what times does Spring Break usually occur?

[MsKatee]

Hi Cruisers,

 

Does anyone know the range of dates when Spring Break usually is? We want to plan a cruise out of Fort Lauderdale and don't really want to be with all the college kids.

 

thanks,

mskatee

[Coral]

End of February to mid-April.

 

With Princess - you will not get the College Springbreakers as much - it is more the K-12 kids. On some sailings during this time, there are 900 plus kids under the age of 18. A lot of families plan their vacation at this time.

[MsKatee]

Really? You mean from feb to mid april people take their kids out of school?

The K-12 group is not what we want either, we are a little too sedate for all the activities of that age group, even though they are little cuties!

 

so we were actually planning on picking a cruise for anywhere from late march to late april, but from what you say we are still stuck.

 

thanks,

mskatee

[Christapie]

Spring breaks occur all during March and April. The week before Easter and the week after are also kid busy. I have to say that I've never had a problem with kids or students on Princess. Not to say there aren't problems, but I have never seen one myself. If anything, I've seen and heard more "adults" being rude, loud or just complaining to the point where I have walk away so I don't have to hear them.

 

Another way to avoid many kids or students is to take a cruise longer than 7 days.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

Christapie

[ilovetocruisetoo]

We were on the Crown last week April 21-28 and there were VERY FEW children (anyone under 21) on the ship. I would estimate I only saw 30 or less children on the ship total.

 

Spring break is usually over by mid-April, that's why we always choosethe 3rd or 4th week of April to go anywhere. We never encounter many children during this week, no matter where in the Carribean we go.

[Coral]

Really? You mean from feb to mid april people take their kids out of school?

The K-12 group is not what we want either, we are a little too sedate for all the activities of that age group, even though they are little cuties!

 

 

Most K-12 schools have a week break somewhere during this time frame. It varies from regions and even within regions there are variances.

 

I think you are safe from mid January to mid February as far as avoiding kids.

[Pam in CA]

As Coral said, it's between mid-February and late-April. In MA, for instance, February vacation is the 3rd week of February; in NH, it's the 4th week of February; likewise, in MA, April break is the 3rd week in April and the 4th week for NH. Then you have the private schools that have 2-week breaks in March. Plus the college students.

 

There might be a week or so within that timeframe when there aren't as many students (school and college) on break but that would mean checking every single state's, private school's and college's vacation schedules.

 

If you plan on a cruise longer than 7 days, there will be far fewer kids onboard.

[where next?]

Mass and NH schools were off this week (April 23rd) and Maine was off last week (April 16). We lived in NH up until last year and loved the later week because there were a good number of kids for my kids to meet but not a huge amount as we've heard there are the week before. We moved to Maine this year and it was a bad time to take a cruise for us. I've booked the Crown for next year and I'm sure we'll see more kids but in the past we've never felt inundated at all.

 

The poster who said to take a longer cruise is right. Last year we did the 10-Panama on the Coral Princess. We took our kids out of school for three days because we felt the Panama Canal cruise was worth it and our oldest was going to be entering high school this year when I felt we couldn't take her out of school. The longer cruise was full of older people and they couldn't have been kinder to my kids. One day I went to meet my kids in the Horizon COurt and they had already been joined by an older couple that they'd gone ziplining with. They had a wonderful lunch together. It was cute!!

 

 

Enjoy,

Bobbie

[MsKatee]

thanks to all of you for taking the time to let me know about spring break times. these boards are great!

 

thanks,

mskatee

[DrivesLikeMario]

Just remember that Easter is very, very early next year.

It's on March 23, 2008.

 

Our Spring Break runs from March 22-April 6th, regardless of when Easter is.

Most schools in So. Cal. have Spring Break the week of March 22-March 31 though.

[LHC1CPA]

i was on the feb/07 panama cruise and there were only about 80 kids in total during my feb.break...on longer cruises there will most likely be less kids...

[sharks48]

Some schools, such as NY state, also have Presidents' Week the week of the Monday that is the official Presidents' Day.

[willysgrandma]

If you can avoid spring break, you'll save yourself plenty of bucks because the airfares are higher during those weeks and so are hotels if you are staying pre or post cruise.

[Andy99]

We were on the Crown last week April 21-28 and there were VERY FEW children (anyone under 21) on the ship. I would estimate I only saw 30 or less children on the ship total.

 

Spring break is usually over by mid-April, that's why we always choosethe 3rd or 4th week of April to go anywhere. We never encounter many children during this week, no matter where in the Carribean we go.

 

My kids spring break for 2008 starts April 18 and they dont go back to school till the April 29th Its much later then years past...

[cruzinchris]

Here in the Water/Winter Wonderland (Michigan), just about everyone has had it with winter after the Holiday season. If they haven't left town for warm and sunny places by then, most will head to Florida or the Caribbean for the kids' mid-winter break from school.

 

For some schools, this will be a full week (perhaps a day or two longer) either of the two weeks flanking Presidents' Day. Some schools may observe a shorter 4-day-weekend mid-winter break but many folks would take the children out of school for a few extra days to get out of town.

 

The next school vacation period - spring break - usually begins Thursday/Good Friday and lasts through week the of Easter with classes resuming the following Monday or Tuesday. Again, some parents might take their kids out of school earlier or return later.

 

DH and I cruise in late January-early February and encounter very few children at this time.

Chris

[kywildcatfanone]

My wife is a school teacher and so if we want to cruise outside of summer, we have to do spring break or Christmas. We went on a spring break cruise this year on the Grand, and while there were a ton of kids (was told they stopped booking families with kids because they reached their limit), it really wasn't a problem to us. The Youth Security does a good job, and you can go to the adults only pool if your ship has one. We stayed out by MUTS and again, it wasn't bad.

We would do a spring break cruise again if we had the opportunity.

 

Mike

[nikinakinoo]

Hi

Could anybody tell me when school holidays are in october. Im on the cb for halloween and just wondering if it will be very busy then. The school holidays in the uk is the week leading up to halloween but they go back on the 29th.

Thanks

[kafitty]

we don't get any vacations in October, save a day off here and there for Monday holidays. Our first break is usually the Wednesday-Thursday-Friday over Thanksgiving, and then nothing until Christmas.

 

don't forget, most colleges get out of school in late April/early May

[rebeccalouise]

Many colleges (including my son's college) have their spring break in February.

 

Others have their's in March. It depends on the college.

 

Most grade schools have their spring break beginning a few days before Easter and then the week after Easter. In 2008, Easter falls on March 23rd.

 

I would avoid March entirely, if you want to avoid Spring Breakers from College.

 

Best times to cruise are the week after Thanksgiving and the week after Christmas if you want to avoid kids.

[rebeccalouise]

Woops- meant to say the week after New Years (starting January 2nd)