Are spring break time cruises too crazy with kids?

[Linda/Ohio]

Many cabins are booked 4 to a room and it can be crazy on the shorter cruises. Had a bad experience one year. I believe our entire cruise cost was refunded. Not good with people puking in elevators, etc. An occasional issue is one thing--an entire cruise ship---made it not so great. It was chaos when it was time to disembark on our return.

[kimlet]

did 4 night enchanment of the seas during march break with kids,wasn't bad.

couldn't get near the pool first 2 days but not really too noisy at all. i would say half the ship was college students.

still enjoyed our first cruise

[melski]

We did a Brilliance 5 night cruise out of Tampa last March 14. It was mostly school aged kids and families. I felt it was mostly families (littles to grandparents). The only time I felt on "Spring Break" was in port at Cozumel where we were near a larger college group at the beach. Couldn't say which ship they were on as there were 6 ships in port that day. We're going on Freedom for this spring break.

[nbsjcruiser]

We had a terrific time this past summer on the Freedom of the Seas, and would love to take the kids for their first cruise experience.

 

Looks like something over spring break would work best....but I"ve read a lot of horror stories in the news about traveling around spring break time, people falling off balconies, etc so just wanted to get opinions before I book it. Both on the ship at in port (I'm thinking of doing the 4-day, Nassau, Coco Cay, and Key West trip). Basically are we going to be surrounded by binge drinking insane college students or is it still a good mix of different ages? I really enjoyed on our other cruises, how it's appealing to all ages, from the littlest through grandparents. I assume spring break time would also be a great time for families to get away so it would be well populated by multi-age groups.

 

And I assume the ship is big enough to provide a buffer between different groups of people. It was no problem at all on the other cruises I've been on, with all the different adult/kid areas, bars, restaurants, etc. But I've never done one during spring break time so don't know if it's a different mix.

 

Don't get me wrong, we do like to drink and have a good time, but I just don't want it to be over the top to the point that it isn't fun!

 

Larger ships on 7 day itineraries are no issue. We go that time of year all the time. Its the 3 and 4 day cruises at that time of year that you need to look out for. No worries.

[britty1]

I have cruised on Navigator of the Seas during spring break earlier this year - March 15 - I would never never do it again. A nice number of supervised children in a family setting is just fine, I am not at all against kids cruising. It is the spring break unsupervised children that become a problem. Knocks on the door and of course no one there - you would not get near the food in the windjammer let alone find a place to sit (we ended up having breakfast every morning in the MDR) - children in the elevators stopping on every floor, children pushing elevator buttons then running off. Just kids stuff but for 7 days it got a bit too much for us. The NEVER sail during spring break is still in effect for us. These children were 10 - 15 years of age. Hundreds of them.:D

[mil76]

I have cruised on Navigator of the Seas during spring break earlier this year - March 15 - I would never never do it again. A nice number of supervised children in a family setting is just fine, I am not at all against kids cruising. It is the spring break unsupervised children that become a problem. Knocks on the door and of course no one there - you would not get near the food in the windjammer let alone find a place to sit (we ended up having breakfast every morning in the MDR) - children in the elevators stopping on every floor, children pushing elevator buttons then running off. Just kids stuff but for 7 days it got a bit too much for us. The NEVER sail during spring break is still in effect for us. These children were 10 - 15 years of age. Hundreds of them.:D

 

We have sailed Navigator the past few years out of Galveston and are booked on Liberty next Spring Break as well. We find that as long as you are not cruising on the week where almost all of Texas is on Spring Break, you don't get any of the Spring Break craziness. If you are not already in FL and have to fly, we also find the airfare and cruise cost for Houston/Galveston to be much lower than trying to go out of FL the same week during Spring Break season.

[ckfred]

We did the 4-night cruise on the Majesty during spring break of 2010 with our son, then age 6. We all loved it. You really don't find college students on cruise ships, because it's more expensive than driving to Daytona or the Panhandle and putting a bunch of students in an inexpensive hotel room.

 

By the same token, spring break means a lot of kids to interact with in Adventure Ocean.

 

That said, if you want to avoid the people who sail on a cruise as an excuse to drink a lot and become obnoxious, I would suggest a cruise to Alaska or a cruise in Northern Europe during the summer. In both instances, you have people who see a ship as a means of getting to some out of the way places.

[Clarea]

We did the 4-night cruise on the Majesty during spring break of 2010 with our son, then age 6. We all loved it. You really don't find college students on cruise ships, because it's more expensive than driving to Daytona or the Panhandle and putting a bunch of students in an inexpensive hotel room.

 

By the same token, spring break means a lot of kids to interact with in Adventure Ocean.

 

That said, if you want to avoid the people who sail on a cruise as an excuse to drink a lot and become obnoxious, I would suggest a cruise to Alaska or a cruise in Northern Europe during the summer. In both instances, you have people who see a ship as a means of getting to some out of the way places.

That has not been our experience on Monarch during spring break.

[Fouremco]

As a matter of curiosity, how does one determine when spring break takes place in the US? I'm assuming that not all universities, colleges and high-schools take the same week off, so other than avoiding the month of March, how do you know which week(s) to avoid?

[Clarea]

As a matter of curiosity, how does one determine when spring break takes place in the US? I'm assuming that not all universities, colleges and high-schools take the same week off, so other than avoiding the month of March, how do you know which week(s) to avoid?

If you want to avoid college spring break, you would pretty much have to eliminate all of March.

[Awaken]

OP here- Wow- thanks so much for all of your input! It was great to read about your experiences. Although with all the varied experiences people have had, I am no closer to a decision :D I"m really glad to hear it's possible to have a great trip over spring break, and that some do it often and enjoy it! The bathroom trashing, throwing of deck chairs, puking in elevators, young adults crowding the kiddie pool, stressed staff having to deal with all of that, is what I had in mind to avoid when we go with the kids!

 

Our Spring break is the end of April, and I looked it up and it appears that nearly every college in the US is the beginning of March or thereabouts. So we may be in the clear as far as college students! May still be tons of younger kids though.

 

Just curious, how about ships in ports at that time of year (end of April)- I went in Feb. and in August and there was usually 1, max of 2 in port and at times it seemed crazy at Labadee and Caymans. I"ve heard there can be 6-8 ships at some points- is that totally insane at Coco Cay, Nassau, Key West or can they more comfortably manage the influx of tourists?

 

Is it different on other cruise lines that cater more to the adult crowd? I read about Norwegian but haven't looked too much into it.

 

If it were just my spouse and I, we would definitely do 7-10 days. But with 3 kids....the sleep deprivation and living in tight quarters and being with crowds for that long, would not be a pretty sight ;) And Alaska, Europe, etc are probably out for now due to cost but are definitely on our long term bucket list.

 

So I'm probably in the same boat (literally, ha) as most of the other 1,000's of families wanting to do the shorter, more affordable, closer, Caribbean cruise with kids :)

Edited October 5, 2015 by Awaken

[orville99]

As a matter of curiosity, how does one determine when spring break takes place in the US? I'm assuming that not all universities, colleges and high-schools take the same week off, so other than avoiding the month of March, how do you know which week(s) to avoid?

 

 

See post #16 in this thread. College spring break season starts in early February and peaks in mid-March. It trails off at the end of March, when the k-12 schools start to peak. In the peak weeks (last week in February through mid-March), the average is ~2 million college students on break each week.

[CookieDiva]

You really don't find college students on cruise ships

 

Our 2 older daughters both did cruise vacations on spring breaks when they were in college. One as an undergrad. One in graduate school.

[orville99]

 

Just curious, how about ships in ports at that time of year (end of April)- I went in Feb. and in August and there was usually 1, max of 2 in port and at times it seemed crazy at Labadee and Caymans. I"ve heard there can be 6-8 ships at some points- is that totally insane at Coco Cay, Nassau, Key West or can they more comfortably manage the influx of tourists?

 

If it were just my spouse and I, we would definitely do 7-10 days. But with 3 kids....the sleep deprivation and living in tight quarters and being with crowds for that long, would not be a pretty sight ;) And Alaska, Europe, etc are probably out for now due to cost but are definitely on our long term bucket list.

 

So I'm probably in the same boat (literally, ha) as most of the other 1,000's of families wanting to do the shorter, more affordable, closer, Caribbean cruise with kids :)

 

Labadee and Coco Cay are private ports of call, so the most you'd ever see at either is two ships (and that is rare); Nassau caps out at 5-6 ships, and I don't believe Key West can handle more than three at any one time. The Caymans get crowded once you get two-three ships there, and the most we've ever seen there was five.

[orville99]

We did the 4-night cruise on the Majesty during spring break of 2010 with our son, then age 6. We all loved it. You really don't find college students on cruise ships, because it's more expensive than driving to Daytona or the Panhandle and putting a bunch of students in an inexpensive hotel room.

 

By the same token, spring break means a lot of kids to interact with in Adventure Ocean.

 

That said, if you want to avoid the people who sail on a cruise as an excuse to drink a lot and become obnoxious, I would suggest a cruise to Alaska or a cruise in Northern Europe during the summer. In both instances, you have people who see a ship as a means of getting to some out of the way places.

 

 

We do a spring break cruise the first or second week of March every year (mostly 5-night, but the occasional 7-night and 3-night as well), and we've always seen a ton of college students on board.

[Fouremco]

See post #16 in this thread. College spring break season starts in early February and peaks in mid-March. It trails off at the end of March, when the k-12 schools start to peak. In the peak weeks (last week in February through mid-March), the average is ~2 million college students on break each week.

Thanks, Orville, I did see your earlier post. Unfortunately, it listed 2016 dates and we are booked for 2017, which was why I was hoping there might be a magic formula based on when Easter falls or something similar. :) Hopefully, with a latish March 7-day booking, we'll be ok.

[orville99]

Thanks, Orville, I did see your earlier post. Unfortunately, it listed 2016 dates and we are booked for 2017, which was why I was hoping there might be a magic formula based on when Easter falls or something similar. :) Hopefully, with a latish March 7-day booking, we'll be ok.

 

I think you'll find (for the most part) that colleges and universities in the states generally schedule their spring break weeks at the same time every year. So, while a particular college may not be out in a given week, the overall number and names of participating colleges will be essentially the same in 2017 as they are in 2016

Edited October 5, 2015 by orville99

[mymirabella]

I thought someone on the booking needed to be 25 and someone in the room needed to be 21 I would have thought that would lessen the college break numbers.

[Clarea]

I thought someone on the booking needed to be 25 and someone in the room needed to be 21 I would have thought that would lessen the college break numbers.

Royal only requires a guest of age 21 to be in a stateroom by themselves or with those under 21. Otherwise they require the stateroom to be next to or across the hall from the responsible adult.

Edited October 5, 2015 by clarea

[momof3cruisers]

I think you'll find (for the most part) that colleges and universities in the states generally schedule their spring break weeks at the same time every year. So, while a particular college may not be out in a given week, the overall number and names of participating colleges will be essentially the same in 2017 as they are in 2016

 

I agree. From my own college experience and my daughter's current college, the weeks stay pretty close to the same dates from year to year.