A Thanksgiving Cruise . . . Never Again

[IrishCC]

:eek: We just got off of Liberty of the Seas for Thanksgiving. Let me give you some background: We are Diamond members . . . . I'm in my late 50s and my other half is in his early 60s. We aren't particularly kid friendly . . . unless they are our grandkids and then my DH can only tolerate limited quantities. We were on Liberty last March and booked this cruise on board. I specifically asked about kids and was assured that there are rarely families on board for Thanksgiving as they prefer Spring Break or Christmas . . . . . .I bought that line. You can imagine our abject horror when we got on board and found out there were 1200 kids on board!! The whole cruise was geared towards families . . . .even the the daily activities were altered! The kids were EVERYWHERE . . . .and for those of you who are about to flame me and say your children are well behaved . . . . they're NOT. They were even allowed in the specialty restaurants at all times. The only place we were safe was the Solarium though I heard they were in there later in the week. My poor other half . . . .I fully expected to find him in the fetal position in our cabin . . . refusing to come out!!

 

OK . . . . here are the good things . . .the weather was perfect! We thoroughly enjoyed the ports of call . . . .we were able to get a cabanette on Coco Cay and that was in a private area so we were protected from the little darlings! We loved Falmouth!. The food on board was good especially Portofinos. The staff was very friendly but frazzled! Lastly there were very few smokers so I didn't have to deal with smelling smoke on the balcony.

 

Bottom line . . . If you are a family considering sailing at Thanksgiving, Go . . . you'll be totally catered to. If you don't care for kids . . . .avoid this one like the plague!!

 

Please don't tell me to try Celebrity . . . we did and didn't care for it.

 

I don't keep compasses but will try to answer any questions I can.

[msw1023]

Sorry the cruise wasn't to your liking. 1200 kids is a LOT!

would love to hear more about Falmouth.

The port board is very quiet.

Thanks

Marsha

[S&C2]

Thanks for the info. I always wondered whether or not Thanksgiving sailings were more family oriented.

Now I know!

[BecciBoo]

Don't know where you get your information, but Thanksgiving cruises are traditionally family cruises.

Sounds like you are on the wrong cruise line for your needs. Consider Holland America Line. They are right in line with your needs. Sorry.

[Topo Gigio]

I did a thanksgiving cruise in Nov 2009 on the Carnival Dream out of NY and there were 1300 children on the ship!! I said to myself NEVER again a thanksgiving cruise for me.

[didicruiser]

Don't know where you get your information, but Thanksgiving cruises are traditionally family cruises.

Sounds like you are on the wrong cruise line for your needs. Consider Holland America Line. They are right in line with your needs. Sorry.

 

ANY time the kids are off from school, even for a few days, there will be many children. The person you spoke with is ...........uninformed :rolleyes:

[Tyler80]

That is unfortunate that 1,200 kids would ruin your cruise. I'm surprised at your dismay as you are Diamond status. I can't believe that you got to that point without encountering a few kids along the way.

 

Did you not know that Royal Caribbean Cruise Line is favorite for families (mainly families with young to teen aged children) and that they have won many "Best for Families" awards along the way? There are normally many daily activities that are geared to children and their families.

 

As others have said, anytime there is a possibility of school break, kids will probably be onboard. I've cruised in September when school started and encountered children onboard that (otherwise) should have been in school. I noticed a lot of families form Europe who had been onboard for many weeks. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your Thanksgiving cruise. I'm currently thinking of booking Oasis for Thanksgiving 2012 and I think I will still keep my plans the same.

[magenta321]

Yes, we got off "our" ship just before the Thanksgiving sailing. Since we were on the TA sailing, the crew was catering to an older crowd. The kids we did see were lonely. One about 3, and 3 about 21. I didn't see any other kids, but they might have been there... somewhere. The crew members I was talking to were anxious because the Thanksgiving sailing was going to have 700 kids!

[cooncat]

Thank you for the warning IrishCC. I was originally booked for this cruise as well, but had to cancel for financial reasons. I am single and travel alone. I generally cruise in May to avoid the bulk of the kids. I love RCI myself and avoid the peak family times. Telling IRISHcc to switch to Holland-America is not the answer, just avoid the peak family times.

[Langley Cruisers]

I specifically asked about kids and was assured that there are rarely families on board for Thanksgiving as they prefer Spring Break or Christmas . . . . . .

 

 

Hmm. Well, I would consider any time of year there would be families onboard. Sorry you were "assured" this. I don't know when anyone could assure someone that there would be relatively few families onboard. *shrug*

 

Glad the food and service were to your liking. :)

 

Sounds like you are on the wrong cruise line for your needs. Consider Holland America Line. They are right in line with your needs. Sorry.

 

OP is Diamond on RCI. I wouldn't expect them to be abandoning RCI now. Just a thought.

[grand isle joe]

.....Get use to it looks like Royal is catering to a .....hmmmm...how do I say this?....a.YOUNGER CROWD during the summer and vacation times.....Diamond or just steerage it doesn't matter.... as they say "we're going in a different direction"......Celebrity is a more "regal" fit for all the royalty of the Diamond class and above....;)

[Tyler80]

.....Get use to it looks like Royal is catering to a .....hmmmm...how do I say this?....a.YOUNGER CROWD during the summer and vacation times.....Diamond or just steerage it doesn't matter.... as they say "we're going in a different direction"......Celebrity is a more "regal" fit for all the royalty of the Diamond class and above....;)

 

Yes get used to it. Like any "brand" Royal Caribbean is trying to attract a younger clientele in hopes of keeping them for the long run. It's not that they don't care about the (possibly older) Diamond and Diamond Plus group, but if they start young and can keep them coming back for more, they will build a more solid base of customers. The Walt Disney Company has been doing it for years!

[silentbob007]

Strike 1: Thanksgiving cruise. Strike 2: Cruise of less than 7 days. Strike 3: A ship already converted to the Dreamworks experience.

[nycruiser80]

Wow sounds likes lots of kids....1200! I am a teacher and while I like kids I think 1200 certainly is a bit much. I know what you mean, unfortunately some of those kids do not behave appropriately, mostly because of parents not wanting to parent while on vacation. BTW those are the same kids teachers get in class that hijack a classroom and make teaching unique and challenging! My parents cruised with us when we were young but we were well behaved or else......

 

In anycase not sure why RCI rep told you that Thanksgiving cruises are not family cruises but as you can see they are not totally accurate. In my other life I was a travel agent for 10 years and I specialized in cruises. First off Thanksgiving cruises are family cruises BUT they are not as popular for families as is a February break cruise or Christmas cruise but they STILL do attract families. Maybe that is where the person you spoke with had confusion plus I don't think there is anyway a reservation agent or rep at RCI can tell how many families are on a sailing. I don't beleive they have access to the ship's manifest or passenger list with ages so it is kind of hard to gaurantee this - but I could be wrong on this. I do know Princess has a cut off for certain age children on each sailing.

 

I found this to be the order of popularity of family cruises when I worked as a TA, of course this is not official:

1. Christmas/ New Years

2. Pres. week in February

3. Easter/Passover breaks in April or March

4. Thanksgiving break

5. Summer especially - late June all of July.

 

I see that you said you tried Celeb. (I am not trying to be rude or smart here) - hows about (if your budget permits) trying some of the more up market cruise lines like RCCL's Azamara Cruises, Oceania or even Crystal they are more money but I think you will find less kids then mass market lines. Then again they may or may not offer an itinerary that strikes your fancy. Sometimes Oceania, Azamara or even Crystal offer 7 night Caribbean sailings in November from Fort Lauderdale for $1900 per person - remember these cruises have more inclusions in their rates so it maybe something to think about next time. Otherwise stick to other times outside of the list I gave you. Good luck and wishing you a more restful cruise next time!

[msuspartanbigten]

We just got off allure today. They said average is 1200 kids and we had 2000 this trip. However, on our previous freedom of the seas cruise, it felt more crowded with kids. With allure having the neighborhoods separating crowds, it never felt crowded or like kids were everywhere.

[Linco711]

Yes get used to it. Like any "brand" Royal Caribbean is trying to attract a younger clientele in hopes of keeping them for the long run. It's not that they don't care about the (possibly older) Diamond and Diamond Plus group, but if they start young and can keep them coming back for more, they will build a more solid base of customers. The Walt Disney Company has been doing it for years!

 

Yes Disney has found a way to keep every age happy. they do a great job of keeping children out of adult areas....I love Disney.....RCCL is my second favorite, but don't sail Disney too often because of price:)

[airlink diva]

I'm sorry that the cruise was not a truly great one for you.

However, you will find with any of the mainstream cruiselines that during holidays look for a larger number of children on the ships.

While I never sailed with that many on board, I can tell you on my 14 day Holland America cruise a while back ago, there was a family with homeschool children that were holy terrors!

[ryano]

I specifically asked about kids and was assured that there are rarely families on board for Thanksgiving .

 

You had a TERRIBLE source of information then......Thanksgiving is one of the biggest holiday's of the year. Here in Ga, kids are out of school a whole week! Why in the world someone would "assure" you that there wouldnt be many kids on board is beyond me..........Why you "bought" it is beyond me even further! :eek:

 

at least it sounds like you enjoyed every other part of your cruise

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

You had a TERRIBLE source of information then......Thanksgiving is one of the biggest holiday's of the year. Here in Ga, kids are out of school a whole week! Why in the world someone would "assure" you that there wouldnt be many kids on board is beyond me..........Why you "bought" it is beyond me even further! :eek:

 

at least it sounds like you enjoyed every other part of your cruise

 

It was a Loyalty Ambassador...I'm sure he/she just wanted the OP to book the cruise.

[Morecruisesplz]

Strike 1: Thanksgiving cruise. Strike 2: Cruise of less than 7 days. Strike 3: A ship already converted to the Dreamworks experience.

 

Exactly right! And did the OP not think to check the roll call thread to see what the mix was like? People were talking about their children and comparing notes on there nearly a year ago... plenty of time to have cancelled. BTW, we've been on worse cruises for misbehaving children. Last year the captain made daily announcements about the parent/guardian responsibility for supervising their children due to problems.

[nreilly]

We had 3 of the 1200 kids on board and had a great time. Honestly, I would have never guessed there was that many kids! For the most part, all the kids I saw were well behaved! I saw a few here and there but nothing out of the norm. We love going at Thanksgiving because the kids only miss two days of school.

[IrishCC]

Sorry the cruise wasn't to your liking. 1200 kids is a LOT!

would love to hear more about Falmouth.

The port board is very quiet.

Thanks

Marsha

You read such horrible things about Falmouth that I didn't know what to expect! but the people were super friendly . . . the port felt super safe and then our excursion to MoBay was a blast!! Mobay was about 45 minutes away and we never felt threatened! We were at Doctor's Cave beach . . . very clean . . . had a snorkeling cruise off a catamaran and spent time at Margaritaville.

[IrishCC]

Don't know where you get your information, but Thanksgiving cruises are traditionally family cruises.

Sounds like you are on the wrong cruise line for your needs. Consider Holland America Line. They are right in line with your needs. Sorry.

Holland America . . . .REALLY?????? I'm not in a bloody walker!!! I bought the Loyalty Ambassador's argument because the cruise was so cheap . . . . Holiday cruises usually cost a lot more!

 

Don't worry . . . won't make that mistake again . . . .have booked for Dec 2nd 2012 . . . . can anyone think of a school holiday then??

[Buccaneergirl]

Dh and I were also on this cruise. I think this cruise had the most children on it that I have ever sailed with and also the most families(grandparents with all their adult children and their kids). We never had a problem getting a table for two in the dining room!

The only thing that drove me crazy the whole cruise were the kids running up and down the hallways and the stairs. The first night, I asked 4 kids(elementary school age) to please stop running down the stairs because they almost ran into me and one girl told me to shut my mouth!!:eek: Wow!

[parrotfeathers]

I was on a HAL cruise last year and didn't see near as many scooters and senior citizens as I did on my recent RCL voyager cruise.