Question about avoiding spring break

[ProgRockCruiser]

Oh, and I should note that at least one local college is missing from that list (the one my daughter goes to), so the data is incomplete but probably representative.

[asalligo]

Smack in the middle of spring break. I will be taking my kids on the elation on the very next cruise after that one.

[Purvis1231]

A few years ago we sailed around this time. As we hit the Lido deck the first thing we saw was a young man in the pool in jeans, then I noticed a couple other guys in the hot tub in their BVDs drink form a wine bottle (it was not wine.) It was funny that the waiters were bring them glasses of orange juice to mix with their "wine." I did strike up a conversation with these guys and a few days later one of them used my computer to email his dad for some more money to pay his bar tab.

[asalligo]

I’m so torn. Seems as if some people say no big deal, and others say it’s pretty bad!

 

Because I am restricted to spring break due to wanting my daughters to be able to cruise with me, we cruise every year at spring break, so the answer is both. There will be a ton of kids, but it is also no big deal. If kids bother you, maybe it is a big deal.

[Tampa Bay Irish]

We have taken at least 10 week long Spring Break cruises over the years on both Carnival and Costa. We never had any issues with college kids acting wild. Sadly there were no wet t-shirt contests onboard. If college kids want to get wild on Spring Break they go to Cancun where there is no minimum drinking age. Remember Carnival will not serve them alcohol if they are not 21. There will be families onboard with younger children running amok however. The worst age group are unsupervised tweens and young teens.

[firsttimecruiser9876]

Y’all are so helpful!

[Lonely At The Top]

(trying to delete this post)

Edited February 16, 2018 by Lonely At The Top

[Lonely At The Top]

We have taken at least 10 week long Spring Break cruises over the years on both Carnival and Costa. We never had any issues with college kids acting wild. Sadly there were no wet t-shirt contests onboard. If college kids want to get wild on Spring Break they go to Cancun where there is no minimum drinking age. Remember Carnival will not serve them alcohol if they are not 21. There will be families onboard with younger children running amok however. The worst age group are unsupervised tweens and young teens.

Good post, altho Irish, on the one SB cruise we took, there was a wet t shirt contest....Granted, it was not Carnival sponsored, a few of the Frat Boys put it together on the edge of the pool and contestants were members of a Sorority and whomever else wanted to participate :evilsmile:

 

While there were Carnival attendants out there, they didnt seem to mind the spontaneous activities. DJ stopped his set and played music accordingly with the contest....I would have to put that entertainment right up there as the best over the 4 days....I have never seen parents move so fast to get their little snowflakes out of the pool so quickly and hustle them away :loudcry:

[ABQrobin]

Teenagers are WAY worse than 20s partying college kids. Teens are rude and obnoxious and destructive. Last March was our first and last every during that month. We felt like we were living in a nightmare. Normally we love seeing families on a cruise, we aren't old fuddy-duddies. Just behavior of the teens ruined the ship for us. Ports were still great, but .... never again in March.

 

 

 

 

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[cb at sea]

College kids traveling ALONE need to be at least 21...so that takes out the younger _(18-20) year olds.....

There will always be lots of FAMILIES travels during the spring....."Spring Break" runs from mid-March to the mid-May, really. Shorter cruises are more prone to a party atmosphere than longer trips.

[ProgRockCruiser]

Teenagers are WAY worse than 20s partying college kids. Teens are rude and obnoxious and destructive. Last March was our first and last every during that month. We felt like we were living in a nightmare. Normally we love seeing families on a cruise, we aren't old fuddy-duddies. Just behavior of the teens ruined the ship for us. Ports were still great, but .... never again in March.

..

Late March? Early March? Most teenagers (I assume you mean high or middle schoolers) don't have Spring Break until after most of the colleges.

 

e.g., local county high school spring breaks are 16-23 March in my area of Florida, which is the week after the peak for colleges (see my post above with the table).

[Tampa Bay Irish]

Good post, altho Irish, on the one SB cruise we took, there was a wet t shirt contest....Granted, it was not Carnival sponsored, a few of the Frat Boys put it together on the edge of the pool and contestants were members of a Sorority and whomever else wanted to participate :evilsmile:

 

While there were Carnival attendants out there, they didnt seem to mind the spontaneous activities. DJ stopped his set and played music accordingly with the contest....I would have to put that entertainment right up there as the best over the 4 days....I have never seen parents move so fast to get their little snowflakes out of the pool so quickly and hustle them away :loudcry:

 

I will bet that Carnival got some complaints about allowing the non sanctioned wet t-shirt contest. Years ago Carnival used to have an out of the way, age controlled “topless sunbathing deck.” Only got to experience it once with my wife before the Puritans took it away. That would have been an appropriate venue for the impromptu wet t-shirt contest.

[agp_mzk]

Late March? Early March? Most teenagers (I assume you mean high or middle schoolers) don't have Spring Break until after most of the colleges.

 

e.g., local county high school spring breaks are 16-23 March in my area of Florida, which is the week after the peak for colleges (see my post above with the table).

 

 

 

Not true at all in college towns, in my experience. Public school spring breaks are almost always scheduled to coincide with the local University’s spring break, because many of the parents of public school children are university employees.

 

FYI: I know for a fact that the weekend you’ve chosen coincides with the first weekend of spring break for at least three major state universities within driving distance of Jacksonville. However, most college students can’t afford to cruise on spring break. They typically hit up Panama City, which is much cheaper and more college student friendly (I.e. easier to get away with underage drinking).

 

 

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[Hoosierpop]

I have found older drunks to be more of a bother than younger drunks. Of course, I’m the older drunk.

 

I don’t care if it’s spring break or not. If I want to cruise, I’m cruising.

 

 

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[illiniwahoo]

When I was in college I could have never taken a Thursday - Monday cruise. I would expect the Monday to Thursday cruises packed with college kids during spring break weeks, but the cruises that span two weeks would be more difficult (although admittedly, it's probably the college kids that don't mind missing an extra day that would be the most obnoxious)

 

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[firsttimecruiser9876]

Talking about a 4 night cruise

[bradm77]

We have been on 16 cruises with carnival, and our 5-day out of JAX in mid-March 2016 was, by far, THE WORST.

 

We drink and like to party and have a good time, but the batch of Spring Breakers we had were around 3/4 of the guest total. This was when a lot of cities/towns in that area passed local laws regarding Spring Break outlawing open containers on the beaches, so we ended up with a ship filled to the brim with Spring Breakers - NEVER AGAIN.

 

I can still hear the drunken 3-16!!!! chants in the dining room to go with the screaming and periodic falling down/passing out all up and down Lido deck.

 

I suspect we won't see as many this April on our 7-day to Bermuda.........

[w&k]

Hubby and I did a spring break cruise on his break from nursing school quite awhile ago... it was so long ago we were on the Norway. He was certainly the oldest breaker on the ship - 40 or so. Most of the ship was taken up by a fraternity and sorority, and a few bewildered Floridians. Surprise... the frat boys were well-behaved. The sorority girls were not. Evidently, the girls packed in their purses and forgot all their undergarments. ;p

 

That didn't put us off spring break.

 

BUT... a few years ago, we decided to do a B2B 3/4 day to the Bahamas with some Canadian friends that had never been to the Bahamas. How bad could it be?

 

It turned out that these were the two spring break cruises that changed the policies for all cruise lines (on RCCL). The 3-day weekend cruise had about 750 spring breakers, and it was a madhouse. There was no way we were getting in either the pool or hot tubs (skank stew).

 

On turnaround day, we breathed a sigh of relief, and finally had a soak in the freshly sanitized hot tub.

 

Then... the pool deck started to fill with breakers, and they kept coming. We were forced off the pool deck to hide in the Viking Crown by noon. The officers and security barricaded themselves inside a bulwark of chairs on the pool deck. That cruise was 1800 spring breakers. Checked that off the bucket list.

 

That being said, we're going on the Oasis the end of this month, and am not looking forward to all the kids. But at least it shouldn't be a complete mess.

 

I love going out of Jacksonville, and love the Elation. That being said... I would wait another month if you can.

 

Wendy

[elainmir]

I did a spring break cruise..surprisingly for us they were well behaved. I engaged in some pretty awesome conversation with several of those young men. I guess it varies depending how many are booked and how rowdy they are. I think someone should get wise and just do the wild, spring break cruises for those of that mindset and do a kid free/ everyone over 21 cruise for those that would choose that. I work with kids everyday...I can get a little vocal when parents are letting their kids run wild and just be general hellions. I've honestly had more problems with the young kid ( 9-12 yo) and teenagers ( 15-17) than breakers but hey you don't know what you're going to get on a cruise. Honestly if you want to cruise then do it. You could cruise in any other month and still have a bunch of party animals and rude folks. It's really like the lottery..sometimes you win and sometimes you don't.

[Quilcruisers]

Our spring break is March 12-16, 2018. We are going to Orlando instead of cruising but if we were cruising those days would have been perfect.

 

 

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[EastBay Cruisers]

That date in March is prime spring break season. My husband took my son on a Carnival cruise during mid-March spring break time, because it was the only time that my husband could get vacation days from his work. He is easy-going and gets along well with college and high school kids, but the cruise was a little too much partying.

 

 

The kids partied all night every night, by opening their cabin doors and blasting their music at top volume and by having the party group spilling out into the corridors outside the cabins.

 

 

The ship hit a patch of rough seas, and my husband said that there were empty cans and bottles rolling up and down the hallways, which made a lot of noise, on top of the all-night loud music. Many kids binge-drinking and throwing up over the railings, etc.

 

 

Our son met some new friends and had a fun time. My husband, umm.....not so much. He said that he couldn't get more than a couple of hours of sleep each night, as the music and noise in the corridor was so loud.

 

 

But for some people, that is what floats their boat, so to speak. If this is your idea of fun, then by all means, go for a cruise out of Florida at the height of spring break season.:cool:

[BK512]

The ONLY way to avoid spring break cruises is to not cruise from Presidents Weekend until the end of April.

 

If you MUST cruise at this time, make sure it is at least a 7 night cruise. Short cruises are usually rowdier.

[taylor1293]

You will definitely see a lot of children during that time.

 

I think it’s hit or miss with the college age party crowd. We have cruised three times during spring break.

 

A 4-night Carnival...the college kids were rowdy the first day only.

 

A 7-night NCL...lots of college kids and they were obnoxious on numerous occasions (yelling, chanting etc).

 

And a 7 night Carnival...didn’t notice any craziness.

 

 

 

 

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[AmBear]

Hi guys!! Looking at a 4 night cruise out of Jacksonville Thursday - Monday on March 15. Trying to figure out if this would be a big spring break cruise for either school age or college kids. Want to avoid spring break! Any advice here?

 

Shorter cruises, and cruises during the Summer, during March, and during the Christmas/New Years holidays have tons of kids!;p