Anyone ever cruise with 2-5 yr old children during college spring break time?

[nicole276]

I am a mother of two kids ages 2 and 5. I recently started back to college and DH and I have been thinking about spring break. I am going to school continously with out taking summers off to get finished up, so Spring Break is one of our only chances to get a family vacation in. DH and I have been on 3 cruises together with carnival, but always without our kids. I would love to take them on a Disney Cruise but man, especially during that time, it is crazy expensive. So does anyone have any experience taking their kids duning college spring break on carnival, RCCL, or NCL? Are the ships really full of loud partying college students? I just don't know that's the best time to travel for fear of what my kids mght get exposed to? Thoughts?

[MardiGras316]

I haven't been on any of those cruise lines during Spring Break, but I just booked a Princess cruise for Feb 19th, 2012 for my, my husband and 7 year old daughter for our wedding anniversary. When I booked there were already 65 kids between the ages of 3-12 book on the cruise ship.

 

You might consider a cruiseline that is geared towards an "older" crowd during Spring Break. Less chance of college kids on those cruiselines. If you go towards Carnival or others that have a "fun" type personality you might get more college kids.

 

And "Spring Break" is a varied time frame from February - April depending on the school. So you might luck out with a cruise week that isn't filled with college aged kids.

 

We went on a Carnival Cruise out of Charleston, SC over Memorial Day 2 years ago for 5 days. There were LOTS of partiers. Not our cup of tea.

 

Longer cruises on cruiselines also tend to have less party hardy types on them. Pick some cruises, call the cruise lines and ask how many 18-24 year olds are already booked on that cruise. If it is already 800 on a 2,200 passenger ship you know what the crowd is going to be like.....

Tricia

[cb at sea]

Most ships don't allow those under 21 or, in some cases, 25, to cruise without "real adults"...parents or such...

And, longer cruises will have fewer college aged kids...they simply can't afford the money or time!

We've cruised over "spring break" and have never seen "frat party" stuff going on !

[russianmom]

I was on the Jewel Miami to W.Caribbean last March with my 4 year old- there were a fair amount of "spring breakers" The ones we did encounter were kind and friendly to my son.

 

We are pretty early risers and early to bed so we really didn't have much contact or any issues with them. We were up and out by the pool pretty early and usually ready to go to lunch by the time they staggered out!!:eek:

 

We were also back in our cabin to read or watch tv etc when they started their evening!!

 

It wasn't a bad experience at all- but maybe that was the exception rather than the rule during srping break

[Colorado Kat]

The party/spring break crowd will be nocturnal. Stay up till 4 am, and sleep till noon on sea days. You probably will not cross paths that much with them.

[mommyto2kids]

My friend went on the Carnival Dream during March for her kids March break. She said it was not the college kids, but the teens who were out of control.

 

A bunch of families were actually told to leave the ship. She said never again.

[woostercruise]

We live in a college town so our school spring break is always during college spring break. We've done two cruises during that time.

 

Our first was a 5 day on Royal Caribbean (boys were 4 & 6) and there were a lot of college students. The captain made an announcement the first day that this is a family oriented line and bad behavior would not be tolerated. We were pretty much on opposite schedules and had no problems. The college students also could move through the buffet line pretty quickly, so no long lines! There were very few children and the boys enjoyed the small numbers in Adeventure Ocean.

 

Our 2nd was a 7 day on Carnival. Carnival has a more restrictive age policy, and that combined with the length meant there were very few college students. It was really mostly families and couples.

 

I would not hesitate to book a cruise again over college spring break. If you are worried stick to longer cruises and check the age policy for each cruise line you consider.

[Marksmom]

Last year my husband was also taking classes at the University so we went on a 5 day Carnival cruise out of Tampa during that time. It didn't really occur to me at first that it was "college spring break". DS was not quite 1 at the time so I wasn't worried about him seeing something he shouldn't.

 

We spent most of our time at the water works area on the back of the ship, there was always more chairs back there and we weren't getting in the pool. I did end up seeing a few groups that I assumed were on spring break, they seemed to be drinking a lot but were not loud or obnoxious. We never encountered anything on our cruise that would have worried me for an older child to see. I wouldn't hesitate to go with my family during that time again.

[QLUVS2CRUZ]

First of all, let me just bust the myth that Carnival is a "party" line...the kids club is awesome, and it caters to a lot of families. So does NCL and RCCL. You will find a lot of similarities on these lines. If you go an a 3 night cruise, you will encounter the party people on any line, because these cruises are a little cheaper...if you are looking at a 6 or 7 night cruise, you will find a good mix of people.

 

I haven't been during spring break, but last year we went the week between Christmas and New Year, which is also a popular vacation time. No one was running the decks naked, and things were pretty tame. There are many things to do on the ships, and you can avoid pretty much any activity you want to.

 

I actually wanted to spend more time with my kids on the cruise, but THEY wanted to go to Camp Carnival for all the activities. I did insist they eat dinner with us.

 

Overall during peak holiday times (including spring break) ships will be really full...for instance, in October a cabin that can hold 4 people may just have 2 in it, but during high travel time, a family will have 4 in the cabin...so the ship may sail "full" during both peak and off peak, but the cabins tend to have more people in them during peak times. So my personal opinion is that you will find a bigger crowd but it will be a good mix of people, not just a bunch of partying college kids. Not sure where you want to sail from, but if you choose a smaller ship (lots of people love the Carnival spirit class), there will be less people to deal with.

 

HTH...I'd rather be on a spring break cruise than no cruise at all!!!

[Liltx31]

We cruise each year during spring break because I am a teacher. Every other year we take the kids along. I would say to pick a seven day cruise. I would think the shorter ones would have more partying.

We have never had a problem with the college kids or saw any bad behavior. I would agree that it is the teens and preteens that can be more of a problem although they have never bothered us either.

DH and I stay up late and go to the disco each night and we feel that it is very mild. The kiddos love the kids club and are happy to stay.