What are your experiences cruising during the spring break period (march & april)

[mszpolaris]

Cruising in April on a 10 day with RCCL and would like to know what your positives and negatives with cruising during spring break time as opposed to other times throughout the year

 

Especially would love to hear from really avid cruisers :)

 

p.s. I've been on one during spring break season although I dont quite remember :-/

[cruisekap]

I have cruised twice during our Spring Break.(mid march). Both cruises were on RCCL Liberty of the Seas. Both were great. There were lots of kids but they tend to disappear into the kid zones..... We have children, teenagers, and they love cruising. I have also cruised other months. I really don't notice a difference between spring break and other times. RCCL ships always have lots of families, especially the larger ships.;)

[cb at sea]

That's our "prime" cruise time...and we've never had problems with kids, if that's what's concerning you. Aside from the main pool area on sea days, we rarely noticed any kids....they do tend to keep busy in their own areas.

The ships are designed for a "full load", so actually, smaller kids take up less space than a shipful of adults!

As long as they aren't YOUR kids, and you don't have to take care of them or deal with them, they can go unnoticed!

[Canusa02]

My wife is a teacher, so we can only go during spring break (the beginning of March here). The only concern we have is what the weather will be like when we try to fly out of our local airport. Since there are very few options to get down to the sunny south if there are snow cancellations, it would be a bummer to have to forego vacation to shovel that blasted stuff.

The cruises have been awesome.

[suezyq50]

I don't think it wil see many kids, maybe only dinner time. We haven't had much of a problem.

[jeph]

To the original poster: If it's hordes of rowdy binge-drinking college kids you're concerned about, I wouldn't worry...Neither their attention spans nor their budgets would encompass a 10-nighter, no matter the time of year. A 3 or 4-night cruise to the Bahamas, that would be a different story.;)

[cruisekap]

I agree. Shorter cruises have a younger "kidless" crowd. I have been on 4 and have always found a quiet spot. It is not rowdy at all. I guess I am not dancing all night with the 20 somethings at the disco:D

[jewopaho]

To the original poster: If it's hordes of rowdy binge-drinking college kids you're concerned about, I wouldn't worry...Neither their attention spans nor their budgets would encompass a 10-nighter, no matter the time of year. A 3 or 4-night cruise to the Bahamas, that would be a different story.;)

Our one negative experience was 7 nights out of LA. About 40-50 of America's future leaders virtually commandeered the adults-only pool and spa. Security was useless, even though it was obvious that most were under 21. It appeared as if they were looking to enter the Guiness Book of World Records for bottles of beer consumed. They were well-buzzed by 10:00 a.m. and downright hammered before noon. Conversely, we took a 10-night cruise around the same time the following year; all was fine. What kids there were behaved well, largely because they were with their parents. The addage holds true, as far as I can see ... the longer the cruise, the fewer the kids. You should be fine. Enjoy!

[Langley Cruisers]

...I wouldn't worry...Neither their attention spans nor their budgets would encompass a 10-nighter, no matter the time of year. A 3 or 4-night cruise to the Bahamas, that would be a different story.;)

 

Absolutely agreed here. At 10 nights, the sheer length of the cruise would count most college and university students out, if that is your concern. There will be children on every cruise, but the longer cruises tend to attract an older clientele, IMO and in my experience.

[silentbob007]

I took a 10-night cruise on RCCL last spring break because it fit with my break and days off. There was definitely zero "spring break" feel to that cruise. The 5-7 nighters I've taken in the past, on the other hand ..... ;)

[lakeguy]

I agree the length of your cruise should save you. The shorter cruises are also great if you dont mind rude and vulgar language especially around the pool area, a little nudity here and there. Be sure to finish your wine at dinner someone broke in after hours and stole the rest. Tie your lounge chair down around the pool some were tossed overboard. Hopefully your stateroom isnt next door to one of the ones that are trashed during a drunkin rage. Thankfully we were able to leave 6 or 8 behind at each port due to drug problems and those darn police.

Our capitan brought on extra security at the first port but still couldnt control the situation.

Traveling with 2 of our grandchildren was very educational. ONCE WAS PLENTY, THANKS.

[near the beach]

We are going on our third Spring Break cruise in March. We have found that there were not anymore children on these cruises than any other cruise we have been on. On every cruise we have been on there have been passengers that have had more to drink than they should have. One monkey doesn’t make a circus. Have a great cruise. ;)

[Mr. Bungle]

To the original poster: If it's hordes of rowdy binge-drinking college kids you're concerned about, I wouldn't worry...Neither their attention spans nor their budgets would encompass a 10-nighter, no matter the time of year. A 3 or 4-night cruise to the Bahamas, that would be a different story.;)

 

I will agree with that... The 10-nighter may not be in their budget but a 4-nighter from Ft.Laud sure is. We did a 4N to the Bahamas in early March.2010 and were surrounded by drunken-coed-binge-drinkers. DO NOT BOOK DECK 8 IF GOING ON MAJESTY IN MARCH!!! There is a lounge at the end of the deck that spill everyone out past your room at 1:30am after 3 hours of drinking. Nothing says 'grumpy' like being woken up when a few hundred go stumbling by your room and think it's fun to knock on doors. I am sure if we were on a different deck or in a better location, it wouldn't have been that bad, but being woken 2 nights out of 4 did not make for a good time.

 

It was fun to watch them lick their wounds the next morning at breakfast. I may have 'accidentally' dropped a few handfuls of silverware... Oops.

[jewopaho]

One monkey doesn’t make a circus.

But 40-50 ... closer to feeding time at the zoo than Ringling Bros. Passengers complained, but security didn't do a thing ... seemed intimidated by the sheer numbers of wasted teens. A ten-day cruise should all but eliminate the possibility of such a situation.

[near the beach]

I would not think that there would be any wasted teens on board. Unless they drink with their parents. From our experience security has always handled the rowdy passengers by making them leave the area, taking them away or just telling them to keep it down.

[jewopaho]

I would not think that there would be any wasted teens on board. Unless they drink with their parents. From our experience security has always handled the rowdy passengers by making them leave the area, taking them away or just telling them to keep it down.

Well, there were ... and Princess security did absolutely nothing! We know what we saw. I used "teens" with reference to those under legal drinking age. These were college kids ... 40 to 50 of them. No doubt that all but a couple were not 21 (unless we're talking about Faber College). We were in the area for about a half hour, hoping against hope that we'd get our adults-only pool and spa back. Not one individual was "carded," but those buckets of Bud kept coming. Sure ... the one or two legal drinkers were buying it for the rest of the crowd. There is no question that the security people were content leaving well enough alone, lest there be some sort of insurrection ... a few rent-a-cops telling a bunch of hammered kids to leave wouldn't be pretty. Ultimately, we just gave up and moved on. But the point here is that a longer cruise would tremendously lessen the odds of such an incident occurring.

[MagnoliaFly]

We did our first cruise last year around spring break time because it was the cheapest week in the spring (not sure why). I was worried about early spring breakers but for a 7 day we only saw one group of adults with middle school kids the day of embarkation and that was it. No problems the entire cruise. The "adults only" area was really nice and we usually found a lounger to sit in if we wanted to.

 

I know it can get crazier in April but mid-March was nice and affordable. You can almost tell the weeks they expect a lot of spring breakers as the prices go way up.

[jewopaho]

We did our first cruise last year around spring break time because it was the cheapest week in the spring (not sure why). I was worried about early spring breakers but for a 7 day we only saw one group of adults with middle school kids the day of embarkation and that was it. No problems the entire cruise. The "adults only" area was really nice and we usually found a lounger to sit in if we wanted to. I know it can get crazier in April but mid-March was nice and affordable. You can almost tell the weeks they expect a lot of spring breakers as the prices go way up.

No doubt you were either before or past the major spring break period. As you note, the price would have been sky-high otherwise. I'm glad you enjoyed the cruise ... we've had similar experiences, as well. Go Bucs! Go Rays! Go Lightning!

 

Al

[Debbers]

My mother and I were booked on a February cruise last year, but were snowed in. Changing it to March was a BIG mistake! The 4-nighter to the Bahamas was about 1/3 to 1/2 college students. Fortunately they were not on our deck and didn't like the lounge we liked, but they also kept us away from the pool. As for behaviour, they were surprisingly polite to us--I imagine we reminded them of their mother and grandmother--even when we asked them to watch their language!

[Lady Chew]

Our first cruise was a 5-night on Enchantment of the Seas in early March. Filled with drunken college-age kids, doubtful if they were all 21. But it didn't effect us at all, other than entertainment!!

[near the beach]

We can’t speak about the security or lack of security on the Princess. I have been writing about Carnival ships and have not had any problem. We are doing a three day and a four day for a back to back this Spring Break. I’ll be able to report back with what did or didn’t happen. As always I am expecting a fun cruises. :cool:

The price for this four day is much less than the price for the four day cruise we are taking in July. Maybe Spring Break cruises are less expensive so the college students won’t have to spend too much of their parents money. :eek:

[G'ma]

Avid cruise here....for 35 years!!!

 

I avoid spring break at all costs. Don't like the "barf and puke" crowd at all in an enclosed environment......

 

I also avoid all holidays and the entire summer and anytime school is not in session.

 

But, that's just me.....:D

[Karysa]

Avid cruise here....for 35 years!!!

 

I avoid spring break at all costs. Don't like the "barf and puke" crowd at all in an enclosed environment......

 

I also avoid all holidays and the entire summer and anytime school is not in session.

 

But' date=' that's just me.....:D[/quote']

 

Thanks for the warning...um, I mean advice!!:D

[Anjanu]

This will be my second time cruising during college spring break and will be sailing on the same ship as last time! There were quite a few college kids on the ship and I still had a ball! They did not affect my vacation one bit.

Oh maybe except the one girl who puked right outside my cabin door about 3 in the morning. But, it was all cleaned up in the morning when I left the cabin for breakfast.

Other than that incident, they were not unruly or disrespectful that I noticed.

I'm looking forward to my cruise in 3 weeks!