Kids on August Alaska cruise??

[jprod30]

We have booked a Disney Alaska cruise for August 18, 2014. My 11 year old daughter will end up missing her first day of school, but she's perfectly fine with that. But, it occurred to me that other families who might have traveled on the August 18 cruise might cruise earlier due to school start dates. I am wondering if there will be many kids on an August 18 Alaska cruise? I want my daughter to have a great time, and make friends, as well. If it means scheduling the cruise for a week or two earlier, I'm okay with it. Anyone have experience with the later August Alaska cruises? Can you tell me about the number of kids? Do you think there will be plenty of kids going to The Edge club?

Your thoughts, tips and advice will be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks~

 

[Aby]

I don't have any kids myself, but I just returned from the August 19th cruise to Alaska. I saw plenty of kids on the ship, including lots in the pre-teen/teen ages. Here in Canada school doesn't usually begin until September, and there were quite a few Canadians on board so I'm sure there will be at least some kids on board at that time!

Aby

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

As comparison, we cruised 6/17-6/24 and were advised there were 700 kids on board.

Best cruise ever

Heather

 

[lisettemac]

Well, our school started today - 8/27. So, we *could* have taken the 8/18 cruise, but we took the 7/4 cruise instead.

 

[Stinkerbe11]

We homeschool and cruise/go to popular vacation destinations in the "off-season". All of our cruises have been in January and February and there were kids of all ages onboard. Many people cruise during the school year to take advantage of lower prices (especially with Alaska) so, I don't think it will be a problem

 

[tvguy]

Who knows anymore when school starts. About half are back now, and the other half wait for the traditional start time, the day after Labor day.
However, Disney cruisers seem to be more inclined to take their children out of school for vacations, so there may be fewer kids on board, but there still will be hundreds.

 

[TheLanes]

Who knows anymore when school starts. About half are back now, and the other half wait for the traditional start time, the day after Labor day.
However, Disney cruisers seem to be more inclined to take their children out of school for vacations, so there may be fewer kids on board, but there still will be hundreds.

So true about all the different school start times. I'm not sure what the spread is these days, but the traditional after Labor Day start is not the majority...

 

[tvguy]

So true about all the different school start times. I'm not sure what the spread is these days, but the traditional after Labor Day start is not the majority...

Well, they HAVE to start earlier to get enough days in. The district we live in started taking the entire President's day week off, instead of one day about 10 years ago, and they take the entire Thanksgiving week here too, instead of just Thursday and Friday. Not sure when that changed.

 

[Meghatron]

The kids will have a great time no matter how crowded it is. We did the WBPC this past May and there were 200 kids TOTAL onboard (compare to the usual 1000). All the youth in our party had a blast and were doted on by the youth staff.

Sent from my Tricorder using DISBoards

 

[CruisinEars]

We live in WA state and start in Sept after Labor Day. I don't know of any schools in this state that start earlier unless it is a private school. It is just not normal to start in August, that is still summer. We get out in early to mid June just as the weather starts getting nice.

We cruised to Alaska June 15, the day after one of my kids got out and we had plenty of kids on our cruise.

 

[Symon]

We also live in WA state and this year started school on Aug 21st..But next year we don't start until Aug 27th and we are planning on being on the Wonder on the Aug 18th sailing! While my kids are a little older (will be 17 and 19 next year) I think there will be plenty of kids your daughters age.

 

[miche28]

We also just got off the August 19th cruise and I'd say there were plenty of kids! Keep in mind that Canadian schools generally never start earlier than the day after Labour Day (and ours is the week after this year), so it's a pretty popular time to travel.

 

[Control4Hermosa]

Back from Aug 19, 24hrs. for kids to rest then off to school. They don't mind the rush. It's parents that end up freaking out.

 

[cruisecrasher]

I've cruised in April, no shortage of kids, even when school is in session!

 

[DisSarahK]

We cruised to Alaska in late August last summer and there were tons of children on board! My kiddos had no troubles finding playmates on board! I think your daughter will be fine!