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I'm not all that familiar with this phenomenon, and I know it varies by school, but in general do I need to avoid all of March and April to avoid spring breakers on cruises? Or is it just March?  I made the mistake of going to the Mall of America today (normally I avoid this anyway, but I needed to go to the Apple Store) and it was PACKED.  That's unusual for a weekday except during Christmas, so I asked someone if today was some holiday that I was unaware of, and he just looked at me with dead eyes and uttered "Spring Break".

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17 minutes ago, SpeedNoodles said:

I'm not all that familiar with this phenomenon, and I know it varies by school, but in general do I need to avoid all of March and April to avoid spring breakers on cruises? Or is it just March?  I made the mistake of going to the Mall of America today (normally I avoid this anyway, but I needed to go to the Apple Store) and it was PACKED.  That's unusual for a weekday except during Christmas, so I asked someone if today was some holiday that I was unaware of, and he just looked at me with dead eyes and uttered "Spring Break".

I live in South Florida.. Basically you need to avoid all of March because the first 2-3 weeks is when Colleges here are on Break and then the last 2 weeks is when all the public K-12 schools are on break.. Then I would avoid the week of Easter.. Other than that you should be good. 

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Just now, AGSLC5 said:

I live in South Florida.. Basically you need to avoid all of March because the first 2-3 weeks is when Colleges here are on Break and then the last 2 weeks is when all the public K-12 schools are on break.. Then I would avoid the week of Easter.. Other than that you should be good. 

It'd be handy if Easter would just fall during Spring Break.  When you say "the week of Easter" ... since it's on Sunday, do you mean the week before or the week after? Or I guess just both maybe. Which would eliminate half of April. Sometimes.  

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2 minutes ago, SpeedNoodles said:

It'd be handy if Easter would just fall during Spring Break.  When you say "the week of Easter" ... since it's on Sunday, do you mean the week before or the week after? Or I guess just both maybe. Which would eliminate half of April. Sometimes.  

The week before.. Here in Florida the Kids have off The Friday before and often times its a teacher work day on Thursday so parents take their kids away.. The reason in Florida spring break cant fall during April is because of standardized testing.. April is when they have to get the kids ready for that.. But on the rare time Easter is in March then it could happen.. 

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Just now, AGSLC5 said:

The week before.. Here in Florida the Kids have off The Friday before and often times its a teacher work day on Thursday so parents take their kids away.. The reason in Florida spring break cant fall during April is because of standardized testing.. April is when they have to get the kids ready for that.. But on the rare time Easter is in March then it could happen.. 

Perfect, thank you - I don't even know when these things fall in Minnesota! (Well, I guess Easter is the same everywhere, lol - I still have to Google the date every year.)

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Just now, Baked Alaska said:

@SpeedNoodles I've heard from other posters that the cruises to definitely avoid especially during SB are the 3 to 5 night booze cruises, for obvious reasons. The 7 nighter tend to be more of K-12 families. I can attest to the 7 night cruise theory as I've been on 7 nights during SB, K-12 families by far.

We really wouldn't mind avoiding large crowds of K-12 either, if we can help it. 

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26 minutes ago, SpeedNoodles said:

We really wouldn't mind avoiding large crowds of K-12 either, if we can help it. 

Follow the pricing.  The reality is parents, teachers and college students desire to travel when their local institution is on break.  Teachers and their kids from all across the country (Canada too) pay a premium from this phenomenon.   This isn't a Florida local issue, people from across the North flood to Florida like moths to a flame to escape the cold.  The collective effect transcends the Florida school systems.

If pricing is high and cabins scarce it's because spring break people, from K-12 to college students to teachers are descending on Florida in masses.  If a particular week is absent of them, prices fall.   A months later, starting in early June the phenomenon returns and so do higher prices.  Supply and demand.  Come mid August the phenomenon is starting to fade and by labor day it's all but gone.  

Cheap fares almost always mean fewer K-12 or college students.

 

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2 minutes ago, twangster said:

Follow the pricing.  The reality is parents, teachers and college students desire to travel when their local institution is on break.  Teachers and their kids from all across the country (Canada too) pay a premium from this phenomenon.   This isn't a Florida local issue, people from across the North flood to Florida like moths to a flame to escape the cold.  The collective effect transcends the Florida school systems.

If pricing is high and cabins scarce it's because spring break people, from K-12 to college students to teachers are descending on Florida in masses.  If a particular week is absent of them, prices fall.   A months later, starting in early June the phenomenon returns and so do higher prices.  Supply and demand.  Come mid August the phenomenon is starting to fade and by labor day it's all but gone.  

Cheap fares almost always mean fewer K-12 or college students.

 

Thanks, that's great advice. I appreciate it!

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3 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Spring break in Ontario is mid-March. I would avoid that too if I could ?

I'm guessing that mid October is some sort of student/teacher break, too, since the Group Cruise is scheduled at that time!  But being on the GC will totally be worth it.

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A few years old but the trend remains close to this.  All peaks in this graph correspond to school and/or college breaks.   

 

RCI price trends.jpg

Source: https://www.cruisemarketwatch.com/articles/category/cruise-lines-market-share-marketing-research/page/2/

Want a cheap cruise?  Dec 8 or 15 on Oasis.  Freshly refurbished.  Cheap rates.  The early December time frame and mid-January remain some of the cheapest times to cruise and are mostly K-12 free.   Right after Labor day is not bad either.

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, twangster said:

A few years old but the trend remains close to this.  All peaks in this graph correspond to school and/or college breaks.   

 

RCI price trends.jpg

Source: https://www.cruisemarketwatch.com/articles/category/cruise-lines-market-share-marketing-research/page/2/

Want a cheap cruise?  Dec 8 or 15 on Oasis.  Freshly refurbished.  Cheap rates.  The early December time frame and mid-January remain some of the cheapest times to cruise and are mostly K-12 free.   Right after Labor day is not bad either.

 

 

 

Yes..Oasis is so cheap that week.  No solo supplement for balconies either...too bad I'm so stingy with my time off!  Airfare is likely cheap in that deadzone between Thanksgiving and Christmas too.

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I'm already booked on Navigator on Dec 2 of this year, then next year we'll be on Brilliance in October, so we wouldn't be able to cruise already in Dec. But I'm keeping this in mind for the future, or if anything changes!  I'm dying to find some great deal on a GS on a Quantum or Oasis class ship!

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11 hours ago, twangster said:

A few years old but the trend remains close to this.  All peaks in this graph correspond to school and/or college breaks.   

 

RCI price trends.jpg

Source: https://www.cruisemarketwatch.com/articles/category/cruise-lines-market-share-marketing-research/page/2/

Want a cheap cruise?  Dec 8 or 15 on Oasis.  Freshly refurbished.  Cheap rates.  The early December time frame and mid-January remain some of the cheapest times to cruise and are mostly K-12 free.   Right after Labor day is not bad either.

 

 

 

I love this! I went to their website, but I couldn't find this data. @twangster is this offered only through the login portal? They do have a lot of interesting data and marketing information, in general. It would be nice if this info was within 5 years. 

Of note, I found interesting the Passenger Origins bar graph:https://cruisemarketwatch.com/passenger-origins/. Will be interesting to see how Spectrum changes things up, if at all. May see movement within brand versus across brand.

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10 hours ago, twangster said:

A few years old but the trend remains close to this.  All peaks in this graph correspond to school and/or college breaks.   

 

RCI price trends.jpg

Source: https://www.cruisemarketwatch.com/articles/category/cruise-lines-market-share-marketing-research/page/2/

Want a cheap cruise?  Dec 8 or 15

@twangster posted this a while ago and I remembered it. December is usually not an option for me because of teaching. When new itineraries came out back before Christmas, we grabbed the Villa suite on HM (Star Class!) for early December 2020 for just over $1K pp. No joke! I couldn’t believe it either at first!

I would be on that OA sailing this coming December too if I could.

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18 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

@twangster posted this a while ago and I remembered it. December is usually not an option for me because of teaching. When new itineraries came out back before Christmas, we grabbed the Villa suite on HM (Star Class!) for early December 2020 for just over $1K pp. No joke! I couldn’t believe it either at first!

I would be on that OA sailing this coming December too if I could.

Come on retirement. I will be cruising all the time.

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57 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

@twangster posted this a while ago and I remembered it. December is usually not an option for me because of teaching. When new itineraries came out back before Christmas, we grabbed the Villa suite on HM (Star Class!) for early December 2020 for just over $1K pp. No joke! I couldn’t believe it either at first!

I would be on that OA sailing this coming December too if I could.

What date are you going in Dec 2020 ?  We are in a Star Loft Suite on Oasis on Dec 6 2020.

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12 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Apparently February isn’t completely safe either.  On our recent B2B on Anthem (15 Feb-3 Mar) the first week there were over 1500 children below the age of 18...apparently due to a spring break SOMEwhere. The following week there were 900...still a lot but not nearly as many as the first week.

Northern New England public schools typically have a February vacation week.  

Here in Maine it's usually around President's Day.  New Hampshire is either the week before or the week after us....I can't remember which right now.

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2 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

@twangster posted this a while ago and I remembered it. December is usually not an option for me because of teaching. When new itineraries came out back before Christmas, we grabbed the Villa suite on HM (Star Class!) for early December 2020 for just over $1K pp. No joke! I couldn’t believe it either at first!

I would be on that OA sailing this coming December too if I could.

I need to find me this deal.

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New cruise price index data from www.cruisemarketwatch.com

164698653_Cruisewatchpriceindex.thumb.jpeg.e02a9a28e70a5471d662ef2b394de1f5.jpeg

June 2010 on left, June 2020 on the right.  Horizontal scale marks alternate between June and December over the 10 years.

This is consistent with my own experience.  Early December remains lowest, July remains highest.  Summer 2019 prices are some of the highest in a while with an overall trend upward.

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13 minutes ago, twangster said:

New cruise price index data from www.cruisemarketwatch.com

164698653_Cruisewatchpriceindex.thumb.jpeg.e02a9a28e70a5471d662ef2b394de1f5.jpeg

June 2010 on left, June 2020 on the right.  Horizontal scale marks alternate between June and December over the 10 years.

This is consistent with my own experience.  Early December remains lowest, July remains highest.  Summer 2019 prices are some of the highest in a while with an overall trend upward.

That's really great information, again.   I'll definitely be looking for deals on suites in December in future years.  It's next to impossible for me to get time off during the high season and holidays anyway, since I'm not at the top of our seniority list.   These times play right into my wheelhouse!  The June sailing on Ovation is an anomoly - I really wanted to be in Alaska near the summer solstice, and I still ended up having a lot of days denied that I had to do shift swaps for.  But, 25th wedding anniversary and hubby's 50th birthday, so..... worth it.

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16 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Apparently February isn’t completely safe either.  On our recent B2B on Anthem (15 Feb-3 Mar) the first week there were over 1500 children below the age of 18...apparently due to a spring break SOMEwhere. The following week there were 900...still a lot but not nearly as many as the first week.

We get the whole week of Presidents’ Day off. (Feb 17th Navigator)   That’s when we’re going.  Hoping others don’t all have it off. I was surprised it wasn’t more expensive than the the surrounding weeks.  Reasonable price and no school!  Score for us! 

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17 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Apparently February isn’t completely safe either.  On our recent B2B on Anthem (15 Feb-3 Mar) the first week there were over 1500 children below the age of 18...apparently due to a spring break SOMEwhere. The following week there were 900...still a lot but not nearly as many as the first week.

A lot of kids in California have presidents week off, maybe other states too.  That’s what you could be running into in Feb.

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2 hours ago, Linda216 said:

We get the whole week of Presidents’ Day off. (Feb 17th Navigator)   That’s when we’re going.  Hoping others don’t all have it off. I was surprised it wasn’t more expensive than the the surrounding weeks.  Reasonable price and no school!  Score for us! 

The Whole North East including New York and New Jersey have off that week.. Just a friendly warning because of this we have a HUGE influx of tourists and Hotels raise the prices in Ft. Lauderdale and Miami to extremely high rates that week. So if you can book now and try to find a deal. 

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32 minutes ago, Linda216 said:

@AGSLC5 good to know. I think we’re gonna fly to grandparents first so won’t need hotel but worried about flight costs.  That month is slowly opening and it’s high! 

Yes the flights during that week are always super high... My friends live in NY and always want to come visit me here in South Florida that week because they are teachers and are off of work but the flights are so expensive they never can end up coming. 

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On 3/23/2019 at 4:56 PM, AGSLC5 said:

The Whole North East including New York and New Jersey have off [Presidents’ Day] week.

Not the schools in my northern NJ district! We have Christmas to NYE, then MLK day (only), Presidents’ Day (only), and spring break the week before Easter (or after Easter when it’s really early like it was in 2018).

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