American vs Canadian thanksgiving

[bobpell]

Whereas we get one day or maybe a long weekend our Neighbours to the south get one week off (school kids)

We were on a Holland America back-to-back cruise that started one week before their Thanksgiving then the second week encompassed their holiday.

The first week there might have been 10 kids, toddlers and teens.

The Thanksgiving week the guest services said there were 400 kids.

Normally the aft pool was for adults and the mid pool was for families and persons under 21 but not so on the busy second week. Octogerians abandoned their water sanctuary to the cannonball crowd!!

So, the moral of the story is if you go for a cruise to relax and find serenity x out the turkey loving week down south...just saying!!

Buoy Bob

 

 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Or go on longer cruise

A friend is on a 10 day cruise that started last week , very few children are on it 

[Fouremco]

Neighbours thought that they would avoid the kiddies by cruising the week before the Ontario school March break. Little did they realize that the Quebec school break is a week earlier.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

56 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Neighbours thought that they would avoid the kiddies by cruising the week before the Ontario school March break. Little did they realize that the Quebec school break is a week earlier.

That happen to us going to a resort in Cuba once ! 

[Senga]

Another time to avoid cruising if you don't want to be overrun with children; Easter.  Our worst cruise was when a HUGE group of girls turning 16, along with their chaperones, took over our Celebrity cruise.  Unfortunately, no way of knowing when that can happen.

[Heidi13]

2 hours ago, bobpell said:

Whereas we get one day or maybe a long weekend our Neighbours to the south get one week off (school kids)

We were on a Holland America back-to-back cruise that started one week before their Thanksgiving then the second week encompassed their holiday.

The first week there might have been 10 kids, toddlers and teens.

The Thanksgiving week the guest services said there were 400 kids.

Normally the aft pool was for adults and the mid pool was for families and persons under 21 but not so on the busy second week. Octogerians abandoned their water sanctuary to the cannonball crowd!!

So, the moral of the story is if you go for a cruise to relax and find serenity x out the turkey loving week down south...just saying!!

Buoy Bob

 

You can also select one of the cruise lines that don't accept kids, or a cruise line that has a few of their ships adult only.

[Bearsthatsail]

Many US schools start in early August and look forward to their time off around Thanksgiving.  Early December is a quieter time for us to cruise.

 

[Florida_gal_50]

On 11/29/2022 at 10:29 AM, bobpell said:

Whereas we get one day or maybe a long weekend our Neighbours to the south get one week off (school kids)

We were on a Holland America back-to-back cruise that started one week before their Thanksgiving then the second week encompassed their holiday.

The first week there might have been 10 kids, toddlers and teens.

The Thanksgiving week the guest services said there were 400 kids.

Normally the aft pool was for adults and the mid pool was for families and persons under 21 but not so on the busy second week. Octogerians abandoned their water sanctuary to the cannonball crowd!!

So, the moral of the story is if you go for a cruise to relax and find serenity x out the turkey loving week down south...just saying!!

Buoy Bob

 

 

Were you on the koningsdam by chance?  It sounds exactly like my experience.  One I hope to not repeat again..  I’m hemmed in by work deadlines so it’s not like I can go whenever.  I always forget about American thanksgiving until it’s too late.

[Florida_gal_50]

On 11/29/2022 at 12:59 PM, Heidi13 said:

 

You can also select one of the cruise lines that don't accept kids, or a cruise line that has a few of their ships adult only.

Usually it’s a pretty safe bet hal will not be crawling with kids.  It’s not Disney after all.

[bobpell]

We have cruised on HAL since 2010 Floridagal50 and just by luck never have booked over American Thanksgiving until this Nov.

I am used to a few toddlers but never 400.

We were on the Nieuw Statendam. 

Ironically we berthed next to a Carnival ship at San Juan that had a roller coaster, water park and zip lines!! I have to wonder if the majority of our 400 looked at their parents and moaned about the lack of those amenities on our ship of geriatrics HaHa

Take care

Bob

[Travelexpert35]

I find right after Thanksgiving and first two weeks in Dec are best for prices and lower crowds. Too many kids for me on Thanksgiving week.

[cdn_tbird]

On 12/1/2022 at 6:45 AM, bobpell said:

Ironically we berthed next to a Carnival ship at San Juan that had a roller coaster, water park and zip lines!! I have to wonder if the majority of our 400 looked at their parents and moaned about the lack of those amenities on our ship of geriatrics HaHa

Take care

Bob

Not necessarily. Our kids were 10 & 8 when we took them on their first cruise. Intentionally picked an RCL cruise because it would have more kid stuff for them. At the end of the day, they were in the pool, hot tub, and basketball half court, all of which are available on X. They had no interest in the rock wall, flow rider or ice rink. Had we known that we would have booked on X instead.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

12 minutes ago, cdn_tbird said:

Not necessarily. Our kids were 10 & 8 when we took them on their first cruise. Intentionally picked an RCL cruise because it would have more kid stuff for them. At the end of the day, they were in the pool, hot tub, and basketball half court, all of which are available on X. They had no interest in the rock wall, flow rider or ice rink. Had we known that we would have booked on X instead.

But they would want the rock wall, flow rider and rink since it was not available 🤣

[Florida_gal_50]

On 12/1/2022 at 4:45 AM, bobpell said:

We have cruised on HAL since 2010 Floridagal50 and just by luck never have booked over American Thanksgiving until this Nov.

I am used to a few toddlers but never 400.

We were on the Nieuw Statendam. 

Ironically we berthed next to a Carnival ship at San Juan that had a roller coaster, water park and zip lines!! I have to wonder if the majority of our 400 looked at their parents and moaned about the lack of those amenities on our ship of geriatrics HaHa

Take care

Bob

We were next to a carnival ship as well and they were the quiet one.

[gold1953]

On 11/29/2022 at 2:28 PM, Fouremco said:

Neighbours thought that they would avoid the kiddies by cruising the week before the Ontario school March break. Little did they realize that the Quebec school break is a week earlier.

March break dates stagger across Canada for travel reasons. Quebec is usually first ( the reason that covid hit hard there first) They were away when we shut down

[Fred&Lily]

Yeah, always check the internet for US holidays. Cruising on a ship that is hosting Quinceanera 16th birthday / debutant bashes is just bad luck. 

 

Stay home on US Thanksgiving and watch the football.

 

Most of the 20 odd cruises we've done started on a Full Moon.  Just to make it a little bit special for the Babe!  I'm not kidding, our next up starts on Feb 5th, 2023 which is a Full Moon. 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

28 minutes ago, Fred&Lily said:

Yeah, always check the internet for US holidays. Cruising on a ship that is hosting Quinceanera 16th birthday / debutant bashes is just bad luck. 

 

Stay home on US Thanksgiving and watch the football.

 

Most of the 20 odd cruises we've done started on a Full Moon.  Just to make it a little bit special for the Babe!  I'm not kidding, our next up starts on Feb 5th, 2023 which is a Full Moon. 

We were on Voyager Arctic TA , it was a full moon out which made it impossible to see the northern lights 😭