Wow. Lots of kids.

[Luvmyrotti]

Now I want an old fogey cruise.

 

That's why, while onboard last week, we booked the next spring TA on the Emerald. We enjoy the longer cruises for many reasons, one of which is few kids.

[seattlec5]

Yup, we were on this cruise as well and witnessed some pretty bad behavior. Young ones (like 3 to 5 years) up until 11:00 in crooners and other entertainment spots with parents seemingly unconcerned about screaming/shrieking. The worst were the unruly groups of pre-teens and teens just turned loose to run rampant. There was a whole lot of bad parenting going on.

 

Doesn't sound very relaxing. Precisely the reason we don't do 7 day cruises in the spring time any more. Maybe I'm getting grumpy but one of the big reasons the wife and I cruise is to relax. So we've pretty much gone down the path of longer cruises that have far fewer kids. Good luck on your next one!

[OCruisers]

Try 10 day trips.

 

Agree ... 10 Day cruises, even at Spring/Easter Break, seldom have many children! ;)

LuLu

[JasonTehGreat]

I ran into the hoards of kids a few times, like 2AM the lady night of the cruise in the International Cafe.

[wrongwaywatson]

We were on the Crown 3/28-4/4 and there were 800 children onboard. 800! I do have to say, while The pools were crowded, the kids were pretty well behaved. Very polite. Everyone was super polite and happy, actually

[DrivesLikeMario]

No, you're wrong about that.....it doesn't take take seven days.

1 is enough.

Try 10 day trips. They usually have less kids on them even during the dreaded season of spring break. Don't do B2B 7 day cruises either (usually advertized as a 14 day cruise) as there are are only a few true 14 day trips around.

 

That's true, just not in March and the first two weeks of April. We had over 680 (or was it 700?) kids on our 10 night cruise in late March.

[Sxxacy]

I hear ya haha

[elliair]

Never go on a cruise in March!! :eek:

 

And on Carnival. If the OP thinks it was bad on Princess, don't ever venture on one with Carnival. I'm hoping ours will be "kid" free in 11 days. It's a 7-day California Coastal and I think the kiddies will be back in school by then. Our May cruise to Alaska should be kid free as well as school doesn't get out until June. Yipppppeeeee!

[Coral]

600 seems small to some spring break and holiday cruises that I have been on :(

 

Though, it goes to show that it is not the quantity but the quality of the kids. I have had cruises with 900 kids and they were very well behaved. Other cruises, a nightmare with that many kids.

Edited April 7, 2015 by Coral

[lovevacadays]

Sorry to hear about your experience. I've done one cruise during spring break and said never again. If I cruise in spring I make it the second week of April to be on the safe side.

[Coral]

Sorry to hear about your experience. I've done one cruise during spring break and said never again. If I cruise in spring I make it the second week of April to be on the safe side.

 

That is not necessarily safe. Some WA schools (including Seattle) have break that week.

 

The week after is schools in Massachusetts.

 

Those are just 2 examples that I can think of. I am sure there are other school districts involved.

Edited April 7, 2015 by Coral

[rpcv77]

Spring breaks are no longer necessarily on either side of Easter Sunday. I live in northern CA, in a county that has at least 30 separate school districts (high school and elementary school districts are often separate). Breaks were all over the place. I teach in one of the elementary school districts, and my break is this week. I am sorry that irresponsible parents ruined your cruise. My children are grown, but I remember that being on vacation when they were young did not mean I got to take a vacation from being a parent!

[cactus_baby]

We were on this cruise and I was pretty impressed how well they were behaved minus some that ran by us a few times. I heard there were 1,000 the week before.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[caribill]

Agree ... 10 Day cruises, even at Spring/Easter Break, seldom have many children! ;)

 

Looks like DrivesLineMario was on one of the "seldom" cruises.

 

We had over 680 (or was it 700?) kids on our 10 night cruise in late March.

[gcvt]

Here's a thought- the parents of the children who were behaving badly are responsible for parenting and training these children in manners and social behavior....

 

If only that was the case today. Sadly, it is not.

[shredie]

If only that was the case today. Sadly, it is not.

 

There are probably some well-behaved kids around, you just don't notice them since they aren't running wild.

[caribill]

On one Princess cruise we were on last year there was a note in the cabin that parents are responsible for the behavior of their children.

 

This was also part of the information told at the muster drill.

Edited April 7, 2015 by caribill

[Granny DI]

I'm a retired teacher. Parents were always "shocked" when I called about the behavior of their child. Any child left unsupervised with other children can find trouble

 

I feel sorry for kids kept up late at night. We were on a cruise that had specialty dining for families before 6:30 and for adults only after 8:30. We booked late dining. One night a large family brought in their young children at 9:00 PM. The staff didn't say no even though there was a BIG sign. The children were so tired that they laid down on two chairs and either went to sleep or played on their iPads. The adults completely ignored the children for two hours!

 

I avoid cruising in the summers and during holidays.

[LaurieHoffman]

Just got off the Ruby Princess - cruise was 3/28 - 4/4. I was expecting many more kids than we had on the cruise. There were only about 300 on board age 3 - 17. Princess has the signs up in the kids programs of the kids on board... Honestly the kids on this ship were very well behaved in all areas that I saw. I was impressed... I do feel that Princess didn't have enough activities for the kids and the teen program often didn't even open until 1 PM...

[SoCal Cruiser78]

Now I want an old fogey cruise.

 

The West Coast to Hawaii RTs (usually 14 to 18 days) are great cruises, and generally very few kids. They aren't cheap, but IMO worth saving up for :).

[Luvmyrotti]

On one Princess cruise we were on last year there was a note in the cabin that parents are responsible for the behavior of their children.

 

This was also part of the information told at the muster drill.

 

This was announced by the captain at our muster drill last week as well. Apparently a lot of parents felt this didn't apply to them.

[TwoBadKnees]

I'm a retired teacher. Parents were always "shocked" when I called about the behavior of their child.

 

Growing up I'd worry what type of punishment my parents would dish out. Nowadays it seems the parents sue the teacher/school system.

 

I like the old geezer cruises.

Edited April 7, 2015 by TwoBadKnees

[Cindy]

In addition to US Spring Breaks, Holy Week is prime vacation time for Mexico and much of Central America. I have found ships leaving from Texas ports to have especially high numbers of children on sailings the week before Easter. That probably contributed to the large numbers of children on the Emerald last week.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

I'm a retired teacher. Parents were always "shocked" when I called about the behavior of their child. Any child left unsupervised with other children can find trouble

 

I feel sorry for kids kept up late at night. We were on a cruise that had specialty dining for families before 6:30 and for adults only after 8:30. We booked late dining. One night a large family brought in their young children at 9:00 PM. The staff didn't say no even though there was a BIG sign. The children were so tired that they laid down on two chairs and either went to sleep or played on their iPads. The adults completely ignored the children for two hours!

 

I avoid cruising in the summers and during holidays.

 

What did the sign actually say? I can't believe it said "no children" for late seating.

[Luvmyrotti]

In addition to US Spring Breaks, Holy Week is prime vacation time for Mexico and much of Central America. I have found ships leaving from Texas ports to have especially high numbers of children on sailings the week before Easter. That probably contributed to the large numbers of children on the Emerald last week.

 

Yes, there were lots of large, extended family groups from Mexico and other Latin American countries onboard last week.