College students and packs of wild teens!

[jeffdal]

Had a great cruise this past week on the Ecstacy but way too many graduating high school seniors (senior trips) and crazy college students. Other adults on the ship were amazed by the amount. So, if you want to avoid this, I would suggest not taking a trip right after school lets out (high school and college).

[Cotton]

Sorry, but you should've known. I plan ALL my cruises when most kiddies of all ages are in school.:rolleyes:

[June Bug]

My husband and his brothers took their father on this same cruise for a early father's day gift, and my husband said the exact same thing. He said there was a group of high school or college students (around 200) that were on this ship and they were getting their photos made on the stairs on formal night...he talked to one of the chaperones. He also said this wasn't the only group of teens on the ship either, they were everywhere!!! He said he felt like he was on a senior prom cruise! Otherwise he said the cruise was ok. How did you feel about it?

We have never sailed on the smaller ships...only on the newer large ships and my husband said he felt this ship was not too clean even though it had just been refurbished...and he normally never mentions stuff like that...after all he is a man :D How did you feel about the refurbishment of this ship? He said it didn't stop him from having a great time though:D

June

[jeffdal]

My husband and his brothers took their father on this same cruise for a early father's day gift, and my husband said the exact same thing. He said there was a group of high school or college students (around 200) that were on this ship and they were getting their photos made on the stairs on formal night...he talked to one of the chaperones. He also said this wasn't the only group of teens on the ship either, they were everywhere!!! He said he felt like he was on a senior prom cruise! Otherwise he said the cruise was ok. How did you feel about it?

We have never sailed on the smaller ships...only on the newer large ships and my husband said he felt this ship was not too clean even though it had just been refurbished...and he normally never mentions stuff like that...after all he is a man :D How did you feel about the refurbishment of this ship? He said it didn't stop him from having a great time though:D

June

 

I had a geat time....but amazed by the amout of graduating seniors and college students. I avoided them for the most part but they got annoying when they would take over certain parts of the ship or when they would be doing stupid things in lines...yelling at staff, etc.

 

I thought the ship was pretty clean...including our stateroom. It looked brand new.

[GoinCruisin]

Yup, not for me :D I won't cruise once school is out... unless I absolutely have to, LOL!! No desire whatsoever...

[Jacquelyn11]

The school systems in FL let out in mid May, Ga is the end of May, Other Northern schools are after June 15th. This makes the "summer season" from May to September. Quite a few school systems are scheduling shorter summer breaks so the kids/teachers will have several entire weeks out during the school year. In Texas they have a "County Fair" week in October, in some counties in GA they get the week of Thanksgiving, Presidents Day, Spring Break the first of April and 2 weeks at Christmas. Some nothern schools take the Elections week, the 2nd week in November off.

 

School "years" are 180 days per year, but each county school system decides which of those 180 days they will be. So no matter when you cruise, there is the possibility of a school system taking a week off somewhere. And then, there's the HOME SCHOOLERS! :eek:

 

Since the southern schools get out the end of May, the week after Memorial Day can get more crowded from the FL ports because cruise fares are still lower than mid summer. If you sail the Caribbean but depart from NYC, your chances of "Kiddies" will be less. In researching your next cruise, pull up the web sites for the county schools systems or colleges near your departure port. It might help you avoid some of the "ankle biters" and "rowdy elevator button pushing/stairway sitters" on your next cruise.

 

Have fun Cruzin'

 

Jacquelyn :D

[June Bug]

I'm not sure what level you stayed on, my husband and his family were on the Main level and he said the carpet in the halls was really dirty near their rooms, but that could be from some even that just had happened and the crew hadn't cleaned it up yet. He said their cabin didn't look like it had been recently redone. Like I said though, we have only cruised large, nearly brand spanking new ships and so that is what he is comparing it too...kinda like comparing a new car to a rental...looks new, but has been ridden pretty hard.:D He NEVER complains about anything, so it was really odd to hear him mention that it seemed dirty. After all, this is coming from a man who can't pick his own socks off the floor....THAT's IT!!! I wasn't there to clean up after him, so he felt everything was dirty!!! It all makes perfect sense now....he sees what it is like when I don't clean after him!:rolleyes: He did say the dining room food was very good, and that he had a really great time with his brothers and dad....however, the kids (and we have two teenaged daughters) were just a bit too much for him too!

[GoinCruisin]

There is never going to be a kidless cruise on the mass market lines, thanks in part to year round schools and many parents will just take their kids out of school if they want to go... But in general, the "height" of "family cruising" seems to be during spring break (end of February through April) and summer (after school is out) which starts generally around the end of May through early September... Then of course holidays. Even during the "off season" there are plenty of kids, just not the masses you will find in the summer. My first cruise was a double whammy... a holiday AND summer... never, ever again!!! LOL! I cruised for business at the end of February... won't do that again either.. it was WORSE than summer cruising, LOL!

[suzy1212]

In Texas they have a "County Fair" week in October...

Lived in Texas all my life and never heard of such a thing. The state fair is held in Dallas in October, but school doesn't let out for a week. :rolleyes:

[June Bug]

I'm with you on the "county fair", nor anything of any nature in october other than Halloween! I've lived in texas all but 7 months of my life (had the unfortunate experience of being born in California thanks to Daddy being in the Navy:rolleyes: )....and lived in Houston all of the last 40 years and I have never seen nor heard of a county fair in October let alone one that lets kids off school . Some smaller counties have fairs but those coincide around the Houston Livestock shwo and Rodeo...Now the RODEO is in Feb/March in Houston, but no one gets off school for it, unless you have something to display for showing (like cows, pigs, art) etc... But those are the only kids getting off for it...and they wouldn't be cruising at that time! Maybe her "Texas" is a town in Georgia somewhere:D!?!?

 

June

[hawaiideb]

Was just wondering if the graduation trips/college groups are gravitating torward the shorter cruises? We will be on the Glory in 11 days and wondering if we'll also have a lot of student trips? I know a dear 2nd cousin is currently on a 5day/4 night RCCL cruise for her HS graduation. Just wondering if we'll have any on the Glory 6/10 since it is a 7 night cruise? Any way to find out?

Debbie

[suzy1212]

Maybe her "Texas" is a town in Georgia somewhere:D!?!?

LOL.

 

I think both the state fair and the FW rodeo (held in Jan.) had a Monday that was "public school day" and we were out that one day and had free tickets. I'm 47 so my memory about grade school could be faulty. I don't remember if they still did that when my kids were in school though.

[jeffdal]

Was just wondering if the graduation trips/college groups are gravitating torward the shorter cruises? We will be on the Glory in 11 days and wondering if we'll also have a lot of student trips? I know a dear 2nd cousin is currently on a 5day/4 night RCCL cruise for her HS graduation. Just wondering if we'll have any on the Glory 6/10 since it is a 7 night cruise? Any way to find out?

Debbie

 

I think mine was a double whammy... short trip and right after graduations and colleges letting out.

 

I have no problems with familes and kids/teens. This one just had way too many with no adults in sight.

[robc]

Not true. Our school sysyem has a one week fall break every October which is, of course, during the State Fair. I know of other Texas districts with a one week fall break.

 

That will probably all go away starting in 2007 with the Texas Legislature mandating a late August start for schools in the recent school financing bill.

[GoinCruisin]

Was just wondering if the graduation trips/college groups are gravitating torward the shorter cruises? We will be on the Glory in 11 days and wondering if we'll also have a lot of student trips? I know a dear 2nd cousin is currently on a 5day/4 night RCCL cruise for her HS graduation. Just wondering if we'll have any on the Glory 6/10 since it is a 7 night cruise? Any way to find out?

Debbie

 

Hard to say... yes, the shorter cruises are typically a "younger" crowd, a little more partying atmosphere... but you'll also run into family cruises, people that take the family on a cruise for graduation or end of year, etc. You'll probably be safer on a longer cruise than shorter, for the MASS kids and teens, but keep in mind it is still the "summer" season... so there will be more kids than at other times of the year.

[GoinCruisin]

Not true. Our school sysyem has a one week fall break every October which is, of course, during that State Fair. I know of other Texas districts with a one week fall break.

 

That will probably all go away starting in 2007 with the legislature mandating a late August start for schools.

 

 

Many school systems have a "fall break", I have just never heard of a school break for county fairs :p

[hawaiideb]

We have a DD age 11. I think HS kids could get loud, but at least they won't be drinking in bars. Hopefully adults won't bring on alcohol for them. I guess my biggest fear is a major party of college age students old enough to drink and acting like fools. I would think Spring Break would be more popular than now for that.

 

We've requested early seating for dinner, will go to the first shows, and tend to not hang out too much near the bars. I expect we'll see some people who drink too much, I'm just hoping it not crowds!

 

Debbie

[suzy1212]

Many school systems have a "fall break", I have just never heard of a school break for county fairs :p

Just checked the coming school year calendars for a couple of Texas districts. The district I'm in (and went to) has one day off in October. A teacher inservice, student holiday. The Keller school district which gets a waiver from the state to start very early, August 9th, has a week off in October, called a fall break. Fall break in October, week off for Thanksgiving, 2 weeks off for Christmas... that would drive me nuts. :eek:

[GoinCruisin]

We have a DD age 11. I think HS kids could get loud, but at least they won't be drinking in bars. Hopefully adults won't bring on alcohol for them. I guess my biggest fear is a major party of college age students old enough to drink and acting like fools. I would think Spring Break would be more popular than now for that.

 

We've requested early seating for dinner, will go to the first shows, and tend to not hang out too much near the bars. I expect we'll see some people who drink too much, I'm just hoping it not crowds!

 

Debbie

 

On the Sov of the Seas in February... I have never seen so many drunk, and I mean DRUNK 13-16 year olds in my life. Have no clue where they got it, but they got it. And I am talking about 25-30 of them gathering, drunk, just about everywhere we went. RCL was paying no attention... drove me crazy!!

[jeffdal]

On the Sov of the Seas in February... I have never seen so many drunk, and I mean DRUNK 13-16 year olds in my life. Have no clue where they got it, but they got it. And I am talking about 25-30 of them gathering, drunk, just about everywhere we went. RCL was paying no attention... drove me crazy!!

 

There was a great deal of security on the Ecstacy monitoring the wild ones. They were keeping the high school age kids out of the hot tub.

 

I did hear one story of a college kid passing out and they had to take him to the infirmery.

 

And when did all the college age women start smoking? Seems like all the sorority girls were puffing cigarettes the entire time.

 

The first night there were some crazy (loud, yelling, etc) tables dining room and we noticed that they did not show up again. Perhaps they were asked not to come back?

[Lisab733]

Just curious how they can have 200+ HS/College students and no adults? If my understanding is correct you must have at least someone over the age of 25 in a room, so that would make around 50 adults:confused: Did all these adults vaporize when they hit the ship:confused:. We leave in four days for our trip and will have our HS age DD with us. We are hoping there will be some kids their age (18 & 16) that they can hang with but not 200;) . I will make sure mine are not included in the "Rowdy" group:p

[Stircrzy]

Being the first weekend of "summer" break and a 4 nighter, I expected more young people than I've experienced in my recent cruises (March and October)...but WHOA!

 

Never again on Memorial Weekend for me!!

 

PS...I thought the ship looked really good after her refurbishment! I was on her last March and she was really showing wear.

 

I didn't go below the Empress Deck, but everything above that level seemed to be spiffed up since last time I was on the Ecstasy.

[GoinCruisin]

Just curious how they can have 200+ HS/College students and no adults? If my understanding is correct you must have at least someone over the age of 25 in a room, so that would make around 50 adults:confused: Did all these adults vaporize when they hit the ship:confused:. We leave in four days for our trip and will have our HS age DD with us. We are hoping there will be some kids their age (18 & 16) that they can hang with but not 200;) . I will make sure mine are not included in the "Rowdy" group:p

 

They only have to be 21 to book.

[impcinder]

There are ways around the under 25 rule. We travel with our DDs 20 and 24. We are 'registered DH and one DD, myself and the other DD. As soon as we board, we request an extra room key and rearrange ourselves!

 

Our DDs are night owls, won't see the sun before noon (if we're lucky). DH & I enjoy an early morning breakfast. And with 3 females, need plenty of bathroom space -- so 1 cabin won't work. And I would rather sleep with DH then DD....

[lvtotrvl1]

From CCL's website:

How old do you have to be to travel alone?Guests are required to be 21 years old (on embarkation day) to travel. Guests under the age of 21 must be accompanied in the same stateroom by a parent or guardian 25 or older. The exceptions Carnival will make to this policy are:

Married minor couple - The booking must be documented that the couple is married. The couple must have proof of marriage at embarkation or they will be denied boarding without the benefit of a refund.

Domestic Partners/Same-Sex Union minor couple - The booking must be documented that the couple are legal Domestic Partners/Same-Sex Union. The couple must have legal proof of partnership/union at embarkation or they will be denied boarding without the benefit of a refund.

Guest ages will be verified at embarkation. Guests not conforming to this policy will be denied boarding and assessed a 100% cancellation penalty. NO exceptions will be made at embarkation.

The Group policy is slightly different because of stricter group terms and conditions including mandatory chaperones, damage deposits and other considerations.

 

I understand the above poster "getting around the rules"..this happens frequently for a family (however, I understand the cruiselines are going to start monitoring this. But over 200 High school students? There would have to be quite a few chaperones for that to happen, wouldn't there? Just a question...;)