Am I crazy? Booked Oasis school vacation!

[cruiseray1]

I wonder what people think.

I sailed the Indy last month with my brother his wife and my two nieces.

We had 2 connecting balconies and a promendade cabin across the hall for the girls. We loved our cruise but there were not many kids on board. Which was fine by me.

This year my oldest niece will be in High School and can only go February vacation.

Am I crazy? With 6,000 passengers will there be thousands of kids?

Do you think we will have as great a time as on The Indy?

The Oasis is $4,000. more than Indy with the 3 cabins during school break.

I suppose I can always cancel if the price stays high.....do you think Royal can pull this off as brilliantly as they did Indy? Whata ya think?

[firefly333]

I kinda doubt the February vacation is a big vacation time for children cruising. Very few would have a week off? Its a great time weather wise. I love to get away January/February.

 

Im booked on Oasis and everyone seems to think that's crazy in and of itself, nothing to do with the date. I keep getting the "too big" comment.

[cruiseray1]

I kinda doubt the February vacation is a big vacation time for children cruising. Very few would have a week off? Its a great time weather wise. I love to get away January/February.

 

Im booked on Oasis and everyone seems to think that's crazy in and of itself, nothing to do with the date. I keep getting the "too big" comment.

 

yes but the "too big comment" is what they said about Indy and it never felt crowed or too big.....so I figured why not try Oasis especially since I travel with a tween and a teen!

I mean with all the new areas to hang the only thing I worry about is how in the heck are they going to do windjammer with 6000? Indy with 4000 was pretty crowded in Windjammer. But thanks for being positive I'm a little nervous about the giganticness of it all and curious to see if it can compare to the amazing time we had on Indy. Thanks

[Happy ks]

You really won't know until it's history. I think February is a better bet than Spring Break, though.

 

We have found that even on fully booked cruises there are always quiet places and spots you can find without the crowds. It depends on what you want to do, if you have the need to be in the middle of the action at the pool, or if you like to find a spot that isn't popular to the masses.

 

Since it will be a holiday week (many school districts take Presidents weekend and stretch it out for the whole week) you will more than likely have more kids on your cruise than the week before or after. But....my policy is to have a good time no matter who else is on the ship with us. Don't allow anyone else to have any affect on your good time. If you do run into obnoxious people (of any age) just let them go on their way.

[Happy ks]

yes but the "too big comment" is what they said about Indy and it never felt crowed or too big.....so I figured why not try Oasis especially since I travel with a tween and a teen!

I mean with all the new areas to hang the only thing I worry about is how in the heck are they going to do windjammer with 6000? Indy with 4000 was pretty crowded in Windjammer. But thanks for being positive I'm a little nervous about the giganticness of it all and curious to see if it can compare to the amazing time we had on Indy. Thanks

 

We've been on a couple large ships, QM2 and Liberty. Both were for short cruises. I do have to say that we prefer a smaller ship. Both these ships were beautiful but the feeling of being on a cruise just wasn't the same, it was more like a mall.

 

But everyone has their preferences and really large cruise ships will appeal to a lot of people. Nothing wrong with that, just different than a smaller ship. We steer clear of the buffet on any ship, large or small, they are all too crowded!

[cruiseray1]

You really won't know until it's history. I think February is a better bet than Spring Break, though.

 

We have found that even on fully booked cruises there are always quiet places and spots you can find without the crowds. It depends on what you want to do, if you have the need to be in the middle of the action at the pool, or if you like to find a spot that isn't popular to the masses.

 

Since it will be a holiday week (many school districts take Presidents weekend and stretch it out for the whole week) you will more than likely have more kids on your cruise than the week before or after. But....my policy is to have a good time no matter who else is on the ship with us. Don't allow anyone else to have any affect on your good time. If you do run into obnoxious people (of any age) just let them go on their way.

 

 

thanks

thats our attitude too. On Indy last month it seemed like we often were the only ones in the pool! just me and my nieces being serenaded by the live reagge band. just amazing! 4000 people and just us swimming and dancing!

you are right we wont know until it is history...only 13 months from now.

[Littlebrookfarm]

Preseident's week in February is a HUGE vacation week for the Northeast areas but less so for the rest of the country. We always used to cruise that week with our kids since that was their week off school. I can't say that the ships were 'overwhelmed' with kids but there were always lots of them onboard. Last year on Liberty they said there were over 700 kids on board that week but you couldn't really tell it was that many. I think Oasis is going to be so big with so much to do that everything will be 'spread out' the way it was on Liberty and probably your recent Indy cruise. But that's a LOT of extra $$ - not sure I would spend that much extra for it.

[cruiseray1]

I think Oasis is going to be so big with so much to do that everything will be 'spread out' the way it was on Liberty and probably your recent Indy cruise. But that's a LOT of extra $$ - not sure I would spend that much extra for it.

 

thanks I feel the same way.

Yes it is too much $$$$$.

But I don't have much choice now that the girls are no longer allowed to take a week off outside of school break......I only want to cruise with them and all the rates are high school vacation week...On Indy the balcony room came down to $899.....for six nights.....and the inside came down to $589.....

w/o tax and fuel charges.

Oasis is $1750 and $1299!!!!because it is new and peek week....

Whats a childless Uncle to do? Not cruise?

Hopefully Obama will send us all checks for $1000 to stimulate us and what better way to be stimulated then on a Royal cruise...Don't know if we will ever actually go on this cruise...too many unknowns...ecomomy,jobs etc...

and this time my nieces parents are going to have to pony up for their cabin..Uncle Cruiseray isn't a millionaire but he loves his nieces and he loves to cruise! l

[Sue (mom of 3 boys!)]

President's week is a HUGE vacation week here in the northeast, as another poster mentioned. If it wasn't, they wouldn't get away with jacked up cruise fares and air fare.

BUT, after saying that, our cruise for this year on the Indy during break started out as $1399 per person (cat. E2), but did get as low as $949 per person.

I think a lot of it is supply and demand. When the ship is not as full as they'd like, the $$ cost goes down. And as it fills again, $$ goes up ( as it dod after the price drops).

As far as ship size, I can't comment. The Jewel of the Seas was our biggest. The Indy will take over that spot when we cruise in February.

At least you know you can cancell if the rates don't drop to a comfortable level for you...

[cruiseray1]

President's week is a HUGE vacation week here in the northeast, as another poster mentioned. If it wasn't, they wouldn't get away with jacked up cruise fares and air fare.

BUT, after saying that, our cruise for this year on the Indy during break started out as $1399 per person (cat. E2), but did get as low as $949 per person.

I think a lot of it is supply and demand. When the ship is not as full as they'd like, the $$ cost goes down. And as it fills again, $$ goes up ( as it dod after the price drops).

As far as ship size, I can't comment. The Jewel of the Seas was our biggest. The Indy will take over that spot when we cruise in February.

At least you know you can cancell if the rates don't drop to a comfortable level for you...

 

so you are taking your kids on Indy for february school break this year?

I'm interested in how it goes for you. Hope you will write a review when you return. You will love Indy!

[2boyzmom]

We cruise every President's week with two young children. There are always 300-600 kids onboard but it has never been a problem unless you want to cram into a hot tub with a bunch of teens. They are always well behaved and would rather cruise with a young lively crowd anyway :)

We have noticed half the adults are teachers and our last 9 day cruise drastically reduced the amount of kids since the teachers could only get a week off. Anxious to see how many kids will be on my 11 night Panama Canal Cruise next month....

[emt9898]

cruiseray1,

 

I can not comment on the size of the ship either because i have only been on the miracle. But we r booking the oasis for 10-16-10. We picked that week because it was during school and that there might not be as many kids. Not that i am aganist having kids on the cruise but there were just so many on our last cruise. Granted that might be because it left out of NY. BUT one thing that i ask is that you give us a review when you get back and also have a great time!!!!!

[cruiseray1]

We cruise every President's week with two young children. There are always 300-600 kids onboard but it has never been a problem unless you want to cram into a hot tub with a bunch of teens. They are always well behaved and would rather cruise with a young lively crowd anyway :)

We have noticed half the adults are teachers and our last 9 day cruise drastically reduced the amount of kids since the teachers could only get a week off. Anxious to see how many kids will be on my 11 night Panama Canal Cruise next month....

 

so this will be your first Royal? What ship are you going on?

I think my nieces will LOVE it if there are lots of young ones onboard instead of just us old fuddy duddies.....I just want them to have a blast...I'm easy to please as long as Oasis isn't a nightmare....Indy was fabulous and never seemed crowded like I thought it would be.

[Sue (mom of 3 boys!)]

so you are taking your kids on Indy for february school break this year?

I'm interested in how it goes for you. Hope you will write a review when you return. You will love Indy!

Yes, we are on the Indy 6 night during February vacation. 37 days to go and we are getting very excited. Hopefully Mother Nature is kind and we can get down there--another hazard of winter travel from this area:rolleyes:.

I will definitely write a review when we return.

[juniorsmom]

Well if you think you are crazy. Then so am I. I booked Oasis yesterday for March break 2010.

[cruiseray1]

cruiseray1,

 

I can not comment on the size of the ship either because i have only been on the miracle. But we r booking the oasis for 10-16-10. We picked that week because it was during school and that there might not be as many kids. Not that i am aganist having kids on the cruise but there were just so many on our last cruise. Granted that might be because it left out of NY. BUT one thing that i ask is that you give us a review when you get back and also have a great time!!!!!

 

I too loved Indy during the school calendar because there were very few kids onboard. So you've done the right thing. But the flip side is...since I can only go during school break now it will be better for the kids.....but I just hope I'm not overwhelmed by 1000 monsters....like the above poster said...history will tell....So I'm goin for it.....14 months from now I'll let ya know.

thanks

[2boyzmom]

I too loved Indy during the school calendar because there were very few kids onboard. So you've done the right thing. But the flip side is...since I can only go during school break now it will be better for the kids.....but I just hope I'm not overwhelmed by 1000 monsters....like the above poster said...history will tell....So I'm goin for it.....14 months from now I'll let ya know.

thanks

 

 

With these mega ships, 1000 kids won't seem that many. Enjoy!

[cruiserbryce]

I am sure there will be a reasonable # of kids just by virtue of the ship being so large...but you may never see them;) Its not really the peak family vacation time so you should be good. And yes...if you need to change the booking b/c it becomes too expensive then its certainly an option

[lisapz]

We are from New York and have always cruised that peak week in February because our kids are off from school. We've been on most of the Voyager class ships, Freedom, Liberty, and Serenade. All were terrific cruises. Yes there were many kids on board but it never put a damper on our experience. Our kids loved it because there were many things geared for them and they had there own spots to hang out. We usually travel with afew families, all with kids and now older teens. We've also taken along single Uncles, grandmas and grandpas, and everyone had a great time.

 

Make the most of it.

Ever ship has something for everybody.

Looking forward to cruising again soon.

[cruiseray1]

We are from New York and have always cruised that peak week in February because our kids are off from school. We've been on most of the Voyager class ships, Freedom, Liberty, and Serenade. All were terrific cruises. Yes there were many kids on board but it never put a damper on our experience. Our kids loved it because there were many things geared for them and they had there own spots to hang out. We usually travel with afew families, all with kids and now older teens. We've also taken along single Uncles, grandmas and grandpas, and everyone had a great time.

 

Make the most of it.

Ever ship has something for everybody.

Looking forward to cruising again soon.

 

oh thank you

that is a very helpful and positive response..I will sleep better tonight!