Should we be worried? Spring Break!

[CactusGirly]

Ugh... just learned that our anniversary cruise (April 1-8) falls on East coast spring break time, and the ship will likely be full of teenagers. :eek:

 

Has anyone sailed that week before? Know if we should be looking into the possibility of changing weeks? We wanted a low-key, relaxing cruise. We have a great suite though, and are worried about losing that by switching weeks too.

[dkjretired]

Ugh... just learned that our anniversary cruise (April 1-8) falls on East coast spring break time, and the ship will likely be full of teenagers. :eek:

 

Has anyone sailed that week before? Know if we should be looking into the possibility of changing weeks? We wanted a low-key, relaxing cruise. We have a great suite though, and are worried about losing that by switching weeks too.

 

The week before Easter you will kids of all ages and the ship will likely be full as many families are off from school...

[alidor]

If you are concerned about families and kids, postpone it towards the end of April. It's not just the east coast that has spring break, you know. The ENTIRE country has weeks off around that time and it starts around early March and goes to mid-April for the most part. Anytime during that period you are more than likely going to have more kids on board.

[bigbenboys]

Ugh... just learned that our anniversary cruise (April 1-8) falls on East coast spring break time, and the ship will likely be full of teenagers. :eek:

 

Has anyone sailed that week before? Know if we should be looking into the possibility of changing weeks? We wanted a low-key, relaxing cruise. We have a great suite though, and are worried about losing that by switching weeks too.

 

Yes there will be children if your doing a 7 day cruise. The longer the cruise the less children. Celebrity tends to have less children over all. Also are you taking a Caribbean cruise. Richard

[PH]

We did a Celebrity at Spring Break and there were 800 children on board under 13. It was terrible. The hot tubs were used as kiddy pools and were yellow with pee. They mashed all the elevator buttons, hung out on the stair wells and made the cruise miserable. Never again will i cruise in April. PH

[mcrcruiser]

Wwe are taking the 15 night Hawaii R/T SD cruise on Century ,April 20,2012 & we don't expect many children on our cruise;).

[bighairtexan]

I've cruised the Eclipse last year during spring break. It wasn't a problem at all. I'd never cruise the more family friendly lines (Disney, Royal Caribbean, NCL or Carnival) during any school holiday. OK I mostly wouldn't cruise them any time any more. Because now my kids are around 30 which makes me old and crotchety.

[lmp22]

I've cruised the Eclipse last year during spring break. It wasn't a problem at all. I'd never cruise the more family friendly lines (Disney, Royal Caribbean, NCL or Carnival) during any school holiday. OK I mostly wouldn't cruise them any time any more. Because now my kids are around 30 which makes me old and crotchety.

 

That's hysterical! I'm totally with you. Nothing against children, but I wouldn't want to be with 800 of them on a ship! :D

[LOP]

Kick back in your suite and drink more...not only will you be relaxed, chances are you will be asleep.:D

[RQINFL]

I've cruised the Eclipse last year during spring break. It wasn't a problem at all. I'd never cruise the more family friendly lines (Disney, Royal Caribbean, NCL or Carnival) during any school holiday. OK I mostly wouldn't cruise them any time any more. Because now my kids are around 30 which makes me old and crotchety.

 

Exactly ~ agree :)

[Redtravel]

I have kids and have cruised with them on school breaks many times. It's fine when you have your own kids on board. When my kids grew up, I still enjoyed cruising in April. To avoid the kids, we chose to sail on Azamara. It doesn't have many kids. Since it doesn't have kid's programs and is more expensive, fewer people bring kids on it. Of course, you will be packed with kids on the planes going to and from the cruise.

[CactusGirly]

How easy will it be to postpone our cruise later in the month and still keep our suite at this point?

 

We are taking a Disney cruise in May with our 3 kids, so we cant push this one too far out. On the Disney cruise we expect to deal with lots of children. This was meant to be the adults cruise. I knew there would be some kids aboard, but wasn't expecting to do back to back full-on kiddie cruises. ;)

[CactusGirly]

I've cruised the Eclipse last year during spring break. It wasn't a problem at all. I'd never cruise the more family friendly lines (Disney, Royal Caribbean, NCL or Carnival) during any school holiday. OK I mostly wouldn't cruise them any time any more. Because now my kids are around 30 which makes me old and crotchety.

 

Where did you sail and how long was the trip? Thanks!

[dkjretired]

I've cruised the Eclipse last year during spring break. It wasn't a problem at all. I'd never cruise the more family friendly lines (Disney, Royal Caribbean, NCL or Carnival) during any school holiday. OK I mostly wouldn't cruise them any time any more. Because now my kids are around 30 which makes me old and crotchety.

 

This cruise is scheduled for the week before Easter, spring break covers about a two month period. A cruise the week before Easter is going to be loaded with kids.

[dkjretired]

How easy will it be to postpone our cruise later in the month and still keep our suite at this point?

 

We are taking a Disney cruise in May with our 3 kids, so we cant push this one too far out. On the Disney cruise we expect to deal with lots of children. This was meant to be the adults cruise. I knew there would be some kids aboard, but wasn't expecting to do back to back full-on kiddie cruises. ;)

 

I would seriously look at switching the two cruises, I realize that it is a Disney cruise but in May most kids are still in school. Just seems that you have the two cruises mixed up for what you want...

[phoenix_dream]

We did a Celebrity at Spring Break and there were 800 children on board under 13. It was terrible. The hot tubs were used as kiddy pools and were yellow with pee. They mashed all the elevator buttons, hung out on the stair wells and made the cruise miserable. Never again will i cruise in April. PH

I'd like to hear from others - is this common??? We sailed with my son (now 25) on many cruises at Spring Break on Celebrity. There were never alot of kids and we never, ever, ever had these kinds of problems. Granted, the ships were smaller but I would expect kids to adults ratios to be proportionate regardless. There were kids, yes, but not to the extent that they disturbed the cruise in any way and the hot tubs were certainly never as described above. Was this a feak instance or have others experienced this lately as well?

[alidor]

At that time of year, if you wanted a more adult vacation, you probably would have been better off staying away from the mass market lines. Azamara (part of RCCL), Seabourn, Oceania, etc., etc. don't really cater to kids and even in April you would have probably none or very few onboard.

[Shake]

Avoid cruising during Spring Break from March 3 thru April 18, with March being College Kids and early April being Grade School and High School Kids. :cool:

[lyndenfa]

We usually sail with Oceania (wonderful in every way) but have chosen the Celebrity SanDiego RT in April because we will be with our grandsons, 13 and 16. Disney, we have taken them three times, it is just a bit too "young" for them now.

Our grandsons are well behaved and sports oriented. I have been worrying about there being other teens on board but would hope for more responsible parents/grandparents to keep track of what the kids do.

 

The OP above makes it sound like a nightmare. HELP! Please say it aint so.

Lynne

[dkjretired]

I'd like to hear from others - is this common??? We sailed with my son (now 25) on many cruises at Spring Break on Celebrity. There were never alot of kids and we never, ever, ever had these kinds of problems. Granted, the ships were smaller but I would expect kids to adults ratios to be proportionate regardless. There were kids, yes, but not to the extent that they disturbed the cruise in any way and the hot tubs were certainly never as described above. Was this a feak instance or have others experienced this lately as well?

 

When my kids were growing up we did Easter cruises and 4th of July cruises...I would not say there were 800 kids on board but there were a lot of kids during those time periods.

[SusieV]

Maybe choose a 10 night trip, or go a little earlier? We tend to sail in February or early March, 10 nights or longer, and have never had trouble with too many children onboard.

 

We love kids- I'm an ECE and we have one of our own, but I prefer not to vacation with everyone else's! We even scheduled our RCCL Allure trip for the first week back to school in the hopes that we'd have fewer children onboard (obviously impossible to limit that too much but we did the best we could).

[CactusGirly]

We called Celebrity, and due to work schedules, etc., our only other option is a March 4 cruise... it sounds like we should move it. I know there are a few Universities that do spring break that week, but am thinking we will have less of a chance of a ship overrun with kids. Does that seem reasonable, or are there still a lot of primary school spring breaks that week? On the West coast and South West (where we are from) Spring Breaks are later.

[CactusGirly]

I would seriously look at switching the two cruises, I realize that it is a Disney cruise but in May most kids are still in school. Just seems that you have the two cruises mixed up for what you want...

 

Hi Don - I wish we could. Due to school schedules, and work schedules we can't though. The Disney cruise is right after our kids get out of school for the year, and was booked a year in advance in order to get a family of 5 on their new ship. The Celebrity cruise is having to be worked around my husband's and my crazy work schedule, as we are both execs at software companies and taking time off at the same time (especially twice within 3 months) is always a logistical nightmare. :o

[CruisingChick]

Most schools on the East Coast have two breaks: February and April. They are usually in school during March. Most colleges have their spring breaks in the middle of March. So a March 4th cruise should not be that bad regarding the number of kids.

 

When we did sail during school vacations when my son was younger there would be about an average of 300-400 kids on the ship during those times periods.

[dkjretired]

Hi Don - I wish we could. Due to school schedules, and work schedules we can't though. The Disney cruise is right after our kids get out of school for the year, and was booked a year in advance in order to get a family of 5 on their new ship. The Celebrity cruise is having to be worked around my husband's and my crazy work schedule, as we are both execs at software companies and taking time off at the same time (especially twice within 3 months) is always a logistical nightmare. :o

 

I understand completely, wife and I were both Police Officers in the same department and that was a logistical nightmare. Enjoy your cruises...