Mardi Gras crowd question

[wrcjr98]

On 7/2/2024 at 11:08 AM, hard_eight said:

They are but, things are slightly different and I prefer the layout of the Celebration. 

 

That said, I board Mardi Gras Saturday again as I've had enough of Miami for a while.

 

How was your trip on the Mardi Gras last week?!

 

[TerReuv]

23 hours ago, wrcjr98 said:

 

Thinking back, I think you're right?  I think it was maybe the crowd?  Because basically, the ships are the same.  The crew even seemed different.  The passengers were in much better spirits this past May.  Even my husband mentioned that - that everyone in May seemed in such a good mood, and he never notices anything like that!  But - we just booked the Celebration for next March, when my grandaughter is on Spring Break, so now, I may change my mind about the Celebration!  HA!!  When we do the Family Cruises, they are Mult-Generational, and we go when all the kids are out of school - so - I may be suggesting to not cruise when school is out like you mentioned if this one is crazy too!  I never thought about it that way before!  

 

My husband and I usually cruise in October (less children). This year we're sailing with my son & his family, so we are cruising a week after Labor Day.  The grands are only 2 & 4 now & the oldest will miss a week of pre-K, if we want to sail together after this time we will need to adjust our schedule for their school.  My thought is to work with the fall breaks as they are not as consistant across the country as summer breaks & spring breaks are.  Hoping that will work to our advantage. I will say I am a bit hesitant, but making memories with the grands is worth it.

[Rollin Tide]

42 minutes ago, TerReuv said:

 

My husband and I usually cruise in October (less children). This year we're sailing with my son & his family, so we are cruising a week after Labor Day.  The grands are only 2 & 4 now & the oldest will miss a week of pre-K, if we want to sail together after this time we will need to adjust our schedule for their school.  My thought is to work with the fall breaks as they are not as consistant across the country as summer breaks & spring breaks are.  Hoping that will work to our advantage. I will say I am a bit hesitant, but making memories with the grands is worth it.

Up until I was stationed in Georgia, I never heard of a 'Fall Break'.  Once there, since our youngest was still school age, that's when we booked our cruises.  From what I remember, they were never even close to being as crowded as they were during holidays and summer. 

I believe if you do like you mentioned, it'll work out great.  The only drawback to going during Fall Break, is that it's still hurricane season.  One of those cruises we did in October, a hurricane was entering Florida, as we were leaving New Orleans.  Even though we were a good bit a way, we most definitely felt the seas the first couple of days.

[wrcjr98]

My son went all through school in metro Atlanta - we always went to the theme parks in Florida during our "Fall Break", which was the week after Labor Day.  Hotel Rates were lower, Crowds had died down, it was great!  

[hard_eight]

On 7/11/2024 at 8:36 AM, wrcjr98 said:

 

How was your trip on the Mardi Gras last week?!

 

Fantastic, no real complaints. How can you complain about not working for 8 days! Might do a quick review post.

[dandeck]

On 6/18/2024 at 8:12 AM, planefring1 said:

Would the Mardi Gras or other newer ships attract the same "PARTY CROWD" as the older, less expensive ships?

 

Sail when school / college is in session and never less that 7 nights to minimize the chances of the "party crowd."  8+ nights for even less encounters.  

[jimbo5544]

4 hours ago, dandeck said:

Sail when school / college is in session and never less that 7 nights to minimize the chances of the "party crowd."  8+ nights for even less encounters.  

At least for now, 6, 7 or 8 days are the only way to go on Excel class ships.  Our experience is there is no difference in the crowds on these types of cruises.  Agree that WHEN you cruise does make a significant difference as to the experience.

[kdr69]

On 6/18/2024 at 10:09 AM, KarmaCruisers said:

nor at the bars)

hopefully the kids werent either....😮lol

[nc762shooter]

Trying to avoid spring breaks can be tricky between colleges and grade schools. Everyone will have some time off around Easter whether it's only a few days or a week. Depending on when Easter falls some school systems will only be off a few days then and have a full week off earlier sometime in March. Colleges will usually have a week of spring break in March and just a couple days at Easter. I would avoid shorter cruises that fall over Easter weekend as those would potentially have more younger kids and college kids. Longer cruises the week before or after Easter would be less likely to have college age but could potentially have more younger kids. March is probably a crap shoot especially if sailing from a port that has a higher percentage of people who fly in. A predominantly drive to port, if it matters enough to you to put in the effort, you could try to look up when most schools within a few hours drive have breaks and see if there is a week that looks less likely to have kids out of school... but you would have to really dislike having kids on board to go that much trouble in my opinion.😆

 

If you are determined to cruise during March/April, the safest bet would be a cruise of at least a week if you want to avoid "rowdiness". That said I have cruised multiple times over New Year's, during spring break and middle of the summer and never saw or had an issue with anyone being overly obnoxious or rowdy, just everyone enjoying themselves. Of course, I suppose it's possible I didn't notice anyone being rowdy because that person was me, but I think my wife would have let me know if that was the case.🤣😉