Norwegian fjords in school holidays

[ellay864]

Hi, am considering a fjords cruise and narrowed to Ventura 7-14 July or Britannia 20-27 July. My understanding is that Ventura is a more family centred ship but the Britannia cruise bills itself as being in school holidays. Now ours are grown up we prefer to avoid multitudes of children and so undecided between these. I know the later one is right at the start of holidays and some schools may not break up until a little later, but also wondered if fjord cruises are very popular with families. Any advice welcome, TIA

[kitkat343]

Both cruises are during American school holidays. We traveled to Norway in late May (which is not ideal for Geiranger) and might be an option next year if you are truly looking to avoid children. There were 23 children on my May 19th Cunard cruise to Norway (I know that because I brought two of them along). It is quite possible that these cruises may be popular with families, as there was an explosion in tourism to Norway after the release of the movie Frozen. Even Disney has been sending one of its ships to Norway in recent years. If these cruises are for this year, you can try to look at their role calls or call the cruise lines to ask if they will tell you the number of children on board (sometimes phone reps release this info; other times they refuse. But if this is crucial information to you then it might be worth a try).

 

There were a ton of kids on my Baltic cruise in late August; are the European schools back in session in September? Perhaps that would be another option for you to consider. Also, do bear in mind most families (like ours) will chose the shorter fjord cruises around 7 days long; if you want to avoid young children, perhaps a longer cruise to the north would be something to consider.

[ellay864]

Thank you. September isn't an option, and May might be difficult. I was also aiming for warmer weather time! I might look again at longer ones but these two for next year did seem to fit. From what you say, either will hit US holidays anyway so it may not actually make much difference between the two

[Coral]

We are on June 23rd of Sapphire Princess to Norway. Someone called and there are very few young children on our ship. I don't expect many older ones either.

 

Where I live in the US - K-12 schools and colleges end in May.

 

I just don't think Norway is a huge destination with kids. Most go to Northern Europe and Southern Europe first. Rome, Greece, France seems to be where a lot of people take their kids.

[dronnygirl]

Hi, am considering a fjords cruise and narrowed to Ventura 7-14 July or Britannia 20-27 July. My understanding is that Ventura is a more family centred ship but the Britannia cruise bills itself as being in school holidays. Now ours are grown up we prefer to avoid multitudes of children and so undecided between these. I know the later one is right at the start of holidays and some schools may not break up until a little later, but also wondered if fjord cruises are very popular with families. Any advice welcome, TIA

Ventura should be your best bet. British people are fined if they take kids out of school and wouldn't have expected there to be many American kids aboard a P&O ship. Also IMO I would guess people with kids would prefer to go to warmer places.

[Morgans]

I would opt for the Ventura one too - most of the school's won't have broken up then. Completely agree that families tend to go for the hot weather cruises.....

[Thejuggler]

Scottish schools will be on holiday, older pupils from England and Wales who have taken exams will be off too.

 

However we deliberately chose Fjords and Iceland as destinations in school holidays as there are far fewer children in school holidays that you would get on say a Med trip.

[ellay864]

Thanks everybody. We spent ages looking at this, really prefer Britannia in terms of the ship facilities and have decided to go for it. Now putting aside any thoughts of kids and getting on with looking forward to it

[Roundtop]

We're from US and sailed on Britannia in Western Mediterranean in August, 2016. There were lots of children, but we never encountered any issues. We were amazed that the kids were so well-dressed and well-behaved in the dining rooms. Britannia is a beautiful ship. We thought the food in the main dining room was just fair, but the Sindhu Indian restaurant and the Epicurean were exceptional.