Spring Break - full of young kids?

[BlueEyesMI]

My family and I are having a discussion. I said we should avoid spring break week (the week after Easter) as the ship will be packed with young kids. (I love young kids, just don't want to hear them all week on my vacation!). The family says "oh, but it's Princess... it won't be bad".

 

So help settle this one will you? Lots of kids, or no more than usual?

 

thanks!

[sminfiddle]

My family and I are having a discussion. I said we should avoid spring break week (the week after Easter) as the ship will be packed with young kids. (I love young kids, just don't want to hear them all week on my vacation!). The family says "oh, but it's Princess... it won't be bad".

 

So help settle this one will you? Lots of kids, or no more than usual?

 

thanks!

I was on a Spring Break cruise in March from Galveston Texas.

I think there were more young kids (and teachers) than on non-holiday weeks.

However, my experience was that it didn't impact my cruise. All the youngsters I encountered were very well-behaved and polite.

 

I don't know if the location had anything to do with it.

[chrysalis]

Spring break happens on various weeks in March and April.

 

Much less young people on 10 day cruises.

[pcsunlover]

I've cruised the caribbean with Princess every March or April for the past 6 years. There are children on board, but it isn't overwhelming and I always found them to be well behaved. From my experience, the closer you cruise to Easter (week before, week of, week after) the more children there will be on board. Easter 2014 is towards the end of April, so we booked the March 30th cruise.

[JimmyVWine]

Spring break happens on various weeks in March and April.

 

Much less young people on 10 day cruises.

 

This. There really is no such thing as "Spring Break Week". Some people have time off in March, irrespective of when Easter is. Some people get time off leading up to Easter. Some people get time off after Easter. And some people get time off in April irrespective of when Easter falls. So there is never a week that is so chock full of families on vacation that a ship is going to be overrun by children. The week between Christmas and New Year's is a vacation week pretty much universally. And at a minimum, President's Day creates a universal three day weekend, and perhaps more. But from the middle of March until the third week in April, vacation schedules are very spread out.

[Retired Educator]

Before retiring I was one of the many educators aboard on spring break cruises and to be honest there was ample space to enjoy my vacation when on Princess. They have a FANTASTIC KIDS CLUB program and most were well controlled outside of there. Granted these were west coast Mexico cruises. We also made the mistake of doing a spring break on Carnival and NEVER AGAIN! Not bad kids, just a bunch of party hardy college age ME generation that ruined it for many of us.

Enjoy your Princess cruise!

[Mom33]

All of our Caribbean cruises involve Spring weeks of March and April. They were all 10 days and we sailed with people of all ages. There were many families with children onboard, but we experienced no problems. Princess keeps the children busy. :)

[melody hounddog]

Like a previous poster said, there is no set Spring Break week. I have 2 kids. One has their break in the middle of March and the other in the middle of April. No family vacation for us over Spring Break.

[OCruisers]

Spring break happens on various weeks in March and April.

 

Much less young people on 10 day cruises.

 

Per above .... VERY True!

 

LuLu

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[Hlitner]

Having spent several years on ships as cruise passengers we have developed a few of our own "rules" when it comes to booking. Number #1 is to never book a 7 day Caribbean Cruise in March-April! Although we do cruise in those months, we always take longer cruises where spring break has no impact.

 

Hank

[skynight]

Yes for sure. There will be lots of children on an Easter week cruise if it is a 7 day cruise. I've done it lots of times, and it has always been that way.

[tothemall&beyond]

If you don't want to share the ship with children, then don't plan on taking any cruises in late December, the second week of February, or anytime in March or April. Spring break "rolls' over a period of several weeks.

 

Personally, I have never found kids on board to be much of a problem. The programs they have for them keep them very busy. My sons (now in their late 20's) started cruising when they were still in diapers and strollers. I have never felt that they or any other children adversely impacted anyone else's enjoyment of the cruise.

 

Nonetheless, my husband and I do prefer to take cruises when it is not school vacation time.

[Cruisin' Chick]

The school district my daughter is in (the second largest in the country) always takes off the week leading up to Easter. Even when I was a kid going to schools in the same area. But some of the private schools (especially the Catholic day schools) take off the week after Easter.

 

Colleges tend to spread out their spring breaks so that you can't count on any week between late February and mid-April to not be a spring break week. But the longer cruises are out of the typical college kid's price range/schedule as they might not want to miss extra days of school. They might go on the shorter cruises or go to resorts.

[24639]

You can call Princess and ask how many minors are booked. I believe there is a cap of 300.

FWIW our local school district's Spring break is the week of April 7-11.

[Coral]

You can call Princess and ask how many minors are booked. I believe there is a cap of 300.

FWIW our local school district's Spring break is the week of April 7-11.

 

I have been on spring break cruises with 800 plus kids. They may cap infants but I don't think they cap kids anymore. It used to be a hot topic here on the boards that people were denied but it hasn't been brought up in years here.

 

I have had some where kids were well behaved and one some where they haven't.

 

If you want to avoid them, take a 10 night cruise.

 

Spring break can be anywhere from end of February to end of April. Our state generally does it in March (varies from week to week depending on the district), regardless when Easter is.

[24639]

I could be mistaken, but I was denied reservations on two 10 day cruises to Alaska this last summer because of too many minors on board. When we arrived on board on the itinerary we could get and spoke to the wonderful folks in the kids club they told me the previous cruise was quite hectic because they had 300 children. Maybe that was the limit for the kids area and there were more running around. But, as I said, you can call and they will tell you how many are booked. This was my experience just last month traveling with a child.

[Coral]

I could be mistaken, but I was denied reservations on two 10 day cruises to Alaska this last summer because of too many minors on board. When we arrived on board on the itinerary we could get and spoke to the wonderful folks in the kids club they told me the previous cruise was quite hectic because they had 300 children. Maybe that was the limit for the kids area and there were more running around. But, as I said, you can call and they will tell you how many are booked. This was my experience just last month traveling with a child.

 

Interesting - I hadn't heard this in several years. If they still do limits, they open them up for spring break and holiday cruises as many of my cruises have had 800 plus kids under 18. I have cruised several times in each of the following: March, April, Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Spring break happens on various weeks in March and April.

 

Much less young people on 10 day cruises.

 

People always say that but I've done enough to know it's not always true. We had 750 on our 10 night Easter cruise.

 

OP - You are right - there will be a ton of kids. Go any other week and try to avoid 3-4 weeks before Easter and about 1 week after.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Interesting - I hadn't heard this in several years. If they still do limits, they open them up for spring break and holiday cruises as many of my cruises have had 800 plus kids under 18. I have cruised several times in each of the following: March, April, Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

 

As far as I know, Coral is right. Princess is not limiting the number of kids aged 3 and above. They used to, but I haven't seen it in years.

 

Cindy, were you trying to book a triple or quad cabin? You could have been 'denied' because they wouldn't sell any more triples or quads for that sailing. They limit the number of PASSENGERS onboard, but not the number of children over 3 yrs.

[24639]

Cindy, were you trying to book a triple or quad cabin? You could have been 'denied' because they wouldn't sell any more triples or quads for that sailing. They limit the number of PASSENGERS onboard, but not the number of children over 3 yrs.

 

 

Call me crazy, but I tried booking through a TA and directly through Princess and I was told there were too many minors on board for three different sailings of the same 10 day itinerary. I finally booked the August 18 sailing and (surprise surprise) there were very few children on board. I was booking a simple cabin for two. Me and my son. Perhaps I dreamed the whole experience, but the charge showed up on my credit card so I guess it really happened.

[satxdiver]

If you are sailing out of Galveston, the TX schools go on spring break in March the second and third weeks. These weeks are to be avoided at all costs!

[Cruisin' Chick]

As far as I know, Coral is right. Princess is not limiting the number of kids aged 3 and above. They used to, but I haven't seen it in years.

 

Cindy, were you trying to book a triple or quad cabin? You could have been 'denied' because they wouldn't sell any more triples or quads for that sailing. They limit the number of PASSENGERS onboard, but not the number of children over 3 yrs.

 

That's what I was wondering too. If a cruise is nearly sold out, the cabins that could hold three or four may be only booked by a twosome. Has nothing to do with the ages of the passengers.

[Stevesan]

I was on a Spring Break cruise in March from Galveston Texas.

I think there were more young kids (and teachers) than on non-holiday weeks.

However, my experience was that it didn't impact my cruise. All the youngsters I encountered were very well-behaved and polite.

 

I don't know if the location had anything to do with it.

 

Location had everything to do with it.

Most are from Texas where younguns get a proper upbringing!:)

 

I sailed from Galveston Spring Break three consecutive years (Grand Princess). There were 500-700 well behaved youngsters on board.

[ChiefBoats]

The DW and I did a cruise on the Crown Princess out of Galveston this past March. We were apprehensive at first but were happily surprised. We had, as reported by the future cruise director at a one of the Captain's cocktail events, that there were about 750 passengers under the age of 17 on board. Most of these were from the west coast and mid west since they were on spring break. They were very well behaved and we did not see them that much. Princess seems to have a very good youth program.

 

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Most of these were from the west coast and mid west since they were on spring break.

[ChiefBoats]

There is no cap on how many youth can be booked. Had over 700 under 17 on our March western Caribbean cruise. Not an issue.

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Previous Cruises

Alaska 2008 – Island Princess

Alaska 2009 – Island Princess (B2B)

Alaska 2010 – Royal Princess

Alaska 2011 – Golden Princess

Alaska 2012 – Star Princess

Panama Canal 2012 – Coral Princess

Western Caribbean – Crown Princess

Alaska 2013 – Island Princess

 

Future Cruises

Western Caribbean 2013 – Caribbean Princess

Southern Caribbean 2014 – Royal Princess