How much is it worth to go sooner?

[Beth06015]

We're looking to book a cruise for next year. After a mash-up of my work schedule & DH's work schedule, our choices for the 7-day Carribean cruise are May 2017 or Sept 2017. Going in the fall would save about $1500-$1600. I am torn because I would love to go sooner in May if possible but the pricing increases given the higher popularity of the cruise. It's our first time cruising. My daughter will miss a week of school either way. Any thoughts?

 

[cmph]

We're looking to book a cruise for next year. After a mash-up of my work schedule & DH's work schedule, our choices for the 7-day Carribean cruise are May 2017 or Sept 2017. Going in the fall would save about $1500-$1600. I am torn because I would love to go sooner in May if possible but the pricing increases given the higher popularity of the cruise. It's our first time cruising. My daughter will miss a week of school either way. Any thoughts?

Nothing to do with the money saving issue, but I would primarily be concerned with what's going on at school. Totally depends on your school's schedule (if it's start/end early, or start post-Labor/go to the end of June), but missing May and finals/testing would be an issue for my kids that wouldn't be a concern in Sept. I think your temps are essentially going to be the same either month, but of course Sept is hurricane season and May isn't. For me, though - it would be the school thing that made the decision as I have a middle schooler. Of course if your kiddo is in kindergarten or 1st grade... then that is a non-issue.

 

[Anna Chassereau]

We have a Kindergartner now and when we cruise next year he will be in 1st grade so testing isn't an issue for us...if testing isn't an issue for you either then I'd go with May personally. Hurricane season brings a lot of what ifs...too many for me and that's why we moved our originally booked Oct. 2017 cruise out of hurricane season and decided to do a merrytime cruise in December 2017 instead. Just my opinion but if it works with your child's school schedule then I would personally rather cruise in May!

 

[Beth06015]

Nothing to do with the money saving issue, but I would primarily be concerned with what's going on at school. Totally depends on your school's schedule (if it's start/end early, or start post-Labor/go to the end of June), but missing May and finals/testing would be an issue for my kids that wouldn't be a concern in Sept. I think your temps are essentially going to be the same either month, but of course Sept is hurricane season and May isn't. For me, though - it would be the school thing that made the decision as I have a middle schooler. Of course if your kiddo is in kindergarten or 1st grade... then that is a non-issue.

Good point! She'll be in 4th or 5th grade, and we start after Labor Day through the end of June. I don't think the timing should be an issue either way for her. I would avoid the first week of Sept for the beginning of school and also avoid June because its the hectic end!

That being said....it would be early into K for my son, and maybe that would be more difficult than missing pre-K, if he's just started kindergarten.

 

[Beth06015]

We have a Kindergartner now and when we cruise next year he will be in 1st grade so testing isn't an issue for us...if testing isn't an issue for you either then I'd go with May personally. Hurricane season brings a lot of what ifs...too many for me and that's why we moved our originally booked Oct. 2017 cruise out of hurricane season and decided to do a merrytime cruise in December 2017 instead. Just my opinion but if it works with your child's school schedule then I would personally rather cruise in May!

That's what I want to hear!!

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

We go wherever we can save money, because that equals more cruises for us! LOL

 

[cmph]

Good point! She'll be in 4th or 5th grade, and we start after Labor Day through the end of June. I don't think the timing should be an issue either way for her. I would avoid the first week of Sept for the beginning of school and also avoid June because its the hectic end!

That being said....it would be early into K for my son, and maybe that would be more difficult than missing pre-K, if he's just started kindergarten.

Oh gosh, yes, do May! Some kids will roll with that, but if he wasn't in all-day 5 days/week pre-k, that's going to be rough to pull him out that early. And you might get sass from admins/teachers for that. I know with both of mine, they wouldn't even allow volunteers until October b/c they didn't want to disrupt the settling-in process. And not that there is a huge difference between 4th and 5th, but there is some. At our school, 5th starts the split classes (some advanced, etc.) with kids having real schedules and rotating between teachers throughout the day rather than just being with the same teacher/classmates all day, minus specials of course. It was a bit of an adjustment for my daughter.