5 Night Cruise and College-age Spring Breakers

[maryland]

Thinking of booking the Emerald for a 5 night cruise in March. One hesitation-will the ship be overrun with partying college kids? I've already checked and there are a lot of colleges on spring break during our available dates. I've seen videos and pictures from college cruises and am hoping to avoid this by sailing Princess. Any thoughts or knowledge based on past experiences? My main concern is that my 80 year old parents want to come too. Thanks so much

[Working 2 Cruise]

Yes, there will be a "boatload" of families and kids. I'd avoid this like the plague!

[maryland]

Thanks, but it's not the families and kids I'm worried about, it's the college age students. Does Princess normally attract the large college groups?

Edited February 1, 2016 by maryland
Typo

[RASHOPPER2]

We were on a similar cruise last year. There were many spring break kids on the cruise. The pool area was very noisy, and we retreated to the Sanctuary for some quiet and relaxation. I would suggest choosing another time for your cruise.

[long cruiser]

No way.

long cruiser

[Coral]

Thanks, but it's not the families and kids I'm worried about, it's the college age students. Does Princess normally attract the large college groups?

 

Ironically - never had a problem with college students and Princess. It is the unsupervised school aged kids that have caused problems.

[skynight]

If inside cabins are inexpensive plus a promo there is a good chance a 5 night cruise will attract college students. Stick with the longer cruises at this time of year.

[flamomo]

I only ever did a short cruise during spring break once, and would not do it again. We could not enjoy our balcony much of the time because of all the shouting between balconies by a number of young "adults". Some of the shouting included some 4 letter words that were pretty crude.

And yes, this was on a Princess cruise.

[cb at sea]

You won't find "kids" under 21 sailing alone...it's not allowed! So, it's mainly families. No worries!

And I don't know about today's college kids...but I couldn't have afforded a 5 night cruise when I was in college!

[J&KCruisers]

We have done a couple "Spring Break" cruises.

 

It will have lots of kids under 21 and few college age. The problems are the young kids running all over the ship unsupervised. Princess trys their best with the "youth security", but the results are marginal at best.

 

I concur, book a longer cruise if you are trying to avoid this.

 

Happy Cruiseing:D:D

[Keith1010]

You will still have a lot of teenagers with their parents.

 

Keith

[tampacruiser]

so first of all I guess by the OPs statement there is an assumption that all college students are partiers! March and April are both months when school children and colleges are off. If being with anyone under the age of 25 bothers you that much than just don't go then. Honestly I have witnessed more unruly, stupid, selfish, and arrogant adults in my 25 years of cruising so having younger folks around really wouldn't faze me. I'm sailing Regal in March because school is closed and my wife is a teacher and my 17 year old daughter and her best friend are coming to celebrate their HS graduation! A few years back I did Celebrity Solstice to Alaska with my college aged son so when I hear all the comments about college partiers and unruly kids I kind of have issue with that.... When a ship has thousands of people on it, odds are you are going to run in some folks....(KIDS OR ADULTS) that may be an issue. Don't let it spoil your vacation

Edited February 1, 2016 by tampacruiser

[FritzG]

Ironically - never had a problem with college students and Princess. It is the unsupervised school aged kids that have caused problems.

 

I agree. In 2013 we couldn't book a cruise any other time than March. We were on a Ruby 5 day cruise b2b with a 4 day.

 

On the 5 day there were lots of collage age passengers, and we rarely saw them unless we were by the pools. I didn't see any partying or horseplay in the pools; they mostly sunbathed and visited with each other. The buffets and dining room were not busy so I assume they lived on pizza and the Trident Grill. My room service hang tags stayed on my door each night.

 

On the 4 day there were few college students, but lots of families who boarded and turned their kids loose for 4 days except for dinner time. There was racing around in the halls, the dining room was very noisy, and the hang tag for room service was taken down 2 of the 4 days. When I called to find out why my breakfast was so late the poor server said they were going crazy trying to get orders out. He told me that crew members found piles of the hang tags in a garbage can on deck.

 

However, I'd still avoid anything shorter than a 10 day cruise in March.

Edited February 1, 2016 by FritzG

[Thrak]

Hopefully things work out for you. I've never done a Spring Break cruise but I know some folks who did their first (and last!) cruise during Spring Break. They were on a Carnival ship though. It was such a bad experience that they will never cruise again.

 

This sort of thing makes me sooooooooooo happy that my wife and I started out with a 10 day SF/Alaska round trip on Sea Princess. We fell in love with cruising. (Of course that does mean it has cost me quite a bit of money so maybe I would have been better off with a cruise from hell and no more cruising? NAH... I don't think so.)

Edited February 1, 2016 by Thrak

[Coral]

I agree. In 2013 we couldn't book a cruise any other time than March. We were on a Ruby 5 day cruise b2b with a 4 day.

 

On the 5 day there were lots of collage age passengers, and we rarely saw them unless we were by the pools. I didn't see any partying or horseplay in the pools; they mostly sunbathed and visited with each other. The buffets and dining room were not busy so I assume they lived on pizza and the Trident Grill. My room service hang tags stayed on my door each night.

 

On the 4 day there were few college students, but lots of families who boarded and turned their kids loose for 4 days except for dinner time. There was racing around in the halls, the dining room was very noisy, and the hang tag for room service was taken down 2 of the 4 days. When I called to find out why my breakfast was so late the poor server said they were going crazy trying to get orders out. He told me that crew members found piles of the hang tags in a garbage can on deck.

 

However, I'd still avoid anything shorter than a 10 day cruise in March.

 

That is my experience -the college students I have seen mostly hung out by the pool and didn't bother any one. I am sure they visited Skywalkers at night. Rowdy college students don't seek Princess out.

 

We had one case where several families cruised together. At dinner, they would put all the kids at one very large table and the parents nearby. The kids started a food fight and the parents didn't do anything to stop it. I felt so sorry for the waitstaff who had to clean up after them.

[Mom33]

Thinking of booking the Emerald for a 5 night cruise in March. One hesitation-will the ship be overrun with partying college kids? I've already checked and there are a lot of colleges on spring break during our available dates. I've seen videos and pictures from college cruises and am hoping to avoid this by sailing Princess. Any thoughts or knowledge based on past experiences? My main concern is that my 80 year old parents want to come too. Thanks so much

 

This was my experience last March....:D

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2179869

[floridalover5623]

Why set yourself up for potential aggravation. You'll probably run into quite a few families with kids that they'll turn loose on a spring break. Look for longer trips & you'll have less problems.

[TracieABD]

I am taking a 4 day cruise from March 10 to 14th. Oh my... I never took college spring break into consideration.

 

I may be hiding out a whole lot. Or the Sanctuary may become my new BFF...

[flcruiser3]

I think you may have a lot of families with kids but I doubt there will be many college age spring breakers. As someone else mentioned, every cabin must have at least one person 21 years old or older. Also, Princess tends to be very strict about no drinking or gambling under 21.

[maryland]

Thanks everyone for your input. Really appreciate it :-) Still undecided, but might just save up and take a nice long cruise over Christmas break!

[mamaboss]

We always cruise in March. Last year was our first 4 and 5 day cruises. There were a few more younger people but never had any problems. Maybe that was luck? Will see in another month.:D

[TracieABD]

OK, friends, so I have booked and paid for the cruise and the flight. So I am all in. Heck or high water, I am doing this.

 

Now the question-- if there are mucho spring breakers, would early or late TD be better? I am leaning toward late.

 

Opinions very, very welcome!

[riclop]

Thinking of booking the Emerald for a 5 night cruise in March. One hesitation-will the ship be overrun with partying college kids? I've already checked and there are a lot of colleges on spring break during our available dates. I've seen videos and pictures from college cruises and am hoping to avoid this by sailing Princess. Any thoughts or knowledge based on past experiences? My main concern is that my 80 year old parents want to come too. Thanks so much

 

Lots of drunks and rowdy people. No way if it's me.

[mammajamma2013]

Several of you have suggested taking longer cruises during spring to avoid spring breakers. What do you consider to be a longer cruise? Would seven days count or does it need to be longer in order to be "safe"?

[Working 2 Cruise]

Several of you have suggested taking longer cruises during spring to avoid spring breakers. What do you consider to be a longer cruise? Would seven days count or does it need to be longer in order to be "safe"?

 

7 days isn't long enough! Anything 10 days over will have very few kids onboard.