How "bad" are spring break cruises?

[kwazi07]

Hi everyone!

 

I'm booked for a cruise in March...spring break season.

 

It's a five both out of Miami. I'm worried it will be overrun by college kids. I don't care about little kids because we have kids in our party...but I really don't want to deal with too rowdy of a crowd.

 

Have any of y'all had experience with these groups? This cruise is a little more pricey than others...I'm hoping more of the college bunch will be drawn to the 3/4 nighters on the older ships.

 

I used my phone to type this, excuse any typos please!

[BobbyD]

We have often cruised in March. We will do so again this spring on the Allure. We have never had a bad experience with the spring break crowd on any cruise. I think the real party boats are the shorter, 3 or 4 day cruises. Others might have different experiences but mine have been fine.

[cb at sea]

They are really no different than any other cruise. Ships sail FULL on all sailings, so there are no more passengers that week than any other.

 

College kids have to be between 21 and 25 to sail alone....and they cannot afford more than 3-4 nighters. If you're doing a full week, you will have FAMILIES..not frat boys! No worries!

 

We sail mainly in the spring...good weather! We've NEVER had a problem with anything resembling nutsy, crazy partiers!

Edited November 7, 2016 by cb at sea

[secrui]

I beg to differ with the previous posts.

 

My wife and I were on a 7-night cruise several years ago during spring break. It was basically "Animal House at Sea". The cruise line could care less, as one student drank more alcohol in one day than my wife and I drank the whole week, and Mommy and Daddy were paying for their cruise.

 

To be fair, there were 4 colleges/universities represented on board, and all the problems were caused by students from one university.

[davekathy]

They are really no different than any other cruise. Ships sail FULL on all sailings, so there are no more passengers that week than any other.

 

College kids have to be between 21 and 25 to sail alone....and they cannot afford more than 3-4 nighters. If you're doing a full week, you will have FAMILIES..not frat boys! No worries!

 

We sail mainly in the spring...good weather! We've NEVER had a problem with anything resembling nutsy, crazy partiers!

 

Agree.

[Ourusualbeach]

We've done 5 day cruises on Liberty and Jewel, 4 day on Enchsntment and Majesty and a7 day on Allure in March. I would go back on any of them.

 

As others said they are all full, the difference being in the age of the kids. Definitely more college age kids on the 4 night cruises while the 5 and 7 day cruises were more families. One thing I did notice on the 4 night cruises was the WJ didn't seem quite as crowded at breakfast and lunch as most of the college kids were probably still sleeping.:D

[easyboy]

We have always done the Caribbean cruise in March and have never been bothered by rowdy drinkers. It could be that we don't usually hang around the ship late at night.

[Grandma Dazzles]

I beg to differ with the previous posts.

 

My wife and I were on a 7-night cruise several years ago during spring break. It was basically "Animal House at Sea". The cruise line could care less, as one student drank more alcohol in one day than my wife and I drank the whole week, and Mommy and Daddy were paying for their cruise.

 

To be fair, there were 4 colleges/universities represented on board, and all the problems were caused by students from one university.

 

Never had this happen and like other posters have sailed during February through March for many years, primarily on RC.

 

Curious as to the cruise line. With the age restrictions for booking cabins, drinking on board, and price of cruises 7 days or longer, I don't think of spring breakers when booking a cruise.

I do think some ports of call, Cozumel for example, may have more college students.

[riclop]

Hi everyone!

 

I'm booked for a cruise in March...spring break season.

 

It's a five both out of Miami. I'm worried it will be overrun by college kids. I don't care about little kids because we have kids in our party...but I really don't want to deal with too rowdy of a crowd.

 

Have any of y'all had experience with these groups? This cruise is a little more pricey than others...I'm hoping more of the college bunch will be drawn to the 3/4 nighters on the older ships.

 

I used my phone to type this, excuse any typos please!

 

You never know what you will get.

[goldgirl2]

I will never ever do it again. Last year we did a 6 night with thousands of Florida State students. They were horrible. They took over the bars. They took over the pool. The took over the hot tubs. Hot tubs were mostly closed the whole trip due to drunk kids vomiting in it. We saw a lot of under age drinking. Kids sharing drink packages. Disgusting loud vulgar behavior in the MDR nightly (example: girls on there knees in front of a guy while he held a beer bottle in front of his private are and everyone yelling chug) I could go on and on. I have never been so happy to get off a ship. We did sit next to three nice young gentleman at the pool one day who were actually studying for the MCAT. They were from the University of Michigan. No surprise there.

This next cruise we are on a very expensive 8 night cruise.

Edited November 7, 2016 by goldgirl2

[vfnelson2]

We were on an RCL and Princess 7 day cruise in March. We had maybe 4 college kids on the RCL that I remember. They figured out they should have been on been on a Carnival ship because RCL was not a party hard ship. At the time we went on RCL, RCL & Carnival prices were there same. The price difference for those two ships are quite different now. I would bet if a spring breaker goes on a cruise, it would be on a shorter and cheaper cruise, more likely Carnival.

 

We had no issues on the ships we went on with spring breakers.

 

Sent from my Pixel using Forums mobile app

Edited November 7, 2016 by vfnelson2

[CP3o]

We've had good experiences but always sailed second half of March or later, when K-12 typically have spring break, not earlier in March with college spring breaks. We are also rarely out past 11.

 

Some of the posters could have been on college spring break sailings that may have even had somewhat organized groups (groups of almost anything can cause issues) encouraging a concentration of college kids on those sailings.

[micmacmissy]

Do a google search of "college spring break" and the name of your ship and date. If there are any big organized groups, you will find them.

 

I think the problem is when you have several dozen/hundred in a big group!

[dasi11]

If you want to avoid spring break, be careful cruising end of Feb. and March. I live in Florida. I have 3 college age or just finished college kids. They all CRUISED for spring break. It is hit or miss with the schools targeting certain ships. My sons choose RCL to do their spring break cruises. This year we are taking my daughter on Navigator March 12. FSU is on break and I know she has plenty of friends cruising that ship.

 

It has become a right of passage so to speak for college kids. They will be on the ships but will there be 100 from each school or 2000? They go to the Islands to drink and party with a drinking age of 18. 25+ years ago they would go to Daytona, now they cruise.

 

So many people are commenting on this topic but they do not live in Florida and do not know that Florida, Georgia and North Carolina kids cruise for spring break. Lots of other schools too, but it is not as easy as when you can get in a car and drive to the port. I have lost count of the number of cruises my kids have taken for spring break with their friends... please know that the short cruises 3-5 days will be loaded with spring breakers. Some ships more that others. 7 days cruises are families cruising for spring break. Parents are usually on the ships... The shorter cruises give the kids a few days at home with family and a few days of Party time while they take a break from school.

 

The Fraternities and Sororities organize these trips with a 21 year old in each room so they can all get on the ship. The last 2 cruises my son did were over 2500 just from UF. His fraternity had over 200 in just his group all getting on the same ship. All the fraternities targeted the same ship. A 5 day out of Lauderdale booked the first week in March. Other schools in Florida do the same for their breaks during March. Here is a video on one of my sons spring break cruises.

 

 

Here is a break down of what schools have break when you are cruising. http://www.studentcity.com/plan-a-trip/overview/when-my-spring-break

 

You may be absolutely fine or you may end up with 2-3k kids from the same school and they take over the ship.

Edited November 7, 2016 by dasi11

[kwazi07]

If you want to avoid spring break, be careful cruising end of Feb. and March. I live in Florida. I have 3 college age or just finished college kids. They all CRUISED for spring break. It is hit or miss with the schools targeting certain ships. My sons choose RCL to do their spring break cruises. This year we are taking my daughter on Navigator March 12. FSU is on break and I know she has plenty of friends cruising that ship.

 

It has become a right of passage so to speak for college kids. They will be on the ships but will there be 100 from each school or 2000? They go to the Islands to drink and party with a drinking age of 18. 25+ years ago they would go to Daytona, now they cruise.

 

So many people are commenting on this topic but they do not live in Florida and do not know that Florida, Georgia and North Carolina kids cruise for spring break. Lots of other schools too, but it is not as easy as when you can get in a car and drive to the port. I have lost count of the number of cruises my kids have taken for spring break with their friends... please know that the short cruises 3-5 days will be loaded with spring breakers. Some ships more that others. 7 days cruises are families cruising for spring break. Parents are usually on the ships... The shorter cruises give the kids a few days at home with family and a few days of Party time while they take a break from school.

 

The Fraternities and Sororities organize these trips with a 21 year old in each room so they can all get on the ship. The last 2 cruises my son did were over 2500 just from UF. His fraternity had over 200 in just his group all getting on the same ship. All the fraternities targeted the same ship. A 5 day out of Lauderdale booked the first week in March. Other schools in Florida do the same for their breaks during March. Here is a video on one of my sons spring break cruises.

 

 

Here is a break down of what schools have break when you are cruising. http://www.studentcity.com/plan-a-trip/overview/when-my-spring-break

 

You may be absolutely fine or you may end up with 2-3k kids from the same school and they take over the ship.

Thanks for the info! We're actually going on Navigator on March 12 too!

 

I used my phone to type this, excuse any typos please!

[moonltnite]

I googled and found the Enchantment of the Seas cruise on March 13-17 is being billed as

"Inception at Sea" by student city.com as a spring break party cruise and music festival.

Edited November 7, 2016 by moonltnite

[Tin can]

Do a google search of "college spring break" and the name of your ship and date.

 

This throws up some very interesting options. NCL seems strongly promoted with what looks like chartered spring break cruises. Its not something that happens over here in the UK so quite interesting to read about. If only I was 20+ years younger....... American and in College :D

 

We are on Oasis on 9th April (get off on Easter Sunday) so I'm guessing we'll miss your Spring Break?

[bigque]

Went on Enchantment last year in March during spring break. There was lots of kids from elementary school to college age. Although the college age kids were not very rowdy, there were just more kids than we like on the cruise which is why we like to cruise in the October time frame during our anniversary. It wasn't really bed but we won't do it again because from what I have heard it's like Forrest Gump said.......It's like a box of chocolates...you never know what you're going to get! :cool:

[FOXTROT]

We went on ONE 7 day cruise at spring break, ONE. Never again. It was the Mariner when it was new. Most where of high school age. The crew was up almost all night cleaning up the mess from the kids. They had a chocolate buffet one night. They would load up their plates eat one item & throw the rest away. Elevator doors were broke, initials carved into the new wood. Several kids were removed from the ship. It's your vacation spend your money how you want. For us never again.

[bouhunter]

. We did sit next to three nice young gentleman at the pool one day who were actually studying for the MCAT. They were from the University of Michigan. No surprise there.

.

 

Must not have been the same UofM students who practically destroyed a lodging building at a ski resort a couple years ago.......

[Big_G]

It depends on the length of the cruise, the mix of ages, and your tolerance level. We've had varying experience but having worked in college public safety for a short while, my tolerance level is pretty high. I may have witnessed a couple of laughable moments but none that disturbed my cruise. That said, I know that not all college kids are created equal nor are people's tolerance levels.

[CruisingChick]

 

We are on Oasis on 9th April (get off on Easter Sunday) so I'm guessing we'll miss your Spring Break?

 

You will miss the college spring breaks but some of the K-12 crowd will be out of school for Easter/Spring break. Our schools are on vacation April 9-15.

 

Schools around the country all have different schedules and breaks.

Edited November 7, 2016 by CruisingChick

[sjb317]

Our one and only spring break experience was in 2001, after which I swore I would never cruise during spring break again. Flying down the airport was packed, 3 lanes of stop and start traffic just to be dropped off.

 

Embarking on Explorer in Miami was a 2 hour fiasco, by the time we got checked in I was ready to throw both husband and 18 year old off the ship.

 

The ship was packed! But I will say we did not witness any bad behavior, just entertaining at times.:D However, getting off the ship at ports was a long, long line and getting back on was even worse.

 

Disembarking was a nightmare, Miami airport was a nightmare, and Indy airport was a nightmare.

 

The end of February, all of March and first of April is now my stay at home time!:)

 

Sherri:)

[Jenjer]

Anything shorter than a week and you are in trouble. Over a week it will be mostly families with some college kids.

 

Agreed plan on extra airport time because so many kids fly these days for spring break its extra busy. DO NOT book a early flight home.

 

You can still have a great time in fact some might say the nightlife and pool life are much better with all the party boys and girls.

[scottygirl]

Must not have been the same UofM students who practically destroyed a lodging building at a ski resort a couple years ago.......

 

 

 

:D:D:D Agreed! They know how to party in A2, they are no angels.

 

 

Go Green!