For Anyone Just Off The Sapphire Princess 12/24

[atdahop]

Just curious how many children were on the ship this week. We sailed the previous week and there were about 200 kids. Was wondering if that amount increased.

[SeaTeacher]

I just came home yesterday. According to the Neil, the Cruise Director and Silvio the Maitre D'Hotel - there were about 750+ kids onboard. They commented that may have been a record. Total passengers were about 2900 though the usual capacity is about 2700. So I guess there were many extra bunks used on that voyage.

 

I must say I found the vast majority of kids to be terrific and their behavior very appropriate. I am a teacher, so I am used to kids. But I also run a very tight ship (classroom) and I always expect the best behavior from my 1st/2nd graders. My greatest frustrations are with parents who don't know how to control their children or fail to teach them appropriate behavior in a variety of circumstances.

 

My partner and I chose 2nd seating traditional dining. There were no children at that seating. We usually stayed away from the main pools (except on one port day), choosing instead to use the aft pools or the spa (adults only) pool. We attended late performances in the Princess Theatre. Those shows were devoid of kids (as they should be).

 

Only once did I find a child's behavior totally inappropriate and bothersome to those surrounding her. She was a little 2 year old that was having a fit (not unusual at that age) and refusing to follow her older sister's directions. The older girl went and got her mom, and the mom took care of things. Also, on occasion, some pre-teens would run through the passagways, but that is a small annoyance.

 

Over all, considering the large number of children present I think things went very well. I worked on a ceramics piece in the conservatory, and I enjoyed listening to the laughter of the kids in the pool. Nobody raced about or acted carelessly. Many children/teens played or "hung out" happily in the kid's clubs. Youth security was a constant presence, but I never saw a situation that required action. Maybe I was just lucky. I would not hesitate to again cruise during peak family season.

 

A final note: We sat at a table of 8, three of which were teachers. Two of us do not have children of our own, but we all agreed that though we like being with kids, the cruise was a chance for us to take a break from them - and for the most part we got what we were hoping for by judiciously choosing where we spent our time.

[DeltaOne]

Just curious how many children were on the ship this week. We sailed the previous week and there were about 200 kids. Was wondering if that amount increased.

The previous poster is correct. I believe the exact number of children on our cruise (12/17-12/24) was 778. The maitre 'd mentioned the number during the cooking demonstration. I was a little surprised there were that many children on board. The children we saw were well behaved and courteous. Just a guess, but 1/3 of the ship's passengers were Asian, something else that surprised me.