More kids during spring break?

[jabrown40]

We are planning another cruise for next March. On our 3/6 Silhouette cruise, we saw just a handful of children. We are looking at March18th next year, which is spring break for many school age children now. Has anyone noticed more children onboard during this time period?

[Oceangoer2]

yes, and teacher moms and dads. All ages of kids.

[waterbug123]

There will always be a lot more kids on board during school breaks... Christmas, spring break, summer, etc.

[RCKM43]

If it is a 7 day cruise I would expect to see more kids and families mid to late March.

[eandj]

Mid March thru the week after Easter. Week long cruises. Avoid those two if you want few if any kids/families.

Edited March 22, 2016 by eandj

[Keith1010]

Yes, there will be more children that week.

 

Keith

[dkjretired]

There will always be a lot more kids on board during school breaks... Christmas, spring break, summer, etc.

 

Yes, and the week before and after Easter which is late next year, I believe April 15.

[KirkNC]

Yes, lots of them.

[waterbug123]

A good point to mention:

 

"Spring break" can span a period of time that can be as much as 4 or 5 weeks. Some schools schedule spring break for the week before or after Easter regardless of whether Easter is early or late. This means their break is anywhere from late March to mid April. On the other hand, some schools schedule their break for mid-semester which can be anywhere from mid to late March, regardless of whether Easter falls during that time period or not.

(now insert 500 replies from people who want to tell you EXACTLY when THEIR spring break is, LOL ;))

[Nitemare]

We didn't notice much of an increase in young children on the Connie last week, but definitely many more 18-30 year olds, and actual Pool Activities, that we'd never seen before on Celebrity or Princess.

 

Many fewer walkers and wheelchairs, too.

[Jeremiah1212]

A good point to mention:

 

"Spring break" can span a period of time that can be as much as 4 or 5 weeks. Some schools schedule spring break for the week before or after Easter regardless of whether Easter is early or late. This means their break is anywhere from late March to mid April. On the other hand, some schools schedule their break for mid-semester which can be anywhere from mid to late March, regardless of whether Easter falls during that time period or not.

(now insert 500 replies from people who want to tell you EXACTLY when THEIR spring break is, LOL ;))

 

Exactly! If you want to avoid the bulk of kids and families, avoid dates anywhere between President's Day and Easter, which is what we do. A lot of schools in the Northeast have the week of President's Day off rather than 'Spring Break' since they attend later into the summer than schools in the Midwest. We were on NCL the week after President's Day this year and heard multiple times there were nearly 1,500 kids on board during that week.

[2CatsInFlorida]

We are going on Silli next Sunday, Easter, for 7 nights. Will let you know when we return.

 

Our 2/21/16 cruise on RCI Freedom was fine, not many young people.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

Edited March 22, 2016 by 2CatsInFlorida

[phoenix_dream]

You will definitely see a lot more kids on Celebrity during the Spring Break weeks. As noted, these weeks span quite a long period of time - different parts of the country break at different times; parochial schools break at different times than public schools sometimes; and college breaks are different than lower levels.

 

That said, it is all relative. I have sailed many times on Spring Break when my youngest was cruising with us and was in school. There were a number of kids, but compared to RCI or Carnival, the numbers are not necessarily significant. But if you want a much quieter, adult oriented cruise - avoid that time.

 

What I would NOT ever do again is book a 4 or 5 day over college spring break. We were on the infamous college spring break cruise last March on Connie and it was like a re-run of Animal House. Let's just say the drink package had a lot to do with it - kids 21 and over were getting sloppy drunk, and then getting shot after shot after shot for their under 21 companions. The crew tried to control it, but failed miserably. But never seen that happen on a 7 day cruise.

[JanineM]

We've sailed on Royal Caribbean and Celebrity at peak 'kid' times (Spring Break and Christmas). There will definitely be more children around, but generally I'd say they aren't that noticeable. Many parents want to enjoy themselves so kids are in the club.

 

At Christmas there were over 500 children on our cruise and the only time there was a problem was when parents insisted on bringing kids into the Solarium. The pool butlers were pretty good about shooing them away, but in most cases the poorly behaved parties were the parents - who argued with the pool butlers.

[Oceangoer2]

Our experience last year's March break...many children/pre-teens/teens. They didn't know what to do with themselves. Sitting in the basket atrium chairs...not in them, on TOP of them was one example. We had a 'mommy' next to us on the sun deck telling her child..."mommy will be right here all day, so have fun with your friends". Child was left to own devices ALL DAY. Whatever possesses someone to leave their child with the possibility of some child molester on board?? BTW...I heard this mommy say she was a teacher.

[Jenlegs]

We cruised Celebrity on February 14th this year, which ended up being school vacation week for K-12 in Massachusetts (we flew out of Boston). There were supposedly 100 kids on board the Silhouette, but we saw probably six of them the entire time, and they were well behaved. I actually felt bad for them, particularly when we docked next to the Oasis!

 

I did a TON of research before booking our next cruise, and opted for Celebrity again, partly for this reason. I did find some interesting statistics on spring break dates for 2017, as follows:

 

February 19 - Massachusetts K-12; college 103K

February 26 - New Hampshire K-12; college 320K

March 5 - college 1.78M

March 12 - college 2.27M

March 19 - college 980K

March 26 - college 301K

 

Aside from being overrun by kids (I have two; I love them dearly, but this is MY vacation), we have to be mindful of flight loads, as we fly space available. Also, check the cruise line's policy for minimum age to travel alone, if you're concerned about college spring-breakers -- some require passengers under 21 to travel with someone who is at least 25 years old.

[Rob the Cruiser]

We are going on Silli next Sunday, Easter, for 7 nights. Will let you know when we return.

 

Our 2/21/16 cruise on RCI Freedom was fine, not many young people.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

Are you planning to rekindle your college glory days? :D

[jabrown40]

I've also looked at various states, a lot of k-12 seems to be off after the March 18th cruise we are booking. Probably due to the later Easter date next year. It was 100.00 less pp for that date. Probably not a coincidence.

[Flafun888]

Are you planning to rekindle your college glory days? :D

 

We're on that sailing too. I'm hoping for a fun crowd of all ages, ready to savor some classic or premium beverage package fun. :D

 

But from what I've heard from others who sailed at this time, the 7-day Eastern Caribbean X cruise usually don't experience the same spring break craziness...given such a wide choice of 4-7 day RC, Carnival and NCL sailings available that seem to market a much more late night party atmosphere or latest/greatest water slide/rock climbing and whatever else for kids.

 

Hopefully I'm not totally off-base - or I may be returning here to confirm when NOT to book. :D

[rbird]

Just got off a Celebrity cruise 2 days ago. I noticed some children but really NOT a huge amount. I saw some teens hanging out in the egg chair things but that was really it. So either Celebrity hid them really well or there weren't a terrible amount to begin with.:rolleyes:

[Cruise Junky]

I'm torn on two dates on Sihouette

March 26 - April 9 or

April 9 - 16 (16th is Easter Sunday)

 

I'm thinking maybe the last march date might be better for less kids/spring breakers ? Thoughts

[Sandtrap328]

If you can, skip the Sillie cruise and book the 14 day Eclipse cruise. It is one of the best itineraries and, due to length, has very few children of any age.

[Cruise Junky]

If you can, skip the Sillie cruise and book the 14 day Eclipse cruise. It is one of the best itineraries and, due to length, has very few children of any age.

 

Can't. Don't even think we can swing the 10 day because of time off. Unfortunately our vacation year runs fiscal year and we have 3 weeks in Australia in the same year. I certainly don't mind some kids and they won't be too many in the Martini bar ;)