Cruising During Spring Break??

[jetboy]

Hello everyone I am really looking for all your advise in this area. We are a couple from the UK who are trying to book a Carribbean cruise with RCCL over the weekend of March 19th 2011. We are having a very hard trying to find out what spring break means? Is it just the older kids who will be off or is this a big holiday in the US for all children. We don't really want a cruise if its going to be full of children as we are escaping our this time!!!

 

Also there seems to be no availability for the Voyager and the Freedom that weekend it almost looks like they are on private charter,would anyone know?? have tried calling RCCL and they have just said the cruises are fully booked which I find hard to believe.I this is the case we are only left with the Liberty/Oasis/Allure.

 

Thank you for any advise anyone can give us as we are also trying to book flights which seem to be so expensive for that time of year and its not even Easter!!!

[loudbmw]

Many U.S. schools (High School and below) take their spring break around Easter. For 2011 that's the week before or after April 24. Colleges tend to take their spring break in March and the exact week varies by college. In either case, ships tend to be fuller and prices higher. In 2010 there were some great last minute deals as some ships didn't fill completely up. That's great for the locals but bad for those that need to book expensive last minute airfare.

[phoenix1181]

Spring Break generally refers to university students, not the younger children. The young ones are generally off mid April while spring break covers March & April.

 

Having done both, we prefer to cruise when the younger ones are off. The older group haven't learned how to manage their alcohol consumption & frequently drink to excess. There's no place to get away from them! At least the younger group spend time in Adventure Ocean & can't go to the casino...............

[PH]

We are teachers and have taken several Spring Break cruises in April. Have seen as many as 800 children on the larger boats. March is much better. PH

[CP3o]

Spring Break generally refers to university students, not the younger children. The young ones are generally off mid April while spring break covers March & April.

 

Having done both, we prefer to cruise when the younger ones are off. The older group haven't learned how to manage their alcohol consumption & frequently drink to excess. There's no place to get away from them! At least the younger group spend time in Adventure Ocean & can't go to the casino...............

 

When Easter is late, public school systems often can't tie their schedule to be off around Easter, settle for giving Good Friday off. You'll find a lot of college kids AND k-12 kids off in March. I think FL and TX schools have spring break March 14-18. I'd imagine many schools that start before Labor day are off around this time as well. You don't want the college kids in the H20 zone with the elementary kids but hopefully with opposite sleep schedules they won't run into each other too much.

[galavant3]

Our Spring Break (Texas) for 2011 is the week of March 14.

[jmraggs]

Hello everyone I am really looking for all your advise in this area. We are a couple from the UK who are trying to book a Carribbean cruise with RCCL over the weekend of March 19th 2011. We are having a very hard trying to find out what spring break means? Is it just the older kids who will be off or is this a big holiday in the US for all children. We don't really want a cruise if its going to be full of children as we are escaping our this time!!!

 

Also there seems to be no availability for the Voyager and the Freedom that weekend it almost looks like they are on private charter,would anyone know?? have tried calling RCCL and they have just said the cruises are fully booked which I find hard to believe.I this is the case we are only left with the Liberty/Oasis/Allure.

 

Thank you for any advise anyone can give us as we are also trying to book flights which seem to be so expensive for that time of year and its not even Easter!!!

 

Since we have personal experience of doing a B2B on IOS last March (6-19), it's not as bad and horrific as I expected.:D We sail during the times when most kids are in school which we enjoy and I had a little anxiety when we booked our 2010 March cruises and found out that it was in the middle of College spring break.:eek:

 

Yes, there was an obvious higher percentage of College students and younger children, but it actually didn't bother me as much as I thought it would as they were all well behaved and friendly to chat with, so I guess it was just the fear of the unknown on THIS cruise since it was an 8 night and a 6 night cruise. The shorter the cruise, the more partiers you'll probably have.

 

Grandeur was docked next to us in several ports and it was either a 4 or 5 night cruise and full of partying kids falling over drunk on the pier trying to get back to the ship. I was soooooo glad we weren't on that ship!

 

I think that Liberty, Oasis or Allure would be excellent choices for you in March and I think you'll have a great time!.

[ARCruisinNana]

Voyager has been chartered for March 20,2011. We were booked on the cruise, but now have to make other plans. I understand Freedom will be in dry dock during that time. This past March we are on Voyager during spring break. There were 500+ kids on board, but it was never a problem. The week before was Texas spring break and there were 1300+ kids.

[loveyalions]

I believe Freedom will be in dry dock that week.

[CP3o]

Since we have personal experience of doing a B2B on IOS last March (6-19), it's not as bad and horrific as I expected.:D We sail during the times when most kids are in school which we enjoy and I had a little anxiety when we booked our 2010 March cruises and found out that it was in the middle of College spring break.:eek:

 

Yes, there was an obvious higher percentage of College students and younger children, but it actually didn't bother me as much as I thought it would as they were all well behaved and friendly to chat with, so I guess it was just the fear of the unknown on THIS cruise since it was an 8 night and a 6 night cruise. The shorter the cruise, the more partiers you'll probably have.

 

Grandeur was docked next to us in several ports and it was either a 4 or 5 night cruise and full of partying kids falling over drunk on the pier trying to get back to the ship. I was soooooo glad we weren't on that ship!

 

I think that Liberty, Oasis or Allure would be excellent choices for you in March and I think you'll have a great time!.

 

Your timing and ship selection were good. Easter was earlier so many K-12 tied to that and had spring break the week after you got off. And while it was college spring break, they usually can't affort the 7 night sailings on a newer ship.

 

Your Grandeur reference is a good tip to those sailing with children during college spring break to avoid older ships sailing less than 7 days.

[Marie51]

Spring break is at different times depending on what part of the country you live in. Where I live it is always the first full week of April. I have been on several Caribbean cruises in both March and April that have been full of kids. If you want to avoid this, it would be better to cruise in Feb.

[flbeachmom]

In Florida we - university, and k- 12 grades- have spring break at different times. This year our schools in duval county ( north Florida) have spring break starting on March 25 for the week. We also get a long weekend for the Easter holiday. Our family cruises every spring break and Thanksgiving and this is a busy kid time aboard the ships!!

So if you want to cruise in March, the best week would be at the beginning of March.

[jetboy]

Thank you so much to everyone who has given us advise. We are going to look at pricing and either go for the Liberty or Oasis hope to see some of you on board!!!

[Ashland]

We usually always sail in March to the Eastern Caribbean (DH,myself and our four adult age DS DIL DS DD 25-30) ..spring break has no impact on us what so ever..We prefer the Freedom class ship ..this Mar 19th will be the Liberty out of MIA the 8 nights offered can't be beat for the price/ports..not to mention this will be the last 8 nighter out of MIA or FLL until who knows when (only RCI :rolleyes:)We booked this months ago..but still seems to be some availability..but I wouldn't wait, prices will probably only go up as we have seen in the past.. Prices for a 7 night Oasis compared to 8 night Liberty=Crazy...Will wait for Oasis to come down and/or add the extra 8th night,Good luck and enjoy !!!

[Toddcan]

One thing I've noticed over the years following these board discussions is that spring break means different things and is at different times depending on your location in North America.

 

Here, in Canada, all the public schools (k-12) have a "march break" that is usually the 2nd, or 3rd week of March. It does NOT co-incide with university breaks which are in February (Reading Week).

 

In the States, many schools have a week off in April sometime.

 

So... expect a higher number of families cruising anywhere from the 2nd week of March to mid-April. Then, obviosuly, when school ends in June, the families start cruising again.

[Hugh2011]

Our Spring Break (Texas) for 2011 is the week of March 14.

 

I'm wondering if it will be SB for many kids and/or teens around april 16-23 next year... How do you cruisers think it will look on the Oasis at that time of year ?

[marci22]

I'm wondering if it will be SB for many kids and/or teens around april 16-23 next year... How do you cruisers think it will look on the Oasis at that time of year ?

 

My prediction: all the elevator buttons will be constantly lit.

 

Lot. of. kids.

[Hugh2011]

My prediction: all the elevator buttons will be constantly lit.

 

Lot. of. kids.

 

Bummer... Reading this thread, I thought we might have gotten away with a relaxing first experience cruise. It seemed like most kids were on sb in march or early april. So you are saying that the largest bunch of kids/teens are on sb in mid april ?

 

I did notice that for the Oasis cruise just before ours and the one following ours were less expensive. For the same cabin (D7), prices are lower right before and after ours.

 

There must be a meaning to this....

 

Hope we don't come back traumatized enough that we won't want to cruise ever again. :eek: