"Jersey Week" Lots of kids?

[handbellplayer]

We are cruising on Freedom the week of November 4. Now I hear there is something called "Jersey Week" when all the school kids in NJ are out of school. Will the ship be mobbed with kids? I thought November (other than Thanksgiving) was a good time to avoid lots of kids. (Disclaimer - I love kids and I know Royal is family-friendly - just wasn't planning on a cruise with LOTS of them.)

[Mimajo]

I don't think it would be mobbed just because of New Jersey, it is only one state, and a small minority would cruise that week.

 

Regardless you will not have half the kids that would be there in summer.

[Sky616]

Maybe Explorer would be more crowded with kids but doubtful if Freedom would be. Now if Florida school kids would be off may be a different story.

[handbellplayer]

I read somewhere that Disney World is very crowded that week, so I didn't know if cruises would be, too. Hopefully someone who has sailed that week might chime in.

[Arubamoose]

As a correction - the Thursday and Friday of that week is Teacher's Convention down in Atlantic City. Hence - schools are closed those days. Not the entire week.

 

When my kids were of early school age we often took them out that whole week. We even went to Disney once. Never again. Was crowded with fellow "Jerseyites". We went to D.C. once - again - "Jerseyites" all over the place. Same with Williamsburg. Same with Hershey.

 

Most times we went down to Aruba a few days early to our timeshare when the convention lined up with our two weeks that included Thanksgiving week.

 

By the time we were cruising regularly our kids were in high school and we couldn't take them out anymore that week - mostly due to varsity sports. We would cruise during Thanksgiving week after the fall sports season was over.

 

I would imagine now that since cruising is so much more popular with families that there would be more kids than usual that week from "Jersey". Most likely they would be grade and middle school kids as many high school kids are still involved in varsity sports.

 

This year our family Allure cruise is the week after teacher's convention and the week before Thanksgiving. My kids are a few years out of college now.

 

I made the conscious choice NOT to cruise November 4th - especially since we are doing the Allure.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

It will not be to bad ....

[akcruz]

As a correction - the Thursday and Friday of that week is Teacher's Convention down in Atlantic City. Hence - schools are closed those days. Not the entire week.

 

 

While your schools only have Thursday and Friday off, there are a lot of districts around the state that give off the whole week or half days for teachers conferences, etc making it even more attractive to vacation that week.

 

To the OP, it is also not only NJ that has time off that week. We did Disney one year and were joined by 2 other states (can't remember which right now) that were also off a majority of that week.

 

We did Freedom one year as well and yes there were more kids than the weeks before or after but nothing like what you would see during the summer. And, surprisingly most of the kids my kids met on that cruise were NOT from NJ.

 

Now, if you were talking Explorer out of Bayonne that week I would say stay away, but Freedom you should be fine.

[green eyed lady]

As a correction - the Thursday and Friday of that week is Teacher's Convention down in Atlantic City. Hence - schools are closed those days. Not the entire week.

 

This is not totally true. Many school districts close the whole week because the Tues of that week is usually election day as well. When my kids were younger our schools were closed the whole week and we always went to Disney or on a cruise. We always ended up running into people we knew at both places. And for those districts that don't close the whole week, many parents just take the kids out the rest of the week to travel.

 

To the OP - I would be more concerned about an abundance of kids if the cruise were leaving from Bayonne or NYC. :eek:

[Wilda]

If you are vacationing during Jersey week then yes, you can expect more kids. We did Disney one year during Jersey week and it was packed. While it will not be as busy as summer or school vacation times, there will be more kids.

[grand isle joe]

...well they probably will be "jersey kids"........so long as Snookie doesn't show up you should br fine......:eek:

[family cruisers]

Some schools are actually closed 3 days and the following monday.

 

As a correction - the Thursday and Friday of that week is Teacher's Convention down in Atlantic City. Hence - schools are closed those days. Not the entire week.

 

When my kids were of early school age we often took them out that whole week. We even went to Disney once. Never again. Was crowded with fellow "Jerseyites". We went to D.C. once - again - "Jerseyites" all over the place. Same with Williamsburg. Same with Hershey.

 

Most times we went down to Aruba a few days early to our timeshare when the convention lined up with our two weeks that included Thanksgiving week.

 

By the time we were cruising regularly our kids were in high school and we couldn't take them out anymore that week - mostly due to varsity sports. We would cruise during Thanksgiving week after the fall sports season was over.

 

I would imagine now that since cruising is so much more popular with families that there would be more kids than usual that week from "Jersey". Most likely they would be grade and middle school kids as many high school kids are still involved in varsity sports.

 

This year our family Allure cruise is the week after teacher's convention and the week before Thanksgiving. My kids are a few years out of college now.

 

I made the conscious choice NOT to cruise November 4th - especially since we are doing the Allure.

[WhiteSoxFan]

I know that "Jersey" week is a big deal on the Disney boards, I do not know how it may affect cruises. Around here our local district only takes off Veteran's day and the whole Thanksgiving week off as that was a fairly unproductive week in general. I've never heard of taking off election day, do a lot of students vote there?

[teemsum]

I was on the Norwegian Gem during Jersey week in 2011 and there were 900 kids onboard.

 

 

Cruisingly Yours

[cbonewjersey]

I read somewhere that Disney World is very crowded that week, so I didn't know if cruises would be, too. Hopefully someone who has sailed that week might chime in.

 

 

it totally is. That's teacher convention week so many half days, etc. We used to go to Beaches then. Everywhere is busy. lot's of kids in NJ! no joke. But, we spread out, so it should be fine, as most posters said.

[CruiseDancer]

I know that "Jersey" week is a big deal on the Disney boards, I do not know how it may affect cruises. Around here our local district only takes off Veteran's day and the whole Thanksgiving week off as that was a fairly unproductive week in general. I've never heard of taking off election day, do a lot of students vote there?

 

When I grew up in Baltimore, many of the schools were used a polling places. Thus, the schools were closed on election days, both primary and general elections. Maybe that is the same in New Jersey.

[digital_curator]

We had never heard of this until we sailed out of NJ on a repo cruise in November.

 

We still had a good time but out fellow cruisers were completely out of control. It was like the show Jersey Shore was modelled after the families onboard.

 

There were over 1000 kids. The young children were NOT our problem.

 

LOTS of drunk teens. They tended to like to hang out in the stairwells, "decorating" the handrails with ketchup. There was a lot of knocking on doors late at night, running up and down the hallways, and stealing of room service menus. We called security several times. The Captain made several announcements reminding people about curfews.

 

LOTS of drunk adults. LOTS of stupid drunken adult behaviour.

 

The Captain threw 3 families off the ship.

 

We found one young boy (about 6?) in his pj's at 10 pm wandering into the casino looking for his parents- they had left him alone in the room and he had woken up.

 

Another night there was a toddler asleep in one of the bars, while her parents drank themselves silly at the next table.

 

The language used throughout the ship would have made a sailor blush.

 

I'm not a member of the clothing police but no matter what night it was, the majority wore jeans.

 

This was a repo cruise with 6 sea days. It was cheap. It was even cheaper for last minute NJ residents. So hopefully you won't have the same experience. But we will be very hesitant to cruise out of NJ again or during this week.

 

Good luck!

[dh464]

We are going on the Oasis of the sea with 16 other families(35 kids age 4-17) Nov 3.We have cruise out of Ny and baltimore before.We will never do that again,that time of year its too cold,you get 2-4 cold days up and back.Not able to enjoy the outside of the ship.Our school district has 4 days off that week so our kids will only miss one day of school.

[Arubamoose]

I just remembered that some years teacher's convention happened the same week as Election day - like this year.

 

Our school district never gave the kids off the whole week because we often had some days off for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in September/October. Plus we had half days off the week before Thanksgiving for teacher's conferences.

 

I would have loved it if they had that week off, plus the 1/2 days for conferences and the days off for Thanksgiving. We would have spent three weeks in Aruba!!

 

My kids were encouraged (i.e. bribed) to be good students so that there were no issues to take them out of school so we could travel.

[toxicfairy]

NJ teachers convention is 8th and 9th as some already said. We use to get the whole week but now only get the 2 days (in my district that is ). BUT keep in mind that we also get personal days and "sick" days. It is a week when alot of teachers and assistance go on vacation because you figure you have 4 days with the weekend and if you only take 3 sick/personal combo then you just got a fall vacation :) I already heard from a co worker who booked that week. Wish I could:(

[Arzeena]

...well they probably will be "jersey kids"........so long as Snookie doesn't show up you should br fine......:eek:

 

:DLOL!!!! THAT would be some drama cruise!

[pltag]

Here is a thread I started a few months ago about Jersey Week.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1598624

 

The funny / interesting direction my thread took was that it became a discussion amongst Jersey folks about whether Jersey Week was real or urban myth.

 

I've cruised that week and I can tell you ......... it's VERY real! :D

[Havingfun2010]

If you are vacationing during Jersey week then yes, you can expect more kids. We did Disney one year during Jersey week and it was packed. While it will not be as busy as summer or school vacation times, there will be more kids.

 

Living in Florida, I can assure you Disney is not packed because one state has week break. It is packed because November and December are Christmas months, and many vacationers come from other countries etc and pack the parks.

 

A ship like FOS has people sometimes from 30 different countries. Just one state on vacation does not make it packed with kids. You need a major holiday week.

[akcruz]

...well they probably will be "jersey kids"........so long as Snookie doesn't show up you should br fine......:eek:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A boat load of Snooki's :eek:

 

Just so you know Snooki is from NY, Staten Island to be exact. Most of us from NJ are not what you see on TV, just a small portion that give us all a bad name. I will not sail on a ship out of NJ that week, just too many kids. Another port yes, but not NJ or NY. As I mentioned earlier we did Freedom one year during this week and there were very few from NJ on board.

[M&JfromSDL]

We a DINK couple that sailed on Allure last year during Jersey week. There were definitely some real housewives of NJ onboard but it wasn't completely hateful. I'm from Jersey so I felt at home. We are actually doing FoS this year, same week. We considered switching to the swinger cruise (j/k) the week after to get away from all the kids but ended up sticking with the 11/4 cruise.

[bearchele2]

I just remembered that some years teacher's convention happened the same week as Election day - like this year.

 

Our school district never gave the kids off the whole week because we often had some days off for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in September/October. Plus we had half days off the week before Thanksgiving for teacher's conferences.

 

I would have loved it if they had that week off, plus the 1/2 days for conferences and the days off for Thanksgiving. We would have spent three weeks in Aruba!!

 

My kids were encouraged (i.e. bribed) to be good students so that there were no issues to take them out of school so we could travel.

 

I see you're from the same town as me. I have a school aged child and our town gives the kids off the whole week. Teachers have professional days for monday - wednesday. Also teacher convention is always the Thursday and Friday of election week.