More kids on X

[the_dylaness]

On 10/17/2019 at 6:32 PM, ecslady said:

 

I also retired from a school district this summer after 30 years.  And, the last few years, we noticed increasingly that parents are taking off according to "their" schedule or what is convenient for them, not the "school" vacation schedule.  Never would have done this years ago. I, too, try to stay away from school vacations when I cruise, but I have seen more kids in the last few years also.

 

Depending on your profession, it may be nearly impossible to get any length of time off over a popular school break... I can recall exactly once in the last 6.5 years in my job when I've had an entire week off at either spring break, fall break, Christmas, New Year's, or Thanksgiving.  So, I can choose to try and get a week off during the popular summer breaks (when I'd rather stay home and enjoy all the local offerings with my kids), or, take them from school during the school year, or not go at all....

[MightyMike]

"Kids Sale Free" was a wonderful surprise for us. It may not seem like much at first glance, but the difference between half-off and free can be huge--especially with 2 kids.

 

With only 1 kid, our cruise price went from $3,600 to under $3,000. Adding the onboard credits and beverage package perks that Celebrity offers changed Celebrity's price from being on par with Royal Caribbean's to being significantly less. We are getting a higher-quality product for less money.

[Bootstrap77]

4 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

Celebrity for the last few years has had a 50% off for 3rd/4th passengers promotion (and many times with a free soda package and 40 internet minutes).  So in some ways they have had a kid friendly promotion out there for some time.

That’s very interesting. That is probably why in the last few years we noticed more families. Thanks for the info. 

[Iamcruzin]

3 hours ago, morfred said:

If they were poor students the missed week would very likely make a difference. Parents with your outlook on education still disappoint me.

"I guess they did alright".  I guess that they could have done better.

What disappoints me is that the entire public school system boils down to standardize testing with students being pushed through the system. A student who excels will always excel and a student who is lacking will always be lacking. Quality family time holds more value than a week of a state mandated curriculum.

[rimmit]

1 hour ago, MightyMike said:

"Kids Sale Free" was a wonderful surprise for us. It may not seem like much at first glance, but the difference between half-off and free can be huge--especially with 2 kids.

 

With only 1 kid, our cruise price went from $3,600 to under $3,000. Adding the onboard credits and beverage package perks that Celebrity offers changed Celebrity's price from being on par with Royal Caribbean's to being significantly less. We are getting a higher-quality product for less money.

 

Agree.  With the KSF,  some sailing are notably cheaper than similar on RCI.  We just booked a 7 night Alaska on eclipse in June 2020 before the beverage package surcharge kicked in and for 2700 dollars for 2 adults and 2 kids with all 4 perks!!!   On RCI the same equivalent cruise on serenade for 7 nights was 3600 and no perks.  That is an absolute bargain for a family of 4.  I was blown away by the price and we get better service and food on top of that.

[dkjretired]

14 hours ago, rimmit said:

 

While they are not likely straight A and all going to Harvard, I would wager the students that travel have a better gpa and SAT score than the average student.

 

Basic demographics state that.  To travel,  you have to have some degree of expendable income.  To travel over the ponds you really need a steady stream of income.  People with a decent income likely value education to some degree and will invest more in their kids education because they value it, and because they can afford it.

 

Obviously there are exceptions, but as a whole I am betting the kids that travel tend to do decent in school.  And I am talking traveling to see new countries and cultures,  not just going to Disney and a bunch of beaches.

 

Most of these posts were from families sailing to the Caribbean in the winter. Makes sense since during the school year with some exceptions the ships are not in Europe, Alaska or exotic places.

[dkjretired]

13 hours ago, villauk said:

 

 

Yes, I remember them well, Don.

 

 

 

 

 

Our kids have been on all of our cruises and not once have we ever received a KSF promotion. They do have many friends from all over the world which they keep in contact with though.

 

Oh, and we get fined for removing children from school during term time.

 

There was one woman who posted on the board her unique way of pulling the kids out of school and avoiding any punishment.  She actually went to the trouble of pulling the kids out of the school district, getting all their records and then re-enrolling them when they got back. Seems like a lot of trouble.

 

We had a built in vacation at an odd time of the year in New Jersey. Every year in November the public schools are closed on one Thurs and Fri for teachers Convention. This was mandated by law and very often fell during the same week as Election Day and Veterans Day.  Sometimes the only day scheduled for school that week was Wed.  School system got smart and closed for the whole week a few times.  Funny going to Disney and almost everyone was NJ. The only thing was you needed to make plane and hotel reservations early.

 

[TeeRick]

18 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

With all of the changes I'm finding it hard  to figure out who they are trying to attract.

 

The White Rabbit ad baby boomers identify with

KSF attracts Families

The prices indicate a luxury experience

They are just trying to be everything to everybody and losing their identity completely.

 

Wonder certainly does Await.

They are trying to attract anybody with money.

[rimmit]

27 minutes ago, dkjretired said:

 

Most of these posts were from families sailing to the Caribbean in the winter. Makes sense since during the school year with some exceptions the ships are not in Europe, Alaska or exotic places.

 

Yes,  the number of Caribbean births double as Alaska and Europe turn to winter and if you’re going for cheap Caribbean hurricane season is the time to do it.

 

However, if you are going for ports, the school season is the only time to do some itineraries.   Many ships don’t repo till early Nov. out of Europe and that’s when they tend to hit the Holy land. 

 

The most exotic and distant itineraries tend to run only when school is in session.  Such as the South American, Aus/NZ, Southeast Asia, Dubai-India routes.  If you want to cruise there it’s only during the school year as that’s the summer time for the Aussies and SA, and they haven’t pulled the ships to go to Alaska or to Europe.

 

It’s very aggravating for us, as we have done the vast majority of places that RCI and X hit during the summer months, minus the Galapagos.  (Daughter is only 4.  Just too young to go.  Most tour operators have a minimum of 6 years of age.)

 

[TeeRick]

21 hours ago, slei15 said:

We cruised on the Edge in January without the kids. It was a great adult experience as it always is on X, but we also kept saying he whole time that our kids would love this or that on the ship.  Our 7 and 10 year old boys have been on 8 cruises, and they both love them.  They love to order from the adult menu in the dining rooms and try new foods, and while they will have fun for an hour or two on the waterslides, it does not make or break the cruise for them. They had just as much fun on the Enchantment of the Seas as they did on the MSC Seaside. While we were on in January, we spent a good amount of time talking to the kids club manager. She had all of 20 children on that sailing, and most were not attending kids club. She went into depth with us about what the kids program offers, which is a STEM curriculum with a "journey" to complete during the cruise. The kids that do go absolutely love it and don't want to leave. After talking with her, we decided to book the Edge with the kids for Christmas to try it out. We know the kids will love the better food on X than the others, and the theater entertainment will also be right up their alley. With the way the kids program sounds and knowing my kids, I do not expect to see much of them during the day as they will love it. To each their own, but I think X does make the concerted effort to ensure the kids have a great time, even when the ships are not really designed for them.

slei15, thank you for your post!  We used to take our two kids all the time, mostly on Royal Caribbean.  Loads of activities for them but they mostly hung out with us and we had high quality family time.  I am not knocking the parents who want to use kids clubs and activities as Day Care for getting some adult vacation time or alone time but that was never important for us personally.  Later we switched to Celebrity and recently cruised with our now young adult "kids".  Still a great family experience!  We sailed Edge- and I think your kids will love it!

[Iamcruzin]

2 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

They are trying to attract anybody with money.

  They must be experiencing tough times if they have to stoop to KSF. The cruise industry never had these programs when my kids were of age.We just had the lower 3rd and 4th passenger rate. I know someone will comment that the ships always sail full. I have no doubt about that but at what price?  

[TeeRick]

1 minute ago, Iamcruzin said:

  They must be experiencing tough times if they have to stoop to KSF. The cruise industry never had these programs when my kids were of age.We just had the lower 3rd and 4th passenger rate. I know someone will comment that the ships always sail full. I have no doubt about that but at what price?  

When our kids were small the ships were no where near the size and capacity as today.  Very few family oriented cabins.  So now,  for family type cruise lines like RCCL with water slides and bumper cars and flow riders, it is understandable they would have the KSF as a marketing tool.  I wish they had it in the past too!  But I am not really sure why it is a Celebrity marketing strategy.  Their ships are not amusement parks.

[Iamcruzin]

 

1 minute ago, TeeRick said:

When our kids were small the ships were no where near the size and capacity as today.  Very few family oriented cabins.  So now,  for family type cruise lines like RCCL with water slides and bumper cars and flow riders, it is understandable they would have the KSF as a marketing tool.  I wish they had it in the past too!  But I am not really sure why it is a Celebrity marketing strategy.  Their ships are not amusement parks.

That's my thinking as well. We sailed on Princess when the kids were school age. They are on par with Celebrity as far as not being designed for families. My sons enjoyed the kids club when they were in elementary and middle school. Royal Caribbean had just started to design family friendly ships and I would have loved to have tried them  but my kids were sold on Princess. Now that they are 24 and 27 they want no part of Celebrity or Princess. The 24 yr old planned our last trip together on Royal Caribbean. He paid his own way. That's the closest I got to KSF.

[dkjretired]

19 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

  They must be experiencing tough times if they have to stoop to KSF. The cruise industry never had these programs when my kids were of age.We just had the lower 3rd and 4th passenger rate. I know someone will comment that the ships always sail full. I have no doubt about that but at what price?  

 

Celebrity had KSF in 1994 and beyond.

 

Celebritys first family cabins were introduced on the Century which was around 96. We booked one on a Caribbean cruise.

 

 

[TeeRick]

I'm waiting for my kids (31 & 29) to take advantage of a program called "MDSF" or Mom and Dad Sail Free!

[Iamcruzin]

Just now, TeeRick said:

I'm waiting for my kids (31 & 29) to take advantage of a program called "MDSF" or Mom and Dad Sail Free!

Be sure to post here when that deal is available for booking....LOL

[Iamcruzin]

3 minutes ago, dkjretired said:

 

Celebrity had KSF in 1994 and beyond.

 

Celebritys first family cabins were introduced on the Century which was around 96. We booked one on a Caribbean cruise.

 

 

In 1994 my son was only 3 and the second one wasn't even born yet so I wasn't watching cruise prices in fact I don't even remember having a computer yet. It seems like they must have stopped as I really haven't seen it advertised until  now. Maybe I just ignored it because it didn't apply to me. As far a family cabins I'm sure they were limited and needed to be booked at time of launching the itinerary. 

[villauk]

1 hour ago, TeeRick said:

I'm waiting for my kids (31 & 29) to take advantage of a program called "MDSF" or Mom and Dad Sail Free!

 

 

No doubt, we won’t ever be able to take advantage of that one either 🤣.

[rimmit]

1 hour ago, Iamcruzin said:

  They must be experiencing tough times if they have to stoop to KSF. 

 

I don’t think they are experiencing tough times.  I think they are just trying to expand their customer base.  The cruise lines know that eventually people die or have health issues and need to be replaced.  The way to breed loyalty is by introducing kids at a young age to cruising.  Worked for me in the 1990s.  If all the cruise lines we went on in the 90s and early 2000s,  I enjoyed RCI and X the best.  That was even when the ONLY kid friendly amenity was initially a pool and then eventually the Splendour cane among and had a Mini golf course that blew our minds.  I didnt board my first mega ship until the Liberty in 2012, but i had such great memories of my times on the Monarch and Splendour, that when it came time to take my family on a cruise we took the Liberty.  They want to “get ‘em while they are young!”  

 

Also enticing the late 30 and early 40s crowd onto a cruise ship with KSF is also an easy way to grow a new customer base.

 

The easiest way to fill boats if they are having “tough times” is to just drop the price of the cruises which has sadly not been happening.

[dkjretired]

2 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

In 1994 my son was only 3 and the second one wasn't even born yet so I wasn't watching cruise prices in fact I don't even remember having a computer yet. It seems like they must have stopped as I really haven't seen it advertised until  now. Maybe I just ignored it because it didn't apply to me. As far a family cabins I'm sure they were limited and needed to be booked at time of launching the itinerary. 

 

The point is it is not something new and has been done on and off over the years.  There was a thread a couple of months ago where people were outraged that Celebrity was doing this like it was something new. They were acting like kids don't belong on Celebrity cruises at all and most of that came from people  who never took their kids on a Celebrity Cruise and obviously knew nothing about the subject.    That was a meme that was played out 20 years ago in many, many threads. 

Edited October 19, 2019 by dkjretired

[mahdnc]

9 hours ago, dkjretired said:

 

Celebrity had KSF in 1994 and beyond.

 

Celebritys first family cabins were introduced on the Century which was around 96. We booked one on a Caribbean cruise.

 

 

 

Same here.  But the number of FO/FVs are on the decline (although the cabin size got much bigger).

 

Century Class: 18 family cabins

Millennium Class: 12 family cabins

Solstice Class: 4 family cabins

Edge Class: 0 family cabins

 

Edited October 19, 2019 by mahdnc

[MarLieb]

On 10/18/2019 at 1:28 PM, Baron Barracuda said:

 

If you are talking about exotic or old world destinations where X doesn't directly compete with the new mega ships, fine, don't disagree.  When my family sailed Alaska, Galapagos and Panama Canal our focus wasn't on onboard amenities.  My comment was more about the Caribbean where many ships sail very similar itineraries.  There, I doubt an X cruise provides any greater cultural enlightenment and is much less kid friendly.  

You obviously haven't looked at a DCL Caribbean itinerary lately.  DCL very rarely changes Caribbean ports.  After two cruises, it gets super boring.  We sailed Summit last Christmas week and are sailing again this year the very same week.  Except for one port, it's an entirely different cruise (ABC's this year).  Please don't stereotype children.  There are plenty of children out there who cannot handle the noise, chaos and overstimulation of megaships and really do much better in quieter atmosphere like X.  

[Winemyst]

We have booked our second celebrity cruise (first with kids) for next summer in Europe. The kids have sailed RC, DCL and MSC. We have also done land vacations in Europe. Of the seven plus sailings they have done we learned they like the smaller, less crowed kids clubs; they like slides, and they love playing UNO or other card games with us.  So when we decided on a Med cruise, we had to make the choice between a cruise with slides or one without. Ultimately, we decided that if we went on a cruise ship with all those bells and whistles (i.e. slides, rock climbing, ice skating etc) we would have a hard time getting them excited about seeing the sights in Europe. Since exposing our kids to history and culture, different foods and languages etc is important to us, we decided on a smaller ship this time. Sure, they will miss the water slides, but they are already excited about the kids club and seeing places they have read about in books.  If we were doing another Caribbean cruise, we would have picked a cruise line with all the extras kids love.  For us KSF didn't make the overall cost less, but it did allow us to reprice and move from an inside cabin to a veranda. So really, it was not the reason we chose celebrity

[NMTraveller]

I have not seen many kids on X.

 

Other lines like RCL yes.

Edited October 20, 2019 by NMTraveller

[villauk]

9 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

Same here.  But the number of FO/FVs are on the decline (although the cabin size got much bigger).

 

Century Class: 18 family cabins

Millennium Class: 12 family cabins

Solstice Class: 4 family cabins

Edge Class: 0 family cabins

 

 

 

I think I read on one of the recent live reviews (grory’s Silhouette) that he’d been informed  by officers that some of the FVs were being converted to Sunset Suites after its ‘Revolution’. It will be interesting to see if they do this with the remaining ships that still haven’t been revolutionised.

Edited October 20, 2019 by villauk