We LOVE the long cruises during school with less kids!
We did EBTA last year, WBPC just this month, and have WBTA in Sept., as well as some other cruises next year during school break and then Hawaii to Vancouver (which I am mentioning because it is during school with less kids). My preference is to cruise this way, for precisely the reason you mentioned -- I feel like the boys get so much more attention and the ship is less crowded. It is the same reason that I prefer the classics -- just less people and more individualized attention. On EBTA I think the number was 180; on the WBTA I think just short of 300 kids.
The boys just turned 8, so they have only had experience in the Lab since we started cruising in 2012. There is a lot of room, they can participate in every activity if they want without it being crowded, the CMs know their names, etc. But even more importantly, in other areas of the ship, you will get a much more personalized experience when there are fewer people and your kids will get more attention when there are fewer kids.
For example, at Bingo, the CMs played with my sons all the time, brought them up to do the B11 dance, and Chris referenced them during Bingo play during every session. They ate it up. Pools were obviously less crowded. Even the difference in number of kids between EBTA and WBPC at the pools was evident, IMO. During trivia (which we managed to win a few times), they loved when David (Club Host) came over and talked to them -- which happened a lot for some kids at the Diversions trivia (not the kids' trivia). And don't even get me started in Superstar Family Karaoka or SYTYKYF! My sons LOVE the game and discovered karaoke on WBPC. They were able to sing every single time we went (some kids sang more than once every session), and they got picked for SYTYKYF and the Generation Game. Bottom line is, although your kids are younger than mine, whatever they choose, they will get more attention, the CMs will get to know them better, and there will be a lot more space.
