Lots of Kids on 12 night Caribbean Xmas?

[jasm8449]

We have always avoided holiday time cruises due to higher costs and possible overcrowding with families. However this year the December holidays is the only time our 3 adult kids can get away. 

 

I expect that 7 day Caribbean would be a busy family time  

 

Should we expect the same on a 12 night Southern Caribbean?

[Ozzmund]

Last year we were on a 12 day Celebrity cruise  that spanned Christmas and New Year's. There were more kids than on other non - holiday cruises we have taken.

My guess would have been around 100.

[DebInAntigua]

42 minutes ago, Ozzmund said:

Last year we were on a 12 day Celebrity cruise  that spanned Christmas and New Year's. There were more kids than on other non - holiday cruises we have taken.

My guess would have been around 100.

100 well-behaved children I can deal with, but hopefully X will have a lot of children's activities in place for them next holiday season.

We'll also be in a suite for the first time, which hopefully will give us some relief from roaming bands of bored children around the pools and such.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

We are on a 12 night Christmas and New Year cruise next year, also in a suite. Hoping for well behaved children. Celebrity has a good kids program from what I've read so thinking it will be fine.

[mahdnc]

5 hours ago, jasm8449 said:

We have always avoided holiday time cruises due to higher costs and possible overcrowding with families. However this year the December holidays is the only time our 3 adult kids can get away. 

 

I expect that 7 day Caribbean would be a busy family time  

 

Should we expect the same on a 12 night Southern Caribbean?

 

We were in the same situation.  We have avoided Dec/Jan holiday cruises until our two kids became adults.  The extended cruise will reduce the number of families with kids on board compared to the 7 night sailing, but you will have many families on board.  I think you will find it quite manageable and overall I think you will enjoy the cruise.

[phoenix_dream]

I would expect more kids than normally on Celebrity, but far fewer than on a 7 night at that time of year.  If the estimate of 100 kids holds, that should not really be an issue.  Might also depend on how the cruise falls, date-wise.  Keep in mind also that 12 nights cost considerably more for families than 7 nights so that should also hold the numbers down.

[hcat]

Children are pretty well behaved on X,  hopefully with good parental control...They do have a good program,  but no rock walls etc. 

 

You must keep in mind it is a family holiday time of year. Numbers on board  will depend on any kids go free promotions, as well.  Children/ teens will be everywhere except  your balcony, the pay for spa,  thermal suites/ persian garden, and the  Solarium during non family swim hrs.

 

They will be in all the pools and take over the hot tubs as there are no kiddie pools on board.   Some enjoy playing in the hideaway area, and also the elevators and stairways  They attend shows ( some parents seat them right up front),  they will be in all restaurants..including specialty and will enjoy the dance floors.

 

As long as you know the potential issues and are open minded it should be fine!

[CHEZMARYLOU]

Sounds ok to me. We've sailed with kids before and only remember 1 cruise when it was an issue.

[BNBR]

We did a 7 day over New Years this past year on Reflection.  I don't have anything to compare it to as it was my first Celebrity sailing, but there were not very many kids at all.  And the kids that were on the ship were notably well behaved.  But really, it was far from a kids/family cruise.  I would definitely not skip out on your sailing because you are worried about kids.  A Royal/Carnival sailing it is NOT.

[villauk]

There are always more kids on holiday sailings - it’s school holiday time and therefore one of the peak times of the year. We always go for more than 7 nights otherwise it’s not worth the flight prices. Our kids have made many friends on Christmas sailings throughout the world.

[Cruise a holic]

You can expect more children on Holiday sailings- but we never had a problem with them.  We stay primarily in the adult areas- so not a problem.  Of course you find a few wild kids pushing every button on the elevator or running in the hallways- but this can happen any cruise when a wild group of unsupervised kids gets together.  Also, less kids on a 12 day sailing and less on Celebrity in general.  

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[SleepingUgly]

We were on the Sihouette last year for its 12-night holiday cruise and were told there were @ 400 children (under the age of 18) on board.  Most were teenagers, I believe.  I can't recall seeing hordes of children running amuck on the ship - that's a joke; I believe most of them were extremely well-behaved - but I do (not-so-fondly) recall one group of young adults getting quite wild and being rather obnoxious at times, including vaping in the hot tub, wearing t-shirts and shorts to the MDR on New Year's Eve, and yelling insults to other guests who they thought gave them dirty looks.  It was one large group with many families, and on the last sea day, they were throwing each other into the pool and security had to talk to them a few times, but they kept doing it.  Thanks to that group, I never noticed any kids!  Honestly, for future holiday sailings, I'd be more wary of large groups than children.  Seems like when some people travel in packs, they tend to think they own the place.  Safety in numbers, I guess? 

[Cruise a holic]

1 hour ago, SleepingUgly said:

We were on the Sihouette last year for its 12-night holiday cruise and were told there were @ 400 children (under the age of 18) on board.  Most were teenagers, I believe.  I can't recall seeing hordes of children running amuck on the ship - that's a joke; I believe most of them were extremely well-behaved - but I do (not-so-fondly) recall one group of young adults getting quite wild and being rather obnoxious at times, including vaping in the hot tub, wearing t-shirts and shorts to the MDR on New Year's Eve, and yelling insults to other guests who they thought gave them dirty looks.  It was one large group with many families, and on the last sea day, they were throwing each other into the pool and security had to talk to them a few times, but they kept doing it.  Thanks to that group, I never noticed any kids!  Honestly, for future holiday sailings, I'd be more wary of large groups than children.  Seems like when some people travel in packs, they tend to think they own the place.  Safety in numbers, I guess? 

Cannot believe those people weren't reported and put in "cruise ship" prison and dropped off at the next stop.  Smoking isn't permitted in hot tubs.  Not even sure if allowed on a cruise ship.

[SleepingUgly]

44 minutes ago, Cruise a holic said:

Cannot believe those people weren't reported and put in "cruise ship" prison and dropped off at the next stop.  Smoking isn't permitted in hot tubs.  Not even sure if allowed on a cruise ship.

 

They were a pretty horrible group, to be completely honest.  We were in loungers right by one of the hot tubs on the first sea day and they were all vaping there.  My husband asked them to stop;; they told him to "F--- off".  I told my husband to just leave it alone because I was sure Celebrity would handle it.  Boy, was I wrong.  The servers and pool staff all saw them, and a few approached them and asked them to stop, but they would just change locations and start all over again.  Think Celebrity staff just gave up after a while.  That was the biggest disappointment - how Celebrity refused to stand up to people who openly broke the rules.  Believe me, with people like that on your cruise, just seeing a bunch of happy little kids skipping around the place would make my day.  

[Cruise a holic]

That is pretty sad to hear!  I would have gone to report them to the customer service manager.  People should just have a little respect for themselves and others!  You can have a great time without being obnoxious.  

[Redtravel]

Obnoxious can happen on any cruise at any time of the year. Not restricted to kids. The worst are adults getting the most out of their drnk package. It seems that they always have a drink at hand. Christmas cruises will have lots of kids. I used to sail then when I had school aged kids. Any cruise during school vacations will have more kids. The kids are not usually loud. However, the extra kids in cabins increases the crowds at the pool and in the buffet areas. 

[Fogfog]

On 9/23/2019 at 12:13 PM, jasm8449 said:

We have always avoided holiday time cruises due to higher costs and possible overcrowding with families. However this year the December holidays is the only time our 3 adult kids can get away. 

 

I expect that 7 day Caribbean would be a busy family time  

 

Should we expect the same on a 12 night Southern Caribbean?

If it is over the holiday and school break--count on it

We did a southern carib on the Connie years ago--and most of the kids were with families from outside the US though there were some US families

It is a popular time to sail and often has good itinerary options

[DebInAntigua]

Damn. There goes X advertising "Kids Sail Free" again!!

[MarLieb]

I can't speak to the 12-night, but we did the 7-night holiday cruise during Christmas week on the Summit last year and we are doing it again this year.  Although we travel with our son (he will be 12 on our upcoming cruise), we, too, aren't interested in being disturbed by hordes of rowdy children (and neither is my son!).  It's one reason we tried X over doing DCL or NCL again or trying RCCL.  There really weren't that many young children on board and those that were onboard were very well behaved.  Most kids seemed to be in the tween/teen years.  We didn't see any roving bands.  My son went to Fun Factory every evening and there were, maybe, 40 kids in the 12 and younger area.  About the same in the teen area.  We saw no children at the shows.  We also saw very few children at the pools and those that were there were well behaved and well supervised.  It was such a great change of pace after experiencing "people soup" on our DCL cruises and "Drunk One" and "Drunk Two" t-shirts on NCL!  Obviously, one bad apple can spoil many aspects of a cruise, but if the 12-night was anything like our 7-night, there is hope! 

[NateUpNorth]

12 hours ago, DebInAntigua said:

Damn. There goes X advertising "Kids Sail Free" again!!

 

I always laugh at these comments.

My 5 and 7 year old are better behaved, especially in the MDR, than many of those who have been seated around us in the past.