Which will have less kids?

[AKR2011]

I am looking at two itineraries on NCL right now out of NYC. The first is 10 days leaving November 20 - the Friday before Thanksgiving. The next is February 11th - the Thursday before President's Day. Although I spent many years working with  children, I don't like cruising withba ton of them. I definitely prefer the week AFTER Thanksgiving, but that won't fly next year. So...out of these two, which will likely have less kids?

[Nitemare]

How long is the second cruise?

Longer cruises generally have fewer children than shorter ones do.

[AF-1]

Agree with above; the longer the better; less kids

[mjkacmom]

The first one will run into Thanksgiving so there will be an overlap, the second won’t overlap with presidents week. As a parent, there is no way I’m taking my kids out of school only to get back from vacation and have them off from school. Our district gives the kids off 1/2 on the Wednesday before thanksgiving, plus Thursday/Friday.

[AKR2011]

Both are 10 days. Does that make a difference? 

[princeton123211]

26 minutes ago, AKR2011 said:

Both are 10 days. Does that make a difference? 

You'll see fewer kids on a 10 day than you will a 7 day or even worse a 4-5 day. It won't be kid free however just because of how hard NCL markets to families and how kid friendly the ships are (go karts anyone?).

 

Out of all the cruises leaving around both of those times I think you have the best shot at there being the fewest kids on the trips you are looking at. Only other way to mitigate would be to maybe look at Cunard's Queen Mary 2 Caribbean departure in December-- will be much fewer kids on that ship than you see on NCL or RCCL. 

[njhorseman]

Just got off a 10 day NCL  cruise today that included Presidents Day. there were 600 children on board...and this was on the Gem, which is not a huge mega-ship...its double occupancy capacity is 2394. Some school districts have a full week's winter break that week. In other cases parents find it OK to pull kids out of school even if the district only has two days off.

 

Contrast this with the previous cruise on the same ship...a 21 day San Francisco to NY via Panama  Canal cruise where we had exactly 3....that is not a typo...THREE children on board.

[mskaufman]

I see "Virgin" advertising on TV that they cruise with "no kids".

[pacruise804]

On 2/24/2020 at 12:38 AM, AKR2011 said:

I am looking at two itineraries on NCL right now out of NYC. The first is 10 days leaving November 20 - the Friday before Thanksgiving. The next is February 11th - the Thursday before President's Day. Although I spent many years working with  children, I don't like cruising withba ton of them. I definitely prefer the week AFTER Thanksgiving, but that won't fly next year. So...out of these two, which will likely have less kids?

Here are a few questions that come to mind:

Does not being around for Thanksgiving appeal or would it create tension with family to not be home?

When will you be more interested in getting away - November when it is starting to get cold or February when winter feels like it will never end?

Is there a big price or itinerary difference?

In your experience working with children, was either time more popular for family vacations?

 

I think you have about an equal chance of kids with either time - especially with the growing number of home school students and families that don't mind pulling kids from school - so I would look at the other factors of the two cruises to help with the decision.