holiday cruises

[cabosal1]

We have converted our January Caribbean cruise to a "floating" week and would like some opinions on cruises during the holidays (Christmas, New Years).  Are these bad times if we want to avoid the kiddos?  (Yes, we do).   

[JES4845]

4 hours ago, cabosal1 said:

We have converted our January Caribbean cruise to a "floating" week and would like some opinions on cruises during the holidays (Christmas, New Years).  Are these bad times if we want to avoid the kiddos?  (Yes, we do).   

 

Oh my ... short answer, one word YES!!!

[Zimmy]

We have never done the Christmas cruise so I cannot comment. But we did do one New Year's cruise. While there were no little kids, there were families with a lot of teenagers. The teenagers are even more annoying than the little kids, because at least little kids go to bed at night. And little kids don't take over the TOY bar. It was our first and last holiday voyage. We now regularly sail on the voyage immediately after the New Year's cruise.

[cabosal1]

We really appreciate the replies though it's now back to the drawing board for our "floating" cruise.  Problem is we've been to all the islands, have our favorites (Anguilla, Nevis), favorite dates (Jan, Feb) and having trouble making them all come together.  On second hand, I guess that's not such a bad problem to have.

[Zimmy]

2 hours ago, cabosal1 said:

.  On second hand, I guess that's not such a bad problem to have.

 

You are so right - and we all need to remember it. These are first world problems. 

[Jim Avery]

22 hours ago, Zimmy said:

We have never done the Christmas cruise so I cannot comment. But we did do one New Year's cruise. While there were no little kids, there were families with a lot of teenagers. The teenagers are even more annoying than the little kids, because at least little kids go to bed at night. And little kids don't take over the TOY bar. It was our first and last holiday voyage. We now regularly sail on the voyage immediately after the New Year's cruise.

Same here Zimmy.  Though we have taken a Christmas cruise, with family, on HAL.  It was nice (they all beat working) but as expected, full of kids.  We have had good luck on SD the week after Thanksgiving in addition to the times y'all mention.  Hoping we all get our SeaDream fixes sooner rather than later.🍸😎

[ExoticDestinations]

On 6/7/2020 at 11:45 AM, cabosal1 said:

We have converted our January Caribbean cruise to a "floating" week and would like some opinions on cruises during the holidays (Christmas, New Years).  Are these bad times if we want to avoid the kiddos?  (Yes, we do).   

 

Triple check that you can use your credit during the Christmas & New Years' voyage.  They usually black those out. However, Thanksgiving is almost always wide open.  And yes, there will be Minions aboard.  But I've found them to be "well-traveled", so not a huge bother. And the crew is good about giving them boundaries and scooting them along if they are being loud or irritating.

 

Pro Hint:  If they tell you that you can't use your credit on the Holiday voyage, just threaten to cancel and request a refund.  They will then offer you as much as 150%.  This is what they offered on the closer-in voyages they just canceled.  No reason you shouldn't get the same deal.

 

Extra Hint:  Do the above just before your next payment or your 25%/50%/100% penalty date.

[Cruise Critic Chris]

Absolutely no kids on our Thanksgiving cruise on SeaDream II last year. In fact, barely any people at all! It was so pleasant that we booked SeaDream I for this Thanksgiving, although who knows.....