Mexican Riviera - Spring Break - March 2011

[earnied]

What affect does spring break have on March Mexican Riviera cruises out of Long Beach ? There are two Mexican Riviera cruises scheduled on Sapphire Princess in March 2011. Would these cruises be likely to get a large number of spring breakers or not ?

 

earnied

[cherylandtk]

Yes. Especially given the low pricing. Keep in mind 'Spring Breakers' also means families with school age kids as well as college age kids. Nowadays, with the age limits, it is probably more families than college students.

[Neonsport]

we took the same cruise last year... the only place that i noticed a difference with "spring breakers" was in the hot tubs. Everywhere else was same as always.

[junglejane]

I have gone on MR cruises for Spring Break in 2007, 2008 and 2010. I agree with Cherylandtk and Neonsport (we're all on the same Roll Call for the Sapphire Princess). I have not seen any significant problems. If by Spring Breakers you mean drunken college students, I haven't noticed that at all. If you mean families with kids, there are lots of us on these cruises.

[Crzn-Life]

I have gone on MR cruises for Spring Break in 2007, 2008 and 2010. I agree with Cherylandtk and Neonsport (we're all on the same Roll Call for the Sapphire Princess). I have not seen any significant problems. If by Spring Breakers you mean drunken college students, I haven't noticed that at all. If you mean families with kids, there are lots of us on these cruises.

 

We were on a MX Riviera cruise over spring break 2 yrs ago and there were 900 kids onboard. It most definitely made a difference. Most of these were pre-teens & young teens and what seemed to be missing was parental oversight. There were foodfights on the stairs so one had to be extremely cautious to avoid slipping in the jello. Walking down a passageway was a challenge because of the racing kids; they seemed to like screaming the most at night as they ran through the passage ways. One of their favorite tricks besides pushing all of the buttons on the elevator was to take the "mail" from the slots outside the door and put it elsewhere.

 

One large group in AD put the adults at one table and the kids at another. We ended up asking to be moved after being hit with food being thrown by one of the lovely youngsters.

 

Pools??? Fuhgeddabout it. Splashing, jumping, yelling, running, fighting... no place to relax.

 

There were very few college kids or older teens. Drunken college kids would have been a relief compared to some of these kids. Suffice it to say, we no longer cruise during spring break on a shorter cruise that is liable to have large numbers of kids.

[iancal]

We took a Mexican Riviera cruise last spring break. We picked a Carnival cruise, our first, becuase it was 8 or 9 days and it started mid week. We did not see any impact from spring break...probably because it started and ended mid week. It turned out to be a great cruise and it positively changed our previously uninformed opinion of Carnival.

[junglejane]

We were on a MX Riviera cruise over spring break 2 yrs ago and there were 900 kids onboard. It most definitely made a difference. Most of these were pre-teens & young teens and what seemed to be missing was parental oversight. There were foodfights on the stairs so one had to be extremely cautious to avoid slipping in the jello. Walking down a passageway was a challenge because of the racing kids; they seemed to like screaming the most at night as they ran through the passage ways. One of their favorite tricks besides pushing all of the buttons on the elevator was to take the "mail" from the slots outside the door and put it elsewhere.

 

One large group in AD put the adults at one table and the kids at another. We ended up asking to be moved after being hit with food being thrown by one of the lovely youngsters.

 

Pools??? Fuhgeddabout it. Splashing, jumping, yelling, running, fighting... no place to relax.

 

There were very few college kids or older teens. Drunken college kids would have been a relief compared to some of these kids. Suffice it to say, we no longer cruise during spring break on a shorter cruise that is liable to have large numbers of kids.

 

Wow, that sounds like a total nightmare.:eek: Was that a 7 day cruise or a shorter one? Was it on Princess? Fortunately for me, I've never seen anything like that. I have seen the occasional elevator button-pushing, but never a food fight or screaming down the halls. The pools always seem crowded to me no matter when I cruise. But I can see how your experience would've made you swear off Spring Break cruises.

[Crzn-Life]

Wow, that sounds like a total nightmare.:eek: Was that a 7 day cruise or a shorter one? Was it on Princess? Fortunately for me, I've never seen anything like that. I have seen the occasional elevator button-pushing, but never a food fight or screaming down the halls. The pools always seem crowded to me no matter when I cruise. But I can see how your experience would've made you swear off Spring Break cruises.

 

It was Princess and a 7 day cruise. We still cruise on Princess...just not during Spring Break on a 7 day cruise. We typically don't sail 7 day cruises but this one aligned perfectly with another cruise so we booked it. Now we know to never do that again. It was a real "learning" experience.

[Colo Cruiser]

What affect does spring break have on March Mexican Riviera cruises out of Long Beach ? There are two Mexican Riviera cruises scheduled on Sapphire Princess in March 2011. Would these cruises be likely to get a large number of spring breakers or not ?

 

earnied

 

 

Just so you know Princess does not sail out of Long Beach.

[twocats]

Sorry to intervene on your posts but I am trying to contact Crzn-Life.

Remember me from Sea Princess MR roll call? (You sent me an envelope) I need you to email me please bbcb0 at yahoo.com. Thanks, Carole

[Working 2 Cruise]

Carnival sails out of Long Beach not Princess

. Good luck if you want to avoid kids on both lines...

[cdngrl]

i cruised the mexican riviera this past march on the sapphire and didn't notice any difference. it was early to mid-march. maybe that wasn't spring break this year or did i just get lucky?

[CruisinKLB]

Honestly, it's hard to say because "spring break" can now run anywhere from mid March to the end of April. My daughter goes to a public high school in our area and her spring break is aways the week after Easter. It is usually the week before Easter or the week after Easter. Meaning that this year for us spring break starts on 4/24. In fact, we will be on the Sapphire Mexico Cruise that leaves LA on 4/23/10. Thay way she is out of school.

[kath00]

i cruised the mexican riviera this past march on the sapphire and didn't notice any difference. it was early to mid-march. maybe that wasn't spring break this year or did i just get lucky?

 

We had 900 kids on our last sailing in March 2010 and had absolutely no problems. Yes, there were younger folks on the cruise than say, Jan or Feb, but heck, we are young at heart! There were no misbehaved children that we saw or a "drunken crowd". Security was quite visible and I think they really helped make sure that kids were not running wild unsupervised.

 

I am ready to go again! We were supposed to go actually on the Mariner of the Seas but sadly they pulled the ship from LA so we are now going at Thanksgiving instead.

 

I would not hesitate for a moment to book a Spring Break cruise on Princess. I would however totally avoid Carnival based on what my friends have reported!

 

If you totally want to avoid kids, sail in January or February on HAL.

 

Katherine

[jff50]

Note that not all schools have spring break during the same week. We were on the Sapphire Princess cruise sailing just this past March 20th. It was spring break time for my daughter as well as most/all California and Oregon schools, but a lot of other schools had different timing. I seem to recall that there were about 200 kids between 3 and 18. Nowhere near the 900 reported on other posts. We did notice that a lot of parents didn't feel the need to supervise (or even observe) their kids in the 8-12 YO range. Did have to remind kids a few times that there are others in the swimming pools and they need to be more careful with their playing/jumping--but reasonably minor issues. Only other issue we had was with a family (mother, several kids and grandparents) in the dining room one night. One of the kids fussed loudly through most of dinner. The mother should have removed the kid from the dining room (but didn't). That is an issue that can occur on any cruise--not just during school holidays.

[BerryOz]

We were on a MX Riviera cruise over spring break 2 yrs ago and there were 900 kids onboard. It most definitely made a difference. Most of these were pre-teens & young teens and what seemed to be missing was parental oversight. There were foodfights on the stairs so one had to be extremely cautious to avoid slipping in the jello. Walking down a passageway was a challenge because of the racing kids; they seemed to like screaming the most at night as they ran through the passage ways. One of their favorite tricks besides pushing all of the buttons on the elevator was to take the "mail" from the slots outside the door and put it elsewhere.

 

One large group in AD put the adults at one table and the kids at another. We ended up asking to be moved after being hit with food being thrown by one of the lovely youngsters.

 

Pools??? Fuhgeddabout it. Splashing, jumping, yelling, running, fighting... no place to relax.

 

There were very few college kids or older teens. Drunken college kids would have been a relief compared to some of these kids. Suffice it to say, we no longer cruise during spring break on a shorter cruise that is liable to have large numbers of kids.

 

 

OMG. We're on this cruise and are hoping for a peaceful get away. We've been on Carnival and experienced young, over drinking crowds, but never on Princess. Hope this isn't our first/last spring break cruise.

[califgary]

We always take Spring break into account when planning cruises - we make it a point to NEVER take a cruise during this time. Too much craziness, crowds, noise, etc.

[kath00]

Just remember because there are all just 1 person's perspective. We cruise Spring break every year and have NOT seen the wild and crazy crowds. The best time to go to MX is late March, early April. That's Spring break here in CA. So we go during this time and have great weather and a fantastic cruise. As a matter of fact, last March it was quieter on the ship than in November, right before Thanksgiving!

 

So just keep these comments in perspective. What one person experiences may not be what you see/feel/experience... That said, if you want no kids at all, go during off months, when the kids are definitely in school. Then you'll have a super QUIET cruise (the one time we did this we thought the ship actually felt kinda "dead" and no one was about after 10pm. We liked it waaay less than the more lively crowds during Spring and Summer).

 

Katherine