When do most families cruise?

[stephx777]

My family and I went on our first cruise last November on Carnival to the Caribbean. We had alot of fun and but were very dissapointed in one area. I don't want this to sound mean, but the ship was full of old people. I'm not just talking about adults, I'm talking about people in wheelchairs and oxygen tanks. There seemed to be no families or children. The kids in my family spent the entire cruise with mom and dad because there was nobody to make friends with. Despite this, we have booked another cruise this December on Royal Caribbean. My question is are all cruises like this, passenger-wise? Or did we just happen to get, as my father says, "the geriatric-cruise"?

[cb at sea]

Perhaps you cruised a few weeks prior to Thanksgiving, when schools were in session??

Most families will cruise over the summer, or long holiday periods. Of course, there will always be a range of ages onboard, but when schools are out, you should find more "family aged" groups.

The more expensive the cruiseline, the older (generally speaking) the passengers will be. The longer the cruise, the older the passengers, (again, generally speaking!)---you get the picture!

[SelectSys]

... My question is are all cruises like this, passenger-wise? Or did we just happen to get, as my father says, "the geriatric-cruise"?

 

Cruises that have the most kids are those that occur over the school holidays. The bad news is that these cruises are also the most expensive as the demand for family travel is high.

[chipmaster]

My family and I went on our first cruise last November on Carnival to the Caribbean. We had alot of fun and but were very dissapointed in one area. I don't want this to sound mean, but the ship was full of old people. I'm not just talking about adults, I'm talking about people in wheelchairs and oxygen tanks. There seemed to be no families or children. The kids in my family spent the entire cruise with mom and dad because there was nobody to make friends with. Despite this, we have booked another cruise this December on Royal Caribbean. My question is are all cruises like this, passenger-wise? Or did we just happen to get, as my father says, "the geriatric-cruise"?

 

Cruise during Christmas, Spring Break, Summer on a mainsteam line and you'll find lots of families.

 

Cruise high end lines or during "school" time and you'll find far fewer families. Most of us keep our kids in school when school is in session ;)

[crusinmama06]

What was the exact week you cruised? If it was the week before or after Thanksgiving, alot less kids. Then Thanksgiving week will be crawling with them.

 

What Royal Caribbean ship and what week in December?

 

It does vary from ship to ship and from week to week. On my RCCL Indy cruise there was 250 kids, the very next week 1250.

[stephx777]

What was the exact week you cruised?

 

What Royal Caribbean ship and what week in December?

 

We went the week of thanksgiving and we are going December 12 on Independence of the Seas.

[crusinmama06]

We went the week of thanksgiving and we are going December 12 on Independence of the Seas.

 

That's surprising that a Carnival ship during Thanksgiving was all old people. Their median age of passenger is pretty young compared to others.

 

Now the week you picked for Independence, it is before the Christmas holiday, so you may have less kids onboard again. But there will never be no kids on Indy. ;)

[RENMama]

We too are cruising on Dec 12 this year (on carnival dream). I expect low volumes of kids but Im sure there will be some kids on board for my trio to play with. I highly doubt my 3 will be the only kids their age on the cruise. :)

[mom2girls]

I usually cruise with my girls in the summer. However, this year we went during Spring Break. I saw more kids on this cruise than any other sailing I have been on, and I've sailed in the summer and during Thanksgiving Break.

[Paumavista]

I mentioned this on another response recently....but my kids always prefer traveling "off" season.....when we can expect fewer kids on board. We have NEVER been on a cruise without a fair number of children - we've cruised with Carnival and RC (we're leaving on Princess in 2 weeks).

 

"?" to the original poster...How often did your children attend camp carnival activities? Usually when you don't notice alot of children around the ship it's because of a really well run children's program. When all the kids are well entertained and having a fabulous time in Camp you hardly notice or see them around the rest of the ship because they're having such a good time.

 

My children actually prefer slower times of the year....when fewer kids (maybe a couple hundred) are on board because the kids clubs seem more organized and they probably get more one on one attention from the counselors.

 

But even on a Southern Caribbean itinerary between Thanksgiving and Christmas we had about 250 kids on board and the kids club was VERY active.

 

Make sure your kids check out the kids clubs.....they're sure to meet others and enjoy themselves!

 

Judy

[nothriver]

Because my oldest child can't miss school, we vacation spring break, always the 3rd week of March for us, and as early in June as we can get away. I try to avoid the PEAK travel times, the weeks of Easter, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas. When our spring break coincides with Easter, we stay home.

 

When my oldest son was younger, I took him out of school and traveled off season. It was definately much cheaper.

[Cuizer2]

My family and I went on our first cruise last November on Carnival to the Caribbean. We had alot of fun and but were very dissapointed in one area. I don't want this to sound mean, but the ship was full of old people. I'm not just talking about adults, I'm talking about people in wheelchairs and oxygen tanks. There seemed to be no families or children. The kids in my family spent the entire cruise with mom and dad because there was nobody to make friends with. Despite this, we have booked another cruise this December on Royal Caribbean. My question is are all cruises like this, passenger-wise? Or did we just happen to get, as my father says, "the geriatric-cruise"?

Try cruising during school vacation. I have been on summer time cruises with 800 or more kids. Or you could book Disney, if you can afford their prices.

[Kerry's Girls]

 

"?" to the original poster...How often did your children attend camp carnival activities? Usually when you don't notice alot of children around the ship it's because of a really well run children's program. When all the kids are well entertained and having a fabulous time in Camp you hardly notice or see them around the rest of the ship because they're having such a good time.

 

Make sure your kids check out the kids clubs.....they're sure to meet others and enjoy themselves!

 

Judy

 

I have to think this is the key to why the OP didn't see kids. We always sail while school is in session, and this year even on a 2 week ocean crossing on Princess the week after the winter holiday, there have always been kids in the kids club. I can't imagine any Carnival cruise in the Carib having few kids on board.

 

Cruises do usually have a large number of elderly people, and often people of all ages in wheelchairs, along with families, couples, etc.

 

Best,

Mia

[Kerry's Girls]

xxx

[Kerry's Girls]

double post

[nybumpkin]

We cruise President's Week in February when our kids (New York State) have a week off and again in the summer. I've found fewer kids on the February cruises than on the summer cruises, but there are still plenty of kids in the clubs.

 

If you can see my signature, you'll note that we've sailed only on Carnival. All of our cruises have had a mix of passengers - lots of families, couples/groups without kids in tow, and seniors.

[angie54751]

We are doing Navigator on Dec. 14th and taking our 3 children ages, 13-13-9. We know that there may not be as many kids but hope that since it is only a 5 nighter there will be some for them to interact with. But...I do know that even if there aren't too many other kids they will still have a blast, there is so much to do!!