Kids Ruling the ship?

[mommyto2monsters]

To kind of piggy back on another thread without hijacking that thread:

 

Obviously the kids break times are the most popular for the family cruiser, with that in mind, which of the break times seems to be the most packed with kids (HS and under)

 

We just returned from 7 day western Caribbean 12/17-12/24 and it was crowded but manageable. One of the bartenders told us that the next week that the child population would double. The kids were able to get to splash academy every time we dropped them, even though they handed out the "we have a higher than normal child population" letter to every parent at registration.

 

I am looking to book our next cruise and I am debating over Spring Break (April ish, December, or Summer Break) and trying to see what is the best bet for a lower kiddo population. We do have kids (8 & 10) so of course I don't minds kids on board, would like a healthy amount for my kids to play with, just don't want to be overrun with them :)

[shof515]

for me, never sail from the middle of June to first week of September. Summer is always always worse.

[mommyto2monsters]

for me, never sail from the middle of June to first week of September. Summer is always always worse.

 

 

Noted :) I am also skeptical of those times due to hurricane season, being on the NC coast I am fully aware of this fun time of year.....however my husband is wanting to go when it is warmer, it was a little too cool for him in the mid 80s before Christmas :rolleyes:

[mpk218]

Just off Pearl , western 12/23-30 . Was not bad in my opinion. We have sailed many a kids break cruise so , I know what your looking at. Lots of Family on board but mostly teens , not many toddlers . A few managed to make up for those that were missing by being rude little ****s. But all in all not bad..;)

[mommyto2monsters]

A few managed to make up for those that were missing by being rude little ****s. .

 

:'):'):')

 

Always some in the bunch! However I have to say from 12/17-12/24 the majority of rudeness was not from those under 18 :rolleyes: it was the entitled to everything bunch

[Peachypooh]

We sailed the Gem out of NY once the last week in August just before Labor Day. I was surprised that there weren't more kids than they were. To give you an idea in Splash Academy that week for both the pirate's parade and the circus performance I can safely safe it didn't look like more than 50-60 kids participated and when I went to pick up my grandkids one night there were only around 30kids in there playing games. I was told that the week before was filled with kids but the school aged kids tend to drop right before school starts. It might be different for you but just mentioning what the situation was for us. Also the number of toddlers wasn't that high but unfortunately the ones that were there were allowed to jump around and scream in the restaurants.

[Kierste]

I think it depends on the length of the cruise too... we did an 11 day on the Pearl over spring break (including Easter) and had like 200 kids on board. 7 days on the Escape (same week, but Easter was the next week) and had 1500 kids on board—500 of which were eligible for Entourage which was my daughter’s group. But even then, we didn’t feel like the kids ruled the ship.

[BostonGal35]

we avoid February vacation (usually presidents week) and April vacation (usually the 3rd week of April), june 1st to august 30th, and thanksgiving and christmas weeks. we do not like ships packed with children.

[casofilia]

We have very frequently had fewer than 10 below the age of 18 on the boat but that is because we invariably do cruises on 2 weeks or longer and find it doesn't matter when we take them.

[mommyto2monsters]

we avoid February vacation (usually presidents week) and April vacation (usually the 3rd week of April), june 1st to august 30th, and thanksgiving and christmas weeks. we do not like ships packed with children.

 

Can tell you are from up north :D (besides the user name) originally from NH where we had Feb & April vacation.

 

Living in NC we only have one spring break to worry about and it's different every year.......

[candigirl41]

Not trying to hijack this thread, but why do they allow more children on board than they have room for in the kids program? I remember one year I wanted to book a Princess cruise and was told I would have to be waitlisted as they already had their quota of children booked. Just curious.

 

Candi

[amallison]

Just off Pearl , western 12/23-30 . Was not bad in my opinion. We have sailed many a kids break cruise so , I know what your looking at. Lots of Family on board but mostly teens , not many toddlers . A few managed to make up for those that were missing by being rude little ****s. But all in all not bad..;)

 

We were on this sailing as well. We were a group of 22, ranging in age from 1 to 60 and everybody managed to have a blast. There were a good number of kids on board but I didn't think it was too bad either. A lot of teens and like you said not many toddlers. My children are 7 & 9 and they made lots of friends. I understand that kids are going to be kids sometimes but there was one pair of siblings that were so rude and hateful that I wish I would've ran into their parents.

[mommyto2monsters]

Not trying to hijack this thread, but why do they allow more children on board than they have room for in the kids program? I remember one year I wanted to book a Princess cruise and was told I would have to be waitlisted as they already had their quota of children booked. Just curious.

 

Candi

 

I don't know 100% but I would assume so since not every parent registers their child in the Splash Academy. They did give us a printout that said they had a higher capacity of children that week and there may be wait times or inability for access to the club if they are over their ratio.