4 Night vs 5 Night - Please help me decide

[LCTsMom]

I am totally torn between two cruises in 2008. I currently am booked on a 4 night in June, after my kids are out of school. We have connecting SPH rooms but because of the time of year, we're paying a premium rate.

The 5 night specialty Magic cruise sails on 9/1 and is considerably cheaper. We can book 2 Cat 6 cabins and still save money, while having an extra day at sea. My dilemma is that I will have a 3rd grader and two DSs in high school. School starts in mid/late August. When we sailed this past September (4 nights) they missed 3 days and I thought it was really hard to get back into the swing of school. The district would permit us to take them out of school so the legality of it isn't an issue for me. My kids are allowed 9 days of absence per semester before running into trouble.

What would you do?

 

[tammymacb]

I'm going with my son 15 and my daughter 10. School will have already started up. My sister, BIL, dad and mother are also going. I think somtimes there are more important things than missing a little school.

 

[dvcnewgirl]

We are sailing on the 5 night cruise. It all depends on how you feel about it. If you are going to worry a lot about your children missing school then It may not be worth it. I figure it is the beginning of school so everything is review. The reason I picked the 5 night: I would like to experience the Magic, I am hoping for some things that are on the 7 night like shows or Palo tea etc. but none of that is confirmed yet. The double dip at castaway cay. The VALUE. I have to say the price is impossible to beat. The weather will be great for the beach. Just think of what you really want to do. Good Luck on what you choose. If you do decide on the 5 night drop by and say hi on our cruise meet!

 

[webray]

Definately the 5 night. When our kids were in school we pulled them out for two weeks at a time almost every year for vacations. They never had a problem getting back into the swing of things, all work was completed before/during the trip.

We always went in off seasons for better pricing/weather, lower crowds, etc.

 

[Lindy Loo]

5 nighter, its educational and important for family life to have holidays together. They are sure to catch up any missed work. GO FOR IT!!

I had at least 2 weeks EVERY year out of school to travel with my parents and I got a degree, A levels etc. IMHO Lifes TOO short !

 

[loveysbydesign]

I would go on the one in Sept. if you can. We really wanted to go on that one but my kids start back to school the day after Labor Day so they'd miss the 1st wk. of school and I don't think that would be fair to them, so we're going 11/30/08.

 

[Hygiene99]

I Would do the 5 night!!!
Prices did look Good...

Sounds like alot of fun!

 

[disneyjunkie]

I am totally torn between two cruises in 2008. I currently am booked on a 4 night in June, after my kids are out of school. We have connecting SPH rooms but because of the time of year, we're paying a premium rate.

The 5 night specialty Magic cruise sails on 9/1 and is considerably cheaper. We can book 2 Cat 6 cabins and still save money, while having an extra day at sea. My dilemma is that I will have a 3rd grader and two DSs in high school. School starts in mid/late August. When we sailed this past September (4 nights) they missed 3 days and I thought it was really hard to get back into the swing of school. The district would permit us to take them out of school so the legality of it isn't an issue for me. My kids are allowed 9 days of absence per semester before running into trouble.

What would you do?

I would go with the 4 night. I was going to say the 5 night until I reached the part about the high school students having a hard time with school after your last trip.

 

[LCTsMom]

Thanks for all the great suggestions. Our biggest challenge was getting back into the school routine. We all caught colds and/or strep toward the end of our trip. It diddn't help that I had my kids go back to school on a Friday rather than take the extra day off and go back Monday.

I think we are going to change our plans and go for the 5 night! It seems like too good a deal to pass up.

Now we're debating which cabins to book!

Thanks again for your help!

 

[suzannef]

Lisa
If you can get 2 cat 6's and still save money, you have to go for it!!!!!You will LOVE having the verandah. If my kids didn't start school that week I would be right there with you You deserve that extra day!!!!!!

 

[dznynut2]

We kinda had the same dilema....... last year my son who just started Kindergarten was going to be missing 6 days of school. Spoke with his teacher from day 1 & explained that we had this vacation planned in advanced & with our school district, we never know that far in advance when school was going to be starting (we had planned about 2 years prior). Teacher wasn't worried about him missing she could tell that right off the bat he was a bright little boy. When she turned 'paperwork' into the principal, he questioned about the length of time he would be missing. She reassured him that my son would not be missing too much since he had already attended a private preschool for 2 years. During the timeframe he was missing it was kinda like a review to him. She did send some 'cruise'work to do while we were gone. He thought it was cool to do his homework on the ship. When we returned I assured her that we tried to point out the basics to him during parts of the cruise (ex. numbers, letters, colors, etc) she was impressed that he had so much to tell her about the cruise. He will be starting 2nd grade next year when we are on the 5 night cruise....... he will be at the same school, so I am planning on asking his 1st grade teacher what we can 'work' harder on for next summer, so he won't be so far behind.
But you are right, for the price (no matter what catagory you pick) you can't pass it up..................... HAPPY SAILING!!!!!!!!!!!