Kimmier333

My family wants to go on a cruise to the western carribean in March or April, but we do not want to go w/spring break crowd. We would like to cruise w/the least amount of teenagers as possible. We are not much for partying (as we have a 3yr old and I am expecting to be pregnant). Thanks for any info.
Kimberley

Budman

Are you pregnant now, or are you just working on it, because if you are pregnant now, I would expect you would be in late stages by March/April and find a cruise very uncomfortable.

If I'm not mistaking, Spring break is late Feb/early March. I would also avoid the week before & after Easter (Easter falls on 11 April), but late April should be pretty slow and you should get a great cruise deal.

andy

Kimmie=

Definitely AFTER April 11--- that is the last week of Easter.....

All kids ,both college and high school will be back at school then...

Enjoy!

Kimmier333

I am not pregnant now and 2 months ago I booked a cruise in May. Now my husband and I are thinking of having another baby and if we are successful, I will be over 26 weeks in May. I have read that Carnival will not let you cruise if you are in or over 26 week of pregnancy. We will be driving to New Orleans and going on the Conquest. How is cruising in February in the western carribbean? Is the weather good (cool or rainy)? Thanks!
Kimberley

travelagent

Spring break runs from first week in March to last week in April with March being less populated by spring breakers. You have to remember that EVERY high school, elem school, and college has spring break and that means millions of kids spread out over two months.

You can go early March and the prices won't be too high and there won't be that many families. (Stay away from April altogether.)

The weather probably won't be super warm, but should be in the low 80's. The water might be chilly, though.

MauiMaui

Don't go on Carnival if you are looking to avoid spring break kids! Go late April or early May and if you are not into partying go on Holland.

dburger

I'm a high school teacher who wants to avoid teenagers like the plague during spring break. Half the senior class was on Royal Caribbean. I took Holland America. Mostly families and older people. It was heaven.

Hold

I agree with travelagent, spring break is no longer limited to a week or two. Between High Schools, colleges, etc. all picking their own dates it does spread out all over March and April.

If you really want to go during these two month, your only real way to avoid the spring break kids is to pay for a more up-scale line that they are less like to be able to afford.

To avoid this problem we always sail in late February and never had a problem... but, we took a chance last spring and went the third week in March hoping that Carnival would have plenty of security on board to handle the crowd that I knew would have many such guest. I've always liked Carnival and felt safe on their other cruises, but this was not the case on this cruise. Security seemed to be everywhere until about 7 p.m. and then they were no-where to be found. It was so bad that we saw one college boy (drunk) fall down a flight of stairs, right in front of the Pursers desk and, one evening two college age males who were drunk got into a fight in front of the stage as the cruise director was introducing that nights entertainment. He swatted the two with his rolled up notes and said "now you two stop that" as they actually got up on stage to continue the fight. In neither case was anything done and security never showed up.

I generally choose Carnival because you get a lot for a small price and I expect less when I cruise with them, but its this type of activity that gives them a reputation of catering to a party crowd.

I wrote a letter to Carnival about the lack of security. They responded with a 10% off "your next cruise" certificate that only said they it would be wrong to artificially limit people from cruising, just because of their age.

Again, the higher priced the cruise, the less likely you'll have problems, or save money and go in late February.

Carmensb

We ALWAYS go Holland America (I do not think my husband and I are "old".) We do not have children and appreciate the advantages to be found on a mature cruise. Our last cruise (Veendam) was the last week of February 2002, to the Western Caribbean. The water was so rough I spent days throwing up. Some of the crew told me they also had been sick, but assured me that the cruise the week before was "worse than this one." Of course, there is nothing you can do about the weather. The crew were very sympathetic and went out of their way to make sure I was comfortable. I owe much appreciation to our cabin steward and the Nurse (the doctor showed up long enough to okay treatment, then disappeared.) When I came home and was telling my dentist, he laughed and said the Caribbean in February was known to have rough seas. I had not read that in any of my research. We found the infirmary fee to be only $120. That was a surprise, as I expected to be gouged. We are booked for May 2004 on the "Amsterdam" for our third trip to Alaska.