Am I crazy cruising over Spring Break?

[jiggs]

Our kiddo starts school next year and we are limited on weeks for our cruise. We are normally early February cruisers. This isn't a debate on pulling a kid out of school, its a debate on how much more 'nutty' is a ship over spring break? For the record, our spring break is the last full week of March.

 

On our last sailing we mentioned spring break to our waiter and he said if he could pick a vacation week that would be what he chose. He just said kids were everywhere. I just talked to someone fresh off another ship during the same time and said it wasn't noticeable.

 

With that being said, we're sailing with a kid so we would be one of them. I've sailed over Christmas and once over New Years and although busier, I wouldn't say it was awful.

 

I understand the carnival product and the carnival crowd. Is it better to head to a (primarily) flight only port like San Juan to avoid families packing up the Family Truckster and driving to the port?

 

Thanks!

[CaribbeanLuver]

I haven't cruised at this time so can't speak from experience but I would think if you pick a longer cruise (at least 7 days) and/or leave from PR, you would be least likely to encounter partiers but not necessarily kids.

[jiggs]

it will be 7 (or 6) and I really don't know why I care too much. Our schedule is so much different now that we cruise with a young kiddo it won't bother me as much. I am more concerned with people running the halls all night or gangs of kids taking over public spaces...drunks at the pool are nothing too new no matter when you go.

[pungo3]

As long as you are on a 7 day or more, you should be fine. If you book a 4 or 5 day, you'll doubtlessly be on a party ship full of Spring Breakers. I hope you have a fabulous cruise.:D

[Normal 1]

I have sailed the last week of March 4 times since 2010 on 6-8 day cruises. I have not seen any horrific behaviour as others have noted.

[irishnyc]

Now that I have a school-age kiddo, I've sort of accepted that life runs by her school schedule now. Places will be more crowded, kids will be plentiful. Such is life.

[cdamion]

I was on Splendor for spring break a couple years ago out of Los Angeles, and while I was concerned about being on a Carnival ship for spring break, there was no need to worry. Yes, there were a lot of kids on board, but it was just fine. As a matter of fact it was one of my favorite cruises. I am doing another spring break cruise with the kids next year.

 

I have cruised out of San Juan (favorite itineraries by far), and interestingly enough the kids were a bigger problem on those off-season cruises than the spring break cruise.

[Budget Queen]

I just did 2 "spring break" cruises on the Conquest and Glory this year. The cruise was just fine with civil passengers. Once in a while, some loud late night talking in the halls, but that only lasts a few seconds as they passed.

[RCH1234]

I was just on the Conquest from March 9th to 16th (busiest week for college spring break) and never noticed any rude or obnoxious behaviour. Yes they were having fun and drinking but they were mostly in the main pool and seemed to be very respectful of others. I spent most of my time in the aft pool as I always do and it was very quiet the whole week. It was actually funny, the only time I seen college students back at the adults only pool would be when the met another girl on the ship and were having a "cruise" relationship.

 

Like previous posters stated, stick to a 7 day or longer cruise and I can't see you having any problems. I would definitely avoid the 3-5 day cruises though. ;)

Edited April 1, 2014 by RCH1234

[Barbluvstocruz]

We've sailed over spring break with our two kids. The only bit of craziness was the pool. It was like kids in a sardine can. Other than that there was no big, noticeable difference to us.

 

Enjoy...whenever you go!

:)

[pe4all]

Due to kid's school schedules and my teaching schedule, I can only cruise during school breaks, when ships are jammed with families. (summer, Christmas, President's Week, Spring Break.) Yes, it was crowded at times on the ship - especially on sea days - but not enough to make me stop cruising at those times! Never noticed any outrageous behavior to speak of.

[CrystalBelle]

not at all! I think a cruise is a perfect spring break vacation! I mean the cruise ship only holds a certain amount of people, so it can't be overly crowded. I just got back from a spring break cruise I was with my children.... and there were tons of kids on the ship but think about it, if you aren't bringing your kids then that probably means more space on the adults only section, if you are, tons of more kids for them to play with! win/win!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brgxV4tcQc4

 

Here is my video! It was never a problem getting food/drink/service.

[CrystalBelle]

I didn't notice any spring breakers/college kids going crazy. This may sound a bit off but I don't think cruises are big go to vacations for college kids anymore.

[StaceySteveDMB]

We were on the Victory 5 day the second week of March this year. Our kids have their school spring break at this time of the year and the ship was loaded with college kids. We were staying in a OV suite and still had a lot of loud college kids in our hallways very late at night and some very bad behavior i.e. drunk kid kicking in a cabin door, pot smoking (hallway smelled like a skunk convention), very drunk kids on lido that could not even stand up. All that being said we had a great time. Next spring break a longer itinerary sounds like a great idea!

[Lamar20]

Wife and I made The Mistake once "NEVER AGAIN"

[CrystalBelle]

We were on the Victory 5 day the second week of March this year. Our kids have their school spring break at this time of the year and the ship was loaded with college kids. We were staying in a OV suite and still had a lot of loud college kids in our hallways very late at night and some very bad behavior i.e. drunk kid kicking in a cabin door, pot smoking (hallway smelled like a skunk convention), very drunk kids on lido that could not even stand up. All that being said we had a great time. Next spring break a longer itinerary sounds like a great idea!

 

 

That sucks! I would have complained about the pot smell. certainly they could have done something about this behavior!

[cruise.freak]

We have done a few spring break cruises with the last one being a 5 day. All of the cruises were pretty much the same and no difference at all from our summer cruises.

Edited April 1, 2014 by cruise.freak

[StaceySteveDMB]

That sucks! I would have complained about the pot smell. certainly they could have done something about this behavior!

 

Nah, I did not want them to get put into cruise jail or kicked off in the next port so I did not turn anyone in. The pot smoke in the hallway was noticeable to everyone, the drunk kid kicking in the cabin door needed a lecture on going to cruise jail or getting kicked off in Ocho Rios with no way home (and I was glad to help him with that), and the drunk kids needed water and a place to lay down (heck I guess that is one way to get a lounge on Lido).

[FloridaMomma]

We just cruised over Spring Break (with our kids). There were a lot of kids on board, but I didn't notice anything too crazy. My kids had a BLAST and made a bunch of new friends in Camp Carnival.

[crewsweeper]

If you can avoid the peak weeks for college spring breaks, take longer cruises, you'll miss most of the rowdiness. Because every K-12 school district in the country has different times for spring break from march 1 through late April, you're going to find more families on any ship. But I've been on cruises in dead winter, and in Mid May when K-12ers should all be in session and there's been 100+ children on the ships.

[goaties]

we were on the Magic one spring break. Comedian talked about free range children... lol like free range chickens. Cruise director said there were 1576 kids on board that week. One kid was laying in the elevator floor and would not get up. i asked her if she had nothing better to do. she laughed. one kid was our own elevator attendent. he asked what floor we needed and he was there several times we went down or up. yes they had to entertain themselves. ran loose the whole week. did it bother me. no.

[kybluecruiser]

My experience if it is during a college spring break you are crazy lol. Spring break for kids under 18 wasnt too bad.

[Aidenspoppy]

Just back from Magic last week in March. The kids were no problem, it was the college students and the multi time cruisers. The college kids were so horny you dared not stand still very long. And the multi cruisers felt they owned the ship since they had cruised so many times.

[glorog]

Just finished a B2B on the Paradise. First five were 75% college students. Sure the first two days they thought 15 drinks were not enough but as one one young man told me, " sir, you were right 15 is plenty". They are fun to be with and great to learn from and to teach a few things.

The second five days were full of families with young children. The kids are full of energy and busy exploring life. The young mom and dads are too stressed for their own good.

We all need to take a deep breath and realize how good life is. Smile and the world will smile back at you.

[onebzemom]

Just off the Magic. The ship was full of kids. Lots of families with kids. Lots of extended families with kids. Lots of people from Arkansas. We usually cruise in January. Since our kids are teachers now, we had to go during Spring Break. We really noticed the difference between January and Spring Break. Was it bad? No. Would we do it again? Yes. Mainly because that is the only time with our own kids. It was amazing how many family groups there were. How nice they could all cruise together. The main pools and hot tubs were always full of kids. So we didn't use them. I just laid in the chaise with my book. Only one problem, I didn't get much reading done. I kept watching the kids. They were having a blast. The hot tubs on the sides were mostly adults. So we used them. We went up to the Serenity Deck and it was always full. Nowhere to lay or sit. Not much happening up there. Boring I'd say. So back down to the pool with the kids. Lots of kids in line at the Buffets. Never did we see anyone acting up or out of control. Since our little one was only one year old, we didn't have much to do with Camp Carnival. In a few years when we do this again, she will have a lot of fun in Camp Carnival and we will have even more fun while she is in Camp Carnival! :)

 

Years ago we cruised out of Puerto Rico on the Destiny. Still lots of kids. The only difference we noticed was the Destiny had an adult only pool in the back. The Magic doesn't. It was nice to be able to get away from the kids and still have some excitement. If we cruise again during Spring Break it will be on a ship that has an adult only pool.