked off that they would make their children behave better.