Who has cruised Sept with preschoolers?

[Suzanne74]

I am curious what others with preschoolers thought of Sept cruises? I though this would be the perfect time to go since school starts for everyone else and there might not be a huge amount of kids on the cruise, say like July.

Anyways, I have been looking over reviews on expedia, travelocity etc... and there were numerous complaints of the kids club and I found them mostly to be in Sept and was really surprised. Ratios of 25 (3-4 yr olds) to 1 counselor and very chaotic overall. I am in the midst of getting ready to book and have been doing lots of research. Now I am not so sure it is a good time. Maybe way too many preschoolers?

Just curious what others thought - thanks!

 

[mommasita]

We just cruised this past Sept....(yeah with JEanne.. ) and in our party of 11 people there were 3 pre-schoolers. We had no complaints with the kids clubs at all. Actually, it was on the contrary, we saw less kids than on our others, and the amount of counsellors was the same. I am not sure of the exact ratio, but 25 to 1 is impossible..... We would never have left them in that case.... My kids LOVED the clubs so much, it was not easy to get them out for dinners....

 

[lbgraves]

Have you checked out this thread? http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=751585 The ratios are given there by the last manager of the kid's clubs.

We have cruised on 11/15/03 & 12/4/04 7 day cruises and there were 750+ kids ages 3-12 both times. I think that the ship is full of kids every week. We were shocked to hear that on the first cruise since we didn't see alot of kids in one place & never would have guessed that the numbers were so high. Our kids were 3 & 5 on our first cruise.

 

[kaykels]

The only difference is you'll find more preschoolers. Same amount of kids, just mostly younger. The parks are the same way. We used to go to the parks every September, and believe me, strollers everywhere. I cruised last September and again, strollers everywhere. My girls, 8 & 10 were not alone though. And September was full of hurricanes! I squeezed my cruise in between Ivan and Jeannie. But none of the hotels at the port were open. I can't complain about being forced to stay in the Disney area anyway.

 

[Suzanne74]

I know Sept is full of hurricanes - ou vacation started out 2 days too late last year due to them. I am really hoping they give Florida a break this year!!!